Experiencing No-Time: A Zen Perspective

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One of my favourite things to ponder is time from the perspective of Zen Buddhism. Zen is a strange beast and strangest of all is the experience of a different sense of time. Often when people begin meditation they notice a new sense of time, of a greater sense of spaciousness. There is a famous Zen saying that goes something like this:

You should sit in meditation for 30 minutes per day, unless you are too busy. Then you should sit for an hour.

If you think you are “too busy” and this is something you say to yourself too often, then you will always feel rushed and stressed. It possible to enjoy life as it unfolds without this sense of rush. The deepening sense of this is the experience of “no-time”.

This perspective is extremely radical. It doesn’t make logical sense and perhaps doesn’t even sound rational. With these caveats I want to share with you something written by one of my koan teachers, Arno Hess. I hope you enjoy it. It is from the pathwayzen.org.au website, he shared it recently for the new year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR by Arno Hess

This is the time we wish each other a Happy New Year. Fortunately, like tomorrow, it never comes and few of us realise the implications the concept of time and its categorisation has on our wellbeing. 

Since there is no past, no present (we can’t stop time even for a nanosecond) and of course no future, time is a human invention the absence of which some label eternity or no-time.

The concept of time, through memory and imagination, allows us to categorise the past, present and future, as well as to collectively get to a bus-stop and for a bus to leave at an agreed moment. All in all a very useful invention, that according to some sources on Wikipedia, is estimated to have begun with sundials around 3500 BCE in Egypt. 

Today, it is hard for us to even imagine an existence without the concept of time. Our entire world-view and self-image is so intertwined with time that even the thought of there being no-time, can evoke confusion and even anger. 

Most of us only contemplate the implications of no-time when we are confronted with a direct experience of no-time. This can occur as a result of a meditation practice, as we deliberately stop the flow of thinking and instead concentrate on a given object of concentration or simply sit with naked awareness. 

No-time is obscured by thinking, as thinking is predominantly about the past or imagined future and does not allow our awareness to rest and recognise our timeless dimension. 

For those that have experienced a moment of no-time, it can, depending on the intensity of the experience, have life changing consequences as our identity and core beliefs can be exposed as illusions once it clicks that there is no-time. This is different to knowing no-time through a reasoned approach, which does not have the same powerful effect. This is why reading or hearing about these things does not promote the necessary paradigm shift.
  
Really getting that there is no-time can have a further consequence of crumbling the foundation of our constructed ego-self, the existence of which is dependent on time categorisations. Birth and death are powerful examples. 

Those who have had a no-time experience know experientially, that time categorisations continuously reinforce not only the illusion of selfhood, but also the illusion of separation from our infinite nature.

The notion of “self”, for most, starts at birth and evolves through our imagination and conditioned beliefs to the separate person we think we are in time. However, once we experience no-time the sense of “I” is dissolved into a non-separated timeless dimension. At the same time, the “I” appearing as a separate identity we have created and nurtured for so long can not be obscured; we simply gain another reference point, co-existing or merging and informing from then on, all our deliberations. 

A famous Zen koan points to this as a question: “Who were you before your mother was born?” The Bible also makes reference to this with the famous “I am who I am” in Exodus 3:14. where God identifies himself as omnipresent. This omnipresence is no-time. And again, W.E.H. Stanner, the famous Australian anthropologist, criticised his English colleagues for incorrectly translating the world dreamtime. His translation was “everywhen”.

The concept of time continues to bind us both mentally and psychologically. Expectations, grief, remorse, shame, grudges, etc., through memory, are time-based mental concepts that continue to keep us imprisoned in our head space, dominating our mental life.

When the illusion of time is exposed through a direct experience, be it as a glimpse or a longer lasting event, it tends to further unbind us from self-imposed conditioned beliefs that relied on time and that, until then, kept reinforcing our apartheid in the form of a dualistic consciousness binding us to samsara. 

Thus, those who have had a no-time or kensho experience as we also call it in Zen know, that there is no such thing as a new year or tomorrow, or happiness or sadness. These, among others, are merely time-based mental constructs that we gravitate towards as being real or goals or ideals which ultimately never satisfy us due to their impermanent nature. 

