“Every being that exists in the entire world is linked together as moments in time, and at the same time they exist as individual moments of time. Because all moments are the time being, they are your time being”

After considering the many meanings of time in the book, it becomes clear that the title has two meanings; it is both a tale for “the time being,” meaning a living being like Nao and Ruth, and a tale that focuses on the present and exists “for the time being.” The novel, concerned with the Zen Buddhist concept of time and the idea of “the time being” draws from Dogen’s philosophical work, “Shōbōgenzō.”

Dogen writes that “every being that exists in the entire world is linked together as moments in time, and at the same time they exist as individual moments of time. Because all moments are the time being, they are your time being” (259). This concept of time helps to explain how Nao and Ruth come to be connected. Although they both exist as separate moments in time, they are also linked together because they exist as part of the universe.

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