Examination of Time

Examination of Time

If the present and the future
Depend on the past,
Then the present and the future
would have existed in the past.

If the present and the future
did not exist there,
How could the present and the future
Be dependent upon it?

If they are not dependent upon the past,
Neither of the two would be established.
Therefore neither the present
Nor the future would exist.

By the same method,
The other two divisions -- past and future,
Upper, lower, middle, etc.,
Unity, etc., should be understood.

A nonstatic time is not grasped.
Nothing one could grasp as
Stationary time exists.
If time is not grasped, how is it known?

If time depends on an entity,
Then without an entity how could time exist?
There is no existent entity.
So how can time exist?


Nagarjuna