To free ourselves from this perpetual time-based tyranny or samsara (cycle of life) as it is called in Buddhism, we should experience at least once, a glimpse of eternity, to see existence as it really is.

The deep insight we gain through this experience opens up a unified perspective and a reference point that has the power to stop discriminations between us and the world around us despite it appearing to be otherwise.

This new perspective informs all other perceptions including the concept of time. It reconciles and heals the wounds of separation and gives us a glimpse of all-at-oneness, no “I”, just this!

Mud, Sand and Weeds

A very short Zen story of journey and place

By Genkai Phil

OzZen Yarrawarra Retreat, May 2025

Photo by Jamie Irvine

The track starts out firm, winding through tall forest of eucalypts, paperbarks and she-oaks.

Moving downwards it soon becomes muddy.

Oh shit! I’m wearing thongs, the world’s most unstable footwear. I take them off.

Soon marveling at the quality of clayey soil, at once both slippery and sticky.

The track, an old and rutted road in parts, is full of watery holes, cloudy and mysterious. How deep? I avoid stepping into them in bare feet, perhaps there are hazards. Tree roots, broken glass, bits of metal.

The mud starts to give way to sandier substrates. Firmer, meandering paths of animal feet or human passing.

I am soon in amongst the weeds, dotted among heathy shrubs, wound up in grasses and sedges. I could get lost in here. Clinging, tangled up, scratchy. Tick ridden.

Small billabongs appear, home to frogs, birds, fish and iridescent dragonflies. Probably tiger snakes!

The back of a dune slopes before me. Gritty and unstable. Slow going, nature’s speedhump.

I can hear it before I see it. The whumping of waves along the steep shoreline.

I have spent many years, decades actually, playing in the fringes of the Pacific vastness. 

I have experienced much joy and learnt many lessons.

I am intimate with the shapes and heights of waves. The directions they come from and the spaces between them. The way the wind sparkles and rips up the surfaces.

Swept along the shore in the drift, pulled out in rip currents. Riding high and fast, being held under and fighting for breath.

Yet, many mysteries remain beyond the edge of things. A vast deepness and expanse. Creatures benign, playful, life giving, monstrous.

A muddy track, a sandy shore, trees, shrubs, grasses and weeds.

All gifts from the cosmos.

Gassho.

Photo by Phil Pisanu

The Experience of Intimacy in Zen

Talk from OzZEN Zazenkai in Sawtell 2nd March 2025. Intimacy in Zen is discussed in terms of two aspects of 1. presence with all of life, and 2. emotional availability and vulnerability. A complete offering of ourselves, unmasked.

This brings forth the character of the Bodhisattva as: simple, joyful, and open to life’s possibilities.

We mention “Intimacy and Commitment” from Ordinary Mind Zen teacher Elihu Genmyo Smith’s book “Everything is the way”. We mention three koans: The Hands and Eyes of the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion (Blue Cliff Record Case 89), The National Teacher’s Monument (Blue Cliff Record Case 18), and Dizang’s “Not knowing is most intimate” (Book of Serenity Case 20).

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay

OzZEN One Day Retreat

Sunday 2nd March : 9am to 3pm

Where: Sawtell CWA Hall, 21 Elisabeth St, Sawtell NSW

An opportunity to deepen your practice together with the OzZen community. There will be a talk and discussion at 10:40am. Please bring a packed lunch. People with chronic illness are warmly encouraged to attend for as much of the day as manageable.

Whilst we won’t be meditating on the beach we will be NEAR this beach and, for those who would like to, gathering afterwards at a nearby local venue beside the beach for a chat.

Rev. Zenko Jack Wicks will guide the day of practice and community.

Bliss and misery on the Buddhist path of transformation, part 1

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This talk centres on Case 42 of the Mumonkan, “Manjushri and the Young Woman in Samadhi.” Here we see a drama played out in which the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, Manjushri, is unable to wake a woman from samadhi and is seemingly trounced by the Bodhisattva of Delusive Wisdom, Momyo.

As an appetiser, Case 1 in the Record of Empty Hall, is mentioned. Again we see Manjushri play the fall guy in, “The World-Honored One Breaks Through Inside and Outside”.

Given on the 4th day of Twining Vines Rohatsu Sesshin at Silver Wattle Quaker Centre. Dec 4, 2024.

