No. 91
心不相應行法 · 不相應行二十四 · 第二十一 · dissociated formations · dissociated formations #21/24

Time-designation

Kāla · (無南傳獨立對應)

不相應行第二十一。於諸行之相續流轉、新新生滅之分位中,假立「時」(*kāla*,「因果之連續性推移」)之名——其體非實,乃色心法及諸心所分位之施設。「過去、現在、未來」三世之假立,皆依識流之生滅狀態而立,非三條獨立時間之實流。

zh · Xuanzang 譯

不相應行第二十一。於諸行之相續流轉、新新生滅之分位中,假立「時」(kāla,「因果之連續性推移」)之名——其體非實,乃色心法及諸心所分位之施設。「過去、現在、未來」三世之假立,皆依識流之生滅狀態而立,非三條獨立時間之實流。

不相應行為論藏所立之分析範疇,於阿含、尼柯耶不作獨立法目;其經藏概念線索可由「三世」「剎那」「相續」等詞群之現象的用法追溯。論藏將此現象學結構化為獨立分析範疇;《阿毘達磨集論》收編入「心不相應行」總綱,並由瑜伽行派重判為假立prajñapti)[(→#71) 詞族假立框架已詳]。本條為普通 prajñapti——於阿含、Nikāya 無獨立法目,故漢段經 sub-節以現象學教證代正式 [共傳]/[大乘] 標準分判。

⚠ In Review · 排序注意:本條(時 = #91)遵百法排序(方 → 時)。Asg 集論及顯揚 (T31.0484a27) 原列為「時→方」(時在前,方在後)。二者皆為經典排序;本書依百法原文(→#90 方,排序分析同)。

《顯揚聖教論》卷一(T31n1602, T31.0484b24–25):

時者,謂諸行展轉新新生滅性。

——「時」即諸行不斷地「展轉新新生滅」之性質——剎那際際之遷流,為「時」之現象的基礎。顯揚著重剎那 momentariness 之維度(「新新」),強調時間是每一剎那之更新,而非一條流動之河。

《大乘阿毘達磨雜集論》卷二(T31n1606, T31.0701a01–03):

若此因果已生已滅,立過去時。此若未生,立未來時。已生未滅,立現在時。

——雜集論以因果之生滅狀態定義三世:過去 = 已生已滅之因果;未來 = 尚未生起之因果;現在 = 已生而未滅之因果。三世非獨立實體,乃依因果流轉之分位狀態而假立。

按:顯揚強調剎那性(「新新生滅」),雜集論展開三世之分判公式(「已生已滅/未生/已生未滅」),二者互補——前者說時間之 micro 質地,後者說三世之 macro 分判邏輯。二者共同構建 Asg 集論梵文公式之漢譯詮釋網絡(→#71 假立詞族框架)。

saṃskṛta

kāla ——「時」「劫」(長時間單位),又有「死」「死神」之別義(Kāla 為閻摩 Yama 之別稱「能推移者」「終結者」)。詞源不甚明確;可能從 √kal「驅、推、計、量」+ -a——「推移者」「計量者」。印歐祖語同源待考;v0.1 及驗證報告均標 ⚠️,本條不作印歐祖語強構。

Asg 定義(Abhidh-s 11,saṃskāra-skandha 不相應行段):

kālaḥ katamaḥ / hetuphala-prabandha-pravṛttau kāla iti prajñaptiḥ //

因果之相續流轉hetuphala-prabandha-pravṛtti——「因果之連續性運轉」)稱為「時」之假立。「prabandha」(相續/連續性)+ 「pravṛtti」(流轉/運轉)之複合概念:時間即是因果連續流轉之正在進行狀態,非外在容器。此乃對 Vaiśeṣika 時間論(kāla-dravya,以時間為九 dravya 之一——獨立實體)之精確哲學倒轉。

kāla 之多義(時間/死亡)揭示印度文化對時間之深刻直覺:時間既是「推移之物」,亦是「終結者」——時間之本質即是推向無常之力。此多義性非外加,乃 kāla 詞義演化之同一核心。

