Time (Internal Reference)¶
This version is a study compilation of original texts, presented word-for-word and organized by logic. No content has been altered.
I. Definition and Nature¶
1.1 Core Definition¶
Time is the recorder of matter's state of motion.
Time arises from motion; without motion, there is no time.
Time exists within all moving matter and pervades all material space in the universe.
Time is antimatter.
Time is invisible, intangible, inaudible, unmeasurable, uncatchable, and unstorable — it cannot be borrowed or drawn upon in advance. Time has no form; it can be described but not depicted.
Time exists only in the material world. The antimatter world (the negative universe) has no time — just as thunder and lightning exist only within clouds; when the sky is clear and cloudless, there is no thunder or lightning.
(Chanyuan Corpus · Universe and Space-Time · The Chapter on Time)
Time is the "recorder" of matter's state of motion. Time originates from motion; without motion, there is no time.
(New Era Human 800 Concepts, Article 427)
Time is the recorder of matter's state of motion. Time begins with the movement of matter and ends with matter's extinction.
(Chanyuan Corpus · The Dao Transmission · "The Dao Transmission" VII: Time)
II. The Eight Characteristics of Time¶
Time has eight characteristics: (1) Time is antimatter; (2) Time has positive and negative polarity; (3) Time has both particularity and universality; (4) Time is a variable; (5) Time pervades all material space; (6) Time has both longitudinal and lateral dimensions; (7) Time has different meanings in different spaces; (8) Time can be compressed, expanded, or made to disappear.
Time is antimatter: traceless, formless, sizeless, emotionless, unconscious — invisible, intangible, inaudible, uncatchable.
Time has positive and negative polarity: future time is positive, past time is negative.
Time has particularity and universality: particularity applies to individuals, universality applies to the whole.
Time is a variable: it flows unevenly, changing with changes in material motion and disappearing when material motion ceases.
Time pervades all material space: from the scale of the cosmos down to subatomic particles, wherever matter exists, time exists.
Time has longitudinal and lateral dimensions: longitudinality manifests in past, present, and future; laterality manifests in the eternity of a single moment.
Time has different meanings in different spaces: within the same gravitational field, time has the same meaning; when gravity changes, the meaning of time changes accordingly.
Time can be compressed, expanded, or made to disappear: time is intimately linked to the mass, shape, and motion state of matter; as these change, time is compressed or expanded accordingly; when matter disappears, the time associated with it disappears simultaneously.
(Chanyuan Corpus · The Dao Transmission · "The Dao Transmission" VII: Time)
Time has eight characteristics: I. Time is antimatter; II. Time has positive and negative polarity; III. Time has particularity and universality; IV. Time is a variable; V. Time pervades all material space; VI. Time has longitudinal and lateral dimensions; VII. Time has different meanings in different spaces; VIII. Time can be compressed, expanded, or made to disappear.
(New Era Human 800 Concepts, Article 428)
III. Time as a Variable — Time Differs Across Spaces¶
Different spaces have different times. Humans defined one rotation of the Earth as one day, one orbit around the Sun as one year, and divided days into 24 hours — this greatly facilitates social activity. But this calculation assumes a stationary reference point; for a moving object, time changes.
For example: if you travel east by spaceship, your day is shorter than 24 hours; the faster you go, the shorter the day. If you travel west and exceed the Earth's rotational speed, your day is longer than 24 hours. If you sustain such motion, you may feel no time passing at all — and fifty years later, returning to Earth, you find your childhood companions with white hair while you remain youthful.
Different regions have different times: the tropics and the poles have different times. A person frozen in ice can have their time extended indefinitely.
Different masses have different times. Greater mass means longer lifespan; smaller mass means shorter lifespan. A diamond outlasts other stones of the same volume.
Different cosmic spaces have different times. Someone who lives 100 years on Earth can live 1,000 years in the Thousand-Year World and over 30,000 years in the Ten-Thousand-Year World — because their masses differ. The saying "one day in heaven equals one year on Earth" refers precisely to this.
Time can be expanded or compressed: higher motion speed compresses time; lower motion speed expands it.
