Zen - Is There a Progression in Time?

There is a whole chinese philosophy of time based on this. Dogen, the great thirteenth century japanese zen buddhist, studied in china and wrote a book called shobo genzo a roshi. He says there is no such thing as a progression in time. The spring does not become the summer. There is first spring and then there is summer. In the same way, you now do not become you later. This is t s elliot's idea in er four quartets,. where he says that the person who has settled down in the train to read the newspaper is not the same person who stepped on to the train from the platform.