What happens when ChatGPT writes a guided meditation?

I am using ChatGPT to kick off preparation for a guided meditation I’ll give in a few hours. I’ve used it before to kick off something that ends up being quite different. It is interesting to see what it comes up with, because it 1. opens up useful lines of thought, and 2. reveals what we might say when we are spinning on predictable ideas we’ve likely heard before from others. ChatGPT will, by dint of how it is created, feed back to us an average of what people would tend to say.

This is the prompt I gave chatGPT “create text for a 30 minute guided meditation based on the content of the vimalakirti sutra” and this is what it came up with:

Guided Meditation Inspired by the Vimalakirti Sutra

Introduction (5 minutes)

Welcome to this meditation session. Today, we will explore the themes of the Vimalakirti Sutra, a profound text in Mahayana Buddhism that highlights the essence of non-duality, the importance of compassion, and the realization of the inherent purity of all beings.

Find a comfortable position, either seated or lying down. Allow your body to settle, and gently close your eyes. Take a deep breath in through your nose, feeling your chest and belly expand. Hold it for a moment, and then exhale slowly through your mouth, releasing any tension. Let’s take a few more deep breaths together, inhaling deeply… and exhaling fully.

As you breathe, allow yourself to arrive in this moment, letting go of any distractions from the past or worries about the future. With each breath, feel yourself becoming more present, more grounded.

Setting the Intention (5 minutes)

Now, let’s set an intention for our meditation. Reflect on the teachings of Vimalakirti, who embodied the principles of wisdom and compassion. Perhaps your intention could be to cultivate compassion for yourself and others, or to deepen your understanding of non-duality.

Silently repeat your intention to yourself, allowing its meaning to resonate in your heart. Feel the warmth of this intention as you breathe in… and breathe out.

Guided Visualization (10 minutes)

Imagine now a beautiful, serene landscape. You find yourself in a lush garden filled with vibrant flowers and trees. The air is fragrant and the sounds of nature surround you. This garden symbolizes the pure nature of all beings.

As you walk through this garden, notice the colors of the flowers—each one unique, yet all part of the same ecosystem. Reflect on how each being, like these flowers, has its own beauty and purpose, interconnected yet distinct.

You come upon a calm pond, its surface reflecting the sky above. Sit by this pond and observe the water. Notice how it reflects the world around it without judgment, simply showing what is. In this reflection, see your own essence—pure, unblemished, and at peace.

As you sit here, allow feelings of compassion to arise. Imagine sending out waves of compassion from your heart to all beings—your loved ones, acquaintances, and even those with whom you have conflicts. Visualize these waves gently touching each being, bringing healing and understanding.

Contemplation of Non-Duality (5 minutes)

Now, shift your focus inward. Reflect on the nature of self and other. Feel the interconnectedness of all life. As you breathe in, imagine you are breathing in the essence of the universe. As you breathe out, visualize sharing your own essence with the world.

Contemplate the idea that there is no true separation between you and others. Notice any thoughts or feelings that arise—acknowledge them without attachment. Just as the pond reflects the sky, allow your mind to reflect the truth of this unity.

Closing Reflection (5 minutes)

As we prepare to close our meditation, bring your attention back to your breath. With each inhale, feel a sense of gratitude for this moment, for the teachings of Vimalakirti, and for the wisdom within yourself. With each exhale, release any remaining tension, any thoughts of separation.

Slowly begin to bring awareness back to your body. Wiggle your fingers and toes, gently stretching. When you’re ready, open your eyes.

Take a moment to notice how you feel—perhaps a sense of calm, connection, or clarity. Remember that the teachings of the Vimalakirti Sutra are always available to you, guiding you toward compassion and understanding.

Thank you for joining this meditation. May you carry this peace and compassion with you as you move through your day.

It’s not terrible, not at all. The structure is good, helpful. It contains helpful elements. It comes off as canned, because it is. It is created using data of what people have tended to say in guided meditations. Our goal in giving a guided meditation is to not be canned. Being present is, by definition, not being canned. A good guided meditation comes from a vividness and an awareness of what is appropriate and fitting. It is a product of what speaker themself brings to that meeting — of all their strengths and weaknesses — as well as a response to what will serve the listeners in that precise time and place. The import and potential of that moment and the opportunity it furnishes cannot be overstated. If we are caught up in what we think we think we ought to say to sound good then ChatGPT can give us that, no problem. It cannot give genuineness, aliveness and authenticity.

