The Zen Master's Dance - 27 - Being-Time (Chapter Start to End of p. 127)

[Jundo]

Dear Time-Keepers,

We will not spend a little time with Uji, Being-Time. In this essay, Dogen expresses his many visions of time(s).

First, a little Dogen 'MadLibs' (a children's game of filling in words into sentence):

I - Fill in appropriate and interesting words and images into the [ ] in the following opening paragraph:

An old master named Yaoshan said:
For the time being standing [at/in/on a place],
just being-time.
For the time being [doing an activity] [in an opposite kind of place], being-time.
For the time being [a bad or ugly thing], being-time.
For the time being [a good or beautiful thing], being-time.
For the time being [a tangible, ordinary concrete object close at hand], being-time.
For the time being [some other concrete object a bit farther away], being-time.
For the time being [some ordinary occupation or group of people], being-time.
For the time being [some grand aspect of nature], being-time.
In this word “being-time,” time is already just being, and
all being is time.

II - Briefly explain the meaning of "the things of the world stand unimpeded and unhindering in relation to all, in the same way that moment of time do not hinder other moments of time."

III - Briefly explain what Dogen criticizes as the ordinary view of time by common people in the first passage at the time of page 126 (the passage that begins, "Yet, common people do not understand ... ") compared to the wiser view that Dogen describes in the second paragraph (which beings, "But time is not merely this, ... ")

Gassho, J

stlah

PS - A careful reader has noted to me that I got my relativity wrong! On page 120, I noted that, by Special Relativity, time for the twin on the mountain top passes more slowly than for his brother in the valley. In fact, it is the opposite. The twin on the mountain is traveling faster than the lower twin as the planet rotates, however, "Even though velocity slows the aging of the mountain twin, gravity is stronger and thus slows the aging of the valley twin even more." Noted, and thank you. I am no physicist.

If I could, I would travel back in time and correct the manuscript!

[Hosui]

An old master named Yaoshan said:
For the time being standing in front of my home altar,
just being-time.
For the time being facilitating an online lecture at work while shopping for food at Tesco, being-time.
For the time being believing myself to be a separate thing, being-time.
For the time being lucid oneness, being-time.
For the time being the computer keyboard, being-time.
For the time being the hedge outside my study window, being-time.
For the time being the refuse-collectors on the street, being-time.
For the time being gravity, being-time.
In this word “being-time,” time is already just being, and
all being is time.

For phenomena to impede and hinder each other implies an intrinsic essence to those objects, one that’s threatened by intercession. Since neither phenomena nor time have such an essence, not only is there no threat, time is free to joyously collide and collude.

Our belief in sequential time, the view of time by common people, is predicated on us separating ourselves from our experience, e.g., river crossing or mountain climbing now, red-towered palace now. This separation does injustice to the fabulous comprehensiveness in our practice of our being in the here-and-now, where we have all we need. Instead of protecting the small self this way, open up to all aspects of our path in this vey moment.

Gassho
Hosui
sat/lah

[Jundo]

Here is a physicist from Fermi Lab explaining (a bit tedious explanation, but jumping to the conclusion) that a photon traveling at the speed of light experiences ZERO time. For example, a photon traveling from a star 4 light years from Earth to your eye would, by our perspective, take 4 years ... but from the photon's perspective, it would take no time AND the photon would occupy every point in distance along its route at once.

I'm not making this up, the universe is.

Little simpler version ...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hdHywo5QKcg

So, just as we teach in Zen Buddhism, there is a timeless face to reality that is also the passing of time.



And when Tesco, Buddha and light come together ...

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Gassho, J
stlah

[Hokuu]

I
An old master named Yaoshan said:
For the time being stand on the moon, just being-time.
For the time being dance on the earth, being-time.
For the time being war, being-time.
For the time being piece, being-time.
For the time being a mug, being-time.
For the time being a bench, being-time.
For the time being a software developer, being-time.
For the time being the depth of an ocean, being-time.
In this word “being-time,” time is already just being, and all being is time.

II
As every object can be viewed as a separate object by itself, each moment of time is just that - a moment that exists not in relation to the previous or following ones, but exists fully now with no other possibilities or hidden dynamics.
Apparently, at the same time, all is interrelated, but that's a different non-different story.

III
My understanding is that Dogen criticizes how people see the present as a prerequisite for the future, live by this future, and don't see the reality that is now (the same applies to the past). It's like a person is so terrified of death that they don't live 10000 days of life fully, but are slaves to that one day of dying every day of their life. I think Dogen wants to show that this is not the most efficient view.

Gassho
satlah

[Koriki]

I
An old master named Yaoshan said:
For the time being standing at a hospital bedside,
just being-time.
For the time being ice skating on the beach, being-time.
For the time being bigotry, being-time.
For the time being compassion, being-time.
For the time being coffee cup, being-time.
For the time being sunflower, being-time.
For the time being janitor, being-time.
For the time being clear blue sky, being-time.
In this word “being-time,” time is already just being, and
all being is time.

