Dogen's 'Being-Time' - Part 1
Introduction:
From my first ponderings as a young
child intrigued by the deep time of both
the fossil record and the cosmos alike, to the graduate level coursework in Einstein’s
theory of relativity that I managed to survive on my way to deciding against an
advanced degree in physics, I’ve always been interested in the nature of space
and time and the answers “out there” waiting to be found. Of course I now know
that space and time are not two separate entities at all; rather, they are so inextricably
linked as to only meaningfully be referred to as space-time. Ah, but I risk
getting ahead of myself.
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| Dogen gazing at the moon |
I suspect that Dogen Zenji, the 13th
century monk so prominent in Japanese Zen, was likewise interested in what
answers might be found “out there.” What else could have motivated him to
embark upon a dangerous maritime journey to China
To study the Buddha Way
In my entire life there have been
only two books that intrigued me enough, were unavailable enough (or so it
seemed at the time), and were deemed important enough to “my search” that I was
prompted to photocopy the entirety of their contents from the only copies I
could find in order to study them at my leisure. The first of these was Hans
Reichenbach’s The Philosophy of Space and Time – copied at a nickel per page on a coin operated machine at my old
alma mater after my professor cited it in one of his lectures on the philosophy
of science. The other was the four-volume set of Kosen Nishiyama’s translation
of Dogen’s Shobogenzo: The Eye and
Treasury of the True Law – discovered as if a diamond in the coal mine of a
local seminary library. (No offense intended to any readers who might relish
getting lost amongst stacks of Christian theology texts!)
At this point it should come as no
surprise that Uji is one of my
favorite fascicles of Dogen’s Shobogenzo.
Variously translated as Being-time (Nishiyama,
1975), The Time-Being (Welch &
Tanahashi, 1985), and Existence-time
(Nishijima & Cross, 2009), amongst others, Uji is a treatise on the nature of time, our experience of it, and
the ramifications of our understanding (or lack thereof) of our true
relationship to it. Let’s see, then, if any of my scientifically oriented explorations
of the nature of space-time might be of assistance in making sense of a 13th
century Zen monk’s exposition of the nature of existence and time – being-time.
Here goes…
Dogen’s ‘Being-Time’
There are many ways to think about
time, one of which is to think of it as something that passes, or as something
that we pass through. This is the way that we commonly think of life and time –
dualistic, though it may be. Dogen’s realization, however, is that in addition
to this everyday way of thinking about time there is the reality that we are
time:
“Being-time” means that time is being; i.e.,
“time is existence, existence is time.” The shape of a Buddha statue is time.
Time is the radiant nature of each moment; it is the momentary, everyday time
in the present (Nishiyama, 1975, p. 68 – all subsequent translated passages
from Uji are also from this source).
The Universe Is Time.
So, what are we to make of this “we
are time” way of thinking about reality? Let’s veer into the scientific
realm in order to apprehend the big picture. Think of the Big Bang, if you
will. If you’re like me, when you think of the Big Bang you imagine something
similar to the image below. Actually, the image below is of a supernova, but
that’s also how I imagine the Big Bang to have happened – despite my
recognition that neither viewer nor vantage point could have then existed. Indeed,
how can a viewer, one who exists, precede all of existence; and how can a
vantage point, an existent point in space, precede the Big Bang’s creation of
any and all points in space?
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| Hubble telescope image of a supernova |
If a void were to have existed into
which the universe then flowered into existence, then that void would have been
devoid of space and time (in addition to being devoid of everything else), for
space exists only in relation to things, and time only to their movement. Within
such a conceptualized void there would be no things, and thus no space to exist
between them. Within the void there is no time. For time to exist there needs
to be something happening, things moving – interstellar gas collecting into
nebulae and then condensing into stars; continents colliding and thrusting
mountains into the air; water raining downward, forming rivers and carving
canyons; a mind lost in concentration one moment, becoming bored the next. Neither
time nor space existed until the universe exploded into existence – until the
universe came into being. Thus, the existence of the universe and the time of
the universe are one. This is the being-time of the universe.
At this point an unconvinced reader
might be eager to suggest that we do away with the vantage point “outside of”
the Big Bang and focus only on the “inside”. Okay, let’s conceptualize a
vantage point “inside of” the unimaginably dense, undifferentiated unity that was
the pre-explosion seed of our universe, the seed which has since blossomed into
our universe. Keep in mind that there is no “outside” – that is why we’re
imagining ourselves “inside,” after all. The “inside” of this thingless,
spaceless unity that we are imagining would likewise be absent of time for the
same reasons that the void is absent of time. Thus, existence and time are one.
We Are Time.
Regular readers of this blog, in
addition to many other Buddhist practitioners, will be familiar with the teaching
of no-self. The teaching of no-self is essentially the recognition of the
emptiness (the lack of fixed and independent existence) of all phenomena,
including the collection of phenomena that we commonly refer to as ‘the self.’ Now,
the Heart Sutra’s insistence that ‘form is emptiness and emptiness is form’ might
prompt us to focus on emptiness as something that applies to the realm of
materiality (existence, being). Dogen’s Uji,
however, invites us to explore what emptiness means in the temporal realm as
well. Please keep this in mind as we continue unraveling what Dogen means when
he says “being-time.”