(Chanyuan Corpus · Universe and Space-Time · The Chapter on Time)
IV. Time and LIFE — Longitudinal and Lateral¶
Since LIFE is composed of both matter (physical body) and antimatter (soul), time has two meanings for LIFE. For the physical body, time is ever-present — birth, growth, aging, death are inescapable. As a human being, one cannot achieve immortality in physical form. But the soul is antimatter, and antimatter is not bound by time; it can cycle through infinite spaces.
For the physical body, time is longitudinal — composed of past, present, and future.
For the soul, time is lateral — at any point in longitudinal time, it is possible to enter a lateral dimension, transcend life and death, and enter eternal space-time.
In a complex-function graph, the X-axis represents time in the material domain (longitudinal), and the Z-axis represents time in the antimatter domain (lateral). The X-axis moves only through past, present, and future. The Z-axis can break through the constraints of "now" in an instant and enter another space.
This means that when a person dies, only their physical body has ended. The soul enters another space-time along the Z-axis at the very moment of death, beginning a new life journey in a new dimension.
(Chanyuan Corpus · Universe and Space-Time · The Chapter on Time)
V. The Antimatter World Has No Time — The Gateway to Eternity¶
Antimatter is the opposite of matter. All the properties matter possesses, antimatter does not. All matter undergoes birth, development, decay, and death — but antimatter has no such cycle and therefore no time; it is eternal. The Dao, the soul, intention, spirit, thought, Dharma nature, original Buddha-nature, divine beings, angels, the Elysium World — none of these have time. Therefore, the antimatter world is eternal.
Since material motion is absolute, everything we perceive runs within time — in this sense, time changes everything and decides everything. From the perspective of the universe's timeline, all material things are fleeting, illusory, and without lasting value.
To attain eternal existence, one must free oneself from time's control. For the physical body, this is as impossible as catching the moon's reflection. Therefore let the body follow its natural course; to transcend time, focus effort on the soul. … To transcend time, one must work in the realm of antimatter — revere the Greatest Creator, walk the Dao, roam the realms of intention, thought, and spirit, and be engaging with the eternal. Once the breakthrough comes — naturally and at the ripe moment — one may enter lateral space-time at any point, finding boundless joy.
(Chanyuan Corpus · The Dao Transmission · "The Dao Transmission" VII: Time)
VI. Lateral Time and the Time Tunnel¶
One of time's eight characteristics is its longitudinal and lateral dimensions. Past, present, and future express longitudinal time. At any point along the longitudinal axis where time loses its "future" quality, lateral time appears.
(Chanyuan Corpus · The Dao Transmission · "The Dao Transmission" VIII: Lateral Time)
The dense network of positive and negative time pervading all space is called the Time Tunnel.
(New Era Human 800 Concepts, Article 429)
The universe contains lateral space-time, in which time does not exist. Entering lateral space-time, one feels no passage of time. But measured by Earth's time, a few seconds in lateral space-time may equal decades or even thousands of years.
(New Era Human 800 Concepts, Article 431)
Lateral space-time is not a frozen world. It is a different space-time system from the one we currently inhabit. Once one enters lateral time at a given longitudinal point, one enters eternal status — yet within lateral space-time, one can still live fully: sing, dance, fall in love, even age. But upon returning to the human world, one arrives back at the very longitudinal moment of departure — one's appearance and physical abilities remain exactly as they were.
(Chanyuan Corpus · The Dao Transmission · "The Dao Transmission" VIII: Lateral Time)
VII. The Time Trap — The Seventh of the Thirty-Six Trigram Formations¶
Time does not truly exist. Any person can return to their past or advance to their future — like flipping freely through a long novel. One who can do this has opened the Buddha Eye; one who cannot is still caught within the Time Trap.
(Chanyuan Corpus · Thirty-Six Trigram Formations · Time Formation: The Seventh)
Once one becomes a Buddha or celestial immortal, time ceases to exist. Before that, every person is trapped in the Time Trap — remembering the past, projecting into the future, anxious about aging, lamenting that youth is gone. Past, present, future; yesterday, today, tomorrow; previous life, current life, next life; youth, prime, old age — this is the Time Trap, and we are all caught within it, unable to escape.
The way to escape the Time Trap: place yourself mentally in the Thousand-Year World, the Ten-Thousand-Year World, or the Elysium Celestial Islands Continent — then watch your human-world self as if watching a film. From that vantage point, whatever role you play in life — hero or commoner, rich or poor — is just acting, just a game, with nothing to grieve over.
