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Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, p. 43
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First half of the 'Bowing' chapter (p. 43) of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. No other clear source of this text in the archive.
After zazen we bow to the floor nine times. By bowing we are giving up ourselves. To give up ourselves means to give up our dualistic ideas. So there is no difference between zazen practice and bowing. Usually to bow means to pay our respects to something which 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. When you become one with Buddha, one with everything that exists, you ... Read Transcript (this version is updated and corrected at times. Any other transcripts below are not).