What is time? What is time?

The definition of time is the process of the operation of mental dharmas and material form; the dharma used to display the length of this process is called time. In other words, the length of the process of material change is called time. For example, when a baby is born, one month later it is called a full month; one month is time. When the baby is born and grows for one year, it is called one full year of age; one year is also time. In fact, these are all just one of the processes of the baby's growth and development; in essence, there is no such thing as time. Whether a baby is born for one second, one minute, one hour, or one day, or grows and develops for one year, ten years, or twenty years, it all refers to the growth process of the baby's material body. There is no dharma called time; time is displayed passively.

This is defining time in terms of material form. If time were defined in terms of mental dharmas, then age groups would be divided according to the degree of a person's mental maturity: those with relatively low cognitive ability would be called the infant-toddler period, the childhood period, and the youth period, while those with mature minds and high cognitive ability would be called the adulthood period, the middle-age period, the old-age period, and so on—there are many such names.

The speed and length of time are delineated according to whether the mind is concentrated or not, whether the emotions are stable or not, and whether one is leisurely or hurried. The more concentrated, stable, leisurely, comfortable, and joyful the mind is, the less time is perceived; conversely, the longer the time is perceived. Some people say that time now seems to have stopped and is no longer moving; in fact, it is the mind that has stopped moving and no longer discriminates external objects, so the time displayed by external objects naturally cannot be perceived. In fact, there is no such thing as time; saying that time moves or does not move is conceptual proliferation (prapañca), just like discussing how the tortoise's hair and the rabbit's horns are—it is all conceptual proliferation.

 When we look at time, we look at clocks and watches; on a clock, the second hand, minute hand, and hour hand combine to display time. Without these hands there is no time, and with these hands there is likewise no time. Most fundamentally, time is displayed according to the position of the sun moving across the sky; without the sun there is no time, and with the sun there is likewise no time. When the sun rises above the horizon, humans define this state as the morning of a day; at the same time, because the temperature is relatively low, they define the state of the morning sun arising as "morning." When the sun rises to the sky directly overhead, humans define it as the noon time of the day. When the sun descends below the horizon, humans define it as the evening of the day. Thus, one complete cycle of the sun's movement is defined by humans as one day of time. Then, by counting how many cycles of the sun's movement there are, they define ten days, half a month, one month to twelve months, one year, two years, and so on. All lengths of time can only be displayed by relying on material form; there is no real dharma called time.