Forgiveness Cerimony?

[Ciocco]

Hello,

i seen a kind of forgiveness cerimony where a man was layng down kneeling and making wai with the tradinional flower armlace on the hands, bowing down until to touch the feet of the people in front asking something who sounds like a forgiveness...

Do someone knows if it is something common in Buddhist belief?

If yes, the most important part became to understand if after this they expect to be forgiven, so "cleaned up" or not...

I mean... easy to do something wrong, ask for forgiveness and after start again as nothing happens...

Sorry for my ignorance on this,

[weary]

Many people, including I, would feel rather uncomfortable kneeling down in front of somebody else and touching their feet in public, to the point where I think it could work as a reasonable deterrent. Plus the act of asking forgiveness, in general, means you are saying 'I intend not to do this again'. Of course, there is no guarantee that everyone feels this way, or that they will stop doing whatever it is that they did, but I think in many cases it could work.

And to forgive somebody, while it takes practice, is often a good thing - when you succeed, it sure feels much better than to hold a grudge.

An attitude of never forgiving just makes you bitter.

[hookedondhamma]

I don't know where this comes from, but I've seen forms of it in the monkhood, as well in Thai families. There are many different variations. I don't know about the 'forgiveness' aspect for families, though. You sometimes see it before people get Thai tattoos (more like a gesture of respect).

A good way to look at it is one that doesn't involve a Western viewpoint (it's hard to do sometimes, but it is possible), as there are many different meanings to this 'ritual.' I'm not sure how many of us really know what's going on, so the best approach is an open mind.

[sabaijai]

It's a beautiful and moving Thai ceremony, not very common nowadays.