(Chanyuan Corpus · Thirty-Six Trigram Formations · Time Formation: The Seventh)
VIII. Transcending Time — The Path of Cultivation¶
8.1 Awareness: Following Time Makes One Mortal; Going Against Time Makes One Immortal¶
Time changes everything… Without the Earth's revolution around the Sun, there would be no "year"; without the Earth's rotation, no "day"; without the Moon's orbit, no "month." Without motion, there is no time. Without time, everything enters eternity.
Positive time ages matter; negative time rejuvenates it. Looking toward the future ages a person; dwelling in the past keeps them young. Following time, one becomes a mortal; going against time, one becomes an immortal.
For the universe, time is eternal; for us, it is brief. Every moment of life is precious beyond measure. If we spend our limited time pursuing material gain rather than transcending time, we waste our irreplaceable life.
(Chanyuan Corpus · Universe and Space-Time · The Chapter on Time)
8.2 The Bipolar Method¶
On one hand: time only exists in the material world; it arises from material motion. Slowing everything down — calm the mind, simplify life, moderate desires — can extend life and create the conditions to transcend time.
On the other hand: since the antimatter world has no time, we must draw on antimatter energy to break free from time's constraints. The human spirit, consciousness, thought, belief, and soul are all antimatter. Living within these antimatter realms, time has no power over us.
The spirit, consciousness, thought, belief, and soul are interconnected with the entire negative universe (antimatter world). "Mind-image becomes reality." "The wonder of application lies in the mind." "The Dao is eternally non-acting yet leaves nothing undone." "Give rise to the mind without dwelling anywhere." Our heart goes where our attention goes; understanding these teachings deeply allows one to transcend time and reach the eternal.
(Chanyuan Corpus · Universe and Space-Time · The Chapter on Time)
8.3 Moving Against Time¶
Imagine time as a train moving forward. We are passengers sitting on this train. If we run in the opposite direction at the same speed as the train, time stands still — aging stops. If we run faster than the train, we enter negative time — we begin to grow younger. The speed referred to here is not physical speed; if we tried to outrun time physically, we would never succeed.
Moving against time is like rowing upstream — extremely difficult for ordinary people, since the material world constantly pulls our senses in the opposite direction. This method is most appropriate for those in deep contemplative retreat.
The purpose of both the bipolar method and moving against time is to extend life — to allow sufficient time for cultivation, to change the trajectory of LIFE, so that at the moment of physical death, the soul can travel along the Z-axis through space-time into a new world.
(Chanyuan Corpus · Universe and Space-Time · The Chapter on Time)
IX. Preserving Time, Preserving Youth¶
On the physiological level: slow everything down — measured pace, regulated diet, ordered rest. Avoid excessive emotion. This slows cellular aging.
On the mental level: dwell in past memories rather than projecting into the future; hold your inner age at 18; participate in joyful activities; reduce mental calculation and scheming.
But the most fundamental solution:
The human world is not the best place to live. Rather than striving to age slowly and linger here, it is better to transform one's human consciousness into the consciousness of an immortal during one's limited lifetime and go to live in the celestial realm — that is the most fundamental way to preserve time and preserve youth.
(Xuefeng Corpus · Q&A · "Preserving Time, Preserving Youth")
X. Selected Articles from New Era Human 800 Concepts¶
Article 44. Time and energy are the diamonds of human life. Diamonds should be set into crowns — time and energy should be applied to the endeavors that best express the value of human life.
Article 46. The essence of the world is illusion; life itself is an illusion. The question is how long the illusion lasts. If we exist within an illusion for a thousand years, ten thousand years, or a billion years, then that illusion becomes meaningful.
Article 430. Time changes everything; all things exist within specific temporal zones. To give a thing eternal existence, one must make its existence eternal in time.
Article 435. Antimatter is the opposite of matter. All that matter possesses, antimatter does not. All material things undergo birth, growth, decay, and death — while in the antimatter world, everything can transform in an instant. From the perspective of the universe's timeline, all material things are fleeting and without lasting value. To attain eternal existence, one must free oneself from time's control; to escape time's shackles, one must work on the soul. Naturally and at the ripe moment, once the breakthrough comes, one may enter lateral space-time at any time, finding boundless joy and beauty.