What is the correct way to kneel, what is the correct posture to kneel to parents?

First of all, the mind should be as calm as water, the mind should be free of thoughts, and all irrelevant things should be put aside to keep the mind pure.

Then put your hands together, put your left hand on top, your right hand down, and put your left thumb between the thumb and the other four fingers of your right hand into the palm of your right hand, and place it above your navel and below your chest.

Next, the right hand is stretched out and slowly placed on the mat, the left hand is placed on the right hand in the same way, the thumb is placed in the palm of the right hand, the knees are kneeling on the mat, the waist is vertical, and the head is usually kowtowed three times in front of the head. The right hand leaves the mat first, followed by the left hand, and then stands up and maintains the position of step 3, which is called one bow and three bows. Repeat the above steps two more times, i.e. three prostrations and nine prostrations.

Many people know that the most important thing to worship God is the incense of the heart, but what exactly is the incense of the heart? Is it true that there is no need for incense sticks at all? Taoism uses incense as a messenger to convey wishes to heaven, so incense is one of the most basic godly rituals of Taoism, and it is not interesting to have one or three branches, especially the heart incense.

Even if you don't have a stick on your hand, the heart incense is the finest incense.

What is the point of burning incense?

I think there are the following points.

Offering to the gods. There is a poem "Three Treasures of Incense" that says it well: "May the treasure incense of the Tao (scriptures, teachers) be burned, and always make offerings." ”

Spread the word of sincerity. The most representative "Incense Mantra" fully illustrates this point: the Tao is learned from the heart, and the mind should be expressed by the cigarette, when the incense is burned in the jade furnace, our heart also blows into the ** hall with the cigarette, and floats to the front of the white jade steps.

Resurrection. When we do the dojo, we can also summon the souls of the dead by burning incense, which is said: "Invite with this true incense, and may the deceased hear it from afar."

Ward off evil spirits. Because cigarettes have the effect of aromatizing air and killing germs, they have been used as "air fresheners" since ancient times, and they are used as "air disinfectants" when there is a plague.

5. Pray for blessings with others.

I wish to use this incense burning merit to return to the people of the Jiao believers, the family of Mendiji, and the family members ...... peaceIt can be seen that the merit of burning incense is great for oneself and others.

To sum up, the significance of burning incense is that it is a very important intermediary between gods, humans, and ghosts. Therefore, it is said: "Above the nine heavens, only the Tao is the only one, and among the ten thousand laws, incense is the first." ”

There is a detailed introduction in the book "Taoist Culture and Life", and the main practices are:

1) Choose three sticks of incense, do not break the incense.

2) Light incense (if there is an open flame after ignition, it can be extinguished left and right, and cannot be blown out with breath).

3) Facing the idol, hold incense in both hands (at the same level as your forehead) and bow in salute.

4) Use the incense on the left hand, and the three incense sticks should be inserted straight and flat, with an interval of no more than one inch wide, to show the sincerity of the "inch".

5) After the incense is applied, the bow is performed.

How Taoism performs prostration.

As mentioned above, after the incense is finished, the prostrations are performed, which is called "kowtowing".

1) Stand in front of the kneeling mat and stand in a figure eight shape with your feet two to three inches apart.

2) One side bows, one hand in front of the abdomen, hugging from the bottom up.

3) Leave with your right hand and cover your heart with your left hand.

4) Prostrate and prostrate your head, knocking your head on the back of your hands.

5) Raise your head, retract your left hand to cover your heart, use your right hand hard, get up slowly, retract your right hand, and arch your fists with both hands, ready to bow for the second time. Repeat it twice for the three prostrations. After the three heads are kowtowed, get up.

The above is the basic worship method, which seems simple, but in fact, it has a lot of connotation. Kowtowing is not only a way for believers to express their respect and pray for blessings from their ancestors, but also an introductory method for Taoist internal cultivation.

Open the door to the world of the heart.

There are four most commonly used rituals in ancient Chinese ritual kneeling rituals: Ji Shou, Pa Shou, Empty Shou, and Vibrating.

Bow to the ground with the heaviest of the prayers, kneel on the knee, press the left hand to the right, bow the hand to the ground, and stay on the ground for a period of time;

For those who pause for the first and second heaviest, the head touches the ground when the salute is raised;

Empty head - both hands arch the ground, leading the head to the hand does not touch the ground;

Vibration – Worship of mourning, bow with both hands against each other.

Kowtow and bow down to the ceremony.

There are mainly six different scenes, such as regular kowtow, New Year's greetings, wedding events, funeral events, sacrificial prayers and Taoyuan knots, etc., due to different objects and scenes, the rules are slightly different. All kowtows are done with the right knee first, then the left knee.

Simple kowtowing is a common etiquette for children to see their elders. In general, children go with their parents to relatives to see their elders, and the parents say, "Come and see xx, kowtow".

The child said, "Kowtow to xx", then kneel on both knees, put his hands on the ground, touch his head to the ground, and stand up after kowtowing. The elders who accept the kowtow should do two things, one is to let the child get up in time, and the other is to give the child some gifts.

If you don't prepare a gift, you should generally stop it before kowtowing, so as not to be embarrassed if you can't get something.

Three kneeling and nine prostrations: Kneel on the ground three times with both knees and kowtow nine times. The specific practice is to kneel three times, bow the head to touch the ground, three kneels and nine bow to kneel, the worshipper must bend the knee to kneel, the left hand presses the right hand, support on the ground, and then, slowly kowtow to the ground, stay for a long time, the hand is in front of the knee, the head is behind the hand.

Three kneels and nine prostrations are one kneeling and three prostrations, kneeling is kneeling on both knees, and kowtowing is the head nodding to the ground. When the white thing is performed three times and nine prostrations, the first thing is to measure the distance from the beginning to the coffin with his own footsteps, and then the specific implementation will be carried out, and the steps are as follows: 1

Stand in the starting position with your feet shoulder-width apart parallel to each other, looking straight ahead and ready to go. 2.Raise your right foot, take a figure-eight stride forward, walk three steps, your feet are parallel and naturally separated by shoulder-width apart, stand and look ahead, and arch your hands three times, right hand in front and left hand back.

3.After the hand falls, the right hand supports the right knee to kneel first, and then the left leg kneels down, forming a kneeling posture, with the hands shoulder-width apart upwards, and the palms inward and the head level. Bow down once, and land your hands and head at the same time, palms up, and place them on both sides of your head.

4.Keep your hands shoulder-width and head level and kowtow three times in a row. After that, raise your head and chest, stand up, first with your left leg and then with your right.

At this point, the etiquette of walking three steps, kneeling and prostrating three times has been completed. 5.Then, another round begins.

Stand in this position on the third step, take your right foot, take three steps forward, and repeat the kneeling and knocking movements. Do this three times in total, i.e. three kneels and nine knocks. 6.

At the end of the last time, stand up, take three steps forward to the front of the mourning hall, put incense and paper money on the deceased, and kowtow.

According to the records of the "Zhou Li", there are nine kinds of kneeling rites in ancient times: one is called Ji Shou, two is called Dun Shou, three is empty head, four is vibration, five is auspicious worship, six is fierce worship, seven is Qi worship, eight is praise worship, and nine is solemn worship. Three kneeling and nine bowing are the highest level in the traditional ritual of the Chinese nation.

Hello, kiss the sparrow, let Jian Jushan you wait for a long time, 1, do the bow first. 2. Bend your knees again, and after kowtowing to the first head, keep your kneeling posture and straighten your upper body. 3. Then kowtow the second head, keep the kneeling posture and straighten the upper body.

4. Kowtow the third head and finally stand up. Precautions: Don't be like "pounding garlic", if you don't straighten up, you will touch your head to the ground three times in succession, which is rude (young children can).

A kneel is a bow, and a kowtow is a kowtow.

That is to say, you should first advance half a step forward and stand in front of the kneeling mat, and then put your right hand on your left hand and hug your fist (hugging your fist and arching your hand to greet you is your left hand and your right hand, which is Baiji. The right hand on the left hand is to worship the murderer, generally used for funerals or fights and provocations), hug your fist and bow your head, and your hand must be on your head.

Then kneel down slowly, which is a bow.

After that, kowtow to the sail key three times, which is three knocks.

Get up and take a half step back.

After that, repeat the action until you kneel down three times and kowtow nine times, which is considered to be the three prostrations and nine prostrations.

However, the three bows and nine bows are great gifts, and they are generally only used on important occasions, such as ancestor worship or life-saving grace.

In general, funerals and even apprentices, one bow and three knocks are enough to be cautious, and there are no three bows and nine knocks, because this is not in line with the identity of the deceased.

It's like if you give tea and water to a low-status person, this will not only not cause good results, but will make the higher-ranking leaders disgusted and have the intention of killing.

According to superstition, it will make the ancestors of the dead feel insulted and easy to bring disaster to future generations.

Therefore, the three bows and nine knocks cannot be used casually, and the ancient emperors would not easily accept the three bows and nine knocks.

Unless it is an old man who has been in the same house for four generations, it can be used after a happy funeral, that is, the mother and father of the grandparents.

After all, it has been blessed for three generations, even if it is dead, it is enough to be called an ancestor, and only such a person's funeral will let the juniors bow three times and bow nine times to thank the ancestors for their blessings.

Even the funeral of the parents should not be bowed three times and nine times, which may make the parents uneasy after death.

Therefore, for funerals, one bow and three bows are etiquette.