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Each Moment Is the Universe: Zen and the Way of Being Time
A Japanese master offers a Zen perspective on the nature of time and being, further exploring the concepts of impermanence, living in the present moment, and moreIt’s easy to regard time as a commodity—we even speak of “saving” or “spending” it. We often regard it as an enemy, when we feel it slipping away before we’re ready for time to be up. The Zen view of time is radically different than time is not something separate from our life; rather, our life is time. Understand this, says Dainin Katagiri Roshi, and you can live fully and freely right where you are in each moment. Katagiri bases his teaching on Being Time, a text by the most famous of all Zen masters, Eihei Dogen (1200–1253), to show that time is a creative, dynamic process that continuously produces the universe and everything in it—and that to understand this is to discover a gateway to freedom from the dissatisfactions of everyday life. He guides us in contemplating impermanence, the present moment, and the ungraspable nature of past and future. He discusses time as part of our inner being, made manifest through constant change in ourselves and our surroundings. And these ideas are by no means metaphysical they can be directly perceived by any of us through meditation.
268 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 10, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
June 18, 2019
130918: this is not philosophy. this is not Zen Buddhism. this is something in between the two. as one is philosophy and the other religion, in ‘western’ division, and best understood as a ‘way’ in ‘eastern’ thought, that is a practical ‘way’ to liberate/emancipate/free through ‘enlightenment’ from the usual ‘unsatisfactoryness’ or ‘suffering’ that is living typical human life... but as this book is interested in combining and offering some understanding of both philosophy and religion, so i can offer no more, though it does suggest i need read more books of zen and more books of philosophy, it does stimulate further thought, and the questions it most immediately raises are: how is this religious, how is this philosophy...
many books and years (decades...) ago i had naive, western, confidence that these shared realms of thought could be separated, in that religion tends to offer metaphysics, cosmology, moral planes, something like an Absolute and often grows from essential belief in a human/divine person, through whom we can transcend this ‘vale of tears’, through belief come to reunite with those loved... all of this after death. i had decided then that philosophy is the human questioning of such assertions, through varied contrary arguments, through dialectics, skepticism... these definitions seem fine in ‘western’ thought but not in ‘eastern’ thought like Buddhism which posits no such human transcendence, and rather than becoming more than human seem to suggest the key to life is simply to ‘become’ human, and this is enough of task, goal, way, however conceived, however asserted, but rather than metaphysics being too often found in opposition in this case in Buddhism any metaphysics is religion..
so, if this book works, i wonder in what fashion, in what techniques, the concepts have been offered, in other words: for whom is this book intended? maybe this is a very good ‘new age’ book, though of course these concepts are anything but ‘new’, yet this is not for anyone as their first book on thoughts, on practices, on beliefs, of ‘eastern’ ways of religion/philosophy, on cosmology of Buddhism, as it takes some familiarity on the reader’s part with metaphysical conception in such view of the world, some practical, obvious, eternal understanding that for all ‘sentient creatures’ the world is something to transcend, a place from which we humans can leap to something like nirvana... all of this argued not as ‘belief’ in text but in arguing ‘from’ and ‘through’ often conflicting texts, which is where i think of it as being philosophy...
so, much of this book seems religion but then philosophically argues these assertions, through comfortably moved to non-religious terms, abstract terms, some terms which are never likely to be decided- such as the nearly 7 hundred trillion ‘moments’ in each ‘moment’ we humans live each ‘moment’ (squared?)- and of course these overlapping, interfering, amplifying threads of action only reminds me of the idea of minimal absolute time being the distance (Planck Length) 20 powers of 10 smaller than the diameter of a hydrogen nucleus... but then this reminds me that no quantum of time can be unified with others to create lived time, no numbers of immobility ever can create mobility (Bergson) and this is where the subtitle caught my eye- ‘zen and the way of being time’- this makes me think of that big book (Heidegger) that influences so many continental philosophers last century, but here there is no separation between being and time... here ‘being’ is ‘time’ and this is celebrated, full stop, rather than source of the ‘question of Being’... and it is not like i understand much of that book...
