Notes on Dogen’s Being– Time

The title of Uji, translated as “Being–Time,” essentially contains the totality of the text. Unpacking the meaning of this hyphenated word opens a vast interconnecting vista of practice. The two characters u-ji are usually translated as arutoki or “for the time being.” Dogen separates the two characters (u meaning being, and ji meaning time) and reassembles them as the one word uji, often translated in English as being–time or existence–time. As Hee-Jin Kim writes:

Dogen … transforms such an everyday phrase as arutoki (“at a certain time,” “sometimes,” “there is a time,” “once”) into one of the most important notions in his Zen—uji (“existence-time”). This metamorphosis is executed by way of changing its two components—the aru and the toki—into u (“existence,” “being”) and ji (“time,” “occasion”), respectively, and recombining them as uji so that it unmistakably signals the nondual intimacy of existence and time.

—Dogen on Meditation and Thinking: A Reflection on his View of Zen

This new word uji becomes a shorthand for bundling all aspects of reality into one word/thought: being–time. Being–time embraces many of the key teachings found in Dogen’s writing. Among several words or phrases found in Uji that express these teachings are dharma position (ju-hoi), the fully embodied totality of myriad things/beings as a moment of being–time; continuous practice (gyoji), the completely realized activity and effort of each being’s time as all being–time; fully expressing the Way (dotoku), the enlightened expression of practice realization; manifesting ultimate reality (genjokoan), the totality of the actualization of the fundamental point; penetrating exhaustively (gujin), complete expression of a moment; practice-realization (shojo no shu); this very mind is Buddha (sokushin zebutsu); and buddhanature (bussho), the totality of life’s activity, among others. Dogen’s descriptions of practice, expression, mind, and reality are also designations of actualized being–time. These words are a rich mosaic illuminating our being–time, each aimed at helping us find deep awakening as we express our rich, intimate life.

An old Buddha said:

For the time being, I stand astride the highest mountain peaks.

For the time being, I move on the deepest depths of the ocean floor.

For the time being, I’m three heads and eight arms.

For the time being, I’m eight feet or sixteen feet.

For the time being, I’m a staff or a whisk.

For the time being, I’m a pillar or a lantern.

For the time being, I’m Mr. Chang or Mr. Li. For the time being, I’m the great earth and heavens above.

—translation by Norman Waddell and Masao Abe, The Heart of