Image by PublicDomainArchive from Pixabay (altered)

OzZEN One-Day Retreat: Zen Practice and Living Community

Venue: Sawtell Country Women’s Association, 21 Elizabeth St, Sawtell NSW

When: Sunday 25th August 9:00am to 3:00pm

Synopsis: A coming together for a day of practice and community. We will explore compassion and acceptance through meditations, silent and guided, a dharma talk, and discussion. We would love to see you there. Please bring lunch for yourself. We will start at 9:00am and finish at 3:00pm. Part-time attendance is welcome and participation by people living with chronic illness is warmly encouraged. You will be supported. Please be in touch if you have any concerns. There is no zoom option for this retreat.

Fees to cover costs including venue hire: $20 for OzZen members, $30 for non-members. If you can’t afford this please be in touch. You are welcome to give dana to Jack too if you would like to.

Meditation on Love, Romantic & Universal

This guided meditation explores the connection between romantic love and loving kindness. Romantic love hints at the universal love we can experience and embody whether or not we are in love romantically with someone or not.   

Both in love songs and romantic poetry we can get a taste of something that is beyond our individual selves, beyond existence in a certain place and time, beyond the usual way we experience life.  Universal love can flavour our lives and be flavoured by the qualities of romantic love. 

Guided meditation given to OzZen on 2 April 2024

Image (edited) from StockSnap on Pixabay

Loving kindness: I knew I loved you before I met you

The four immeasurables are: loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. These are qualities we aspire to in buddhist practice and people appreciate them generally. I think this is because they are part of being human. They emerge naturally with a long standing and committed meditation practice since they are the inherent qualities of awakening.

Some people use the cultivation of them to direct themselves toward awakening. This ‘fake it till you make it’ has never been my style personally because all I could focus on is what is actually true and genuine and trusting that practice could reveal that. I didn’t want to add anything that might be false or artificial or untrue. After practicing for many years now I can finally feel into them and explore them without feeling phoney.

[updated 30 march 2024]

The Character of the Buddha

The qualities perfected by the Buddha are the paramitas: generosity, ethics, patience, effort, concentration, wisdom. We see these qualities in the Pali Suttas on right speech, and helpful here are two suttas in the Middle Length Discourses, MN58 and MN41. The Buddha is the embodiment of the perfections and so when he speaks of, for example, right speech, he is describing himself.

Then we look at speech and silence in the koan collections. The trifecta of koans in the Blue Cliff Record, Cases 70, 71, and 72, all revolve around the koan: “How can words be spoken when your mouth is sealed shut?” And, finally, we venture onto Case 3 of Record of Empty Hall – “The World-Honored One Finally Pays Attention.”

Opening to Love

Here we go from St Francis of Assisi’s Prayer for Peace, to the Zen Koan “I have already become like this”1. From there we accompany “Seven Wise Women in the Charnel Grounds”2 and then see what thirteenth century Zen priest Eihei Dōgen has to say about “Birth and Death” in his fascicle of that name.3

1 Susan Murphy’s take on Case 41 of Transmission of Light from her book Red Thread Zen

2 Case 9 from The Hidden Lamp collection edited by Florence Caplow and Susan Moon

3 “Birth and Death (Shōji)” translated by Arnold Kotler and Kazuaki Tanahashi from Moon in a Dew Drop edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi.

Image by winterseitler from Pixabay

The Viola Player

He liked its darker tones,
and that it filled in the in-betweens;
recalling notes left behind,
seemingly forgotten,
by the other instruments;
tracing the empty spaces
with its subtler sounds;
the ones people in the audience don't notice;
their minds drawn
to the attention-seeking utterances of the violins
or the moaning complaints of the cellos;
but without which, riches would be lost

But, all the string instruments,
responding with tenderness and mirth
to the touch of human hands.

The show stopper, of course, the violin;
crying out in despair;
pitching grief one moment 
but flighty and mercurial;
quick to laughter;
and able to move 
with the impressive speed 
and eloquence of a sprinter,
wearing flashy fluorescent spikes.
The centre of attention;
the life of the party.