some of the questions are rhetorical, some of the assertions need understanding on some level an entire maybe religious view of the world, some of the suggestions are exclamation points, some of the claims so obvious they invoke a ‘we’, some of the metaphors mixed, historical soundbites of this or that previous zen or just Buddhist master are filtered and its ideas clarified, though unless you are well-read in say Pali, you cannot really argue about it, some words are better defined (killing the Buddha is not ‘killing’ anyone) and as a way of philosophy it is not a record of arguments and more a record of experience and thus truth... the ‘you’ it addresses is ‘you the reader’ but this is a book and so you do not really have any way to argue with him... but i had/have fun trying to understand not just ‘what’ it argues but ‘how’... and it does inspire me to read more books and that is always worth a star...
many books and years (decades...) ago i had naive, western, confidence that these shared realms of thought could be separated, in that religion tends to offer metaphysics, cosmology, moral planes, something like an Absolute and often grows from essential belief in a human/divine person, through whom we can transcend this ‘vale of tears’, through belief come to reunite with those loved... all of this after death. i had decided then that philosophy is the human questioning of such assertions, through varied contrary arguments, through dialectics, skepticism... these definitions seem fine in ‘western’ thought but not in ‘eastern’ thought like Buddhism which posits no such human transcendence, and rather than becoming more than human seem to suggest the key to life is simply to ‘become’ human, and this is enough of task, goal, way, however conceived, however asserted, but rather than metaphysics being too often found in opposition in this case in Buddhism any metaphysics is religion..
so, if this book works, i wonder in what fashion, in what techniques, the concepts have been offered, in other words: for whom is this book intended? maybe this is a very good ‘new age’ book, though of course these concepts are anything but ‘new’, yet this is not for anyone as their first book on thoughts, on practices, on beliefs, of ‘eastern’ ways of religion/philosophy, on cosmology of Buddhism, as it takes some familiarity on the reader’s part with metaphysical conception in such view of the world, some practical, obvious, eternal understanding that for all ‘sentient creatures’ the world is something to transcend, a place from which we humans can leap to something like nirvana... all of this argued not as ‘belief’ in text but in arguing ‘from’ and ‘through’ often conflicting texts, which is where i think of it as being philosophy...
so, much of this book seems religion but then philosophically argues these assertions, through comfortably moved to non-religious terms, abstract terms, some terms which are never likely to be decided- such as the nearly 7 hundred trillion ‘moments’ in each ‘moment’ we humans live each ‘moment’ (squared?)- and of course these overlapping, interfering, amplifying threads of action only reminds me of the idea of minimal absolute time being the distance (Planck Length) 20 powers of 10 smaller than the diameter of a hydrogen nucleus... but then this reminds me that no quantum of time can be unified with others to create lived time, no numbers of immobility ever can create mobility (Bergson) and this is where the subtitle caught my eye- ‘zen and the way of being time’- this makes me think of that big book (Heidegger) that influences so many continental philosophers last century, but here there is no separation between being and time... here ‘being’ is ‘time’ and this is celebrated, full stop, rather than source of the ‘question of Being’... and it is not like i understand much of that book...
some of the questions are rhetorical, some of the assertions need understanding on some level an entire maybe religious view of the world, some of the suggestions are exclamation points, some of the claims so obvious they invoke a ‘we’, some of the metaphors mixed, historical soundbites of this or that previous zen or just Buddhist master are filtered and its ideas clarified, though unless you are well-read in say Pali, you cannot really argue about it, some words are better defined (killing the Buddha is not ‘killing’ anyone) and as a way of philosophy it is not a record of arguments and more a record of experience and thus truth... the ‘you’ it addresses is ‘you the reader’ but this is a book and so you do not really have any way to argue with him... but i had/have fun trying to understand not just ‘what’ it argues but ‘how’... and it does inspire me to read more books and that is always worth a star...
