And I'm thinking, I'm not sure yet, but thinking to study Shobo Genzo Uji in November, Genzo Eritreate. So if you are interested in Uji, please come to Bloomington. So today, I don't talk on Shobo Genzo Uji. But first, I'd like to introduce some ideas about time that I know. Some are in Buddhism. Some are not Buddhism. And if I have time, I try to point out why Dogen wrote Uji, why Uji or time, the clear insight about time is important for Dogen. Well, first of all, there are many different ideas on time.

[01:03]

And of course, the most familiar idea about time is the time we use as a kind of a conventional system. Like today is February something. And now it's 7.35 in the evening. And this idea of we are most familiar is kind of a fiction. And it's very important to understand that the time is a fiction. You know, I think in January 2000, so four years ago, I went to Alaska, encouraged Alaska to read one week Sesshin from here.

[02:10]

And right before the airplane landed to the airport, they announced for time in Alaska. And I found there's one hour time difference between San Francisco and Alaska. Somehow, at that time, I had a question. My question was, what time was it, or is it, at North Pole? Do you understand the question? You know, time is, at least conventional time, is based on which part of the Earth we are. And at the North Pole and also South Pole, there's no time. So I thought, if a Santa Claus really live right on the North Pole, if he has a house on the North Pole, at the center of the house, he has no time.

[03:28]

And the rest of his house, he has 24 hours. It's very interesting and strange. Why such a thing happens? But that is really true. You know, in the history, someone first reached the North Pole. And in the history, it said the person reached the North Pole certain day, certain time. But what time did they use? Great achievement. Maybe so. But anyway, we need to use some convention. So the time as a system is man-made. It's fictitious. It's not really there. You know, even, you know, we leave a baby right on the north pole, you know, the baby grow.

[04:36]

Even though there's no time, still a baby will grow. So first I think we need especially to understand what is Dogen discussing about. time. We need to forget or we need to see that time, that idea of time we usually have is a fiction. It's not real time. So only even on the North Pole, there's time. Time flows. And that is a second idea of time. we are familiar with, that is, time always flows from past through present to the future. This is the second kind of time or idea about time we have.

[05:38]

And this is very common idea. And there's one Buddhist school. They think time flows from past through present to the future. But past is already gone, and future has not yet come. So only present moment is reality. No past, no future, only this moment. The school was called Kyoryobu. I forget the Sanskrit name. But in Kyoryobu, they think time flows from past through present to the future. and only this moment is reality, really exists.

[06:47]

And even though we are familiar with this idea, but when we conventionally talk about time, this present moment has certain length, extinction. but actually the present moment has no extinction, no rings. If there are even the slightest rings, we can still cut into two, and one is still already in the past, and another part is still in the future. So, precisely speaking, this time, this present moment has no time, no extinction, no length. It's zero. So, there's nothing. And, you know,

[07:48]

So it's kind of strange things. Past is already gone, and the future has not yet come, so they are not real reality. But this present moment is zero, no length. It's kind of a strange thing. But that is one idea about time and present moment. And the third idea about time is time flows not from the past, but some people thought time flows from the future. Time flows from the future to the present and goes to the past. This idea was from one of the Buddhist schools, in the early Buddhist school called Setsui Sai Ubu in Japanese.

[08:54]

I think in Sanskrit, celibacy burden or something. They thought everything really exists. And three times, past, present, and future also really exist. So there are the things or they categorize the beings or things or existence into 75 entities, and those are called dharmas or elements. And they say those 75 elements really exist always. And that dharma, that thing in the future, come to the present and just go to the past.

[09:56]

So time flows from future to the present and to the past. So this is exactly the opposite. And I think this is really kind of a strange idea, at least not familiar with us. But that is one theory about time. And this is not only Buddhist, but In Japan, when we discuss about Dogen's Uji, often discussion on time by St. Augustine is referred to. You know St. Augustine, right? In his confessions, One section in his confession, St.

[11:00]

Augustine discussed about time. And one phrase he says in this translation, it says, when time is measured, where does it come from? What Where does it come from? By what route does it pass? And where does it go? It must come out of the future, pass by the present, and go into the past. So it comes from what as yet does not exist. So future does not yet exist, but time came from future. So time came from what as yet does not exist.

[12:05]

And passes through that which lacks extension, that is present moment. and goes into that which is now non-existent. So clearly he thinks time flows from the future through the present and goes to the past. So it's very interesting. One of the Buddhist schools and Christian theologists thought in the same way. So it's nice to think of this possibility or this way of seeing time. We almost always think time flies from past to the present and present to the future.

