Dōgen’s Uji—or “being-time”—turns the usual timeline on its head. Instead of treating past, present, and future as separate islands, each moment is seen as a full expression of time itself. Imagine every instant as a kaleidoscope where yesterday, today, and tomorrow swirl together, inseparable and alive.

Key points:

• Simultaneity over succession
  Rather than a train chugging from one station to the next, each moment contains the entire journey. A flower blooming now carries its past buds and future seeds in one vibrant petal.

• Time as event, not measurement
  Conventional clocks chop life into neat little slices. Dōgen argues that time isn’t a backdrop waiting to be measured—it’s the very act of being. Every heartbeat, every breath, is a fresh creation of time.

• Interdependence of moments
  In a world that often rushes to “get ahead,” Uji reminds that the future depends on what’s happening now, and the past isn’t a closed book but an active ingredient in the present. Today’s decision ripples backward and forward, much like how global events—say, the electric buzz around this summer’s Paris Olympics—already feel intertwined with plans laid decades ago.

• Shattering linear expectations
  It’s not about being stuck in nostalgia or anxiety over what’s next. Time, in this view, isn’t a tight squeeze between what was and what will be. It’s a boundless play where each moment is complete, rich with memory and possibility.

By blowing the lid off ordinary timelines, Dōgen invites a more fluid, alive relationship with time—one where every second truly counts, not just as a tick on the clock but as the totality of existence unfolding.