Uji (Being-Time)

Uji
Painting of Dōgen viewing the moon, c. 1250, Hōkyōji monastery collection.
Chinese name
Chinese	有時
Literal meaning	exist/be/have time
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin yǒushí Wade–Giles yu-shih Hakka Romanization yû-sṳ̀ Yue: Cantonese Jyutping jau5 si4 Middle Chinese Middle Chinese ɦɨuX d͡ʑɨ
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese	hữu thời
Korean name
Hangul	유시
Hanja	有時
Transcriptions Revised Romanization yusi McCune–Reischauer yusi
Japanese name
Kanji	有時
Hiragana	うじ
Katakana	ウジ
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn uji

The Japanese Buddhist word uji (有時), usually translated into English as Being-Time, is a key metaphysical idea of the Sōtō Zen founder Dōgen (1200–1253). His 1240 essay titled Uji, which is included as a fascicle in the Shōbōgenzō ("Treasury of the True Dharma Eye") collection, gives several explanations of uji, beginning with, "The so-called "sometimes" (uji) means: time (ji) itself already is none other than being(s) (u) are all none other than time (ji).".^[1] Scholars have interpreted uji "being-time" for over seven centuries. Early interpretations traditionally employed Buddhist terms and concepts, such as impermanence (Pali anicca, Japanese mujō 無常). Modern interpretations of uji are more diverse, for example, authors like Steven Heine and Joan Stambaugh compare Dōgen's concepts of temporality with the existentialist Martin Heidegger's 1927 Being and Time.