Guided meditation 引導禪

I love this part (as below) very much. Though I am not sure the different meanings between worship and prostrating, which Thay's word taught us how to move my body to prostrate, experiencing the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.When I started learning Buddhism in Taiwan temple. worship or prostrating is always the most difficult part for me to bow my body which is too pride to do this. I practiced bowing my body for few months and gradually felt the body become lighter than before. Now, when joining chanting ceremony in Taiwan temple, worship or prostrating become my favorite part to touching the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.



The Blooming of a Lotus Prostrating 
(Thich Nhat Hanh, 2008, Guided meditation exercise for healing and transformation)




With an undivided heart
To the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha
Which are in the ten directions
And also in all Dharma realms
Transcending past, present, and future
Prostrate and surrendering
I wholeheartedly go for refuge.

It was pouring rain the morning this gatha was presented for the first time at Plum Village. Before beginning the practice, we sat in front of the large glass doors at the entrance to the meditation hall and watched the rain as it fell to the earth. The gatha may also help you meditate while you prostrate yourself. Like the raindrop, and our earth needs the rain.

You may want to prepare a very clean cloth on which to prostrate yourself. Your face will be in contact with the floor for a longer time than usual, and you do not want to be distracted by the discomfort of breathing in dust.
To prostrate oneself means to flatten oneself. It means you move forward and down at the same time. First you join your palms in front of you. Then a member of the Sangha can read or chant the poem. If you are practicing on your own, you can read it to yourself. ON the first, third, fifth, and seventh lines, you breathe in. ON the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth lines, you breathe out. Having recited the poem, with a slow, very graceful movement bend down toward the floor. Before placing your knees on the floor, position your hands, one on each side of the place where your head will be. Finally, lower your forehead to the floor. The back of your thighs rests on the back of your shins so that your whole body is close to the floor. Remaining in that position for as long as you want, follow your breath and be mindful of the words of the gatha. You do not have to bemindful of every line if that is too much to concentrate on. One or two lines of the gatha may be sufficient for your meditation.

The ten directions are the eight direction of the compass plus above and below. We say that they contain the Buddha because the Buddha is the awakened aspect of our minds, which can manifest itself anywhere. We do not have to go to Bodhgaya in India to find the Buddha. The Dharma is the teaching about the way things are. If the awakened aspect of the mind is present, then anything can be used to teach us: a flower, a rock, even a harsh world. Sangha is a combination of elements, human and nonhuman, that help us in the practice. The soft grass on which we sit and meditate as well as our friends who sit with us are our sangha.

Within ourselves as well, we see that every cell contains the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. The parts of our bodies that we usually see as clean and those we usually see as unclean are all Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Every cell in our bodies contains the earth element, and we prostrate ourselves on the earth. We could not be nearer to the earth and we are not really different from the earth on which we prostrate. In this position, you may experience an overwhelming happiness. Tear may come to your eyes, and you will see that there are many fragrant flowers all around being watered by the rain. Even when the earth seems to manifest no living thing, it contains seeds that may become flowers. Even when you die, as you have done so many thousands of times, a new flower blooms to welcome you home. To prostrate oneself is to die –to die and be happy. Those of you who long to die and shake the red dust of this earth from your feet, you do not have to wait for death to call you. You can surrender yourself right now.

Dharma realms are the objects of our minds. Any elements can be the object of our minds and can then be called a Dharma realm. A Dharma realm has something miraculous about it because, though it is phenomenal , it can express the ultimate nature of thing. The Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha are thus found in everything we can conceive of.

We can transcend past, present, and future. Buddha is not just in the past, in the fifth and sixth centuries B.C.E. Buddha is here with us now, when we know how to be mindful. What were you before you were born as a human being? Where you a cloud before? Buddha was in that cloud. Maybe you were a mosquito and Buddha was in that mosquito. What will you be in the future? Will you be a drop of rain? Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha will be in that drop of rain. We should not think it is only in this life that we have the capacity to meet the Buddha. We have had many opportunities in the past to be the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, and we shall have man more opportunities in the future.

In prostrating ourselves, we move down because we are becoming something very humble, and we move forward because we are becoming something very great. We are really nothing, yet at the same time we are in harmony with all the elements in the universe. When you practice a meditation in the prostrate position, you must feel very comfortable. You must surrender and enjoy your conscious breathing. In this position, it is very easy to surrender all thoughts. You can surrender yourself and every thought about yourself. Surrender yourself until you are nothing. This means that there will be no more pride in you. You will not think how intelligent or unintelligent you are, how worthy or unworthy. Pride is a burden we are able to put down when we prostrate ourselves.