Want to read
July 6, 2007Sometimes I wonder how I keep getting sucked back into Heidegger and all that stuff when there are simpler, clearer, and more profound paths like this.
February 6, 2015
I've suffered my whole life from anxieties that I'm wasting time, that I'm not making the most of my life, etc. These feelings seem to be common in our culture. This book has really helped me look at time in a more gentle, affirming way. I've got many pages dog-eared, and I know I will return to the book again and again.
I found the book surprisingly approachable, too. There are some Buddhist terms thrown in here and there, but because the book is based on lectures, I found the book to be an engaging, easy read.
I found the book surprisingly approachable, too. There are some Buddhist terms thrown in here and there, but because the book is based on lectures, I found the book to be an engaging, easy read.
February 24, 2008
a great book on the zen concept of time-being.
a rumination on dogen's ideas of time-being.
deeply mind blowing and perspective changing.
one of the best zen books i have read so far.
a rumination on dogen's ideas of time-being.
deeply mind blowing and perspective changing.
one of the best zen books i have read so far.
July 31, 2020
This book explain about the time and true human nature. That's what I have been searching for. So, I enjoyed it. And, I am going read it again.
April 22, 2018
You don't need to be an advanced Zen student to read this, or to have read Dogen Zenji's segment on Being Time, that this is centered around. This is almost physiological in nature as it expounds on time and what that means as a witness, and a practicing Buddhist. I loved every segment in this book.
January 2, 2020
A collection of beautiful talks on time, eternity and living whole heartedly from Zen teacher Katagiri Roshi.
December 24, 2018
This is the second work of Katagiri's I have read, the first The Light that Shines through Infinity. In both Katagiri expounds on the spiritual life as movement, a universe in sync with the findings of particle physics. Yet, Katagiri does not make references to how Dharma coincides with science, he remains close to his tradition, trusting its power and wisdom.
This is the first time I have read, as example, of "sutra" (lit. thread), being extended to mean what many have called the "web of life." So, Buddha Dharma means, among other meanings, the entire universe is a threading together of all seen and unseen. Another first to me is seeing the workings of the universe being "Buddha's vow" to us. That is, we are companioned and supported by the universe, we are not alone and adrift in a vast, lifeless nothingness. And, in this, zazen is sitting meditation, and how we relate with our everyday lives. Katagiri often refers to our "taking care of" our lives, so bringing together all life as practice.
The last of the four sections is a superb treatment of "karma." Here, Katagiri never once mentions Dogen, and is at his best in not doing so. Possibly, due to my upbringing in a literalistic teaching of consequences, in many years of studying Buddhism, I have been adverse to the idea of karma, but no more. This treatment is the most practicable and clarifying on karma I have read, showing how we are and are not bound to the results of past choices. I appreciated how Katagiri did not treat karma as fatalistic, but as hopeful, for in each moment we can do something, creating a whole new future with the entire universe. And, in this, we see how Katagiri, as Zen generally, stresses this moment, yet a moment flowing in-time past, present, future. Katagiri avoids the focus on this eternal moment, "Now," to the exclusion of our living in duality. Dharma-as-teaching honors duality as the matrix in which eternity is with time-space, in a creative flux, so a uni-verse that di-versifies moment-to-moment, ever-new, ever-fresh, and each new formation arising with everything, seen and unseen, due to co-dependent origination. Zazen, then, formal and informal is important to grow into alignment with this Dhhama, the universe, not for we are not already truly one with it (How could we not be?), but for oneness is more than a fact, it is a realization in the universe, as the universe.
