Time in Buddhism and Science: A Meeting Beyond Illusion
In recent years, modern science—particularly physics and neuroscience—has begun to question the very nature of time. Concepts such as "time as a mental construct," "non-linear time," and "time as a physical dimension" are gaining ground. Interestingly, these insights echo perspectives that have existed in Buddhist philosophy for over two millennia.
According to the Amitābha Sūtra (《佛說阿彌陀經》), time in the Pure Land is experienced differently than in our world. The descriptions of six daily moments (晝夜六時) in which flowers rain and music resounds suggest a cyclical or multidimensional experience of time, rather than linear progression. The notion that beings can instantly travel to other worlds to offer flowers and return "in time for a meal" challenges our ordinary perception of time and space.
In Buddhism, especially within the Mahāyāna tradition, time is considered conceptual (假有)—a mental imputation dependent on causes and conditions. The doctrine of emptiness (空性) teaches that all phenomena, including time, have no independent, fixed essence. In this view, time arises due to the interplay of karma, perception, and cognition.
Science, too, is catching up. Physicists such as Carlo Rovelli describe time not as a fundamental entity, but as something that emerges from thermodynamic or quantum processes. Neuroscience suggests that our brain constructs a sense of time to order experiences and maintain coherence.
Both traditions, then, invite us to transcend our conventional understanding of time. Buddhism points the way through meditation and wisdom—directly perceiving the moment as it is, free from past and future. Science offers theoretical models and experimental findings that suggest time is more pliable and subjective than we once believed.
In the end, Buddhism and modern science converge on a profound realization: time is not what it seems. It may not be a "one-way street" but a flexible dimension—or even an illusion—that can be shaped by mind, matter, and meaning.
The Heart Sutra (《般若波羅蜜多心經》) does not mention "time" (時間) explicitly. However, it implies a transcendence of time through its core teaching of emptiness (空性). In Buddhist philosophy, especially in the Prajñāpāramitā tradition to which the Heart Sutra belongs, time is considered a conditioned, conceptual construct—one of the many dharmas that are "empty of inherent existence."
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Addendum: The Heart Sutra and the Emptiness of Time
Although the Heart Sutra does not directly reference "time," its declaration—“色不異空，空不異色” (“Form is not different from emptiness; emptiness is not different from form”)—encompasses all phenomena, including the perception of time. In the line “無眼耳鼻舌身意，無色聲香味觸法” (“no eye, no ear, no nose… no sights, sounds, smells…”), the sutra points to the non-existence of dualistic constructs, including sensory and mental categories through which time is perceived.
From the perspective of śūnyatā (emptiness), past, present, and future are not inherently existent. Time, like the self and external objects, is a convention dependent on causes and conditions. When the sutra says “無無明，亦無無明盡… 乃至無老死，亦無老死盡” (“no ignorance and also no ending of ignorance… no aging and death, and also no end to aging and death”), it negates not only linear time-bound suffering but also the time-based narrative of beginning and end.
Thus, the Heart Sutra encourages us to awaken from the illusion of time by realizing that ultimate reality is timeless—a domain beyond arising and ceasing, birth and death, past and future.