Cleansing the Heart: Buddhist Bowing As Contemplation
Rev. Heng Sure
Institute For World Religions
The nature of the worshipper and
the worshipped is empty and still,
This Bodhimanda[i] of mine is like a pearl in Indras
Shakyamuni Buddha manifests within
My body appears before Shakyamuni,
Bowing at his feet, I return my
life in worship.
Buddhist Bowing Contemplation
Contemplating the nature of mind is a hallmark Buddhist
occupation. The Buddha called the mind a monkey," and "a
The monkey mind calculates and schemes, chases thoughts of
self and others, clings to rights and wrongs, and quarrels
over me and mine. The wild horse mind loves to run away
into fantasies and false-thoughts, to wander far without
warning and to return when it pleases. It is difficult to
break the wild horse mind to the saddle of mindfulness and
To the Chinese, both feeling and thinking are represented
by a single written character xin, which we will translate as "heart/mind."[ii] So the first half of our topic,
"purity of heart," viewed from a Buddhist perspective,
would be more accurately expressed as "purity of heart/mind."
To assume that the mind of a meditator automatically
rests in a state of permanent purity is to never have tried
to meditate. Random, discursive thoughts rise and fall without
cease, like waves on water. Purity of heart/mind is not a
product that one attains like a possession, rather it is a
process, a practice. From the perspective of practice we might
begin by replacing the noun "purity" with the infinitive
"to purify, or employ the gerund form, "purifying,"
to indicate the dynamic and continuous nature of purifying
the heart/mind. One purifies the heart by emptying out its
cluttered thoughts and turbid emotions, over and over. Purifying
requires letting go of attachments, truing or
rectifying thoughts, and reining in desire's appetites.
Contemplation in Both Movement
The Buddhas teaching in essence presents a variety
of methods to accomplish purifying the mind. Chan meditation
emphasizes two methods to calm the monkey and to tame the
wild horse: shamata and
vipassana. Shamata in Chinese is zhi, "stopping, and vipassana is goan,
"contemplating.[iii] A skilled Chan meditator employs
these two techniques in turn to direct the mind and body into
progressively deeper levels of awareness and insight. Stopping
and contemplating are not limited to seated meditation;
ideally, one uses gongfu, or skill, in both activity and
Both aspects of Purity of Heart/Contemplation appear
with a characteristic Buddhist flavor, in stopping and
contemplating. Stopping means to neither
engage thoughts nor discriminate among them but simply to
empty them out; sweep them away, and cleanse the mind as you
would polish a mirror. Tang Dynasty Master Shenxiu (600-706)
wrote a verse that describes this process:
The body is a Bodhi tree,
The mind a mirror-stand bright.
At all times wipe it clean - -
Let no dust alight.
Sixth Patriarchs Dharma
Jewel Platform Sutra [iv]
Contemplating complements stopping.
Here the task is not to sweep thoughts away, but instead to
mindfully observe each thought as it rises and falls in the
mind. Such watchfulness reveals the nature of thoughts, emotions,
afflictions, and habits.
Used with diligence and discretion, stopping
and contemplating gradually reveal the minds constant
pursuit of dualities, discriminations and emotional attachments.
Once purified of defilements, the mind can return to its inherent
stillness and purity; one can realize the goal of Chan meditation:
"understanding the mind and seeing the nature," (mingxin jianxing.) The enlightened mind is fundamentally still and
pure. Thus, Master Hui Neng, (638-713) replied in verse to
The body's not a Bodhi tree,
Nor mind a mirror-stand bright,
Basically there's not one thing:
Where can dust alight?
Sixth Patriarchs Dharma
Jewel Platform Sutra [v]
Here, dust refers to Basic Afflictions:
greed, hatred, stupidity, pride and doubt. Afflictions reinforce
an illusory sense of self; from the view of self comes arrogance
based on the perceived existence of me and mine.
The arising of arrogance, and its flip-side: inferiority or
low self-esteem, create myriad related delusions, karma, retribution
and its suffering. The Buddhas project, in general,
aims to replace the distorted view of self with a direct perception
as things as they really are. Replacing the view of an illusory
self with a proper view brings suffering to an end. Bowing,
or making prostrations, by reducing the centrality of me and
mine, is an effective method for bringing into focus an more
accurate description of the reality of not self.
Meditation masters practiced bowing as an active counterpart
to seated meditation. Bowing has many purposes; perhaps its
primary psychological function in the Buddhist context is
to dispel arrogance and to transform the affliction of pride.
Master Chengguan (737-839) the Tang Dynasty exegete, in his
commentary to the Flower
Adornment Sutra, explains "bowing in respect to all
Buddhas, the first of Samantabhadra Bodhisattvas
Ten Practices and Vows:
When one bows in respect to all
Buddhas, a feeling of reverence arises in your heart, and
animates your actions and speech. You express this feeling
by bowing to all Buddhas. The practice gets rid of both obstacles
of arrogance and ego. When respect arises, you deepen your
good roots of reverence and faith.
Here Master Chengguan explains
a psychological effect bowing. He places his point of reference
inside the mind of the practitioner as he or she bows to the
Buddha. Chengguan says that body, mouth and mind experience
a feeling of respect. The feeling of respect multiplies the
awareness of the sacred presence around and within the worshipper.
The obstacles of arrogance and ego diminish as bowing reduces
affliction and increases good qualities. The Avatamsaka contemplations used when bowing
in respect to all Buddhas, according to Samantabhadra
Bodhisattva, constitute a unique feature of bowing in Buddhism.
A close examination of the theory and practice of bowing
in Buddhism reveals a highly-esteemed Dharma-door long considered
indispensable to awakening. As we will see below, bowing has
a history in Buddhist monastic liturgy as old as the Sangha,
or Buddhist community itself. Why then, have scholars of Buddhism
paid so little attention to bowing?
Westerners in their first encounter
with Buddhism typically assume that Buddhist practice is synonymous
with sitting meditation.[vii] This view persists despite the
reality that the most common Buddhist practice in Asia from
the third century CE was, and still is, bowing to the Buddha.