[13:07]

But that is only one way of seeing time. There's another possibility. And next one is another idea of time. And this is the idea of one of the most important Mahayana Buddhist teachers whose name was Nagarjuna. the most important writing of Nagarjuna is Majamika Karika. And one of the sections of his Majamika Karika is examination of time. And in that, it's a kind of a very short section But Ryuji or Nagarjuna was very clear about time.

[14:17]

Let me read one verse. He said, if it is assumed that time exists depending upon an existent, this means The time is not an independent entity. Time doesn't really exist. But time is caused, in a sense, or we can see or we can recognize time because things are changing. If nothing would change, we don't really see the time. So time depends on the existence of beings or impermanence. Because things are changing, because things are impermanent, we see the change, and we see how that was changed.

[15:24]

in comparing with the past and present. And we are thinking about how it will change in the future. So time is our recognition of impermanence. So time does not really exist independent from beings. So time is depending on beings. That is the very basis of Buddhist idea of time. And he said, if we could assume that time exists depending upon an existent, how can there be time without an existent? So time doesn't exist without existent. then no existent whatsoever is found to exist.

[16:32]

That means, you know, as it's said in the Heart Sutra, there are only five skandhas are there. Only five skandhas. And even those five skandhas are empty. So actually there's no beings. If there's no being, there's no time. So being is empty. That means time is also empty. So there's no time. Nagarjuna's conclusion about time is, where can time be? Where can time be? Of course, nowhere. So he's very clear. There's no time. Then what is going on? So time is still a question, and we need to find then what is time.

[17:41]

Actually, so this is to me a false idea of time. There's no such thing. And fifth, next one is time, because time is our recognition. We recognize time using our mind or consciousness. So time is created in our mind. And again, this is, I mean, St. Augustine's discussion is very clear about this. What is by now evident and clear is that neither future nor past exists. And it is in exact language to speak of three times.

[18:46]

So in a sense, St. Augustine agreed with Nagarjuna. There's no three times. Past, present, and future. Perhaps it would be exact to say, St. Augustine said, there are three times. A present of things past. A present of things present. A present of things to come. Do you understand? So only this present moment is reality. Future has not yet come. Past is already gone. So they are not reality. Only this present moment is reality. So both past and the future are only in this present moment. And he continues.

[19:50]

In the soul, there are these three aspects of time. So these three times are actually three aspects of this present moment. In the soul, there are these three aspects of time, and I do not see them anywhere else, only at this present moment. And the present, considering the past, the present, this moment, considering the past is the memory. So past is actually in our memory. The present, considering the present, is immediate awareness of this moment.

[20:58]

To me, this is like Buddhist. And the present, considering the future, is expectation. So future is within our mind of this present moment as our hope, our expectation. And past exists in our mind at this present moment as a memory. So To me, this is the fifth idea about time. Time is in our mind. It's not outside of ourselves. And these five, I think there are more, but these five are, to me, important ideas of time to understand what Dogen is discussing about in Shobogen's Uji.

[22:04]

And there's another kind of time, or another idea of time. Those five all think time is movement. Time flies from past through present to the future, or from future to the present to the past. But there's another kind of another idea, that time which doesn't move. Have you ever thought that time which doesn't move, which doesn't flow, which doesn't fly, and that time which doesn't move is eternity? Eternity is not a long period of time, but eternity doesn't move.

[23:10]

And eternity is time. And actually, the title, name of the section where St. Augustine discuss about time is Time and Eternity. Time and eternity. So when we think of time, we need to think of eternity. What is eternity? Of course, in Christianity it's clear. God is eternity. And we are all living within time, time and space. And in Buddhism, Buddhism doesn't think there's something eternity, everything is impermanent. But still there's time which doesn't move in Buddhism.

[24:13]

And that is also very important to understand Dogen. The thing, anything cannot be permanent, cannot be eternal. In this case, anything means any conditioned things. anything created by the collection of causes and conditions, everything is always changing. And that kind of a power of impermanence is our life force. So actually there's nothing eternal in Buddhism. But still there's something which is beyond time, beyond time and beyond space.

