English
Having determined, to illuminate, The things there, according to divisions. For in specifying "At the time when a wholesome consciousness belonging to the sense-sphere," the Blessed One specified consciousness at the time. Why? Because, having determined the time by that time-determined consciousness, at the end, "at that time," thus, even though there is a variety of times, at the time when there is consciousness, at that very time there is contact, there is feeling, thus, at that consciousness-determined time, to enlighten about contact, feeling, and so on, which are difficult to understand in their divisions due to their nature as a continuum, a group, a function, and a compact object. Now, in "At the time when," and so on, this is the sequential word explanation. "When" is an unspecified, abundant designation. "Time" is an unspecified... Explanation of what is seen. So far, the time is not specifically defined. In that case, the word "time" – In assembly, moment, period, group, cause, and views; In gain, abandonment, and penetration, it is seen. For example, in "Perhaps we may approach tomorrow, taking into account the time and occasion" (D. i. 447) and so on, the meaning is assembly. In "Monks, there is only one moment and occasion for living the holy life" (A. iv. 29) and so on, it is a moment. In "Time of heat, time of burning" (Pac. 358) and so on, it is a period. In "The Great Assembly in the forest" and so on, it is a group. In "Bhaddāli, even the cause was not understood by you – the Blessed One dwells in Sāvatthī, the Blessed One will know me as 'Bhaddāli, a monk who does not fulfill the training in the Teacher's dispensation.' Even this cause was not understood by you" (M. ii. 135) and so on, it is a cause. In "At that time, Uggāhamāna the wanderer, a disciple of Samaṇamuṇḍikā, was living at Tindukācīra in the Mallikā's one-room dwelling, advocating his doctrine" (M. ii. 260) and so on, it is a view. "He who understands the benefit in this life, and the benefit in the life to come; Wise through understanding the benefit, is called a sage." (S. i. 129) – And so on, it is gain. In "Through the right abandonment of conceit, he made an end to suffering" (M. i. 28) and so on, it is abandonment. In "Suffering has the characteristic of oppression, the characteristic of being conditioned, the characteristic of torment, the characteristic of change, the characteristic of penetration" (Pṭs. ii. 8) and so on, it is penetration. Thus, in these various times – Assembly, moment, period, group, and also cause; These five should be understood, as times by the wise here. In this context of merit, "At what time is wholesome activity in the sense-sphere?" among those nine times, these five times, assembly and so on, should be known by the wise. Among them, the concurrence of conditions is assembly, but the moment is one, the ninth, or the four wheels. For that which is the state of being well-arranged due to the production of common results, The harmony of conditions is known as combination here. But the single moment, the single occasion, "For dwelling in the holy life," This spoken of, the ninth moment, Should be understood as a single moment. Or again, these, "These four wheels, monks, Possessed by gods and humans, Cause the four-wheeled chariot to roll," Here, "Living in a suitable place, Reliance on good people, Right direction of oneself, And having done merit in the past," These four wheels are spoken of, These, when gathered together, Should be understood as a moment in the sense of opportunity. For they are opportunities for the arising of merit. Having known thus both combination and moment, In the others: Designated by this and that, Time is merely a convention; A heap of contact and other phenomena, Is distinguished as a collection. For by the method beginning with "mind-time, form-time," Either a phenomenon, Or by the method beginning with "past, future," The activity of a phenomenon, Or by the method beginning with "seed-time, sprout-time," The sequence of phenomena, Or by the method beginning with "arising-time, aging-time," The characteristic of a phenomenon, Or by the method beginning with "feeling-time, perceiving-time," The function of a phenomenon, Or by the method beginning with "bathing-time, drinking-time," The activity of a being, Or by the method beginning with "going-time, standing-time," Posture, Or by the method beginning with "forenoon, afternoon, day, night," The revolution of the moon, sun, etc., Or by the method beginning with "half-month, month," The accumulation of time reckoned as days and nights, etc. - Thus, designated by this and that, What is called time. But this, being non-existent in reality, Should be understood as merely a designation. But this heap of phenomena, Contact, feeling, etc., Is distinguished here as a collection. Having known thus also the collection of time, But the other: