UJI Part Twenty | Uji’s Time

“Mountains are of time: oceans are of time. Were there no time, neither mountains nor oceans could be. Do not think that time does not exist for the mountains and oceans of the present moment. Were time to cease to exist, so would mountains and oceans cease to exist: if time does not become extinct, then mountains and oceans too will not become extinct.”

Over and over again, Dōgen emphasizes the monolithic connection between time and being, here—mountains and oceans. He asserts that these forms are inherently bound to time for their being. Without time, they could not exist.

Similar to Albert Einstein's recognition of the potency of visualized thought experiments, Dōgen presents us with a challenging gedankenexperiment: The mountains and oceans we perceive are time. What if time were to cease? So would the existence of these entities. Time and mountains, time and oceans, cannot be pulled apart.

When we embody this deep recognition that being and time are not separate entities, a natural awareness emerges. The mountains and oceans do not merely exist within the continuity of time; mountains are time and oceans are time. We are no different. When we are open to this, we are manifestations of time, and we manifest time. We are the action of time—this is our continuance. This is the essence of living uji.

What we know as ourselves is not who we are. Let that go, and the imperative of the present-infinite will manifest. Then you will meet that One...