Succinctly put, Katagiri and Zen present a nonduality taking with full embrace the realities of eternity and time-space, whereas radical dualities tend to downplay duality. The latter prefer to focus on what is, rather than process and what is, accenting union rather than communion; so, naturally, they downplay the importance of spiritual practice, even, at times, advising to avoid any whatsoever. For Katagiri, practice is Dharma itself, realization a journey to actualize what cannot not be already. Again, Katagiri, with Zen Dharma, refuses to avoid the tension of living at the intersection of eternity and time-space. Indeed, zazen is the universe exploring itself, coming to know itself.
Last, I find Katagiri an intellectual. One could say he is scholastic. For persons who enjoy a finely reasoned, in-depth approach, I highly recommend Katagiri. At times, he leaves me confounded at what he is saying. I enjoy that modality of teaching, for it reminds me Truth is always, anyway, outside the grasp. Likewise, such invites me to see afresh. Katagiri, also, plays creatively with Dharma, so he challenges us to see Dharma as creative, able to be what it has never been, never not what it has always been.
This is the first time I have read, as example, of "sutra" (lit. thread), being extended to mean what many have called the "web of life." So, Buddha Dharma means, among other meanings, the entire universe is a threading together of all seen and unseen. Another first to me is seeing the workings of the universe being "Buddha's vow" to us. That is, we are companioned and supported by the universe, we are not alone and adrift in a vast, lifeless nothingness. And, in this, zazen is sitting meditation, and how we relate with our everyday lives. Katagiri often refers to our "taking care of" our lives, so bringing together all life as practice.
The last of the four sections is a superb treatment of "karma." Here, Katagiri never once mentions Dogen, and is at his best in not doing so. Possibly, due to my upbringing in a literalistic teaching of consequences, in many years of studying Buddhism, I have been adverse to the idea of karma, but no more. This treatment is the most practicable and clarifying on karma I have read, showing how we are and are not bound to the results of past choices. I appreciated how Katagiri did not treat karma as fatalistic, but as hopeful, for in each moment we can do something, creating a whole new future with the entire universe. And, in this, we see how Katagiri, as Zen generally, stresses this moment, yet a moment flowing in-time past, present, future. Katagiri avoids the focus on this eternal moment, "Now," to the exclusion of our living in duality. Dharma-as-teaching honors duality as the matrix in which eternity is with time-space, in a creative flux, so a uni-verse that di-versifies moment-to-moment, ever-new, ever-fresh, and each new formation arising with everything, seen and unseen, due to co-dependent origination. Zazen, then, formal and informal is important to grow into alignment with this Dhhama, the universe, not for we are not already truly one with it (How could we not be?), but for oneness is more than a fact, it is a realization in the universe, as the universe.
Succinctly put, Katagiri and Zen present a nonduality taking with full embrace the realities of eternity and time-space, whereas radical dualities tend to downplay duality. The latter prefer to focus on what is, rather than process and what is, accenting union rather than communion; so, naturally, they downplay the importance of spiritual practice, even, at times, advising to avoid any whatsoever. For Katagiri, practice is Dharma itself, realization a journey to actualize what cannot not be already. Again, Katagiri, with Zen Dharma, refuses to avoid the tension of living at the intersection of eternity and time-space. Indeed, zazen is the universe exploring itself, coming to know itself.
Last, I find Katagiri an intellectual. One could say he is scholastic. For persons who enjoy a finely reasoned, in-depth approach, I highly recommend Katagiri. At times, he leaves me confounded at what he is saying. I enjoy that modality of teaching, for it reminds me Truth is always, anyway, outside the grasp. Likewise, such invites me to see afresh. Katagiri, also, plays creatively with Dharma, so he challenges us to see Dharma as creative, able to be what it has never been, never not what it has always been.