Scholarly literature in English on the subjects of Chinese
Buddhism in particular, has tended to focus on meditation
and philosophy, to the exclusion of devotional practice. Eric
Reinders in his article "The Iconoclasm of Obeisance:
Protestant Images of Chinese Religion and the Catholic Church,
substantiates the lack of materials by Western scholars about
Buddhist bowing and obeisance. Reinders traces the European
Protestant Iconoclasts aversion for physical gestures
of deference and asks whether the quarrel in Europe arising
from the Reformation has been projected onto Asian religions.[viii] Judith Lief suggests that the
reasons why Westerners find bowing difficult are complex:
As Westerners we tend to
think of prostrating as a gesture of defeat or abasement.
We think that to show someone else respect is to make ourselves
less. Prostrating irritates our sense of democracy, that everyone
is equal...On one hand we want to receive the teachings but
on the other we dont really want to bow down to anyone
One of the reasons for Buddhisms current rapid
growth in the West may be because meditation seems egalitarian,
and free of dogma; it makes no demands of faith or adherence
to a creed. Bowing, on the other hand, seems inherently unequal,
undemocratic, humiliating, and submissive. Because bowing
takes one to the earth, it appears unsanitary and superstitious;
it conjures up the taboos of idolatry and graven images. From
a Gospel-based, logocentric perspective, bowing is mere ritual,
i.e., not textual. It masks the real thing doctrine.
Moreover, given cultural values of individualism and the ethos
of equality, bowing seems to replace self-determination with
And yet, this marginalization of bowing constitutes
a relatively recent trend. As we shall see in a brief comparative
look at bowing as praxis in other religions, prostrations
have figured prominently across the worlds religious
landscape. Where in Buddhism it opens a path to samadhi and
liberation, bowing takes on different faces in other faiths.
The comparisons and contrasts nonetheless are revealing and
shed light on an ancient practice that could infuse the contemporary
interfaith dialogue with new meaning.
Comparative Bowing Practices
Bowing is by no means unique to Buddhism; it constitutes
a ubiquitous practice across the spectrum of organized religions.
In the Middle Eastern and Hellenistic traditions, beginning
with the Ugaritic and Accadian religions of ancient Babylon,
we discover a kinshipin language, liturgy and doctrine
between Babylonian and Semitic bowing practices. Babylonian
texts, Hebrew scriptures, and the Kur'an,
explain bowing in similar fashion.
Accadian letters from the sixteenth century BCE appear
In the archives of the royal palace of Babylon at Ugarit that
mention bowing: "At the feet of my lord I bow down twice
seven times from afar.[xi]"
Jewish literature reveals an
almost identical reference where vassals in the Amarna letters
write, "At the feet of the king. . . seven times, seven
times I fall, forwards and backwards." And in the Gilgamesh, the founding literary epic of Babylonian
civilization, we find, "When they had slain the bull,
they tore out his heart, placing it before Shamash. From afar,
they bowed down before Shamash.[xii]
In Judaism we find a highly developed, normative and
codified system of bowing spanning the centuries from the
Hebrew scriptures to the Kabbalah[xiii]. In the Hebrew scriptures, hawa
used exclusively in the Eshtaphal stem, and hishtahawa
, mean to prostrate oneself, and to worship.
Hawa is cognate with the Ugaritic hwy to bow down. In Exodus 24:1 we find, "Come up to
YHWH... and bow low from afar." Moses and his companions
are expected to appear before the Lord and to prostrate themselves
before Him in accordance with accepted rules of ceremony."
In theTorah the
saga of the Israelites wandering includes the episode
with the Golden Calf. God in his wrath, prepares to destroy
the tribe for their failure to bow. He tells Moses, "I
have seen this people and it is a stiff-necked people. "In
Ezekiel God calls the Israelites "impudent children and stiff-hearted."
The stiffness indicates inflexibility and unwillingness to
bow. They are externally "stiff-necked" and internally,
Talmudic literature praises Individuals such as Rabbi
Akiva, (second century, C.E.) who performed bowing as a personal
practice of humility.[xiv]
In a long section of the
Mishnah Torah, the Laws of Prayer, Chapter 5, Moses Maimonides
defends his practice of excessive bowing. Where a common person
bows only at the opening and closing of the central prayer
sequence, the High Priest bows at the beginning and the end
of every blessing within the sequence. Maimonides says that
all of these bows should be bowed so far that all the joints
in the spine are loosened and one makes oneself like a rainbow..[xv]
The Spanish Kabbalist mystical
masterpiece, the Zohar,
in its Tahanun recension,
contains penitential prayers that were recited daily in prostrate
form. The Zohar calls this section, "Nefitat Appayim," "falling
on one's face."[xvi]
In Islamic worship the salat,
a ritual prayer or divine service, is an expression of humility
which was considered as the attitude to the Deity most befitting
humanity. The etymology of salat
is transparent, from the Aramaic root sl
which means "to bow, to bend, to stretch." S'lota
is the stative form, which means the act of bowing. In the
Kur'an the salat is very
frequently mentioned along with sakat;
the two are obviously considered the manifestation of piety
most loved by Allah.[xvii]
It is said, "The nearest
a creature is to Allah is when he is prostrating, and that
is the meaning of the saying of Allah: "And prostrate
thyself and come near!"[xviii]
The highest goal of the salat
is complete absorption in the Deity by humiliating oneself.
Sufyan al-Thawri is reputed to have said, "If a man does
not know humility, his salat is invalid."[xix]
The recitation of the Kur'an
(Qur'an) itself is associated with prostration.
Bowing, moreover, is used as a means of healing; it can cleanse
one of grievous sins. Thus it is not surprising to find that
Islamic literature praises a paragon of bowing: It is related
from Ali b. Abdallah b. Abbas that he used to perform a thousand
prostrations every day, and they used to call him "the
Rules for bowing in Eastern Orthodox
Church worship are ordered fittingly and reverently,
as set forth in the books of the divine services, and particularly
in the Church Typicon. The presence of rules that proscribe
making prostrations at special times testifies to the universal
presence of bowing within standard Eastern Orthodox devotions.