[25:17]

Do you know what it is? That is nirvana. Nirvana is beyond time and beyond space. but nirvana is not a being, then what is nirvana? And it's also important, what is the relationship between time and nirvana, or in this case, in Buddhist terms, time and eternity? Where can we find eternity? That is, the time which doesn't move. And that is what Dogen Zenji want to point out in Shobo Genzo Uji. Everything is moving, everything is changing, so everything is impermanent. Where can we find eternity? I think that is the main point of Shobo Genzo Uji. And well, because we don't have much time,

[26:24]

So I start to talk on Dogenland time. In Shōbōgenzo, not Shōbōgenzo, but in Bendōwa, Dogenzen writes about his practice of the Zen. And one part of his description of zazen, he said something like this. He said, therefore, even if only one person sits for a short time, Because this zazen is one with all existence and completely permeates all time, it performs everlasting Buddha guidance within the inexhaustible dharma world in the past, present, and future.

[27:39]

Zazen is equally the same practice and the same enlightenment for both the person sitting and for all dharmas. I think you are very familiar with this saying. So he said, even if only one person sits for a short time, this short time means time within the floor, from future and from past through present and future, while this is also a time in a conventional system, man-made system of time. We sit from, in Bloomington, we sit from 5 to 7, to 15-minute period. So this is certain time and certain length, and 15 minutes is not a long time. But he said, even if one person sits for a short time, this zazen is one with all beings in this entire world.

[28:52]

space and all time in the past, future, and present. So in our Zazen, in our Jiju Zanmai actually, in our Jiju Zanmai, we are one with entire time, past, present, and future within this present moment. And we are one with all beings within this entire space So here are two kinds of time Dogen is discussing. One is the short time we sit, certain day, certain time, certain year. And another time is when we sit facing the wall and, you know, keep our eyes open and letting go of whatever coming up from our mind.

[29:57]

Then really we are one with entire time and entire space. It's kind of a strange thing. But if we don't believe this, I don't like the word believe, but if this doesn't mean anything, this doesn't make sense to us, there's no meaning in our practice following Dogen Zenji's teaching. We practice, at least I have been practicing this Zazen, following Dogen Zenji's teachings, Because even though at least first 20 years, this kind of thing didn't make any sense to me. But somehow it's important. So it's not understanding, but it's kind of faith or trust.

[31:04]

not only Dogen Zenji's writings but also my teacher's teaching and also my teacher's practice So here Dogen Zen's talking about two different times. One is time of sitting in our daily lives. That is within, you know, flows a stream of time, certain period, certain extinction or length, and it's not too long. But within this short time, entire space and time is included. And this, you know, this time, this present moment is going, you know, from past, present to the future.

[32:10]

And yet, each moment, we are one with entire time and entire space. To me, it's a really amazing idea of time. I introduced five ideas of time, but I think those five ideas are all included in Dogen's teaching or insight of time, really. So Dogen then doesn't negate, not negate or ignore, the conventional idea or system or man-made kind of fabrication of time. But we use those times. And yet, in each moment within that conventional time, we experience eternity.

[33:18]

Within really short period of time, even there's no length. As I said, present moment has no length. So it's zero. It's empty. But still this empty present moment, entire past from the beginningless beginning to entire future to endless end is reflected or included. It's a really amazing image or idea of time. And that happens within our Jiju Yuzanmai. So in Jiju Yuzanmai, the nature of time is kind of transformed. But still, that is moment by moment. And another writing Dogen discussed about time and being.

[34:28]

Uji is, I think as you know, being time. That means being, and time is one thing. There's no being without time, and there's no time without being. So Uji means this body and mind. Each one of us are Uji. This combination of being and time is our self. And in Shobo Genzo, Genjo Koan, in the first section until, in my translation, until section 8, he discussed about self and media dharmas. and he discussed about delusion and enlightenment. He said, you know, conveying ourselves toward all dharmas, all beings, and carry out practice enlightenment is delusion.

[35:35]

But all mere dharmas came toward us and carry out practice enlightenment through this person's body and mind is enlightenment. So he is discussing about delusion and enlightenment in the context of relationship between self and all India dharmas. And he said, if we think this person is a subject and all myriads of dharmas are objects, and in order to see or find or awaken to the reality of all beings, That is kind of a common understanding or a common sense of Buddhist practice. But he said that kind of practice is delusion or basic structure of such practice is delusion because there's separation between subject and objective.

