Perceiving the Humanity of Time: Time Explained Through the Communion of Eihei Dōgen and Maurice Merleau-Ponty

Abstract

ABSTRACT Through engaging with the major works of Eihei Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzo (in particular his ‘Uji’ fascicle) and Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception, I reveal the nature of time, by exploring how the phenomenon of time’s passage is perceived. I focus on how time’s presentation of having a past, present, and future is perceived by us within the immediate now or present moment. Therefore, I will be looking at the ramifications our human body has on our perception of time. This will bring into discussion both Dōgen and Merleau-Ponty who both express the view that the body is found to be the foundation for our perception. Therein, the reader will find that our body creates the conditions needed to perceive the passage of time.