The full prostration is seen either as penance or as an act
of deepest reverence. However, on celebrations and festive
occasions, the liturgy omits prostrations to the floor.
Making prostrations is Orthodox Christianitys
standard form of religious worship. Orthodox monks on Mt.
Athos cultivate personal bowing practices in their cells in
marathon sessions that last for hours, even all night. While
bowing is generally practiced in monasteries, Orthodox Christian
laymen who have zeal are permitted to pray on their knees
in church and to make full prostrations whenever they wish,
excepting those times when the Gospel, Epistle, Old Testament
readings, Six Psalms and sermon are read.[xxi]
In Roman Catholicisms Rubrics
of the Roman Catholic Breviary and Missal there are instructions
for priests, ministers, prelates, and canons as to when to
kneel, genuflect, or sit, also how to uncover the head and
how to bow profoundly.[xxii]
In daily Mass, the Roman Rite from the
Ceremonial of Bishops includes two kinds of bows: a bow
of the head and a bow of the body. A genuflection, (kneeling,)
made by bending only the right knee to the ground, signifies
adoration. Genuflections, however, are added to prostrations
to create a more vigorous spiritual practice. For example,
in Rev. John Ryans discourse on Irish Catholic asceticism,
the monks of Ireland specialized in vigor, which could include
genuflections and prostrations in phenomenal number during
The Desert Fathers of Egypt practiced bowing as mortification
and as punishment, as well as to praise the Lord. St. Francis
of Assisi's humility brought him close to the ground. At his
deathbed he instructed the monks to remove his clothes and
lay his dying body on the bare ground inside the Portiuncula,
the tiny chapel beloved of Francis. He wished to be close
to the earth as his spirit returned to the creator.
Dominicans have the inspiration of St. Dominic who
often used to pray by throwing himself face down on the ground,
and saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. (Luke
18:13). He would quote the repentant words of David (2 Sam.
24:17), Psalm 43, (My soul is laid low in the dust,
my heart is stuck to the earth.) Or Psalm 118 (My
soul sticks to the floor; make me alive according to your
The Benedictine Rule requires bowing when showing hospitality
to arriving and departing guests. The Rule
specifies that when a Brother comes back from a journey, he
should, on the day of his return, lie face down on the floor
of the oratory at the conclusion of each of the customary
hours of the Work of God. An ordaining novice prostrates himself
at the feet of each monk to ask his prayers. When a monk is
excommunicated for serious faults he must bow in full prostration.[xxv]
The Benedictine Rule guides bowing for contemporary Catholic monastics
as well. The following are instructions from the Handbook for Postulants and Novices prepared by the Novice Master
of a contemporary Benedictine Hermitage in California:
We do a lot of bowing here at
the Hermitage. Western Catholics are far more familiar with
genuflecting than with bowing, so our practice of bowing may
seem a bit strange to you and very Eastern... Our practice
of bowing has a variety of meanings. Most basic of all is
bowing as an expression of our true nature as creatures.
In this sense the bow is an expression
of gratitude for the utter giftedness of life itself in the
very moment. We bow to the ground, the earth, mother earth,
of which we are a part, but in doing so we are also bowing
to the "ground" of all that is, God, Source, and
Sustainer of all that is...Thus the bow is a gesture of communion
with all that lives within the mystery of God...we bow in
acknowledgment of this central, ongoing mystery...
In some mysterious way, the bow
contains our whole life. One should be prepared to bow always,
even in one's most ordinary moments, and one's last moments.
Even if you can't do anything but bow, if done as an expression
of who you really are, it contains everything." [xxvi]
The Iconoclasts' Protest: Bowing
In Protestant Christianity
European Protestants continue to be troubled by bowing.
Leading Protestant reformers in Northern Europe broke from
centuries of domination by an all-powerful, hierarchical Roman
Catholic establishment that wielded absolute religious and
political authority. They protested against the need to show
deference on bended knee to mere humans (the various Popes,
and the Vaticans hierarchy of Cardinals and Bishops,)
or to icons and the ever-expanding pantheon of saints and
martyrs. Known as Iconoclasts, the Protestant
reformers further rebelled against the ritualization of compulsory
One of the fundamental principles in Protestant theology
is the inefficacy of human action, even that of clergys
Holy Office and Mass. Martin Luther, for example, believed
that ritual was false and that truth was a matter of the Word,
or Logos. Because ritual was not directly translatable
into words, therefore ritual actions could make no direct
claim to the efficacy of Truth. It follows from this view
that the essence of correct religion is textual and that the
popular practices of believers represent a dilution or corruption
of the Logos.[xxvii] Certainly given their grievances with
an oppressive establishment that created the Iconoclasts,
it is easy to sympathize with the Protestants desire to simplify
and to reform the religious heirarchy that was increasingly
unresponsive and distant. It is not my intent to demean the
impulse that created Protestant practice; the necessity of
the Reformation is an historical fact. Rather I want to clarify
one aspect of Protestant doctrines implications on the resulting
study of Asian religions.
The Reformations iconoclasm with its antipathy
for icons and devotion has shaped Western scholastic discussion
of non-Western cultures and Asian religions.[xxviii]The wider context for this discourse
concerns issues of colonialism, post-colonialism, and the
controversial academic stance known as Orientalism.[xxix]
Edward Said defined Orientalism
as a coming to terms with the Orient that is based on
the Orient's special place in European Western experience...
The phenomenon of Orientalism deals principally, not with
a correspondence between Orientalism and Orient, but with
the internal consistency of Orientalism and its ideas about
the Orient . . despite or beyond any correspondence, or lack
thereof, with a "real" Orient.[xxx]
Gregory Schopen says that with rare exceptions the
scholarship done in the West on devotion in Asian religions
projects battle lines, expectations and categories conditioned
by the conflict between Protestant and Catholic issues of
papal authority and the source of religious truth. This conflict
and resulting interpretative conclusions may have lead to
ignorance of Buddhist devotional practice and devaluing of
One can easily understand how
a logocentric paradigm that emphasizes doctrine and intellectual
analysis of texts, would influence the writing of Western
Buddhology, seek for confirmation of that paradigm and distort
or ignore aspects of practice that did not reflect its bias.
