{"id":546,"date":"2007-04-07T16:44:00","date_gmt":"2007-04-07T16:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/treeleafzen\/2007\/04\/now-and-then.html"},"modified":"2007-04-07T16:44:00","modified_gmt":"2007-04-07T16:44:00","slug":"now-and-then","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2007\/04\/now-and-then.html","title":{"rendered":"Now and Then"},"content":{"rendered":"

We break our world into pieces by the words we use. Two such words are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153now\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153then\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n

Of course, in our day-to-day lives, we need to live in changing time \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 past becomes present beomes future \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 we awake in the morning, go to bed at night \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 we are born, are children, grow up, grow old \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 work must be done on time, bills paid on time, our kids brought to school on time \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

This is all necessary, and so long as we live \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we must live in passing time. Even monks carry wristwatches in their robes, for the noon meal must be served at noon, the evening bell rung in the evening. Nothing is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153wrong\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with time, there is nothing about it to escape, and time will keep passing so long as we live. It is life, and living takes time.<\/p>\n

But those monks may know another experience of time, for the dividing words \u00e2\u20ac\u0153now\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153then\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be dropped from mind. Passing time is simply forgotten. We discover something that is not \u00e2\u20ac\u0153then\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and not \u00e2\u20ac\u0153now\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, yet is both of those. It is not \u00e2\u20ac\u0153past\/present\/future<\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, but more \u00e2\u20ac\u0153is\/is\/is<\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.Even \u00e2\u20ac\u0153present\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is empty absent a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153past\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153future\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in contrast. Instead, it is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153what-is-that-was-that-shall-be<\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. Thus, we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t \u00e2\u20ac\u0153live in the present<\/span>,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but \u00e2\u20ac\u0153just live<\/span>!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d We can call it \u00e2\u20ac\u0153just being<\/span>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/p>\n

Putting aside all philosophizing about time, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153timelessness\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be tasted in Zazen as another model of reality, an equally valid perspective on life. The parts of the brain that create a sense of time become quiet, and we realize that, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, I can experience life in this way too<\/span>!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Both time and timelessness are good ways to see things … at the same time.<\/p>\n

We can stop time too, and each moment may be viewed as perfectly just-what-it-is, whole in its instant: When you ring the evening bell, each strike of the bell is just that moment\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s single strike. When you are late for school, you are perfectly late just at that moment. In such sense, each moment is completely each moment, with nothing in need of change. Time stands still while it flows.<\/p>\n

And this can be experienced, not merely philosophized about.<\/p>\n

Think of all the little complaints made meaningless by our dropping a sense of passing time: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153life is too short<\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153where has my life gone<\/span>?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153children grow up so fast<\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d etc. etc. Part of us can stop rushing, for that part of us can never be late.<\/p>\n

Master Dogen wished to convey that each moment of time and being is not anything apart from you, is your<\/span> existential time-and-being. So, he wrote in Uji, Being-Time<\/span> …<\/p>\n

Because real existence is only this exact moment, all moments of Being-Time are the whole of Time, and all existent things and all existent phenomena are moments of Time \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

If Time does not take the form of leaving and coming, [a task done in the past] is the present as Being-Time, If Time does take the form of leaving and coming, you yet have this present moment of Being-Time, which is just Being-Time itself<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Please view other videos at our <\/p>\n

  • ARCHIVES & LIBRARY<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n

    Please sit Zazen with us online at our <\/p>\n

  • ZENDO<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n

    .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We break our world into pieces by the words we use. Two such words are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153now\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153then\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. Of course, in our day-to-day lives, we need to live in changing time \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 past becomes present beomes future \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 we awake in the morning, go to bed at night \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 we are born, are children, grow…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":327,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guided-meditation"],"yoast_head":"\nNow and Then - Treeleaf Zen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2007\/04\/now-and-then.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Now and Then - Treeleaf Zen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We break our world into pieces by the words we use. 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