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Osho on When one bows, whose ego is broken—the one who bows, or the one who is bowed to?

When one bows, whose ego is broken—the one who bows, or the one who is bowed to?

True humility cannot be prescribed; it must arise from inner awareness, for any gesture that merely serves to flatter or subordinate leaves both egos intact.

— Osho
Synthesized from Source definition
Core Insight:
According to Osho, such bowing doesn't shatter ego at all; it protects it, specifically the male ego. When a nun bows to a man, the ritual props up his sense of superiority while disguising domination as humility. Real humbleness cannot be prescribed; unless it flowers from inner awareness, the gesture is political, not spiritual, leaving both egos intact: one flattered, the other subordinated.
Forced bows don’t make anyone humble; they just make the person being bowed to feel bigger.
Why this matters practically
- Helps you see through rituals that quietly maintain dominance and ego.
- Encourages humility that arises from inner awareness, not social compulsion.
- Prevents participating in practices that inflate others’ egos while suppressing your own.
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