Okay, if the universe in its
entirety is being-time, then everything contained herein is being-time. Just as
the universe blossomed into being and with it, time, so we arise in form, each
with our own time. This is Dogen’s being-time. However, just as the Heart Sutra
encourages non-attachment to form (being), we should likewise refrain from
attachment to being-time. With that in mind let’s explore another couple of pertinent
passages:
Every thing, every being in this entire
world is time. No object obstructs or opposes any other object, nor can time
ever obstruct any other time (p. 68).
The central meaning of being-time is: every
being in the entire world is related to each other and can never be separated
from time (p. 69).
If We Are Time, Then Where Does The
Time Go?
We’ve gotten very good at measuring
‘the passage of time.’ With ‘the passage of time’ we came to refer to some
periods of time as ‘years’, and fragments of those years as ‘months’ and ‘seasons’.
With ‘the passage of time’ we went from measuring time as the transition of
daylight to darkness and back again, to measuring time in hours and minutes and
seconds. Note that all of these periods of time are based upon the relationship
between things – between the sun and the earth, between the moon and the earth,
and increasingly refined increments thereof. At the present time we have atomic clocks that define a ‘tick of the clock’ to be "the duration of 9,192,631,770 cycles of microwave light absorbed or
emitted by the hyperfine transition of caesium-133 atoms in their ground state
undisturbed by external fields" (General Conference on Weights and
Measures of 1967 as quoted in the preceding Wikipedia link). By the way, caesium-133 atoms are merely collections of
“things” that we are making use of in order to track ‘the passage of time.’
But if time passes, where does it
go? If time passes and we are time, where do we go? It is the seemingly
universally shared experience that time is something that passes us by that inhibits
us from enquiring more deeply into its nature. As Dogen says:
Even though we have not calculated the
length of day by ourselves, there is no doubt that a day contains twenty-four
hours. The changing of time is clear so there is no reason to doubt it; but
this does not mean that we know exactly what time is (p. 68).
Do not think of time as merely flying by; do
not study the fleeting aspect of time. If time is really flying away, there
would be a separation between time and ourselves. If you think that time is
just a passing phenomenon, you will never understand being-time (p. 69).
Why don’t we leave it right here
for now – even though we’ve only made it through two pages of what is actually
a much longer fascicle! Indeed, Dogen’s writing can be like a bramble, dense and
thorny; so let’s back away for a bit before trying to make further headway. After
all, we’re pushing the limits of our ability to comprehend – if only for the
time-being!
Please note: Though I’ve primarily
quoted from just one source translation, Nishiyama (1975), the reader might
want to check out others listed in the reference section below. At least a
couple of them are available online – links provided. I’ve made use of all of
them at one time or another as I’ve read and reread this piece. Be forewarned,
though, comparing any two translations line by line can yield some surprises. Furthermore,
due to the fact that Dogen was frequently writing from a place of understanding
that is difficult to put into any words at all, let alone words that are easily
understood, it behooves us to approach his writings from the vantage point of a
solid meditative practice. Until next time!
References
Cleary, T. (2001). Shobogenzo: Zen
essays by Dogen. In Classics of Zen Buddhism: The collected translations of
Thomas Cleary, Vol. Two. (T. Cleary, Trans.) Shambhala Publications by special
arrangement with University
of Hawaii Press
Nearman, H. (2007). Shobogenzo: the treasure
house of the eye of the true teaching (H. Nearman, Trans.) Published by Shasta
Abbey Press. (Dogen’s original work from 1240.) http://www.shastaabbey.org/pdf/shoboAll.pdf
Nishijima, G. W., Cross C. (2009). Shobogenzo:
the true Dharma-eye treasury, Vol. I. (G. W. Nishijima & C. Cross, Trans.)
Published by Numata
Center
Nishiyama, K. (1975). Shobogenzo: the
eye and treasury of the true law, Vol. I. (K. Nishiyama, Trans.) Published by
Nakayama Shobo Buddhist Book Store. (Dogen’s original work from 1240.)
Okumura, S. (2010). Realizing
genjokoan: The key to Dogen’s shobogenzo (S. Okumura, Trans.). Wisdom
Publications. (Dogen’s original work from 1233)
Welch, D., Tanahashi, K. (1985). The
time-being: Moon in a dewdrop – writings of Zen master Dogen. (D. Welch &
K. Tanahashi, Trans.; K. Tanahashi, Ed.) North Point Press. (Dogen’s original
work from 1240.)
Image Credits
Hubble telescope
image of a supernova (slightly retouched by author in order to remove extraneous "things") courtesy of Nasa via:
Image of Dogen
looking at the moon courtesy of Shii via:
Copyright 2013 by Maku Mark Frank
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