As we look towards Asia for to expand our investigation
into comparative bowing practices, we find that obeisance
has both secular and sacred significance. In Ancient and Medieval
Chinese society, knowledge of how and when to make ritual
prostrations was a requisite skill in civil societys
Bowing in Pre-Buddhist China
We can document detailed instructions on the standard
forms of ritual bowing in social relationship as early as
the Zhou Dynasty, (1122-225 BCE). Bowing in its variations
created vertical hierarchy in the pyramid of authority relationships
from emperor or king to subject, through parents, to siblings
and friends. The regulations in the Rites of Zhou for bowing stipulated how
to bow in secular society. We assume that the rules for rituals
of secular bowing also applied in sacred space.
Shuowen Jiezi was the earliest etymological
dictionary of the Chinese language, written by Xushen (58-147
CE). The earliest definitions of words used for various forms
of bowing appear in the Shuowen. Duan Yuzai[xxxii] (d.1750 CE), a Qing Dynasty scholar
of the Qianlong
Emperor's court, wrote the Shuowen
Jiezizhu, Annotated Etymologies
of Literature and Chinese Characters, a commentary to
the Shuowen Jiezi. Duan Yuzai researched
etymological sources and clarified the terms used to describe
bowing. Duan identifies Nine Styles of Bows from the Zhouli
into divides them into two categories. The first is three
methods of bowing; the second is six situations where one
applies the three methods singly or in combination.
The three styles are: kongshou,
which means that the head hits the hands, folded and held
at chest height, and sometimes while kneeling; jishou, which means bowing to the ground
while kneeling, but not touching the head, and
dunshou and (alternately jisang ), which mean bowing and touching
the head to the ground.
The six situations six refer to
applications of the first three, individually or in combination,
in specific social situations. Six situations that require
appropriate bows are:
4) "Trembling" means that you are trembling
with fear and distress. For instance, according to protocol,
you need not bow any of the three styles, and yet you do,
out of excess caution, perhaps, or because you avoid trouble
by showing deference.
5) "Auspicious" are the standard form required
by social etiquette, such as paying respects to family members
on holidays and birthdays, making social courtesy calls, to
superiors or inferiors and for showing astute political diplomacy
in a variety of situations.
6) "Inauspicious" require jishou bows. Funerals were inauspicious events that required the
7) "Single" mean you perform only one bow,
no matter whether the head touches the ground or not.
8) "Multiple" means you don't stop with the
required number, but continue to bow on.
9) "Restrained" is a form used primarily
by women; here one needn't bow the head.
Interest in Shuowen Jiezis analysis of these
Nine Styles of Bows continued over 3000 years, from the 12th
century BCE to the 18th century, when Duan Yuzai corrected
the terms. The Nine Styles sustained their currency
through the Tang Dynasty when Buddhist monk Daoxuan revived
them for the benefit of novices in training as Buddhist clergy.
Here, at least by contrast, the descriptions of secular bows
have taken on religious interpretations.
It is significant to note for the following discussion
of Buddhist bowing that in Chinese bowing, there is no mention
of internal contemplations. Daoxuans version of the
Nine Styles of Bows highlight how Buddhism skillfully appropriated
the Chinese societys disposition for bowing and adapted
it to accord with the principles of Buddhist meditation.
Bowing in Buddhism
Bowing in Buddhism cuts across the lines of traditions
and schools. Bowing has been part of Buddhist practice
since the Buddhas time in India and continues to this
day. Within the Buddhist Sangha, or monastic community, the
daily liturgical schedule began and ended with dozens if not
hundreds of ritual prostrations. On ceremony days, clergy
and laity alike might engage in the practice of liturgical
repentance and bow up to ten thousand times.[xxxiii] Monks and nuns bow to the images
of Sages, Awakened Beings, and the Buddhas, to their superiors,
and to each other.
In Tibetan Buddhism, prostrations form an important
part of the most common foundational practice called "ngondro"("preliminary
practices").[xxxiv] Over the course of
several months or longer, the beginning practitioner is expected
to complete at least 111,000 full-body prostrations along
with chanted Refuge Prayers as part of the ngondro practices (which include several
hundred thousand other prayers, purification mantras, offerings,
mandalas, and devotional meditations). Completing these 111,000
prostrations, is known as "chak-boom" in Tibetan.
The late Dudjom Rinpoche bowed on a daily basis, even
into his eighties. The fourteenth century Tibetan saint Tsongkhapa
is known to have performed over a million prostrations during
his four year meditation retreat in a cave. His Holiness the
14th Dalai Lama puts his palms together and bows to whomever
he meets, whether person-to-person or before a large audience.
Mahayana Buddhist monastics bow
from morning to night. Bowing opens and closes every one of
the three daily ceremonies. Each ceremony requires a minimum
of nine bows. Interviews and meetings with teachers, superiors,
depending on respective rank, require from one to three full
prostrations, each set of three prostrations followed by a
half-bow (Chinese: wenxun.) Zen students perform half bows
(Japanese: gassho) to the altar, to each other and
to the cushion before and after meditation.
Novice monks in training bow hundreds of times each
day, to mold the new habitus of monks deportment,
to assist the transition of identity from lay-person to Sangha
member. The canonical texts describe venerable Bodhisattvas
of great accomplishment bowing to the ground before the Buddha.
The Youth Sudhana, in the Gandhavyuha
chapter of the Avatamsaka
Sutra, who is the archetype of the bowing pilgrim, bows
to 53 teachers. Over and over he prostrates his five limbs
(hands, feet and head) low to the ground to purge arrogance,
repent of past offenses, demonstrate respect, and ultimately,
to realize the highest goals of a Bodhisattvas wisdom
Individual monks, historically took up bowing as an
intensive form of practice. For example, Master Xuyun, ("Empty
Cloud,"1840-1959) successfully completed an arduous Three
Steps, One Bow pilgrimage across China, covering a distance
of 1,000 miles. Years later, after his marathon bowing journey,
he bowed one thousand or more bows per day over an extended
period of months. Master Xuyuns mother died in childbirth,
and he wished to repay his mothers kindness for bringing
him into the world.
