Zen Buddhism and storytelling merge in novelist’s journey

This Feb. 18, 2015 photo provided by Literary Arts shows, Ruth Ozeki, left, with Dr. Dreyer at Grant High School, in Portland, Ore. Ozeki spent a week here as author-in-residence with Literary Arts, a Portland-based nonprofit that promotes literature and writers. Author of the critically acclaimed 2013 novel “A Tale For The Time Being,” Ozeki conducted master classes in fiction writing and on meditation and creativity while she was in Portland and spoke with high school students. (AP Photo/Literary Arts)

By Associated Press March 10, 2015 4 min read

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Novelist Ruth Ozeki’s spiritual companion is a Zen master named Dogen. Dead for nearly 800 years, when you listen to Ozeki, you know he’s there.

Addressing nearly 2,300 Ozeki fans inside a concert hall here, the critically acclaimed novelist talked about Dogen’s perception of time.

Each day consists of 6,400,099,980 moments, and in the time it takes to snap your finger, 65 moments have passed, the Japanese Zen master wrote in the 13th century.

Of course, this is “rhetorical sleight of hand,” Ozeki told the crowd. Counting moments is like trying to grab a fistful of water. But Dogen has a purpose: to get humans to slow down and think about their actions at every moment and not rush through the days. Be aware. Be alive.

“I find his view of time astonishing,” Ozeki says of Dogen. “There’s always enough time, if you just slow down.”