Dogen Sangha Blog

　　by Gudo NISHIJIMA

Japanese / German

Gudo Master Gudo Nishijima has been practicing Buddhism for more than sixty years. He was a student of Master Kodo Sawaki, an itinerant priest famous for his efforts to restore Zazen to its rightful place at the center of Buddhism. Master Nishijima was ordained as a priest by the late Master Rempo Niwa, formerly head of the Soto Sect, and has written many books on Buddhism in both Japanese and in English. For over twenty years, he has been giving instructions on Zazen and lectures in English.
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Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Time

Dear Nishijima,
How can one speculate about time? The natural thought is to believe that time moves in one direction from point A to point B. Lately I've been feeling that time moves in more than one direction or does not exist at all. But this is difficult to reconcile. Any thoughts?

Thank you,
Tom

posted by Tom | 2:30 AM

1 Comments:

Blogger GUDO NISHIJIMA said...

Dear Tom San,

Thank you very much for your important question, and in Buddhism we have a very exact and clear interpretation of time.

The real time exists only at the present moment.

The present moment is cut from the moment before and the moment after with gaps.

Therefore we can think that the real time in Buddhism is similar to a point, which is separated from the former point and from the latter point like a point in a line in geometry.

In Shobogenzo Master Dogen explains the real situation of time at the present moment in Chapter Uji, Hotsu-bodai-shin,
and so forth.

Gudo Wafu Nishijima

8:45 PM, March 04, 2008  

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