Deities and Faith
If you deeply bow to someone receiving the Mother Goddess's energy, must you always treat them as your mother?
English translation draft · Based on the Chinese article. This is not a word-for-word translation approved by Master Shengyuan.
A deep bow to the Mother Goddess's energy in a particular moment does not mean treating that person as your mother forever afterward. The gesture responds to a connection with the Mother Goddess. In ordinary life, each person remains themselves.
In my early practice, I met fellow practitioners at another temple and spontaneously prostrated fully before a senior woman practitioner. I did not understand it then. Afterward, the senior practitioner accompanying me said she had received the Mother Goddess's energy and I sensed it. I found that interpretation acceptable.
But that was the particular situation. After leaving, I did not treat her as my mother. Reverence during perception and ordinary human relationships need distinction. One experience cannot justify continually confusing a person's identity with divine energy.