The ritual is made for Man and not Man for the ritual.
Also, this evening I encounter the usefulness of a certain ritual formalism in spiritual practice, in the sense that this formalism “forms” the practice. It offers the form that will collect the practice.
If practice is a bouquet, ritual is the vase that gives it shape and collects water.
The flowers, the practitioner,
and water, essence, spirit bath, consciousness.
So, this evening, I bow before the Buddha then before the zafu, which is something I never do, which I still think I will not do in the future.
However, as soon as I become dependent on this sequence of rituals, the practice deviates.
Sometimes I bow before and after hitting the bowl,
Sometimes the candle I light radiates a different light.
The candle is still the same.
Even if the Buddha does not need me to bow, and even if the zafu does not firm up or soften at the sight of my joined palms,
The sitting is different.
©FJ May 2024
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Notes & Silence 
All repeated practice becomes ritual. All ritual loses meaning with practice. Then it is necessary to know when to break the ritual, and to invent another.
« He keeps right on a changin,
For the better or the worse,
Searchin’ for a shrine he’s never found;
Never knowin’ if believin’
Is a blessin’ or a curse,
Or if the goin’ up was worth the comin’ down. »
[Kris Kristoffersen; probably misquoted]
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