Time and being

In the densely philosophical tract "Uji" ("On 'just for the time being'"), Dogen notes something quite important:

"Since we human beings are continually arranging the bits and pieces of what we experience in order to fashion ‘a whole universe,', we must take care to look upon this welter of living beings and physical objects as ‘sometime’ things. Things do not go about hindering each other’s existence any more than moments of time get in each other’s way. As a consequence, the intention to train arises at the same time in different beings, and this same intention may also arise at different times. And the same applies to training and practice, as well as to realizing the Way. In a similar manner, we are continually arranging bits and pieces of what we experience in order to fashion them into what we call ‘a self’, which we treat as ‘myself’: this is the same as the principle of ‘we ourselves are just for a time.'"

Time, as we ordinarily understand it, is part of the *phenomenal* world-- the world of "arranging bits and pieces in order to fashion a whole universe." More specifically, a unique persisting being is a phenomenon, not an ultimate reality. Thus, our *ordinary* ways of thinking of *intending* to train, *doing* our training, and *fulfilling* our training, are in a way illusions. Later in the tract he draws the analogy with the seasons: Does spring *change into* summer, persisting through this transformation? No-- spring just passes and summer arrives. Intending, doing, fulfilling-- all "just for the time being, just for a while."

The important implication: Dogen giving instruction to novices of course stresses the importance of training. But the deeper understanding is that training, intending to train, attaining Buddhahood, are all just momentary phenomena, without any essence in themselves. What has our past intention to do with the training we *now* do? What has our future expectation of Buddhahood to do with what we *now* do? All come and go without hindering one another.