The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2500 page)

na. However, the concept of time differs fundamentally in Buddhism from Brahmanism. For the Buddhist, flux and change (
anicca
) characterize the world, so that change is the ultimate reality; nothing is exempt from change. The position on this doctrine is so fundamental that the world is seen not as matter undergoing change, but as change bringing about ‘matter’. Inseparable from this doctrine is the equally fundamental conviction concerning the reality of the moment. All being is essentially instantaneous. Each moment is a creation entirely new, never seen in the same way before: ‘The moment is change manifested’ (L. Kawamura). Consistent with this is the understanding of
an
tman
(no-self).
However, no one theory of cosmic time or the duration of its divisions is accepted by all schools of Buddhism, and speculation on such matters was discouraged by the Buddha as not directly relevant to the quest for liberation. Such speculation as did occur was based upon Hindu notions of endlessly recurring continuities of time, and it is from this procession of sa
s
ra that the Buddhist seeks release. Thus time in itself has no eschatological significance and there is no doctrine of an apocalypse.
Among the Jains, time is understood as an ongoing series of revolutions of a wheel, rising up from the lowest point, and turning over the top into descent. The downward half is known as
avasarpini
, starting from the apex of a golden age, and descending through six spokes or ages to the
kaliyuga
(
duhsama
) in which Jain teaching and practice disappears. The uprising is known as
utsarpini
. The cycle is driven by itself, not by the intervention of any god or other agent. During each cycle of the wheel, the
t
rtha
karas
appear in order.
In this survey of the time-related views of major world religions there are two general features that are common:

(i) the value placed on the living moment;
(ii) the attempt to relate and reconcile lived time with some form of divine eternity, whether it is endless time, the totality of all time, or absolute timelessness. The general scientific or philosophic view of time as a chain of mathematical instants, an unrepeatable succession of experienced moments, or an irreversible continuous flow, is enriched by the religions which bestow a sacredness to each living moment; thus it is value-endowed time. Furthermore it is a goal-directed time that is set in a context of divine eternity or against a timeless transcendent background of reality with which the believer strives to find unity.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

see
J
HIL
YYA
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Timothy, St
.

Companion of
Paul
. According to Acts he was circumcised by Paul and accompanied him on his second missionary journey. His name is joined to Paul's at the head of seven of his letters. By tradition he was the first bishop of Ephesus and was martyred there on 22 Jan. 97.
The two Letters to Timothy are two of the
Pastoral Epistles
in the New Testament, professedly by Paul to his deputy Timothy in Ephesus.