Four years ago I ran across a lecture on the Antikythera mechanism. I enjoyed the author’s story telling ability and her research on the Antikythera mechanism. So I dropped her a note. This led to several back and forth that among other things included her having a Ph.D. in neurology and her spending some time in Atlanta at Emory University while she was researching her NYT Bestseller: CURE. After mentioning I was a Soto Zen Buddhist priest, she wrote back that she was working on a new book tentatively entitled NOW. I introduced her to Jikai Dainin Katagari-roshi and Master Eihei Dogen sense uji or being-time. Her book just came out: IN SEARCH OF NOW | Kirkus Reviews I have read about half the text and find it a great read, to the point that I’m writing here about a view of “change” as an homage to her “now.”
As Marchant observes In Search of Now, “The ‘now’ isn’t a static point on a timeline; it is the fundamental, shifting reality from which all our perceptions of past and future emerge.”
Impermanence, non-soul (ego), and dukkha. Are the three laws of Buddhadharma, our perspective on the Universe. Thus, change is the norm, as is independent origination and “uneasiness,” or “wobbly-wheel” in Pali. These pronouncements spawn the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eight Foldpath. How/
Impermanence is change which is always happening — the oxymoron of change is a constant. As the root of the “Great Matter.” reflects how this connecting and disconnecting is relative cause and effect while posing as a constant absolute. These two conjure against each other (the wobble of the Universe) causing friction. This out-of-sortness. A ripple in time-space where relative meets the absolute. In being-time a ripple doesn’t travel across the water as the water moves up and down (Dogen). We often experience Dukkha because we try to stand rigid against the wave, or we mistake a single crest for the end point. By practicing the Noble Eightfold Path, particularly Right View and Right Mindfulness, we recognize that we are not separate from the fabric; we are the vibration itself. The Path doesn’t stop the ripples—as noted, change is the constant absolute—but it removes the discomfort of the occurrence compared to the “friction” of our resistance.
Sangaku