As I tell everyone who enters the zendo at Hokoku-an, “You don’t bow to the Buddha, you bow
as a Buddha. To truly bow means letting go of everything.
When Bodhidharma was asked by emperor Wu what the heart of his teaching was,
Bodhidharma replied, “Vast emptiness, nothing holy.”
Vast emptiness. It seems most people hear the word “emptiness” and never stop to
contemplate: empty of what? You’re selling yourself short if you just settle for the word
emptiness and go no further. A bowl is useful when it’s empty. When it’s full it’s being used.
When it has fulfilled its purpose it’s useful again.
What is “holy?” What is “spiritual?” They’re just words. Holiness, spirituality, are fictions that
we’ve invented to give our lives meaning. They are fingers pointing to the moon. Most people
get stuck on the fingers and never see what they’re pointing to. What’s holy in one culture may
not be holy in another; what people find spiritual in one culture might conflict with another
culture. That which is called sacred depends on where you are in the world. No matter how you
look at it, holiness and spirituality are inventions, one step removed from the experience that
transcends both holiness and spirituality. Words are always a step removed from the source.
To practice bowing is to practice dying. When you enter the zendo and bow, right then and
there, you’re letting go of all attachments – unless you make your simple bow into something
holy or spiritual. If you do that, you’re defiling the whole practice of bowing. Don’t add anything
to it. Just bow. When you do a full prostration and touch your forehead to the floor and exhale,
you are breathing your last breath. You get three opportunities to practice breathing your last
breath when you do full prostrations. This is practicing dying.
Don’t get stuck. As I said before: A bowl is useful when it’s empty. When it’s full it’s being used
and fulfilling its form. Having fulfilled its form, it is empty again, and, therefore, useful again.
Bowing is the act of putting it all down, and picking it up again. Understand the activity that’s
taking place, understand that you have nothing to do with it. True Nature is both emptying the
bowl and filling it up again — and it has nothing to do with you.
Bowing is emptying your bowl. It’s a practice no less profound than zazen, and like zazen, it
takes a while to experience it for what it is. That’s why it’s called, Zen practice.
When bowing, just bow.
Seido
