The Body Bowed to the Ground

Prostration, lowering the body toward or fully onto the ground before an object of reverence, is among the most widespread of religious gestures, and in several traditions it is a deliberate, counted spiritual practice rather than an occasional act of respect. Its basic meaning is everywhere similar: the humbling of the body enacts the humbling of the self, the surrender of pride and the acknowledgment of something greater. In Buddhism, prostrations are made before images of the Buddha, before teachers and before the "three jewels" of Buddha, teaching and community, the full prostration bringing the forehead, hands and knees to the earth.

What distinguishes prostration as a practice from prostration as a courtesy is repetition and intention. Performed by the hundred or the thousand, prostration becomes a strenuous discipline that engages the whole body in devotion, wears down self-cherishing, and is held to purify negative karma accumulated through pride.