Embodiment · “Being Precedes Having”
The Bow of Never Disparaging
To embody respect for the inherent Buddha-nature of every person you meet — bowing (literally or inwardly) and honoring their dignity — as the concrete ‘behavior as a human being’ that Nichiren called the heart of Buddhist practice.
The bow of Never Disparaging in 5 lines: Hold the conviction that every person you meet has inherent Buddha-nature and dignity. To each — especially the difficult — offer a bow (literal or inner) and the reverence: “I deeply respect you; I would never disparage you.” Let it shape how you actually treat people all day, not just one gesture. Know the mirror: the respect you extend awakens and reflects your own dignity. Revere the person’s potential — while still keeping firm boundaries against harm.
What it is
In the Lotus Sutra, a bodhisattva named Never Disparaging (Sanskrit Sadaparibhuta; Japanese Fukyo) “did not devote his time to reading or reciting the scriptures, but simply went about bowing to people.” To everyone he met — even those who scorned, mocked, and attacked him — he bowed deeply and said, in effect, “I have profound reverence for you; I would never dare treat you with disparagement or arrogance, for you are practicing the bodhisattva way and will attain Buddhahood.” Nichiren held this single behavior up as the very essence of practice — writing that “the purpose of the appearance in this world of Shakyamuni Buddha … lies in his behavior as a human being,” i.e. in this consistent, active reverence for the inherent Buddha-nature of every person.
The technique, then, is to make honoring the dignity and potential of each person you meet — through a bow, inner or outer, and the conduct that follows from it — a deliberate daily practice.
The Method
Drawn from the Lotus Sutra’s account and Nichiren’s commentary on it:
- Adopt the conviction first. Hold as a working belief that every person you meet possesses Buddha-nature — an inherent, supreme dignity and potential — regardless of how they behave or how they treat you. The bow follows from this conviction; it is not flattery.
- Bow — literally or inwardly — to each person. In the encounter, offer a gesture of reverence. This can be a literal bow (as Fukyo did), or, where a physical bow would be odd, an inner bow: silently revering the other’s Buddha-nature as you look at them.
- Voice (or silently affirm) the reverence. Hold the substance of Fukyo’s words: “I deeply respect you; I would never disparage you, for you too will become a Buddha.” Said aloud where fitting, or held in the heart.
- Extend it especially to the difficult. Fukyo bowed even to those who beat and ridiculed him. The practice is most itself precisely toward people who are arrogant, hostile, or hard to respect — there the reverence for their Buddha-nature (not their behavior) is tested.
- Let it shape conduct, not just feeling. “Behavior as a human being” means the reverence shows up in how you actually treat people — courtesy, attention, refusal to demean — across the day, not as a one-time gesture.
- Understand the mirror. Nichiren taught that “when one faces a mirror and makes a bow … the image in the mirror likewise makes a bow”: revering the Buddha-nature in another awakens and reflects your own. The bow is given outward and returns inward. (Sourcing note: the bodhisattva’s words are paraphrased from the Lotus Sutra’s “Never Disparaging” chapter; the “behavior as a human being” and mirror points are Nichiren’s, from The Three Kinds of Treasure and the Orally Transmitted Teachings. No copyrighted translation is reproduced.)
Source & Lineage
The figure comes from the 20th (“Never Disparaging”) chapter of the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren (1222–1282) repeatedly singled out this bodhisattva as the model of correct practice: in The Selection of the Time he wrote that “the heart of the practice of the Lotus Sutra is found in the ‘Never Disparaging’ chapter,” and in The Three Kinds of Treasure (a letter to his samurai follower Shijo Kingo) that the purpose of the Buddha’s advent “lies in his behavior as a human being” — pointing to Fukyo’s reverence.
The 20th-century lay movement Soka Gakkai / SGI (notably Daisaku Ikeda) made “respect for the dignity of life” and this Fukyo model a cornerstone of its humanism and peace activism.
It belongs to the broad family of reverence/loving-kindness practices across traditions.
The Traditions' versions
Metta / loving-kindness (Buddhism) — systematically extending goodwill to self, friend, neutral, and enemy.
- “Namaste” / the bow (Hindu-yogic) — honoring the divine in the other; a literal counterpart gesture.
- “That of God in everyone” (Quaker) — seeing and answering the inner light in each person.
- Imago Dei (Christian) — every person bears the image of God, grounding their dignity.
- Tonglen-adjacent compassion practices (Tibetan) — actively cultivating regard for others.
- “I-Thou” (Buber) — meeting the other as a full presence rather than an object.
Common refinements
Confusing reverence with approval. You revere the person’s Buddha-nature/dignity, not necessarily their conduct. Bowing to someone’s potential does not mean endorsing harmful behavior.
- Performing without conviction. An empty gesture rings hollow; the practice begins with genuinely holding the other’s inherent dignity. Build the conviction first.
- Skipping the hard cases. Reserving respect for the likeable misses the point — Fukyo’s example centers on those who scorned him. Practice it toward the difficult.
- Outer bow only, no changed conduct. “Behavior as a human being” means it shows up in how you actually treat people, not just a head-nod.
- Forgetting the self. Nichiren’s mirror teaching includes revering your own Buddha-nature; self-contempt undercuts the practice.
- Using it to tolerate abuse. Reverence plus boundaries; see Safety.