Dogen offers his unique guidance for awakening when he instructs: “See the Buddha’s golden light in every hour of your day, cultivate doubt about your view of time and being, investigate how it is that particular being-time co-exists with all being-time, and know that practice-realization is right now.” This quote is from his essay on the nature of time as we experience it. The experience of time is so various, depending on the particular circumstances and our state of mind. During Rohatsu Sesshin, which celebrates the Buddha’s enlightenment, we’ll be inquiring into what is so subtle that often we don’t even take note of it. Is this moment independent from any other? How do you experience time directly? We will be taking up this mystery during the upcoming sesshin. It’s best investigated during long sitting, which is what sesshin provides. A sesshin is a “time-out”, a rest for the usual mind, and, thus, to sink into wide awareness, and the sequential characteristics, of our usual sense of the march of events. Even if you cannot attend the entire week, do consider at least one full day, to relax and open to this mystery of time.