The cello, the big-hearted and mournful one;
capturing our depths, 
resonating the deepest cries and yearning 
of the human heart; 
full of power and unable to contain its desire;
the middle distance runner,
strong and intensely physical;
strategic; sweatily aggressive. 

The double bass, connected to the earth;
trustworthy and even tempered; 
the gentle giant; ancient and wise beast; 
soothing with sounds felt rather than heard;
the very expression of commitment, of love. 
Determined, softly pliant, ultra-marathon runner;
expressing timelessness;
and never giving up or giving in. 

The viola player plays in the in-betweens,
and doesn't ask to be loved.

Edited Image from Pexels on Pixabay

Meeting Yourself Along The Way

This Zen meditation guides you in and takes you tripping along, riding on the breath, through some old Zen stories. Where will you go?

The first is a re-telling of “A Parable” from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki. This story sets up a persuasive set of circumstances which leads someone (and that someone is us) to discover the completeness of the simple act of enjoying eating a strawberry.

Two koans are featured, both are from The Gateless Gate by Koun Yamada (adapted below).

Case 30 “Mind is Buddha”

Taibai asked Baso in all ernestness, “What is Buddha?” Baso answered, “The very mind is Buddha.”

      VERSE 
      The blue sky, the bright day. 
      It is most detestable to hunt around; 
      If, furthermore, you ask, "What is Buddha?" 
      It is like shouting your innocence while holding the loot.

Case 36 “Meeting a Person Who Has Accomplished the Way”.

Goso said, “If you meet a person on the path who has accomplished the Way, do not greet them with words or silence. Tell me, how will you greet them?”

      VERSE 
      Meeting on the path a person who has accomplished the Way, 
      Do not greet them with words or silence. 
      It is right in your face; 
      If you want to realise, realise on the spot.

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

From July 2023

Final Embrace

They say that 

When someone dies

their beloved will pass by

the place where they died

to say hi

They might park their car

at the scene

of the accident

at the spot

where their loved one

wrapped their car

around the pole of a street light

Hoping for a sight

hoping for a sign

Just to

lie on the ground

where their beloved lay,

and to hug the pole

that stole

the final embrace

of the beloved.

[Image by efes from Pixabay]

Chocolate Biscuits

She’d been through a lot this girl, only 13 years old. So she needed chocolate biscuits, lots of them.

And dad, in prison for domestic violence. the daughter missed her father and knew he just got upset sometimes and couldn’t control his temper.

Surely, the chocolate biscuits will help, thought mum. She’d had a lot of wounds and hurts and that meant a lot of chocolate biscuits were needed.

So she had chocolate biscuits for lunch, at school, every day.

The teachers were concerned. But mum knew best, and thought, and hoped, that the chocolate biscuits would cover up all the times she’d let her daughter down.

But they always melted in the girl’s lunchbox and made her queasy.

Right Speech in the Pali Canon

“It is spoken at the right time. It is spoken in truth. It is spoken affectionately. It is spoken beneficially. It is spoken with a mind of good will.” — Anguttara Nikaya 5.198

From the Saleyyaka Sutta: The Brahmans of Sala MN58

“Such speech as the Tathagata knows to be untrue, incorrect, and unbeneficial, and which is also unwelcome and disagreeable to others: such speech the Tathagata does not utter.

Such speech as the Tathagata knows to be true and correct but unbeneficial, and which is also unwelcome and disagreeable to others: such speech the Tathagata does not utter.

Such speech as the Tathagata knows to be true, correct and beneficial, but which is unwelcome and disagreeable to others: the Tathagata knows the time to use such speech.

Such speech as the Tathagata knows to be untrue, incorrect, and unbeneficial, but which is welcome and agreeable to others: such speech the Tathagata does not utter.

Such speech as the Tathagata knows to be true and correct but unbeneficial, and which is welcome and agreeable to others: such speech the Tathagata does not utter.

Such speech as the Tathagata knows to be true, correct and beneficial, and which is welcome and agreeable to others: the Tathagata knows the time to use such speech.

Why is that? Because the Tathagata has compassion for beings.”

— Majjhima Nikaya 58

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay