Theory Of Momentariness

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Questions Raised by the Theory of Momentariness If dharmas are instantaneous then how can one explain the continuation of events over time? For example, we are able to see the fire burning across time. The common Buddhist answer is that dharmas repeatedly appear and disappear one after another to produce such an illusion. However this cannot be the case since these dharmas in total will still not take up any time at all as they are individually instantaneous. To illustrate this in another way, it is not possible for that which does not have volume to occupy space no matter how many are being lined up together. This is unless dharmas do take up time, albeit an infinitesimal amount. However, for a dharma to take up any time at all is against the Buddhist way of thinking as this would indicate that time or some other property is being responsible for the cessation of the dharma which cannot be the case since dharmas are intrinsic in nature and do not depend on any external property. A possible Buddhist response would be that while dharmas do not take up time, they may appear and disappear at every instance of time. This would then give us the illusion of continuity even though individual events do not take up time. However this raises the question of what then is responsible for the passing of time or in other words, why does time pass. Here we have two views. The first is that time passes when things change or when events occur. The second is that time is an entity in itself and ‘passing’ is an intrinsic nature of time, requiring no external events. The first view clearly cannot coexist with a Buddhist metaphysical point of view. According to Buddhists, all that really exists are dharmas but since dharmas do not take up time, they cannot be responsible for the passing of time. In addition, since nothing else is real and exists, there therefore cannot be any real
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