Bowing to Enter

Saturday Afternoon Meditation and Dharma Sharing

By bowing we are giving up ourselves. To give up ourselves means to give up our dualistic ideas….When you forget all your dualistic ideas, everything becomes your teacher, and everything can be the object of worship. —Shunryū Suzuki

Enter a Buddhist space for the first time and one of the things you’ll notice is all the bowing. Bowing to the statue of the Buddha, bowing to each other, bowing as one leaves and enters.

Bowing is an embodied practice. It has no single, universal meaning. Putting hands together and tilting the body may be a natural way to express humility, gratitude, and awe. It is also an approach to life. We bow in reverence as we enter each new experience and honor the enlightened nature of each other and ourselves.

As Japanese-American Zen teacher, Shunryū Suzuki, wrote, “Usually to bow means to pay our respects to something that is more worthy of respect than ourselves. But when you bow to Buddha you should have no idea of Buddha, you just become one with Buddha, you are already Buddha himself.”

Please join us at ILLIO Studio for meditation and a Dharma discussion with Seth and Kisei to practice finding teachers everywhere and the Buddha nature within ourselves. Cushions and chairs will be available, but feel free to bring your favorite cushion for meditation if you have one. There will be tea, feel free to bring vegan snacks if you’d like. Offered by donation.

Together we will bow to the awakened nature within ourselves.

Information about our regular Wednesday and Thursday meditations is here.

Mud Lotus Sangha meets at ILLIO, 17 E Tulane, Columbus OH 43202, USA