Prostrations; Really basic questions

emma

Hi everyone,

I have some really basic questions regarding prostrations. I get the positioning: hands together at chest level then raise to head, mouth ,heart, separate and lower hands to floor, knees to floor, forehead to floor, "spring up to start position and repeat. (My poor knee is just screaming at me in the process of getting up and down !) I understand it is a way to show respect and surrender of ego, but what is the meaning of the motions?

Thanks,

Emma

Magwang

Have you ever zoned out and the chatter in your head stops and you're just prostrating?....thats it

Palzang

Hi emma,

The position of the hands indicates the three main chakras, the crown, the throat and the heart (it's not the mouth, but the throat). These represent body, speech and mind respectively. So what you are doing when you prostrate is to offer your body, speech and mind to the Dharma. The reason you get up quickly, by the way, is that you think that you are lying down in samsara, so you want to arise from that as quickly as possible. You don't want to stay down in all that muck, wallowing about, like some people do (mistakenly). Yes, it's all very hard on the knees, but it is very meritorious. Are you doing the prostrations in connection with ngondro (preliminary) practice, may I ask?

Palzang

emma

Palzang wrote:

Hi emma,

The position of the hands indicates the three main chakras, the crown, the throat and the heart (it's not the mouth, but the throat). These represent body, speech and mind respectively. So what you are doing when you prostrate is to offer your body, speech and mind to the Dharma. The reason you get up quickly, by the way, is that you think that you are lying down in samsara, so you want to arise from that as quickly as possible. You don't want to stay down in all that muck, wallowing about, like some people do (mistakenly). Yes, it's all very hard on the knees, but it is very meritorious. Are you doing the prostrations in connection with ngondro (preliminary) practice, may I ask?

Palzang

Thanks for answer, that really helps me understand the "meaning" of what I'm doing. The prostrations I'm doing now are done at the beginning of a teaching session I attend. The Lama enters and does three prostrations to Buddha and Green Tara, then the sangha does three prostrations as he is taking his seat. He is teaching on the 37 Practices of Bodhisattvas - and has mentioned the 100,000 and 1 million prostrations (!) I had surgery on one knee and had to have most of the soft tissue removed, so it is a very creaky awkward process for me, I'll concentrate on the "springing up quickly" after your explaination. Thanks again.

Emma

federica

Prostrations - as far as I know - are not meant to be a physical or painful ordeal, although we all have creaks and groans.... yours may ultimately permanently damage your already poorly knee... ask your Lama, or someone else, if there is a way in which you might make equally meaningful and valid prostrations without excessive wear and risk to the knee....

Just my thoughts....

Palzang

Yes, you don't want to hurt yourself. However, the fact that it is painful is not necessarily a bad thing because it can indicate that you are burning off some bad karma.

Palzang

Iawa

Palzang wrote:

Yes, you don't want to hurt yourself. However, the fact that it is painful is not necessarily a bad thing because it can indicate that you are burning off some bad karma.

Palzang

I personally have experienced pains in my back and chest cavity disappear. The precursor to the eleveation was excruciating pain, I would advise to monitor the joints affected with pain. Possibly some yoga postures would be helpful.

emma

Thank you all for your concern, comments and suggestions. I especially like the idea of "burning off some bad karma". I will monitor my knee pain and see what happens.

Emma

Jerbear

Emma,

I did three thousand bows when I was preparing to take the precepts at a local temple. I did bows as I had major back surgery. I could only do 25 at a time and that was only half way. It seems to me to be the purpose of why you are doing something, not the position. Injuring yourself isn't a good idea. When a muscle is sore, it is due to use. If you are having pain doing something, STOP IT! I've been through extensive physical therapy to be able to do simple things. They always told me that if something hurt to stop as it was the body's way of telling you not to do something.

Simonthepilgrim

Palzang wrote:

Yes, you don't want to hurt yourself. However, the fact that it is painful is not necessarily a bad thing because it can indicate that you are burning off some bad karma.

Palzang

"Burning off some bad karma" sounds very like our old housekeeper in France when anything was hard or painful. She would urge us to "unite our suffering with that of Christ on the cross for all the ills of the world". I think that the belief in transferable merit is one of the reasons that Buddhist and Catholic monastics understand each other and get on so well.

Palzang

Good point, Simon. We're taught that karma often manifests physically, so if we work through it, we're essentially working through the karma.

Palzang