Time

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



This morning I am inspired by student Shoji’s work on Uji, a piece written by Master Dogen in the 13th century. Uji is a koan of sorts and relates time and being.



He concludes in a piece he is writing, A blade of grass that will eventually grow on a mountain that does not yet exist is here, always was and always will be. Likewise, a leaf that grew and decomposed millions of years ago is here, always was and always will be. After all, where is there to go if everything and everytime is now - is this present moment?



Zen asks us to experience all points, all relationships, all time as one, and, as Alan Watts once said: we are it. Conversely, for time to be time it must have points in space related to each other. And these points must be observed by an observer. In Samadhi: no points, no relationships, no observers, no time.





Separation from the observed is an illusion, therefore, observer and observed is an illusion, past, present and future is an illusion. There is no mountain then or now, no leaf then or now, there is no then or now, period.



And yet, we remember past and we see potential future. And if a mountain is before us we must climb it. I think much like the relationship between classical physics and quantum theory, we must ask ourselves at what point on the continuum of awareness does one give way to the other and is there something that holds them together?