Lecture: "Time and Space: A Buddhist Perspective "

In case you are interested:

June 19, 7:00 pm
University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, AA 303

Y. KARUNADASA

Lecture: "Time and Space: A Buddhist Perspective "

Most early Indian philosophical systems recognized the objective reality of both time and space. However, in this regard Buddhism took an entirely different position: Time and space are not two absolute realities, but two conceptual constructs with no corresponding objective counterparts. There is no time without reference to events; therefore time is always determined by events. There is no one absolute time, but there are as many times as there are events. Different times means not different parts of one and the same time but times determined by different events. The same fate fell on what we normally regard as absolute space. Space is not bare geometric extension but the void, the void that delimits and separates objects, and thus enabling us to perceive them as distinct things. Accordingly space is said to represent the principle of material delimitation. As in the case of time, there is no one absolute space but many spaces determined by various material phenomena. Space is defined, not as that which provides room for the existence and movement of matter, but as the mere absence of matter. Space is not the opposite of matter but the absence of matter.

A free shuttle bus will leave downtown Toronto from U of T's Hart House (7 Hart House Circle) at 5:30 pm, and will return immediately after the lecture.

This lecture is sponsored by TLKY: see http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~humdiv/

For more on Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto, see http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/buddhiststudies/

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