按:Asg 之「hetuphala-prabandha-pravṛttau kāla」(時即因果相續流轉)與 #90 方之「hetuphala eva deśa」(方即因果本身)構成「時空」relational-本體論對偶——時間是因果之 temporal 向度,空間是因果之 spatial 向度,二者皆非容器,皆為因果關係之現象的面向(→#90 方)。

pāḷi

南傳阿毘達磨無「時」作為獨立 prajñapti 法目。然《攝阿毘達磨義論》(Abhidhammattha-saṅgaha VIII.4)列 kāla-paññatti(時間概念)為六種 paññatti 子類之一——北傳「時為假立」與南傳「時為 kāla-paññatti」於本體地位上達致跨傳統共識:兩家均判時間為概念施設而非實有之 dhamma。

此為 #90 方之情形之對應(→#90):南北在「時為假立/paññatti」之本體共識上一致,但架構不同——南傳不立「不相應行」獨立類別;瑜伽行派繼承 Sarvāstivāda 之列位置但重判為 prajñapti(非 Sarvāstivāda 之 dravya-sat)。#90 方 + #91 時是 #85–#94 詞族中少數南北傳有實質本體共識之條目。

按:時空南北共識之意義在於:三家(Sarvāstivāda / 瑜伽行派 / 南傳)對時空之本體處理雖有 real vs prajñapti vs paññatti 之分,但瑜伽行派與南傳在「時空為假立概念」上站同一邊——與 Sarvāstivāda 之「時空為 dravya-sat 實體」的對比更尖銳(→#71 假立框架)。

漢綜述zh-synthesis

詞源

「時」之梵文 kāla「時」「劫」,又有「死、死神」之別義(Kāla 為閻摩 Yama 之別稱「能推移者」「終結者」)——時間既是「推移之物」,亦是「終結者」之多義性非外加,乃 kāla 詞義演化之同一核心,揭示印度文化對時間之深刻直覺:時間之本質即是推向無常之力。詞源從 √kal「驅、推、計、量」+ -a = 「推移者」「計量者」,不確定性保留;印歐祖語同源待考,不作強構。⚠️ 排序注意:本條(時 = #91)遵百法排序;Asg 集論及顯揚原列「時→方」(時在前),本書依百法(方→時)。此為數理時方類之第二條。

義理

時為 24 不相應行之第二十一,數理時方類之第二條。Asg 定義(hetuphala-prabandha-pravṛttau kāla iti prajñaptiḥ)揭示:hetuphala-prabandha-pravṛtti(因果之相續流轉,「因果之連續性運轉」)為基底,kāla(時)為其假立名——時即因果相續流轉,非外在容器。此為對 Vaiśeṣika kāla-dravya 論(以時間為九 dravya 獨立實體之一)之精確哲學倒轉。顯揚「展轉新新生滅性」著重剎那 momentariness 維度(「新新」——時間是每一剎那之更新,非一條流動之河);雜集論展開三世分判公式:「已生已滅」= 過去時,「未生」= 未來時,「已生未滅」= 現在時——三世皆依因果流轉之生滅狀態假立,非三條獨立時間之實流。與 #90 方(→#90)構成「時空 relational 本體論」對偶:時 = 因果之時間向度,方 = 因果之空間向度,二者皆非容器。⭐ 南北在「時為假立/paññatti」之本體地位上達致跨傳統共識(詳南北段)。

南北

⭐ 本條為 #85–#94 詞族中少數南北傳有實質本體共識之條目(與 →#90 方同)。《攝阿毘達磨義論》VIII.4 列 kāla-paññatti(時間概念)為六種 paññatti 子類之一——北傳「時為假立」與南傳「時為 kāla-paññatti」於本體地位達致共識:兩家均判時間為概念施設而非實有 dhamma,與 Sarvāstivāda 之 kāla-dravya(時間實體)對比形成三家立場:Sarvāstivāda 實有 → 瑜伽行派假立 → 南傳 paññatti。瑜伽行派與南傳站同一邊(→#71 假立框架)。

修持

時作為 prajñapti 之修行涵義:「過去」「現在」「未來」三世皆依因果流轉之生滅狀態假立,非三條獨立時間之實流。行者觀「此刻」為「已生未滅之分位假立名稱」,即鬆動「時間之流在攜帶我前進」之基本直覺,留下因果連續流轉之自然展開——三世假立之認識不妨日常時間感,卻鬆解對「我的時間」之執取。

譯名

「時」玄奘既譯。英譯 Time-designationtime 更明示 prajñapti 性格;temporal-position designation 亦可。

