BUDDHIST CONCEPTUALIZATION OF TIME: FROM THE THEORY OF MOMENTARINESS (KṢAṆIKAVĀDA) TO THE SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM (KĀLACAKRA)

A systematic historical-philosophical analysis traces the development of the Buddhist concept of time from the early theory of momentariness (kṣanikavāda) in Abhidharma to the Tantric teaching on cyclical and multi-layered temporality (Kālacakra). Static analysis reveals the radicalisation of momentariness in the Hinayana schools (Vaibhashika and Sautrantika) and its deconstruction and phenomenologisation in Madhyamaka and Yogacara. Dynamic analysis identifies four key turning points in Buddhist rationality—idealistic, epistemological, trans-empirical, and post-canonical—that transformed the concept of time and integrated momentariness into the tantric model of cyclical time in the Kalachakra tradition. These findings broaden the methodological basis for dialogue between Buddhism and Western science.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Despite the intensification of dialogue between Buddhism and Western science within the framework of interdisciplinary research in phenomenology and the cognitive sciences, a systematic approach to the Buddhist philosophy of time remains underdeveloped, which limits the scope for comparative analysis. This article attempts to trace the development of the Buddhist concept of time, from the theory of momentariness (kṣanikavāda) from Abhidharma to the Tantric teaching on cyclical and multi-layered temporality (Kālacakra). The study was based on a historical-philosophical analysis of the formation of Buddhist rationality within the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist tradition. This perspective made it possible to overcome the methodological limitations of interpretations of Buddhist temporality exclusively through the prism of causality or theories of thought. Static analysis made it possible to identify the radicalisation of the theory of momentariness in the Hinayana schools (Vaibhashika and Sautrantika) and the deconstruction and phenomenologisation of time in Madhyamaka and Yogacara. Dynamic analysis made it possible to identify four key turning points in the development of Buddhist rationality – idealistic, epistemological, trans-empirical and post-canonical – and their influence on the transformation of the concept of time and the integration of the doctrine of momentariness into the tantric model of cyclical time, formulated in the Kalachakra tradition of the doctrine of time. The findings of this study contribute to broadening the methodological basis for dialogue between Buddhism and Western science.