[Buddha-l] Bowing to the monk

[[DPD Web] Shen Shi'an]

This brings many thoughts to mind...

A Master who cannot bow to a disciple 
cannot bow to Buddha. -Suzuki Roshi

(It's truly humbling to see the great being truly humble.)

One loses respect by demanding for it,
especially when one has yet to earn it. - Stonepeace

"I do not despise you, for you will become a Buddha."
- Bodhisattva "Never Despise" (Lotus Sutra) 

One is more likely to be respected when one is respectful,
especially to the extent that one does not lose respect -
even when being disrespectful to. - Stonepeace
________

It's easy to mistaken others' fear of your power as respect for you.
It's easy to mistaken your fear of others' power as respect for them.

The respectable about another is whether one is in line with the Dharma.
The more in line one is, the more worthy of respect one is.

Are we respectable enough for ourselves?
Are we respectable enough to others?
_________

I feel somewhat unbalanced when monks and nuns I greet by placing my
palms together give a nod or some other gesture of acknowledgement,
instead of greeting with palms in return. Makes me suspect that they
think they should be venerated, out of their subtle pride. Of course,
this is an assumption.

But it also makes me think that I crave for some respect to be reflected
back to me. It's equally disturbing? No, the latter is worse. And this
can be curbed by humbling myself, by greeting others with palms together
more often - be they lay Buddhists, monks or nuns!

By the way, those we place our palms together to greet do karmically
deserve the respect they get because they do get the respect! How they
perceive being respected is another matter. - Zyrius
______

Friend's case study of monastic pride:
http://moonpointer.com/index.php?itemid=1954 


-----Original Message-----
From: Piya Tan [mailto:dharmafarer at gmail.com] 
Sent: Friday, 15 February, 2008 12:18 PM
To: Buddhist discussion forum
Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] Bowing to the monk

Randall,

I agree that the robe represents an ideal, and when we bow, we look up
to
that
ideal. We try to work towards that ideal.

A Sinhalese layman once told me a story of how a group of monks was
invited
for
dana, and he treated them all just the same (including an bad monk in
their
midst).

however, after the meal when the bad monk approaches the layman (perhaps
for
donations), the layman does not respect the monk. When asked why, the
layman
replies that he respected the Sangha, but respects the individual in a
manner that
they are worthy of. (There is a sutta to this effect too.)

There is another account told to me of a monk I knew who was very upset
when
he
was told that we respect his robe. He took off his outer robe and threw
it
on the chair,
and said: "Go on, respect the robe!..."

Ajahn Brahm once said he finds it good training to bow, even before bad
(senior)
monks, which teaches him humility. (I wonder if he meant, jokingly as
usual,
that
you have to do it anyway!)

Let's try to anjali at all beings, for they all have the Buddha seed.
They
capable of
becoming Buddhas, or at least of awakening.

Let us try to measure people less, and maybe not at all.

With metta,

Piya Tan