《佛说时非时经》考释

首先对保存于汉译佛经<佛说时非时经>中的影长资料进行了初步的辨析,接着进一步确定了"时"和"非时"的确切含意,然后解算出了这些影长资料的两个重要参数--表高值和测量地纬度,并由此推断:(1)该佛经中的"非时"影长资料测量地点在古代印度西北和克什米尔一带,而非经文中声称的佛祖宣说该经的摩揭陀国首都王舍城;(2)经文中"时"对应的影长资料极可能是佛祖所规定;(3)该经中"时"与"非时"两套数据反映了佛教从其发源地向西北传播的情形.

On the Sutra of Time and Non-Time Preached by Buddha

After a preparatory interpretation on the material of the noon shadows preserved in a Chinese translation of the Sutra of Time and Non-Time Preached by Buddha, the terms of Time and Non-Time are then determined in this paper. Two important parameters, namely, the height of gnomon by which the noon shadows were measured, and the latitude of the place where the noon shadows were observed, are worked out further. It is concluded that:(1) the measurements for the noon shadows of Non-Time were made in northwest India and Kashmir, instead of Rajagrha, the capital of the ancient Indian kingdom Magadha; (2) the lengths of shadow of Time were most probably prescribed by Buddha himself; and (3) the two sets of data of Time and Non-Time reflect the spread of Buddhism from its cradle to northwest India.