Eternalism vs. Timelessness 1—Akāliko

Sanātana-Dharma vs. Akāliko-Dhamma: Vedic Eternality-view versus Buddha’s Timelessness-view “Know that whoever meditates on that Supreme Void, and becomes established in it by virtue of constant practice, will definitely attain the great state which is beyond birth and death.” — Lord Śiva, Śrī Devī-kālottara 42 “Look upon the world as void, Mogharāja, being mindful at all times. Uprooting the lingering view of self, get well beyond the range of death. The king of death gets no chance to see him who thus looks upon the world.” — Sutta Nipāta, Pārāyanavagga, Mogharājamāṇavapucchā Sanātana-dharma = eternal: beginningless and endless, forever in past and future. Corollaries: the world, past and future exist and are real. In the Vedic literature, Brahman is presented as the absolute ground and source of all relative phenomenal being. Similarly, eternity (sanātana) with unlimited past and future, is supposed to be the ground and source of phenomenal time. But if past and future exist at all, there can be movement, change and becoming. Thus eternity-view inclines toward desire and personality view (sakkāyadiṭṭhi) leading to suffering, decay-and-death, and future rebirth. Akāliko-dhamma = timeless or immediate: outside of time, forever in the here-and-now. Corollaries: the world, past and future are imaginary; only the present experience is real. The Buddha views time as an illusion. If past and future are imaginary, saṅkhārā cannot continue, because a saṅkhāra is an ontic commitment, a promise of being or becoming in the future. As soon as saṅkhārā are stilled (sabbasaṅkhārāsamatho) conditioned consciousness, existence and suffering also cease, immediately and forever in the here-and-now. Thus timelessness-view inclines toward emptiness, cessation and Nibbāna.