——於諸行因果相續流轉(hetuphala-prabandha-pravṛttikāla;過去=已生已滅,現在=已生未滅,未來=未生)分位,假立「時」之名;性為因果連續流轉之時間向度(與 →#90 方之空間向度相對),業為三世分位之時間標示;非別有體,依色心分位差別之合成假立。

英綜述en-synthesis

Etymology

kāla "time, season, appointed time" and also "death, the god of death." The synchronic derivation from √kal "to drive, to push, to count" gives "the propeller / the counter" — plausible but not settled. PIE connection remains uncertain (one proposed chain via *kel- "to cover, to conceal" — Latin caelum, English hell, Gothic hulistr — is indirect and contested); this entry does not assert a PIE chain. The polysemy (time/death) is culturally irreducible in Sanskrit: the god of death is Kāla precisely because time is understood as the agent of mortality — not a neutral container but the very force of dissolution. Buddhist usage of kāla in the prajñapti sense takes the "time as process" reading and formalizes it: not Kāla the death-god, but kāla as the imputed name for the running-onward of cause-effect.

Doctrinal frame

kāla is the twenty-first of the 24 cittaviprayukta-saṃskāra. Asg's terse formula (hetuphala-prabandha-pravṛttau kāla iti prajñaptiḥ) defines time as the continued-flowing (pravṛtti) continuity (prabandha) of the cause-effect process — not a container in which causes and effects happen, but the very process of their sequential unfolding. This is a precise inversion of the Vaiśeṣika kāla-dravya position (time as one of the nine fundamental substances, existing independently of the dharmas it "contains"). 顯揚 interprets this as the "newly-arising-newly-passing" (nava-nava-utpatti-nirodha) quality of conditioned dharmas — the micro-texture of momentariness. 雜集論 unfolds the three-world formula: past = already-arisen-already-passed cause-effect; future = not-yet-arisen; present = arisen-not-yet-passed. Three-world time is three-positional designations on the same flowing process, not three independent time-streams.

Cross-tradition

Like #90 方, this is one of the rare entries where Yogācāra and Theravāda share an ontological verdict. Abhidhammattha-saṅgaha VIII.4 lists kāla-paññatti (time-designation) among the six paññatti subtypes; time is concept-only, not a real dhamma with cetasika-list status. Yogācāra agrees at the ontological level (prajñapti, not dravya-sat) while preserving the list-position inherited from Sarvāstivāda. Sarvāstivāda stands apart: their kāla-dravya is the real-entity position that both Yogācāra and Theravāda, by different paths, reject. The convergence is philosophically significant: two traditions that disagree about the number of unconditioned dharmas, the number of consciousnesses, and the structure of the cetasika list nonetheless agree that time is not a thing.

Practitioner's seam

The prajñapti status of time means there is no "time-stream" carrying dharmas along — what appears as temporal succession is an imputation on the sequential arising-and-passing of cause-effect relations. For the meditator in concentrated observation: each moment of experience is "new" in the sense that no prior moment literally continues into it — what continues is a cause-effect continuity (prabandha), not a single persisting thread. The contemplation of kāla as prajñapti dissolves the sense of "my time" as a container of experiences and replaces it with the direct observation of arising-and-passing as such. The three-world formula (past/future/present as three prajñapti positions on one process) is the analytical scaffold for this contemplation.

Translation

Time-designation (kāla) — Of the continued-flowing (pravṛtti) continuity (prabandha) of the cause-effect process, [we apply] the designation "time" — imputed on the sequential arising-and-passing differential of conditioned dharmas (past: already-arisen-already-passed; future: not-yet-arisen; present: arisen-not-yet-passed), not as an independent time-stream.

translator's note

譯者按: 本條為不相應行 #85–#94 prajñapti sub-詞族第七條,結構分析詳 S3-P12。Asg 以「hetuphala-prabandha-pravṛttau kāla」定義時間——不立時間為實體流,而以因果之相續流轉(prabandha-pravṛtti)為時之假立基底;與 #90 方之「hetuphala eva deśa」構成「時空 relational-本體論對偶」,共同呈現 Asg 對時空之去實體化定義(→#90)。Vaiśeṣika 之 kāla-dravya(時間實體)對比為本條之義理錨;南北在「時=假立」之共識為 #85–#94 詞族中顯著的跨傳統會聚點。