[36:49]

But actually this body and mind is five skandhas, and this is really a part of media dharmas. We are inside. We cannot get outside and see the media dharmas as objects. We are there. When in the Heart Sutra, It said, Avalokiteshvara, when deeply practicing the prajna parameter, clearly see the five skandhas are empty. In this sentence, important point is to see that Avalokiteshvara is five skandhas. That means five skandhas clearly see the emptiness of five skandhas. And five skandhas means this body and mind. So this body and mind, you know, five skandhas means rupa or material and other four elements of our psychology.

[37:57]

So five skandhas means our body and mind. And prajnaparamita is these five skandhas see the emptiness of five skandhas. It's not a matter of this person see the truth or reality of emptiness of five skandhas. If we think or understand in that way, we are still within delusion. We don't really understand Buddha's teaching. So prajnaparamita or wisdom is not one way of viewing things using our mind, our intellection. But at least according to Dogen, this sitting, upright sitting, and letting go of whatever coming up from our mind, this sitting is itself wisdom. Because within this sitting, this five skandhas, this body and mind, clearly see the emptiness of five skandhas.

[39:08]

Means five skandhas become five skandhas. That's all. There's no observer and nothing which is of that. We are really one thing. And this is the way, as Dogen said, within our Zazen. We are one with all beings and one with all time. And in the Genjo Koan, next he discussed about time using the analogy of firewood and ash. This is about time. So in Genjōkō and Dōgenzen we discuss about actually being and time. And I think Dogenzen thought the description of Kenjo Koan is not enough to show the reality of time. That's why I think he wrote Shobo Genzo Uji, to show us the reality of time.

[40:18]

Of course, being time, being and time. And another point why Dogen Zenji needs to write Shobo Genzo Uji is his understanding or insight of Buddha nature. In Shobo Genzo Buddha Nature, Dogen Zenji said, what did he say? Oh, okay. I remember. He quote a sentence from the Mahaparinibbana Sutra that said, if you want to see the Buddha nature, you have to see the time and conditions.

[41:20]

And when time comes, appropriate time comes, Buddha nature appears. Otherwise, you cannot see Buddha nature. But Dogen Zenji interprets this sentence from the Nirvana Sutra. He says, time is always here. So it's not a matter, you know, in the future, certain light, time is coming. And when the time has come, then we can see the Buddha nature. That is a common understanding of the sentence. But Dogen says, time is always alive. The time is always alive at this moment. And the next, later section of Buddha-nature, Dogen Zen said, impermanence is Buddha-nature.

[42:34]

This is also, if you study the Buddhist theory of Buddha-nature, this is amazing thing. Almost opposite. Of course, this impermanence is Buddha-nature, was originally said by the sixth ancestor, Huinan. But Dogen Zenji really likes this expression. Impermanence is Buddha nature. But this is really against the original Buddhist theory of Buddha nature. Original idea of Buddha nature is, you know, As Mahayana Buddhists, Mahayana Buddhists are called bodhisattva, need Buddha nature. Before Mahayana, they didn't need Buddha nature.

[43:40]

Do you know why? Because Buddha was only one. No one thought anyone else could become Buddha. you know, after Shakyamuni Buddha died until the next Buddha, Maitreya, appeared, there's no Buddha in this world. That means no one can become Buddha. So there's no necessity, not necessary to discuss whether we can become Buddha or not. The answer is very clear, no. No one can become Buddha, and that's okay. But because Mahayana Buddhists started to think, you know, we are all Buddha's children. Bodhisattva means Buddha's children or Buddha to be. All living beings can become Buddha sooner or later. And, you know, as a Bodhisattva, we take a vow to attain the Buddhahood.

[44:50]

But still, and we start to practice, but still we are so much deluded. Our delusion is so deep. Even our aspiration to practice came out of our delusion or our egocentric mind to make this person better. So it's really difficult to find something like Buddha within ourselves. But still, if we don't have a trust or faith that even though we are still very deluded, still we are Buddha's children. So if we practice in this way for a long time, there's a possibility that all beings can become Buddha. So Buddha nature is only necessary in Mahayana Buddhism.

[45:54]

Because without such trust or faith, even though we are still very immature as a Buddha children, still if we practice, continue to practice almost forever, then it's possible to become Buddha. We need this kind of trust. Because of this kind of trust, we can practice, even though we are so weak and so self-centered and so much problems. So for us bodhisattvas, Buddha nature is really necessary. And the idea of The theory of Buddha-nature, or so-called Tathagatagarbha, is Buddha-nature is something hidden. It's there. And it's hidden means Buddha-nature is something like a diamond.