August 2, 2008
While still a Zen neophyte, I was able to make some sense of Katagiri's book on time. Needless to say, my intellectual goal of better understanding time, or the perception of it- was not aided by this book. Instead, it relates the concept of time to the practice of Zen. The march of time is described in terms of impermanence, birth, death, and rebirth, karma, and the dharma. This is a book I would buy and hold on to- the reading is not easy and at least for me, had to be read and reread before the most basic comprehension could be attained. I will continue to review and reread this book. I come away immediately with a better sense of "every-dayness" and Zen- as the progression of time is a mundane "every-day" or "every-moment" phenomenon-Zen practice will, is, and must happening NOW.
May 19, 2019
Essential. Wait, beyond essential and in clear concise writing. I wish I had met Katagiri while he was still alive. Maybe we'll catch up next time. This book is officially earmarked, underlined, and pondered over. Now I need to sit and sit some more.
July 1, 2022
Though it does take the occasional missteps that almost all books of compiled talks do (restating something in a way previously discussed becoming fatiguing), this book is essential, in my mind, in understanding Dogen. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a dharma text as consequential.
October 31, 2020
Some incredibly moving passages about life, being, time, and melting into the flow of life. This will be well worth keeping close for further edification.
January 14, 2023
Dogen is the founder of the Soto Zen school of Japanese Buddhism. A writer, philosopher and poet, his reconfiguration of Chan practice is what largely informs Zen, and every Zen teacher has had to grapple with his works. Dainin Katagiri was a Roshi, a master, from that school, and this book is a compilation of talks he had given over a twenty year period on an essential element of Dogen's metaphysics, Being-Time.
Being concerns itself with existence. What does it mean to be something? Time in the sense we are most familiar with is the measure of physical processes, or more simply, what the clock says. Katagiri's Time is not just the normal, familiar time, but a combination of it with space. There is no before or previous moment or next moment, there is the present moment extending into the universe. Time and Being are not separate, but not equivalent either, and the subjective universe is produced by the interaction of the two. "When the moment begins, all sentient beings temporarily appear as particular beings in the stream of time and seem to have their own separate existences. When the moment ceases, all sentient beings disappear, but they do not go away; they are interconnected smoothly and quietly in timelessness." I don't know how to accept this other than assuming once you inhabit an altered state of consciousness that comes with certain meditation practices, your perception of time changes. Like all major proponents of non-dual awareness assert, what we perceive as the world is generated by the mind. To be rid of the delusion of the real is not the point of Zen, but to be aware of it.
A lot of what Dainin says can be mapped to non-Buddhist Indian thought, especially Karma Yoga. For example, "All you have to do is follow the technique. Just continue to act! Day after day, moment after moment, just take care of practice, leaving no trace of technique and no trace of practitioner. This is a very fundamental attitude toward human life. If you do it, finally you will be great: a great skier, a great artist, a great musician, a great poet, a great philosopher, a great businessman, or a great religious person".
Compared to Theravada Buddhism, I like it that Zen says that enlightenment is not a big deal, and one must not aspire to it. It will not change you. Your neuroses will remain. So why bother? The practice is the point. "Sitting in zazen, practicing with all sentient beings, you become Buddha. At the same time, your activity becomes enlightenment. Carry this practice as long as possible, moment by moment and day by day, and this is called nirvana....Practice is to manifest the object of your activity - zazen, cooking, sports, or whatever you are doing - as a being that exists in eternal time. If you do something wholeheartedly, all sentient beings come into your life." I can buy that. This characterization of Zen seems more like Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's flow, an easy to attain state, while also not being a rejection of the material world. Enlightenment then is an attitude, seeing life from a universal perspective, that of Being-Time.
While the book is eminently quotable, I wonder what good all these are if you violate some very basic ethical principles. Three of the four major Zen figures who came to the United States from Japan had major public sex scandals. Clearly, power corrupts, even those certified enlightened. I suppose one should learn to separate the message from the messenger and yet I can't but help be bothered by it. Something else I find myself thinking about is the structure of the text itself. Like some other Zen books, this one is also derived from talks recorded over a long time. They are transcribed by devoted students into a collection bearing the speaker's name. There is no background provided on the talk each chapter is derived from. The chapters are organized along the theme of the book, arranged in the structure of the Four Noble Truths. I wonder, am I reading Katagiri or am I reading Katagiri as mediated and understood by the curator? And does it matter?