The biography of Master Hsuan Hua, (1918-1995) an accomplished
Chinese Bhikshu pioneer in North America, tells how at the
outset of his spiritual career he made a practice of bowing
830 times, twice a day, rain or shine, and did so for ten
years. His purpose, according to the biography, was to demonstrate
his filial regard for his parents as well as to build a foundation
for his future cultivation of the Buddhas Way.[xxxv]
What we know about how Buddhist monks bowed in India
comes in large measure from Chinese Buddhist historians such
as Ven. Daoxuan (596-667 CE). In his Shimen
Guijingyi Buddhist Rule and Breviary, he gives
definitions for twelve terms of respect for the Buddhist Sangha,
or monastic community. Eight of the twelve entail some form
of bowing. As it was Daoxuans priority to establish
a working monastic standard, he compares across culturesIndian
and Chineseto offer a picture of how central bowing
was to the Buddhist contemplative life. [xxxvi] The eight are:
1) Return in refuge and rely upon the object
of veneration. Daoxuan comments that one "returns
in refuge" to a Sage or a Worthy, or a Buddha, and chants
his name as one bows.
2) Bow to the Worthy Ones. He notes that this is the same
as the first category of the Rites of Zhous Nine Styles of Bows. (See Bowing
in China, above.)
the bowing cloth in preparation to bow. Daoxuan says that this refers
to unrolling the nisidana,
"the bowing cloth" which along with an alms bowl
and three robes is one of the three requisites of a monk.
4) Place the five limbs on the ground in
Monks in the Theravada, or Southern
Tradition bow from the knees. Tibetan Buddhist lamas perform
full-body prostrations. This form of "five-point bowing"
is typical of the Mahayana Tradition.
5) Place the head at the venerated ones
feet in respect.
Daoxuan says, The highest
part of my body is my head and here we place it at the lowest
part of the other person. Paying respect with what I honor
to the lowest part of the other shows the highest reverence.
In China according to the norms of respect, the farther away
one bows, the more respect it shows. In India, to show the
highest expression of respect one approaches close to the
body of the venerated person and touches his or her feet with
6) Kneel with the right knee on the ground.
This is done when requesting a
teacher to teach Dharma.
7) Kneel with both knees on the ground.
Indian Buddhists practiced three
aspects of genuflection: "foreign kneeling," "mutual
kneeling," and "relaxed kneeling." Foreign
kneeling gets its name from its source among the barbarian
tribes. Monks perform "foreign kneeling" and nuns
the relaxed kneeling.
8) Bend the body and kneel.
One performs this gesture of respect
whenever his or her teacher permits it. This may be done when
bowing to the Buddhas and Bodhisattva's images.
Xuanzang (596-664), the famous Buddhist pilgrim and
contemporary of Daoxuan, travelled to India during the Tang
Dynasty to search out the original teaching and rejuvenate
Buddhism in China. In his Record
of the Western Regions in the Great Tang, Xuanzang discusses
the customs of India and lists nine forms of ultimate respect
that he witnessed among the Indian Sangha. He was aware of
the significance of bowing in cultivating the fundamental
attitude of humility appropriate to a spiritual seeker. He
lists a graded series of bows from a simple nod of the head,
raising the hands and bending the waist, placing palms together
at chest height, up to genuflecting, kneeling, or touching
the head to the ground. Finally, ultimate respect is shown
by throwing the entire body to the ground.[xxxvii]
As Chinese bowing styles in the Rites
of Zhou were specific about external form, Buddhism had
similar precision in detail and complexity of gesture. The
unique quality of Buddhist bowing was that its primary function
was internal. Bowing, then as now, helped cultivators "empty
out" egotistical impediments that obscure enlightenment.
In other words, bowing aimed at restoring the essential non-duality
of the Buddha-nature present in all beings.
Thus, bowing in Asian Buddhist practice is real and
significant. Given the centrality of bowing in Buddhism, it
is a curious anomaly that Westerners who seek the Buddhas
Way so seldom encounter bowing. Just as bowing has been largely
ignored by academics, so too, has it been overlooked by Buddhist
practitioners. What happened to bowing as it was imported
to the West?
This writer in the Autumn of 1969 lived as a scholar-practitioner
at Antaiji, a tiny Soto Zen temple in the (then suburban)
Northwest corner of Kyoto, Japan.[xxxviii] I participated in the daily practice
of zazen, including week-long retreats in total silence, and
witnessed the ordination preparation and liturgy in this branch
temple of Eiheiji, the headquarters of the Soto School. At
Antaiji, under the tutelage of Uchiyama Kosho Roshi (1912-1998)
and his students, I was taught deportment, which included
bowing in every situation. Monks and laity bowed easily and
readily. Bowing was as automatic as removing ones shoes
before stepping up onto the tatami mats on the temple floor.
I returned to California and began formal study and
practice of Mahayana Buddhism with Venerable Chan Master Hsuan
Hua at Gold Mountain Monastery in 1974. Gold Mountains
schedule included many prostrations during a daily minimum
of two and a half hours of liturgical ceremonies. Novice monks
and nuns performed an hour each morning of universal
bowing. Optional personal practices included bowing
repentances, bowing to each word in a sutra (scripture), or
the distinctive three steps, one bow practice
which requires the practitioner to take three steps and make
a full prostration.
In the 1970s in San Francisco many Buddhist traditions
were setting down roots and transforming their liturgical
Even so, not all teachers of
Buddhism in America presented the practice of bowing in its
traditional Asian format. The bias against bowing by Protestants
and Iconoclasts clearly influenced Buddhist ritual practice
as it developed in the West. Some have decided to restrict,
interpret or Westernize bowing. Others, such as the late Shunryu
Suzuki, Roshi (1904-1971) founder of the San Francisco Zen
Center, adapted bowing for Americans who meditated at the
Zen Center. Suzuki, according to a story, seeing the "stiff-necked"
reticence of Americans, not only did not drop bowing to cater
to American's likes and dislikes, instead he increased the
required bows before meditation to nine. When asked why, he
said that in his view, Americans needed to bow more. Suzuki
Roshi, in a Tricycle article from 1994[xl], asserts that before reaching
liberation, bowing is serious business, an essential tool
for the student of Zen.
