I will talk on what and why we do prostrations, when and where to prostrate, and how to do prostrations.
Many Western students cannot accept the idea of prostrating because they think they are giving something of themselves up to the teacher or the statue in front of them. Some people have told me that no, they cannot bow down to anyone. They do not want to give “control” of themselves to someone or something else. They think of prostration as a sign of weakness. It is the ego that does not want to prostrate. It is the ego who does not want to let go, to give up its control or power. And, it is the ego that is our source of suffering.
First, let me say, prostration in the Tibetan spiritual sense is not a sign of weakness! When done with pure intentions and devotion, it becomes an act of respect; compassion for all sentient beings; purifies your negative past and present karma; and, creates positive merit for yourself. When you practice prostrations, what are you losing? What do you give up? You lose nothing except your ego attachment! You give up your ego! The more or bigger the ego – the more suffering. The lesser or smaller the ego – the less suffering you have.
Why not give up the ego? If we can free ourselves or even lessen our suffering, why would we not want to give up the ego? That is the view of Buddhist teaching.
When you do prostrations in front of a teacher or master, you not only are giving up your ego, you are showing respect to his or her Buddha nature within. Every sentient being has Buddha nature. So the simple idea of prostration is to give up the ego and show respect to anothers Buddha nature.
The Tibetan word for prostration is “chag tsal”. Literally,“chag tsal” means sweeping or cleaning all the dirt in your house, outside or inside. So prostration is the cleaning, purifying all the negative karma of past lives or your present life, from your physical, mental and spiritual home. Your body, speech and mind. That is why we call prostration“chag tsal” – it is to clean and purify.