The great Zen master, Suzuki Roshi, has a similar take on the subject of bowing, recorded in his book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. He says that "by bowing we are giving up ourselves." And that, "To give up ourselves is to give up our dualistic ideas" — the notions that we are somehow separate from anything. We are the Buddha, the Roshi instructs. Buddha simply bows to Buddha. He says: "When you bow to Buddha you should have no idea of Buddha, you just become one with Buddha, you are already Buddha himself."

Regina Sara Ryan, Praying Dangerously