The Buddhist Churches of America (Jodo Shinshu) is
one of the Japanese Pure Land forms of Buddhism. They were
the first to reach San Francisco and establish a temple. The
San Francisco Buddhist Temple was established in 1900. The
BCA was the first Buddhist denomination in America to replace
centuries-old Asian liturgical devotions with a Western style
worship. To walk into a BCA service on Sunday morning it could
be assumed that one had entered a Lutheran or Methodist church.
Jodo Shinshu adopted on purpose the external accoutrements
of Protestant Churches. Worshippers of Amida Buddha chant
his name while sitting in a pew with a hymnal in hand. The
Protestant liturgical style was in a sense, protective coloring
for a community that was seen as "other" and who
during the Second World War, were cruelly incarcerated in
prison camps for their racial and cultural identity. Jodo
Shinshu, as well as Soto and Rinzai Zen Schools preserved
the tradition of making gassho, or half bows, done according to rules of protocol interpreted
in the context of North America.
Some would argue that in pruning away Asian devotional
elements, Jodo Shinshu has become the most Protestant among
American Buddhisms; others give that title to the Vipassana
movement. Two founders of Insight Meditation, Joseph Goldstein
and Jack Kornfield ordained as Bhikkhus (monks) in the Thai
Theravada Forest Tradition. After returning to America and
disrobing, they continued to teach the meditation aspect of
Theravada Buddhism to Westerners. They first however, set
aside the bowing, icons and liturgies of Thai Buddhisms
devotional aspect. From one point of view, it was an expedient
for Americans who in many cases were either Jewish or Catholic.
Many Jews were overfed with Talmud, Midrash, and the intense
scholasticism of Hebrew Rabbinics and came to Eastern religions
seeking a more direct experience of spirituality. Catholics
in many cases had turned away from High Church liturgical
formulas, incense and hierarchical structures of orthodoxy
and sought the simplicity and internality of Buddhist meditation.
Both undoubtedly felt more free to explore Vipassana in the
absence of ritualized forms. Vipassana continues to evolve
and recently seems to be moving towards a more considered,
historically resonant rapprochement with monastic forms. Where
bowing will fit in remains to be seen. Thus we see that for
different reasons, Jodo Shinshu and Vipassana have stripped
away the icons and the devotional aspects, including bowing,
in favor of meditation, psychological Metta (loving kindness)
Given the novelty of Buddhism in America in its second
generation, and given our lack of familiarity with Buddhism
as practiced by Asians, it is easy to see why Americans need
a context for understanding bowing as a legitimate gesture
of devotion to the Buddha.
The following story reveals how the contextualization
of bowing is evolving in the United States. Norman Fischer,
former Roshi of the San Francisco Zen Center, in a 1997 article
describes his own initial encounter with bowing, and how he
teaches bowing to newcomers.[xli] Fischer begins by characterizing
the reaction of newcomers to the Zen Center who arrive with
mainstream Christian Protestant or Reform Jewish biases against
lowering the body in worship. Their typical reaction, according
to Fisher, is incredulous, even outraged and disturbed by
bowing's display of piety and religious fervor.
He explains that during his first visit to the Zendo,
Fischer was told by Dainin Katagiri Roshi (d.1990) to make
full prostrations towards the Buddha image on the altar. He
asked Katagiri-roshi, "Why do we bow. Katagiri
showed him a tiny image of the Buddha bowing to the ground.
"If he can do it, you can do it," he said. Fischer
thought that was reasonable. Katagiri explained that bowing
is mutual, just one bow, bowing back and forth.
Fischer goes on to explain to his students that bowing
is a mental training method that helps us cultivate an attitude
of love and appreciation for the Buddha-nature within our
own nature. Piety and devotion are okay as long as one doesn't
get hysterical about it; they are tender and splendid states
He says that by appreciating how the figures are actually
symbolic manifestations of oneself, then we become more comfortable
with them as other, and external. The more familiar
we get with ourselves as we actually are, the more comfortable
we get with the images that are "other."
In their expressions of upaya,
or expedient means, first Katagiri and then in turn, Fischer, have homogenized
bowing into a democratic, egalitarian exercise. They interpret
bowing in psychological language, identifying the images on
the altar as capable of bowing back to the bower. By so doing,
the exchange is now horizontal, not vertical. Westerners can
approach bowing on even turf, and find a symbolic context
for the many gasshos
they will soon encounter in the meditation hall.
The practice of bowing as it enters the West has already
begun to be transformed by our logocentric sensibilities and
our preference for individual expression.
Later in the article Norman Fischer reports that he
observed Katagiri-Roshi "mumbling a verse," when
he bowed. Fischer asked what it meant, but only partially
understood the reply, because Fischer didnt speak Japanese
at the time, and the translation came through Katagiri-roshis
impromptu verbal rendering:
"Bower and what is
bowed to are empty by nature. The bodies of one's self and
others are not two. I bow with all beings to attain liberation,
to manifest the unsurpassed mind and return to boundless truth."[xliii]
And nowhere is
the nature of the mind - -the interpenetration of noumena
and phenomena, the unity of Buddha and living beings - - more
eloquently expressed than in the samadhi states of the Bodhisattva
of Great Conduct, Samantabhadra.[xlvi] This undoubtedly was the source of Katagiris
recitation, and gets to the heart of my thesis, that bowing
in Buddhism, like Chan meditation, is a Dharma-door that opens
to samadhi and liberation. Lets look at the contemplation.
Mahayana Bowing Contemplation
The worshipper and the worshipped,
by nature, are empty and still.
The Dao and the response intertwine
in ways hard to conceive of.
This Bodhimanda of mine is like
Shakyamuni Buddha appears within
My body appears before the Thus
With my head at his feet, I return
my life in worship and bow down.