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Also available on my site here.
Being concerns itself with existence. What does it mean to be something? Time in the sense we are most familiar with is the measure of physical processes, or more simply, what the clock says. Katagiri's Time is not just the normal, familiar time, but a combination of it with space. There is no before or previous moment or next moment, there is the present moment extending into the universe. Time and Being are not separate, but not equivalent either, and the subjective universe is produced by the interaction of the two. "When the moment begins, all sentient beings temporarily appear as particular beings in the stream of time and seem to have their own separate existences. When the moment ceases, all sentient beings disappear, but they do not go away; they are interconnected smoothly and quietly in timelessness." I don't know how to accept this other than assuming once you inhabit an altered state of consciousness that comes with certain meditation practices, your perception of time changes. Like all major proponents of non-dual awareness assert, what we perceive as the world is generated by the mind. To be rid of the delusion of the real is not the point of Zen, but to be aware of it.
A lot of what Dainin says can be mapped to non-Buddhist Indian thought, especially Karma Yoga. For example, "All you have to do is follow the technique. Just continue to act! Day after day, moment after moment, just take care of practice, leaving no trace of technique and no trace of practitioner. This is a very fundamental attitude toward human life. If you do it, finally you will be great: a great skier, a great artist, a great musician, a great poet, a great philosopher, a great businessman, or a great religious person".
Compared to Theravada Buddhism, I like it that Zen says that enlightenment is not a big deal, and one must not aspire to it. It will not change you. Your neuroses will remain. So why bother? The practice is the point. "Sitting in zazen, practicing with all sentient beings, you become Buddha. At the same time, your activity becomes enlightenment. Carry this practice as long as possible, moment by moment and day by day, and this is called nirvana....Practice is to manifest the object of your activity - zazen, cooking, sports, or whatever you are doing - as a being that exists in eternal time. If you do something wholeheartedly, all sentient beings come into your life." I can buy that. This characterization of Zen seems more like Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's flow, an easy to attain state, while also not being a rejection of the material world. Enlightenment then is an attitude, seeing life from a universal perspective, that of Being-Time.
While the book is eminently quotable, I wonder what good all these are if you violate some very basic ethical principles. Three of the four major Zen figures who came to the United States from Japan had major public sex scandals. Clearly, power corrupts, even those certified enlightened. I suppose one should learn to separate the message from the messenger and yet I can't but help be bothered by it. Something else I find myself thinking about is the structure of the text itself. Like some other Zen books, this one is also derived from talks recorded over a long time. They are transcribed by devoted students into a collection bearing the speaker's name. There is no background provided on the talk each chapter is derived from. The chapters are organized along the theme of the book, arranged in the structure of the Four Noble Truths. I wonder, am I reading Katagiri or am I reading Katagiri as mediated and understood by the curator? And does it matter?
---
Also available on my site here.
October 31, 2023
I really wanted the like this after reading so much about Katagiri in Brad Warner’s books, but I found it to be quite a slog. There are some beautiful, fantastic nuggets in here, but I suspect that due to the format (transcribed talks, as opposed to being written for publication from the start), I found this piece lacking a lot of momentum, and rife with repetition. I don’t mean any disrespect to Katagiri on account of this — it’s just that for the way my brain works, this wasn’t the best presentation.
December 4, 2020
First half of this book really held my interest. Second half of the book progressively got more difficult to follow. I got to page 205 and gave up. I know I didn’t finish it, but came damn close. I wanted to push through it, but I just couldn’t. Someday I will try to read it again. I think I will give it another go when I am in a different place.
For my first read through I give it a 2.5.
For my first read through I give it a 2.5.
