Importance of Bowing

Suzuki describes the importance of bowing in one of his talks. He says after sitting practice, it is customary to bow to the floor nine times. He says it is an act of paying respect to something greater than oneself. When practiced properly, all sense of dualistic ideas and ego are surrendered. The practitioner realizes that everything has the same value, then it is like Buddha bowing to Buddha (29). Suzuki describes how his teacher had a callous on his head from bowing so much. He realized he was stubborn when he started studying Zen so he took this practice very seriously. When he was old, he said, “When I was young I was like a tiger, but now I am like a cat!” (30).