The worshipper and the worshipped, by nature,
are empty and still.
Worshipper and worshipped
refer to subject and object, the one bowing and the one bowed
to. Nature is the Buddha-nature, while "empty
and still," refers to the doctrine of anatta,
The Dao and the response intertwine
in ways hard to conceive of.
Dao translates variously as "the
Way," or "the Path." The same word is used
to present the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, "marga." Response refers to changes that take place
when one cultivates the Dao according to the Buddha's Dharma
instructions. "Hard to conceive of," suggests that
the transformations of day-to-day, discursive consciousness
that occur when one cultivates go beyond speech and logical
thought. This happens because the very functions of conceptualizing
and language are affected when one enters samadhi via this
This Bodhimanda of mine is like
Bodhimanda refers to the place of cultivation,
literally "enlightenment field." In the verse the
contemplator analogizes his body first as a Bodhimanda, the place where he cultivates, and secondly, he likens
it to a pearl in Indra's net. Indra's Net is said to be an
adornment in the Palace of the god Shakra. The net hangs before
his "Good Views" Palace. In each interstice of the
net hangs a perfectly round, luminous pearl. The many pearls
reflect and inter-reflect; through each pearl one can see
the all the pearls, yet the entire net of pearls is contained
within each individual gem. Multiple pearls come forth from
each pearl; the entirety can gather back into a single pearl.
The cultivator visualizes this pearl inside his purified body/mind.
Shakyamuni Buddha appears within
At this point the cultivator,
using the power of his mind's eye, visualizes the Sage he
or she bows to, in this case, Shakyamuni Buddha, as if he
were appearing right within the Pearl that he/she visualizes
in his body and mind.
My body appears before the Thus
The next step requires an interactive
visualization. The cultivator adds an element to his vision:
he sees his own body appearing in front of the Buddha.
With my head at his feet, I return
my life in worship and bow down.
The interaction continues: the
bower visualizes his body in the process of taking refuge.
To return my life in worship" is a literal translation
of "namo" or namah" the Sanskrit term used to
praise a Sage or Worthy. One of namah's meanings is "to return my life back to its sacred source."
It can be thought of as recognition that one's life does not
belong to one as a possession, ultimately one does not own
his or her life. By returning ones life to a higher
spiritual identity, one takes refuge with a secure and unchanging
At the end of the visualization the practitioner lets
the thought go, and does not attempt to retain or grasp the
vision, in accordance with the third of the Buddhas
"Four Stations of Mindfulness" (Brahma Viharas,) which is to realize that all thoughts are transient
and thus, not to be grasped at[xlviii].
It may seem counter-productive to deliberately introduce
a thought, no matter how wholesome, into the mind, when the
Chan principle is to never allow even a dust-mote's worth
of thought to defile the fundamentally pure mind-ground. In
Buddhism, however, this is called fighting poison with
poison. It reminds us that all dharmas taught by the
Buddha are expedient, not ultimate, yet at the same time,
in the process of cultivation, all are necessary. The Chan
School has a teaching, We borrow the false to find the
Bowing is a mental yoga, a contemplation used therapeutically
for its ability to replace and counteract the view of self,
the source of pride and all the other evils that arise from
arrogance. Further, to bring the vision of a Buddha or Bodhisattva
into one's mind, given that it is technically an illusion
that has "marks," is nonetheless, a purifying image
that increases one's "good roots," and banishes
harmful thoughts or instinctual desires, greed, anger, and
Katagiri Roshi's bowing verse, as witnessed by Norman
Fischer, testifies to the continuity of tradition from China
of the Song Dynasty through Japan, to meet again in the West.
Bowing in Chan and Zen, is more than a surrogate for sitting.
It has meaning that engages physical, mental and spiritual
aspects of cultivation. Bowing has a psychological function
of replacing self-centric delusion. As the view of self drops
away, karma has no point on which to gather; the deeper connections
of our spiritual nature's interdependence gradually emerge
Contemplations are an aid to samadhi; focusing with
concentration on a single wholesome and directed thought,
one purges the many random, discursive thoughts. Over time,
the visualization's sublime aspects can connect with the nature,
and the response to the Way can be "hard to conceive
The reactions of college students in California
who meet bowing for the first time in a monastic environment
suggest that bowing appeals to Westerners today as it has
historically to people in every culture.
Students' Responses at the City
of Ten Thousand Buddhas
Students from Humboldt State University from the University
of San Francisco and the University of California, Berkeley,
come regularly to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas for a Monastic
Encounter weekend, as a field trip in their religious studies
courses. At the end of the retreat we ask students to evaluate
what they enjoyed and what they would improve. One would assume
that meditation would be the hallmark experience of a Buddhist
retreat, and some students do mention meditation. Others enjoy
the vegetarian food, the opportunity to talk with monastics
or the tranquility and orderliness behind the walls of a Buddhist
monastery. To my surprise, every retreat brings the same response:
the students liked the bowing most. Here are excerpts from
the evaluation forms:
From an 18 year-old atheist, a Caucasian
woman in her sophomore year.
Ive never done any
religious practice before. The bowing put me off at first,
Id never imagined doing anything at all like that. I
felt aversion but because everybody else was doing it, and
because the monks and nuns interpreted the actions in psychological
terms, it didnt seem so threatening. When the time came
I simply bowed and that was that. Once I tried bowing, it
lost its strangeness. By the time I finished the first ceremony,
I didnt even notice that I had been bowing for an hour.
From a 19 year-old "culturally Jewish" man:
I realized that I had never
before taken part in a religious ceremony of any kind. My
parents never introduced me to religion. Joining the bowing
and the chanting felt like water touching a thirsty plant.
A part of my heart opened that hadnt been touched before.
From a 19 year-old male Baptist junior :
When I left the ceremony hall
I felt lighter in spirit, as if I had left cares and years
behind on that bowing bench. I went back and bowed by myself
for an hour in the darkened Buddha Hall. I wanted to clean
out while I had the chance.
