All the little bows

So there's a lot of bowing in Soto Zen. Well in Zen. Ok, in Buddhism.
But at the end of a period of Zazen we all say the Bodhisatva vow and the bow. I never really knew why and I always forgot to ask. I assumed we were bowing to the wall who has been a part of our meditation time. Or do the meditations space or to the other folks who have meditated with us.

But I do most of my Zazen in front of a closed TV cabinet. It's not a great wall nor even a great meditation space. And while I consider the whole world my meditation partners when I meditate There really isn't anyone in the same room with me.

unless the cat has decided it's time for cat tree Zazen.

But the other day I realized. We're bowing to the Dharma.

It sounds cheezy and maybe others won't agree to me but that's the way I see it. We bow to the Dharma because after all that's what is.
that's not a typo.

The Dharma is what is. It's everything. The Dharma while normally translated as Law or the truth or the words of the Buddha is also some times used as essentially 'nouns' the word Dharma also means things. Which only sounds weird until you dig deeper.

Dharma as 'Law' isn't law in the sense of the allmighty bob will smite you for your sins. Remember in Buddhism there isn't any judge. There isn't an old man with a beard that's going to tell you if you did right or not. Dharma is a natural law. It's simple, you do bad shit, bad shit happens to you. Maybe not now, maybe not even in this lifetime but bad shit will happen to you the more bad shit you do. And that goes for everyone and everything. The Dharma is natural law, it's everything. you drop a rock on your foot and it'll screw up your foot. The rock sits there and it will become a home to bugs, it will be worn down by the weather. It just is so it affects and is affected.

The rock is Dhamma, the rock is law, the rock is life.

Who knew rocks where so cool?
-db