Book Quote on Bowing to Buddha

[GrasshopperMan17]

i'm going through What Is Zen? Plain Talk for a Beginner's Mind, and i found this quote enlightening:

"As a person who'd grown up a practicing Jew, I didn't particularly appreciate or understand the idea of bowing to statues. So I asked my teacher (who, probably not accidentally, was also Jewish) why this was necessary and what it meant. He took me up close to the altar, which enshrined a particularly small Buddha statue. He pointed out to me that the statue's hands were in a bowing position. 'You bow to the Buddha, the Buddha bows to you,' he told me (or words to that effect). The idea was, I think, that when you are bowing to the Buddha, you are not bowing to any external power - there are no external powers in Buddhism. You are in fact bowing to yourself, your true self, which is identical to the Buddha. So, in a sense, your bowing is conditioning you to respect what is deepest and truest within you - and in everything and everyone else."

Coming from a Christian background, bowing to buddha statues always felt a little weird, but I like this description of bowing to Buddha as bowing to the Buddha-Nature in us all, and i thought you guys might like it as well!

Gassho, John
ST/LAH

[Risho]

Thank you John - I like that "You bow to the Buddha, the Buddha bows to you"

Bowing to the Buddha statue, I thank Shakyamuni for showing this path.
Bowing to the Buddha statue, I thank our ancestors and our teacher for keeping this practice alive so it could reach us.
Bowing to the Buddha statue, I thank Treeleaf for constant support.
Bowing the Buddha statue, I am grateful for my life.


Gassho

Risho
-stlah

[Shoki]

Thank you John - I like that "You bow to the Buddha, the Buddha bows to you"

Bowing to the Buddha statue, I thank Shakyamuni for showing this path.
Bowing to the Buddha statue, I thank our ancestors and our teacher for keeping this practice alive so it could reach us.
Bowing to the Buddha statue, I thank Treeleaf for constant support.
Bowing the Buddha statue, I am grateful for my life.


Gassho

Risho
-stlah

Risho,
This is how I always feel about bowing. It's a way of saying thank you to all.

Gassho
stlah
Shoki

[Kokuu]

Lovely quote. Thank you, John!


Verse of Purity While Abiding in the World

Abiding in this ephemeral world
Like a lotus in muddy water,
The mind is pure and goes beyond
Thus we bow to Buddha.


Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-

[Tom A.]

Lovely quote. Thank you, John!


Verse of Purity While Abiding in the World

Abiding in this ephemeral world
Like a lotus in muddy water,
The mind is pure and goes beyond
Thus we bow to Buddha.



Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-

Gassho,
Tom
SatLah

[Matt]

This is helpful. Thanks John

Gassho
Matt
Sat/Lah