Read
December 17, 2019"Each Moment Is the Universe" is an extremely difficult book to comprehend as it goes beyond any intellectual understanding. This, therefore, is a book for the zen practitioner and all those interested in the path
March 9, 2023
Difficult, complex (for the most part) dharma talks. It took me a while to work through some of these chapters, but Katagiri is worth the effort, especially if you're interested in Soto Zen and Dogen's ideas about time/being.
July 14, 2023
"so do your best to take care of every moment with a warm heart, because your life is simultaneously the life of all beings"
Irónicamente, después de hacernos compleja la existencia, entender la sencillez de la vida propia y la de los demás es mucho más difícil, pero sin duda se siente pacifico.
Irónicamente, después de hacernos compleja la existencia, entender la sencillez de la vida propia y la de los demás es mucho más difícil, pero sin duda se siente pacifico.
June 12, 2020
Obscure, but I found the second half of the book to be a bit more accessible. Quite good.
January 22, 2021
very impactful book
August 18, 2013
A simply written but theoretically profound work with universal experience, split into (for the most part) short chapters which aid in palatable mental digestion. During my first reading of this book I found myself reading each chapter twice or more before going on to the next... the manner with which Katagiri discusses heady topics is deceivingly light and you feel his enthusiasm coming through, carrying you with a light and sometimes humorous tone, a welcome touch to balance difficult points. This work does much to transcend the boundaries of Soto Zen - an open mind and spiritual philosopher can gain much from this book; who does not pause to consider the nature of reality? One for recurring contemplation and practice, regardless of your journey in faith.
January 5, 2014
This book is a marvel. It starts off explaining the Buddhist concept of time: a series of incredibly small mind-moments, tiny slices of time during which nothing moves or changes and between which anything is possible. Or something like that...
I have never made it all the way through this book and hope to some day. The first few chapters are so heady and my resonance with them so variable, that multiple readings over years have been required.
I gather that the later chapters are even meatier, so it may take a while to finish this book.
I have never made it all the way through this book and hope to some day. The first few chapters are so heady and my resonance with them so variable, that multiple readings over years have been required.
I gather that the later chapters are even meatier, so it may take a while to finish this book.
October 29, 2020
Extremely eye-opening and poignant. Its not the easiest of books to follow, and pretty confusing at times, trying to explain very complex topics like being 'present','time and space' and duality with consciousness ans subconsciousness, but it is powerful when you grasp it. There are times when I nearly gave up reading this, but I am very glad I didn't. Its one of those books you have to read slowly to absorb the content properly. I suspect I may find myself reading it again in the future too.
February 17, 2016
Each Moment Is The Universe was a book that I found enlightening on the awareness of time and space. It shed a whole new perspective to me on our thinking process and how easy it is to create stress and turmoil in our every day lives. With so much knowledge on zazen and suggested practice to find peace within ourselves in this book, I happily would enjoy reading a second time.
January 22, 2015
Beautiful. Profound. Funny. Mind Boggling. In places impenetrable but always interesting.
This is a book I will want to go back to again and again. Partly because it is so fascinating and partly as it is so complex. Hopefully in time I will come to understand time a little better.
This is a book I will want to go back to again and again. Partly because it is so fascinating and partly as it is so complex. Hopefully in time I will come to understand time a little better.
October 8, 2024
Modern Soto Zen teacher's teachings on time and being. Loose and informal and perhaps lacks the rigor of an intentionally written work. If you can overlook those small flaws you will find some gems of wisdom.
Want to read
June 28, 2010This book is a challenge, but I have a leg up because Norman Fischer used it as his text for the sesshin I went to in June. It's about time. Heady stuff.
April 25, 2010
One of the most amazing Dharma books ever. (May write a larger review later.)
July 11, 2011
Interesting, but as it is based on a series of talks it does get repetitive, and then, well, zen does get a bit too esoteric at times...
January 13, 2021
One of my favorites
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews