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Image of a Golden Ray of Light Shining through on some Darkened Woods

Personal Management Skills:
Secrets of the Bow

The third component of the Shambhala Pathway is the next advanced step in personal management which also increases your ability to powerfully influence others. This section is restricted because these advanced skills can be misused. Martial Arts Black Belts have learned that with increased power comes increased personal responsibility, so these pages are only available to registered Shambhala Black Belt members, who will exercise good judgment in their use.

ANCIENT SHAMBHALA WISDOM

Secrets of the Bow

Shambhala Black Belts recognize that there are many different types of bows and numerous reasons for bowing:

  • The bow can be a time honored ritual, a sign of greeting, courtesy, appreciation of our teacher, higher belts, our elders, and/or our flags. This bow can become a ritual nicety, a mindless habit, or an empty display.
  • The more conventional and contemporary understanding of the bow is that it is a “sign of respect and openness.” Over many centuries this bow has come to mean a show of tolerance for our individual, generational, and cultural differences, as well as a willingness to cooperate with each other in spite of these differences.

A modern day example of the sentiment is evidence by our contemporary, politically-correct stance of respecting individual differences as a way to promote inter-cultural cooperation and international peace. But, because this bow honors our differences it also tends to create a distance between people by blinding us to our universally shared Spiritual Center.

The third bow is the Shambhala Black Belt bow. It is given out of respect of this universally shared Spiritual Center. It is given out of reverence to the highest Spiritual Center of Truth and personal Integrity. This Spiritual Center is the seed of our finest human Potential. It is what all Shambhala Masters nurture and celebrate in themselves and their students. Because this Spiritual Center is universally shared, whether recognized or not, it Unites all of us. Because this Spiritual Center is universally shared, whether it is venerated or not, it makes us One.