Each Moment Is the Universe: Zen and the Way of Being Time [Paperback]

Dainin Katagiri (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2, 2008

It’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 that: 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 abstractions: they can be directly perceived by any of us through meditation.

To learn more about the author, visit his website: www.mnzencenter.org

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Move over, Martin Heidegger. The late Japanese Zen master Katagiri Roshi offers a Zen interpretation of being and time. As text editor Andrea Martin explains in her introduction, the core Buddhist teachings of impermanence and emptiness lend themselves to considerations of time and being. Zen may be anticoncept and nonabstract, but it is certainly pro-insight. So Katagiri explains his understanding of time, based squarely on his interpretation of the work of influential 13th-century Zen master Dogen, whose work has inspired a number of contemporary Zen teachers. But Katagiri is no academic, and the language he uses to express complex ideas is extremely simple (this is called going into mud and water) and often enthusiastic (Touch it and bounce!). The editor has successfully transmitted the oral style that helps make the content accessible. Katagiri conveys a zest for Zen understanding that differs from the calm inscrutability of other Zen Buddhists; he also brings up terms like hope and beauty. Katagiri's statement I think the purpose of spiritual life is to just go toward the future with great hope may sound metaphysical, but it comes from a teacher who has spent time on the meditation cushion and applied insight to the day-to-day life that Zen embraces. (July 10)
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Review

“Katagiri conveys a zest for Zen understanding that differs from the calm inscrutability of other Zen Buddhists.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“In this book, Katagiri Roshi presents Dogen Zenji’s teachings on ‘being-time’ and teaches how the blossom of our life force can flourish amidst the flow of change. I recommend this book to all Zen practitioners and to anyone who wishes to enrich and ripen their life.”—Shohaku Okumura Roshi, Director, Soto Zen Buddhism International Center

“These are brilliant and lucid reflections on the immense significance of the present moment. These liberating teachings by Katagiri Roshi are unique and precious in their ability to help us learn to use time skillfully—and not to be used by it. A major contribution for all schools of meditation.”—Larry Rosenberg, author of Breath by Breath and Living in the Light of Death

“This book is a spring of nectar for new and seasoned practitioners alike.”—Tulku Thondup, author of Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala (December 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590306074
• ISBN-13: 978-1590306079
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,776 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Food for wholehearted living., July 24, 2007

By 

Randall K. Johnson "just be it" (St. Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Each Moment Is the Universe: Zen and the Way of Being Time (Hardcover)

So much of our life squeeze revolves around the tension between impermanence and our interdependence with all sentient beings. This focus on the deeper nature of time and space is so richly presented, filled with examples that take a deeper understanding to the core of our bones.
"So if you want to know yourself and society as it really is and live comfortably in the transient reality of a moment, make your body and mind calm. Settle on yourself as if your body and mind were a huge building rising toward the sky from your round cusion. Open your mind again and again to see what impermanence means."
This will be a book always by my side. Highly recommended.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Profound!, October 3, 2008

By 

D. Udall (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Each Moment Is the Universe: Zen and the Way of Being Time (Hardcover)

This is absolutely one of the most profound Buddhist books I've ever read. I can see why some folks would consider its middle chapters on "being-time" do be a little bit difficult to comprehend, as he's speaking about the experience of seeing the world (time, space, and being) through the awakened mind. But what a vivid description! There were parts I didn't grasp, but that didn't bother me. To the contrary, I found it an inspiring vision of an enlightened mind.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A trasnformative discussion of reality, January 27, 2008

By 

Michael Pantaleoni (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Each Moment Is the Universe: Zen and the Way of Being Time (Hardcover)

A direct road to realization of one's mind is to understand, deeply, the nature of impermanence and time.

This is a remarkable teaching. Get comfortable, RELAX and bring all of yourself into reading each chapter sequentially, carefully and over a period of time. Then come back to the book at the beginning and read it again the same way. It is just possible you may begin to understand the feeling of profound truth and sense of freedom it brings.

A reviewer in this section states that the book will always be by his side; mine too.