[47:02]

And yet, in the case of deluded living beings, the diamond is still covered with rock and dirt. So first of all, we need to find the Buddha nature, even though it's just covered with rock and dirt. So our practice is to take the dust and the rocks out and polish the diamond. Then the beauty of diamond revealed. That is attaining enlightenment. And this is the basic theory of Buddha nature. And within this theory, it said whether it's still hidden within the rock, within deluded human beings, And the condition, in the case of Buddha, the diamond is really beautifully polished and becomes really beautiful and illuminates the entire world and helps all beings.

[48:19]

You know, these two conditions of Buddha-nature are the same. It is hidden inside of these deluded beings. So, nothing different, nothing changed. In that sense, Buddha-nature is permanent. That is the basic idea or theory of Buddha-nature in Mahayana Buddhism. And so this theory is really kind of problematic. If there's only five skandhas, what is Buddha nature? And everything is impermanent, but Buddha nature doesn't change. So it looks like permanent. What is this? So there's a discussion whether Buddha nature really is proper or correct Buddhist teaching or not.

[49:23]

And that is why there's a famous koan about dog's Buddha nature, whether dog has Buddha nature or not. So the six ancestors and Dogen's idea of impermanence is itself Buddha-nature. It's kind of opposite idea. There's no such thing as hidden. But in the very beginning of the Shobo-genzo Buddha-nature, He quote another sentence from the Nirvana Sutra that said, all sentient beings without exception have Buddha nature. He mistakenly read in a different way, on purpose. He said, all living beings and entire beings are Buddha nature.

[50:29]

That means Buddha-nature is not something hidden within deluded beings. But the way all beings are is itself Buddha-nature. And it's always revealed. So our practice is not a matter of to find a Buddha-nature and to take that away and polish the diamond. You know, in Rinzai tradition, they use the word kensho. Kensho means seeing nature. And seeing nature is actually seeing Buddha nature. That's why Dogen Zenji didn't like kensho practice. You know, kensho or Buddha nature is always revealed. and it cannot be the object of this person's seeing.

[51:32]

That's why Dogen doesn't like so-called, even the word Kensho. In one section of Shobogen, he even said, you know, the expression Kensho appeared in the platform sutra. So Dogen said, because this expression, Kensho, appeared in the platform sutra, this should not be Huinan's. This was made up thing. So I think at this point, Dogen is really strict. Almost two bones. Anyway, So according to Dogen, Buddha nature is impermanence. The movement of impermanence or changing evolution of beings is itself Buddha nature.

[52:39]

That's why I think Dogen really had to think and also teach Clearly, fat is time. Fat is time means fat is impermanence. How impermanence or things are changing, you know, this way of transforming or evolution is the evolution or movement of Buddha nature. So it's really important to understand, not only to understand Dogen's teaching, but if we practice according to Dogen Zen's teaching, it's really important to see what we are doing. You know, we are practicing Zazen based on Dogen's teaching,

[53:42]

But this our zazen or Dogen's zazen is very simple, doing nothing, no technique, just sit upright and keep our eyes open, that means not sleep, and breathe through our nose, you know, deeply from abdomen, and just let go of whatever you know, thought coming up. That's all we do. It's really simple. No technique. But this simple practice is not easy practice. It's really difficult thing. One of the difficulties we have when we practice this simple practice, simple sitting practice is we don't really understand the meaning of this sitting practice without doing anything.

[54:47]

So to really understand what we are doing, I think to study not only Dogen's, but also Buddhism in general, what Buddha taught. And what is the point of Buddha's teaching within our life, within our practice, within our daily activity, is really important. So studying means, of course, intellectual understanding. I think this is really important in the case of Dogen's teaching. And also we need faith or trust to the tradition. But Dogen's teaching or writing, again, is very difficult. really deeply understand what Dogen is saying.

[55:59]

Only reading a translation is really impossible. That's why I'd like to share my understanding and my practice with people who practice in this country. I was born in Japan and educated and trained in Japan, so I have some understanding. Of course, my understanding is still going on. So I'm changing. And this is important, I think. But I'd like to share, you know, really profound insight of Dogen. And also, his using the word language is almost magical. He's a magician. So by reading only English translation, it's not possible to what he really want to say.

[57:03]

So that is what I'd like to do in Bloomington. So if you are interested in, please come to Bloomington. I think it's time to stop talking. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you.

[57:23]

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