We have seen how the worlds religious traditions,
from Asia to the Middle East, with exceptions,[xlix] value bowing. An impressive list
of world religions practice bowing, teach about it in texts
and liturgies and hand down stories of the paragons of vigorous
bowing. A summary of research into the various purposes of
bowing among religions suggests the following topology: 1)
secular bowing as a social courtesy; 2) bowing in repentance
and reform. 3) bowing to establish a worshipful relationship
to deities and sacred presences; 4) bowing to praise a deitys
majesty; 5) bowing as a liturgical ritual; 6) bowing to reduce
pride and increase humility and goodness; 7) bowing as mortification
In all of the traditions I have examined, bowing has
largely an exterior focus, consistent with the supporting
theology. In Buddhism we see the practice of bowing applied
in ways that parallel and overlap with the other traditions,
yet a significant difference also emerges. In Buddhism, the
focus of bowing turns back to the mind of the bower, instead
of moving outwards towards a wholly transcendent Other.
Buddha Dharmas approach to bowing invites the
practitioners to contemplate the nature of his or her
heart/mind. In Buddhism, we discover two more purposes for
bowing: first as a complement to seated meditation and second,
bowing as a Dharma method that opens directly to samadhi,
and prajna wisdom.
Bowing in the various traditions look the same externally,
but the internal experiential aspect of Buddhist bowing, it
would seem, is different. In Buddhism, the myriad practices
relate back to a central theme, the mind and its nature.
The mind and its nature are fundamentally Buddha. The
"goal" or the end of the spiritual path then, is
to gradually remove all aspects of the view of self, until
one rediscovers his or her non-dual nature. Bowing, as a road
to the non-dual helps empty out and purify false concepts
within. The false, illusory self is being erased as one bows.
When the illusion of self yields to a larger context of Dharma,
one can bow in empty space. This true emptiness,
as the texts describe, is genuine "wonderful existence."
Buddhist bowing then, aims to reveal the unsubstantial nature
of both self and phenomena.
Buddhist bowing, like its quietistic counterpart of
seated meditation, also supports and reflects the larger "theology"
from which they emerge. The unique aspect of Buddha Dharma
is to awaken to the self natureBuddha. Thus in Buddhism,
bowing is neither symbolic icon worship, nor penitential mortification;
it returns all Dharmas to the mind, where movement and stillness
Going and returning with no border,
Movement and stillness have one
Opening and disclosing the mysterious
and the subtle,
Understanding the mind and all
Deep and wide and interfused,
Vast and great and totally complete....
Flower Adornment Sutra Preface50
Buddhist devotional practice in
general, and bowing in particular, represent another dimension
of practice awaiting exploration by cultivators of purity
ibid., p. 42.
[xiii] I am grateful to Dr. Yoel Kahn, Ph.D.,
for his kindness in making available to me these materials
on bowing in Judaism.
[xiv] The situation
regarding bowing is complex in Judaism. Prostration
was a common act of self-abasement performed before
relatives, strangers, superiors, and especially before
royalty. Abraham bowed himself before the Hittites of
Hebron (Gen 23:7, 12). He also bowed before the three
strangers who visited him at Mamre (Gen 18:2), as did
Lot before the two angelic visitors who came to him
at Sodom (Gen 19:1). The verb, however, is used less
frequently of an individuals worship of the Lord.
Abraham on his way to sacrifice Isaac says that he is
going to worship (Gen 22:5). It is used most often of
particular acts of worship, e.g. of Abrahams servant
who "bowed his head and worshipped" (Gen 24:26,
48), and of Gideon (Jud 7:15) upon experiencing Gods
grace. Such acts often involved actual prostration "to
the earth" as in the case of Abrahams servant
(Gen 24:52), Moses (Ex 34:8), Joshua (Josh 5:14), and
Job (Job 1:20). Yet, while one is compelled to observe
the rules for proper bowing, at the same time the second
commandment forbids the worship of any graven images
or other gods (Ex 20:5; 34-14; Deut 5:9). The Israelites
were warned not to worship the gods of the Amorites,
Hittites, etc. (Ex 23:24; Ps 81:9 [H 10]). Nevertheless
the Israelites repeatedly worshiped other gods (Deut
29:26 [H 25]; Jud 2:12, 17; Jer 13:10; 16:11; 22:9).
See, the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament,
Vol. I, ed. R. Laird Harris, et al. (Chicago: Moody
Press, 1980), pp. 267-269.
[xv] Moses Maimonides,
the Mishneh Torah:
Laws of Prayer, Chapter 5; and par.10
and Par 12: Yad Hilkhot te_la 5:9-15). http://orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/prostration_heb.htm
[xxxi] Gregory Schopen, "Archaeology
and Protestant Presuppositions in the Study of Indian
Buddhism." History of Religions 31/1 (August 1991),
study of Indian religions are dominated by a search
in written sources for a logocentrism that typifies
the Protestant traditions of most Western Indologists
and Buddhologists. Evaluations of quality and authenticity
of their conclusions and foci of that scholarship must
be reinterpreted in that light.
[xlii] Fischer, ibid. (pp 58-59.)
[xlv] I am indebted to Professor Dan Stevenson
for this information.
on Samantabhadra, I refer the reader to Taigen Daniel
Leightons Bodhisattva Archetypes: Classic Buddhist
Guides to Awakening and their Modern Expression,
Penguin Arkana, New York, 1998.
___ ___ ___
Pilgrimage - Three Steps, One Bow for Peace
eBook - 352 Pages - Text and Photos - (1.6
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From True Cultivators Heng Sure & Heng
letters of Heng Sure and Heng Ch'au...
Three steps and a bow. That's how they walked it.
Two monks on a pilgrimage of peace that took them
through a series of wide-ranging encounters and extraordinary
experiences -- within and without. These letters
and photos are a record of their amazing journey.
Buddhist monks on a journey of a lifetime, from
downtown Los Angeles to the City of Ten Thousand
Buddhas in Talamage, California. A
journey of more than 800 miles that took two years
and nine months to complete. They bowed in peace,
and for peace. Touching their foreheads to the
ground, opening their hearts with one wish for
the world. Peace. For everyone, everyday, everywhere.