Each Moment Is the Universe: Zen and the Way of Being Time

Andrea Martin did a pretty good job in selecting talks given by Katagiri over the years about a broad view of time. Boing: the selections in the first chapters lay a nice foundation from which to spring forward. Pop: the middle selections provide the essence of Dogen's teaching of "Uji" (Being-time). Katagiri mentions that there are 6,400,099,180 moments times 65 instants in a day. In the stillness of the night you are driving and a deer POPs in to your headlights! At the "pivot of nothingness" POP! "Wow, a deer!" Act. Be kind! Killing Buddha! Ohhh: the last selections, however, seem to stray from the central theme of being-time, at least as it was presented by Dogen in Shobogenzo, "Uji." I've read several commentaries on "Uji" and neither they nor "Uji" itself deal with "karma." Yet, Andrea Martin has thrown in many selections where Katagiri discussed karma, cause and effect, the law of causation, reincarnation. He's trying to explain how life moves, develops, matures from the instantaneous/impermanent POP to a meaningful existence. Particularly misleading (in my mind--and probably in the frustrated mind of reviewer Asp) is the inclusion of Katagiri's discussion of the complex Buddhist psychology of "Vijnanavada." Its concepts of container/seed/perfume implies a linear progression of time applied to human consciousness. Ohhh, maybe you can save that deer in a future life. Dogen actually revolted against any implication of linearity in "Uji." He certainly did not want to limit Being-time just to humans. Chapter 24, "How to make Life Mature," seems to complicate an otherwise fine treatment of the theme of time. Nevertheless, the book as a whole is huge. Katagiri simplifies many of the deep thoughts about time. Required reading for Zen Buddhists.

I thought this book helped me to understand the Zen concepts of right now, right here and being-time better than any other book I've read. I don't have a Zen teacher yet so I've searched for a book that would explain some of the terminology in a way that I could grasp. This book does that. It is written in a way that challanges you to stop and think about what you just read. His explanation that you cannot separate time from space or space from time but you have to think of them separately and that at the intersection of time and space, they come together mutually and this is right here, right now was a real eureka moment for me. I usually will highlight some passages in a book that I'm reading so that I can find them for future reference. It seems that I highlighted about 1/3 of this book. It is a book that I will not loan out because I will be referring to it quite often.

This is absolutely one of the most profound Buddhist books I've ever read. I can see why some folks would consider its middle chapters on "being-time" do be a little bit difficult to comprehend, as he's speaking about the experience of seeing the world (time, space, and being) through the awakened mind. But what a vivid description! There were parts I didn't grasp, but that didn't bother me. To the contrary, I found it an inspiring vision of an enlightened mind.

A direct road to realization of one's mind is to understand, deeply, the nature of impermanence and time. This is a remarkable teaching. Get comfortable, RELAX and bring all of yourself into reading each chapter sequentially, carefully and over a period of time. Then come back to the book at the beginning and read it again the same way. It is just possible you may begin to understand the feeling of profound truth and sense of freedom it brings. A reviewer in this section states that the book will always be by his side; mine too.

So much of our life squeeze revolves around the tension between impermanence and our interdependence with all sentient beings. This focus on the deeper nature of time and space is so richly presented, filled with examples that take a deeper understanding to the core of our bones. "So if you want to know yourself and society as it really is and live comfortably in the transient reality of a moment, make your body and mind calm. Settle on yourself as if your body and mind were a huge building rising toward the sky from your round cusion. Open your mind again and again to see what impermanence means." This will be a book always by my side. Highly recommended.