Bowing

[nowornever]

Is bowing a form of meditation?

I did 800 bows yesterday and I had plenty of energy. Was that Dharma energy?

[Spiny le Norman]

Is bowing a form of meditation?

I did 800 bows yesterday and I had plenty of energy. Was that Dharma energy?

Who or what were you bowing to?

Spiny

[nowornever]

My bowing is Dharma energy for you.
Small I bows to big I.

[Lobster]

Is bowing a form of meditation?

Anything can be if done with mindfullness.
It can also be regarded as puja. Some lamas recommend
body waste should be dedicated to the hungry ghost and hell realms as an offering . . .
(you can do that whilst enthroned.)

I did 800 bows yesterday and I had plenty of energy. Was that Dharma energy?

It is partly the release of feel good body chemicals. Serotonin, adrenaline and such like. 

[dhammaseeker51]

I don't think bowing could be classed as meditation, but 500 every day would certainly be good for the stomach muscles!

with Metta

[nowornever]

I heard from one Buddhist teacher that bowing is a Buddhist asana 

[GoGet]

I heard from one Buddhist teacher that bowing is a Buddhist asana 

I've never heard of "bowing practice".

Bowing is, technically, an asana, but not one you do repetatively.  Bowing is a show of respect.  You bow to a teacher.  You bow to your Guru.  You bow to monastics.  You bow to the shrine when you enter the shrine room.  You bow to your Sangha brothers and sisters.

Do prostrations instead.  Stand before something that represents the Three Jewels, take Refuge by reciting the Refuge prayer and prostrate.  If yu don't have a form to work with you can visualize the Jewels.

There's a couple ways to do this:

Say:
I take refuge in the Buddha (prostrate)
I take Refuge in the Dharma  (prostrate)
I take Refuge in the Sangha  (prostrate)

OR

I take refuge in the Buddha
I take Refuge in the Dharma 
I take Refuge in the Sangha 
(prostrate)

When finished, dedicate the merit.

I'm with dhammaseeker.  What you're doing is good excercise.

[Lobster]

Gosh I assumed you were doing full prostrations in the Ngöndro style? 

Here are half prostrations done mindfully

http://youtu.be/obFdpSTsuYw

How many of those are you capable of? 

[GoGet]

Gosh I assumed you were doing full prostrations in the Ngöndro style? 

What made you think that?  I haven't posted to this board in a long time.  Long before you joined actually.

Here are half prostrations done mindfully

I know how to do half -Ps

I also know how to do the full prostration but almost never do that.  My home shrine room isn't well suited to a full-out prostration so I do halvsies.

How many of those are you capable of?

In an hour?  What?  Kind of an odd question.  Is prostration practice some kind of contest?

I've never done more that 108 Ps in a single session, but that's only because that's where I chose to stop.  I've been having knee trouble so I don't do that many very often.

[nowornever]

I do half prostrations like in the youtube film but 3 times quicker.
My teacher Zen Master Wu Bong told me in Nov 2010 that 1000 half prostrations take 2h.

[Lobster]

@nowornever

three times quicker than the guy in the video?

If you did it 3 times slower than him
then you could do a lot less in 2 hours.

I have done walking meditation at a pace so slow
that I barely move.

Not tried with prostration
Sometimes less is more,  will give it a go . . . slow . . . 

[GoGet]

I do half prostrations like in the youtube film but 3 times quicker.

Good for you, but whatever for?

My teacher Zen Master Wu Bong told me in Nov 2010 that 1000 half prostrations take 2h.

No kidding?  I can top that.  I know a Lama who completed his Kagyu Ngondro in 6 months.

500 p/h isn't impossible.  That's roughly 8 p/min.  The trick is to be able to maintain that pace for hours.  Most adults cannot.  I'm pushing 60 and I'd hurt myself if I triend to main that pace for 2 hours.  I don't think I'd do that, even if I could.  It seems pointless.

Practice isn't a quantitative thing.  Even Ngondro, which has specific guidelines for the accumulation of prostrations (for example), isn't really about the numbers.  It's about purification. It's about refuge.  It's about surrender.  It's about commitment. It's about the quality of the practice performed not how many you've done in the last two hours.

I don't care what practice you're doing.  If it's all about the numbers then you're doing it wrong.

[Spiny le Norman]

Even Ngondro, which has specific guidelines for the accumulation of prostrations (for example), isn't really about the numbers.  It's about purification. It's about refuge.  It's about surrender.  It's about commitment. It's about the quality of the practice performed not how many you've done in the last two hours.

I agree, though when I was doing Ngondro the emphasis did seem to be on getting the numbers up.

Spiny

[GoGet]

when I was doing Ngondro the emphasis did seem to be on getting the numbers up.

Of course there are lots of people who treat their practice that way - as a kind of numbers game - but that doesn't make it sound practice or in keeping with the spirit of the Dharma.

I think that kind of midset leads to what I like to call a "merit badge mentality".

In the case of Ngondro, the numbers involved can be a trap.  To "complete" Ngondro the student must perform 111,111 repetitions of the 4 so-called "Special Preliminaries".  The purpose of this is to prepare the student for more esoteric activity such as yidam practice, Mahamudra and/or Dzogchen.  While there a requirement to do a certain number of each preliminary practice  the desire to achieve those numbers can and often is frustrated by the Guru's judgement  afterwards.  After the requisite practices are completed it is customary to have an interview with the Guru.  If, in the Guru's judgement, the student has not been successful, then the Guru will assign additional practices until the student can demonstrate proper fruition of the practice.

So, it's really not about the numbers.  The numbers are ultimately pointless save for some arbitrary milestone.  The result of the practice is what is important, not how many you've done.

[nowornever]

Goget - why am I doing this practice?
...for you.

By the way...I usually do 108 at a time which takes me 10 min so 10 minx10 = 2h