Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Tale for the Time Being, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Time, Impermanence, and the Present
The Difficulty of Communication
Life vs. Death
Coincidences and Connections
Sexual Perversion and Violence
Summary
Analysis
(1) One morning, Jiko decided to take Nao on a picnic to the beach. When they stopped by the Family Mart to pick up food for the picnic, Nao saw that there was a crowd of biker yanki girls hanging around outside the door. Nao was nervous and told Jiko that she wasn’t hungry so they could avoid the yankis. Jiko, however, insisted on going in and didn’t seem to notice when the girls made rude comments as they walked past.
Jiko loves and accepts all people. She is not intimidated by rudeness, since she doesn’t judge people for their poor behavior.
Themes
The yankis were still outside when Nao and Jiko left the store. They started yelling rude comments, and Nao placed herself in front to try and protect Jiko. But Jiko, to Nao’s dismay, started heading toward the yankis. Jiko stood in front of the girls and bowed deeply to them, and a girl in front was surprised into nodding back. The leader of the group reached over and punched the girl who nodded, scolding her for not bowing properly. All the girls bowed back, and Jiko bowed again. Jiko asked Nao to bow too.
Nao thought that the yankis were intimidating and rude, and that they were impossible to communicate with. However, Jiko’s respectful gesture—which the yanki girls return—demonstrates that all people have the capacity for humility and love.
Themes
(2) At the beach, Jiko asked Nao if she has ever “bullied a wave” and asked Nao to try it. Nao hit the waves with Jiko’s stick until she was exhausted. The waves kept coming at her, and Nao lay down, letting them wash over her. She walked back to Jiko and told her that the ocean had won. Jiko asked if it was a good feeling, and Nao said that it was.
(3) Nao watched some surfers on the ocean, and she told Jiko that one of them fell and then got back up. Jiko says, “Up, down, same thing.” Nao told her that up and down are certainly not the same thing for a surfer, and Jiko said that they weren’t the same but also not completely different.
Jiko tried to explain the Buddhist idea of nonduality to Nao, a concept that essentially means that all creatures and things are connected through time. For instance, Jiko believes that the difference between up and down are inconsequential.
Themes
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Jiko said that the surfer and the wave are also the same: a person rises up like a wave until they fall again. Presently, Nao writes that she never completely understand what Jiko says, but that she thinks it is really nice of Jiko to try to explain it, anyway. Nao thinks that Jiko’s “little wave” won’t be around for much longer, which makes Nao sad.
Jiko elaborated on the idea that everything is connected by also explaining that all “time beings” are similar in their impermanence. Jiko explained these things to Nao with patience and love, but Nao still struggles to understand these complicated ideas. However, she appreciates Jiko’s attempt at communication and worries that Jiko, too, will die. Nao still struggles to accept impermanence.
Themes
