With respect to bowing

I once told my zen teacher that prolonged periods of sitting meditation were making me a little antsy, a little twitchy. What should I do with this energy? She said I should bow more. "Try eight full prostrations," she said, "or sixteen. If that doesn't work, do one hundred and eight full prostrations." OK OK--at least she didn't hit me with a stick. But bowing is a big deal in Buddhist practice. One bows to the Buddha image upon entering the meditation hall, and to the person seated across, and finally to the cushion upon which one is about to sit. It's a matter of respect and recognition of like spirit.

Much has been made of President Obama's use of the bow when first being presented to the Saudi king and to the emperor of Japan. It has become a popular misconception that to bow is to express submission, rather than to express greeting and respect. President Washington didn't see it that way, but styles of manners have changed in the US--outside of square-dancing anyway.

In Japan, bowing can carry as much or as little nuance as its equivalent American gesture, the handshake. Respective depth and length of bows can be calculated to the millimeter and the microsecond in signaling relative status, just as how long and how strong a grip, how much eye contact, and who offers the hand first can be "read" in American body language. No one expects a foreigner to get a bow, or a handshake, just right, but the effort is taken for the deed. In fact, the president did both with the emperor, offering a hand to shake as he bowed. But regardless of nuance, refusing an offered hand or neglecting a bow altogether are equally serious signs of loutish behavior.

I think any president does well to bow to foreign dignitaries, when a guest in places where that is the customary respectful greeting. Further, in Japan, I would bow when introduced to shopkeepers and schoolteachers and streetcleaners, unless they forestalled it by offering a Western handshake instead. I'm not big on swapping cheek kisses, but in France, I would man-up and do my best. In Saudi Arabia, I would take care not to eat with my left hand, even if I was left-handed, or to show the soles of my shoes when sitting. These are considered unsavory for reasons that are now, thankfully, largely symbolic. And in Rio, I would not use the hand gesture that signals "OK." In Rio it signals--well, never mind what it signals. The point is: local manners are not universally understood. Respect (and disrespect) are.