A root is a condition here, Its manifoldness, Should be understood by way of doors, Or by way of conditions. Here, a condition is called a root, Its manifoldness should be understood By way of doors or conditions. How? For in the eye-door, etc., For the arising of eye-consciousness and so on, eye, form, light, and attention are conditions. And in the Great Treatise, twenty-four conditions are stated, by way of "root condition, object condition," and so on. Of these, setting aside result condition and postnascence condition, the remaining conditions are indeed conditions for wholesome states. All of these are here intended as roots. Thus, its manifold nature should be understood, by way of this doorway or by way of conditions. Thus, these five meanings, beginning with combination, should be understood as encompassed here by the word "time." But why is it that, without encompassing any one of these, encompassing of all has been done? Because of the exposition of that particular meaning for each of them. For here, time in the sense of combination reveals occurrence from many causes. Therefore, the doctrine of a single cause is refuted. And combination is mutually dependent in the production of a common result. Therefore, it also reveals this meaning, that "there is no single agent." For when there is a cause by nature, dependence on another cause is not fitting. Thus, by the exposition of the absence of any single cause, "self-made is happiness and suffering," and so on, is refuted. There, it might be said: "That which was said, 'it reveals occurrence from many causes,' is not fitting." "Why?" "Because in disunity, even the unity of non-causes would result in non-causality." "For surely, in one blind person being unable to see, a hundred blind people do not see." "No, it is not fitting; for stability in the production of a common result is unity; not merely the aggregation of many. And the seeing of blind people is not a common result." "Why?" "Because even with a hundred blind people, it is absent. But for eye and so on, that is a common result, because of its presence when they are present. And the causality of unity even in the disunity of non-causes is established. Now, this disunity is to be understood by the absence of result, and its unity by its presence. For the absence of eye-consciousness and so on when the eye and so on are defective, and its presence when they are not defective, is evident to the world." This, then, is The meaning is revealed by time as a collection. Now, that ninth moment which is free from the eight unwholesome moments, and is known as the four-wheeled opportunity, such as living in a suitable region, that moment does not exist without the confluence of favorable conditions like being born as a human, the arising of a Buddha, and the existence of the true Dhamma. And the rarity of being born as a human, etc., is like the simile of the one-eyed turtle (MN 3.252). Thus, due to the rarity of the moment, the wholesome deeds that support the supramundane Dhamma are even rarer. Thus, time as a collection reveals the rarity of the arising of wholesome deeds. By revealing this, it prohibits the heedless living of those who, having obtained the moment, make it fruitless by not performing those wholesome deeds that depend on the moment. This is the meaning revealed by time as a moment. Now, that which is called the duration of the arising of a wholesome thought, that is extremely short. And its extreme shortness should be understood according to the commentary on the sutta: "Just as, monks, the speed of that man, just as the speed of the moon and sun, just as the speed of those deities who run ahead of the moon and sun, faster than that do life's conditions wear away" (SN 2.228). There, even the duration of the life faculty of matter is said to be very short. While the present moment of matter lasts, sixteen thoughts arise and cease. Thus, there is no simile for the shortness of that time. Therefore, he said: "Indeed, monks, even a simile is not easy for how quickly the mind changes" (AN 1.48). Thus, time as duration reveals the extreme shortness of the duration of the arising of a wholesome thought. By revealing this, it gives the advice that, due to the extremely short duration, this mind is difficult to penetrate, like picking up pearls in a flash of lightning, therefore, great effort and respect should be made for its penetration. This is the meaning revealed by time as duration. Time as a collection, But that occasion reveals the co-arising of many. For a collection, an aggregate, is said of phenomena beginning with contact. And in that, the arising mind arises together with those phenomena, thus the co-arising of many is revealed. And by thus revealing, the arising of a single phenomenon is refuted. This is the meaning revealed by occasion as aggregate. But occasion as cause reveals dependent existence.