These resonances are of more than literary or historical interest: understanding what Ende and Dogen have to say about time gives us important insight into how we experience time today. This essay will explore the deep resonances between Ende's view of time in Momo and the Buddhist perspective on time, particularly as expressed by the Japanese Zen master Dogen (1200-1253). Momo takes place in an unnamed Italian town which is home to the eponymous homeless girl, who is known to be wise and has an almost supernatural ability to listen and help people come to terms with their problems. An English translation has been published in 1974 as The Grey Gentlemen, and again in 1984 as Momo. Is it a coincidence that Ende later became interested in Buddhism? He visited Japan several times: the first trip in 1977 included a discussion with a Zen priest the second time in 1989 to marry his second wife, SATO Mariko. Momo is a German fantasy novel written by Michael Ende in 1973. Although apparently written for children, it contains profound insights into our modern attitude toward time. (Momo 65) One of the most remarkable novels of the late twentieth century is Momo, by the German writer Michael Ende. Calendars and clocks exist to measure time, but that signifies little because we all know that an hour can seem an eternity or pass in a flash, according to how we spend it.

Momo Life holds one great but commonplace mystery. Imperceptibly at first, but then quite unmistakably, his days grew shorter and shorter. Since then, the temporal nightmare it depicts has become our reality. Momo, Dogen, and the Commodification of Time Momo, Dogen, and the Commodification of TimeĪbstractThe odd thing was, no matter how much time he saved, he never had any to spare in some mysterious way, it simply vanished.

Momo 1973