During the Jin dynasty (266-420), a record of Mahasangha Vinaya (Sanksrit buddhist scriptures) translated by Buddabhadra and Chinese monk Faxian revealed one of the earliest intuition and understanding of the concept and value of time.

Literal translation from Volume 17, Mahasangha Vinaya: “20 thoughts make a blink moment. 20 blink moments is a snap of a finger. 20 snaps of a finger make as an anticipation. 20 anticipations is a moment. a long day is 18 moments. a short night is 12 moments, and a long night is 18 moments. a short day is 12 moments.”