II - Briefly explain the meaning of "the things of the world stand unimpeded and unhindering in relation to all, in the same way that moment of time do not hinder other moments of time."

He is making the point that things in the world are completely themselves. A mountain is fully a mountain, a fish is fully a fish and they don't prevent eachother from being. Likewise, moments in time don't prevent other moments from being. Each moment arises and is complete.

III - Briefly explain what Dogen criticizes as the ordinary view of time by common people in the first passage at the time of page 126 (the passage that begins, "Yet, common people do not understand ... ") compared to the wiser view that Dogen describes in the second paragraph (which beings, "But time is not merely this, ... ")

He is criticizing the view that time is linear, that there is a past, present, and future. Instead he points out that there is an emptiness in time, that the past moments are interconnected with what we experience as the present, and our present actions are interconnected with what happens next.

Gassho,
Koriki
s@lah

[Jundo]

image.png

[Ryūdō-Liúdào]

Hooray, I've just caught up to this part in the book today

I - An old master named Yaoshan said:
For the time being standing at the edge of the surf,
just being-time.
For the time being writing poems in a strip-club, being-time.
For the time being a hole in my pocket, being-time.
For the time being kiss from a lover, being-time.
For the time being this blue teacup warming my lips, being-time.
For the time being the rumble of a motorbike racing down the street, being-time.
For the time being fishermen pulling their boat ashore, being-time.
For the time being clouds unraveling across an empty sky, being-time.
In this word “being-time,” time is already just being,
and all being is time.

II - I think this phrase points to interpenetration. Each thing is fully itself, yet does not block any other thing. Just as this moment does not interfere with the next moment, a bird does not obstruct the sky, a wave does not obstruct the ocean, your sorrow does not obstruct your joy, nor does joy erase sorrow. They coexist without collision.
Problems arise only when mind clings, trying to freeze one moment or push another away. When clinging drops, everything stands exactly where it is, doing no harm, causing no obstruction.

III - I think Dōgen is criticizing the ordinary view of time as a straight line, where "I" move forward and "things" are left behind in the past: "Past is gone, present is here, future is ahead." In this view, time is a thing, and the self is a traveler moving through or along it.
In the wiser view, Dōgen points out that time is not separate from activity, body, or presence. The past has not “gone away” — it is fully alive as what-we-are-now. The "mountain-crossing" did not disappear, nor was it an event inside time. It is this very moment, expressing itself as palace, as sitting, as reading these words. Time is not a line we walk along. Time is what we are, moment by moment... being-time!

Gasshō!

[Jundo]

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[Houzan]

1) An old master named Yaoshan said:
For the time being standing [at the parking lot],
just being-time.
For the time being [running] [along the fjord], being-time.
For the time being [anxiety], being-time.
For the time being [calm], being-time.
For the time being [a glass of water], being-time.
For the time being [the grey clouds in the sky], being-time.
For the time being [people walking by my desk], being-time.
For the time being [our solar system travels across the cosmos], being-time.
In this word “being-time,” time is already just being, and
all being is time.

2) Dogen expresses emptiness. Standing unimpeded by, and unhindering to, something else means its the same thing. How can the right sleeve of your shirt be impeded by, or hinder, the left sleeve of your shirt? Usually we think of the material world when we think of emptiness. Here Dogen applies this to time as well.

3) I believe Dogen critizes the view that time is ONLY linear, moving from past to present. He tells us to open our second eye and see that time is also empty.

Gassho, Hozan
satlah

[Jundo]

Fjord parking lot time ... clouds in sky ...

friday-photo-654-new-parking-regulations-1030x687.jpg

[Furyu]

(1)
An old master named Yaoshan said:
For the time being standing [in a classroom], just being-time.
For the time being [sitting] [by the river], being-time.
For the time being [cursing at the traffic], being-time.
For the time being [writing the Heart Sutra], being-time.
For the time being [a calculator], being-time.
For the time being [a wilted fern in a pot], being-time.
For the time being [scrubbing the oven], being-time.
For the time being [the sun rising behind the mountain tops], being-time.
In this word “being-time,” time is already just being, and all being is time.

(2)
All things are as they are together in this moment. All things are as they can only be in this very moment. Any impeding or hindering is of our making.

(3)
I suppose we tend to divide time as separate events and look at things from the view that we are constantly moving from a concluded event which we imagine as being behind us, or separated from us by the passage of a time. Similarly, we imagine ourselves to be constantly moving towards a future which we imagine will manifest at a point ahead of us, but again, separate from now. Thus the present seems to be somehow disconnected from past and future and everything is fragmented. But the eternal now is the constant change of all things being-time as time-beings. Thus my waking up this morning is my fingers typing this response and your reading of it is contained in the soup I will have for dinner. Bon appétit.

Gasshō
sat-lah
Fūryū

[Jundo]

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