UJI Part Six | Uji’s Seamless Flow
“Yakusan’s ‘being a triple-headed and eight-armed one’ refers to a time that he would have called ‘yesterday’: his ‘being someone eight or sixteen feet tall’ refers to a time that he would have called ‘today’. Be that as it may, this principle of a past and a present simply corresponds to the two periods of time when an I had headed straight into the mountains and when an I was now looking out from a vermilion pedestal over the thousands of peaks and the thousands beyond them. Nor have such periods passed away. The time of an I being ‘triple-headed and eight-armed for the time being’ had passed, but even though it seemed to be of another time and place, it was indeed a part of the ever-present now. The time of an I being ‘eight or sixteen feet tall for the time being’ has also passed, but even though it now seems to be something distant from us, it is indeed part of the ever- present now. Thus, we speak of the pine as an analogy for time, as we also do of the bamboo.”
As we continue to explore Yakusan's imagery of 'being a triple-headed and eight-armed one' for 'yesterday' and 'being someone eight or sixteen feet tall' for 'today,' we are invited to deepen our understanding of time and existence. Yakusan does not suggest a linear progression where past experiences are left behind as we advance. Instead, he points to the principle that these apparent-past states are integral to the present moment.
Our past and present are not isolated segments of time but aspects of a continuous, ever-present now. The time when Yakusan was 'triple-headed and eight-armed' and when he was 'eight or sixteen feet tall' are not separate; they are expressions of the same uji we are experiencing. This understanding shifts our perspective from viewing time as a sequence of disconnected events to seeing it as a seamless flow where each moment embodies the totality of existence.
Yakusan's analogy of the pine and bamboo illustrates this beautifully. The pine is time, and the bamboo is time. Each completely manifests its own uji, neither obstructing the other nor existing apart from the totality of being-time. We don't need to make the pine or bamboo symbolize something beyond themselves. Pine is completely pine. Bamboo is completely bamboo. And yet each is uji. This challenges our tendency to imagine time as something separate from the things that appear within it. Time is not merely the backdrop against which the pine grows or the bamboo appears. The pine itself is time. The bamboo itself is time.
By awakening to our past and present as intertwined, we open ourselves to a deeper appreciation of uji. Each moment and each experience is a complete manifestation of the entire cosmos. This realization allows us to see the present-infinite's richness and embrace the continuous dance of existence.
By embracing the seamless flow of time, we can live each moment with a deep sense of connection and harmony. This is the heart of our practice and the essence of the teaching of Uji. This awareness enables us to engage with life more fully, responding to each moment with wisdom and compassion. This is living uji.
