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

by Dainin Katagiri

Buddhism teaches us to face the truth of impermanence and to accept the fact that life consists of moments that appear and disappear at superspeed.

Buddhism we don’t try to escape from impermanence; we face time itself in our daily living.

This living practice is called zazen. Zazen is not a way to escape from life by being mindful of something that is apart from the human world; it is the practice of being present in the real stream of time and looking directly at life itself. Zazen enables you to plunge below the surface and leads you to touch the core of your life. It’s not so easy. But even so, you have to do it, because spiritual life originates from the direct observation of impermanence.

But in the domain of time in its naked nature, you cannot insert your own ideas or expectations into a moment, because by the time your mind works, that moment has already gone.

If you plunge into zazen and experience something unexpected, don’t attach yourself to what you feel from that experience. All you have to do is take care of your posture and breathing with a kind, considerate, and thoughtful spirit.

conditioned origination. Conditioned origination is a complicated Buddhist idea that is difficult to understand. But simply speaking, moment after moment conditions produce “the time has come,” and beings appear. What are conditions? Conditions consist of many physical and mental elements that become the five aggregates of worldly existence called skandhas: form, or matter; sensation, or feeling; perception; mental impulses; and consciousness, or mind.

You have to do your best to face every moment, because this moment will never come again. The moment that you are living right now is a very important opportunity to make your life vividly alive. If you want to live with spiritual security in the midst of constant change, you have to burn the flame of your life force in everything you do.

You can enjoy your practice, but practice just for yourself is not good enough. If you practice just for yourself, you attach to the idea of getting something from practice. Then your expectations are endless, and you will never find peace. So your practice must be for everyone: you, other people, birds, trees, and all beings. Just plunge in and take care of what you have to do right now, before you think of yourself. When you make the effort to practice for all beings, something wonderful gives forth from every pore of your body. You don’t know what it is, but it is a really great help. You can help other people in this way, and you can also help yourself. Then, whatever situation you are in, you experience a feeling of being completely