When Buddhist put their plams together with fingers up (as in “prayer position” in Christianity), why do some sects use just one (left?) hand? Or is this just from the kung fu movies of Chinese monestaries? Or is it a separate similar looking gesture?
Which brings up part two: why, in any East or West, is this position set aside for religion? (Or is it secular in some?) I guess this becomes question part three: is this “mudra” 
used in other faiths?
Really? Nobody has an idea? C’mon…
I’m not anything close to an expert on Buddhist meditation postures and mudras but I know a little about them and I’m not familiar with what you describe? Are you sure that what you’ve seen is a meditation posture and not simply a hand raised in blessing or greeting?
I know of a mudra where one hand is cupped in the lap while the other hand touches the ground (“earth touching” position), but the upper hand is not raised as you describe. Perhaps the gesture you speak of had a non-meditative purpose? Most of what I’ve seen involves cupping the hands in the laps or making a sort of "ok’ sign with both hands. I haven’t really seen “prayer” positions before, even with both hands.
In some disciplines, there is the idea of energy flowing through the body in meditation. One palm is up, to receive energy from above, and the other palm is down, to release it to the ground.
There are several open-hand mudras here- is one of them what you are thinking?
I know what the OP is talking about, I think, from movies and anime - it isn’t any of the things in your link. Hold up one hand so the palm is flat and vertical and your thumb is facing you. It’s in the midline of your body, at your chest.
Might not be an actual mudra then- a generic “blessing” motion, perhaps? I know that His Holiness always blesses folks with his hands together.
If he’s getting this from movies, then the usage I’ve usually seen it has been as a greeting. Hand in front of chest, held vertically, person bows to newcomer.
when the right hand is used and the index and thumb tips touch each other it symbolizes the “Gesture of Turning the Wheel of Dharma while in Meditation”
http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/mudras.htm
in my opinion maintaining hand gestures during meditation helps primarily to maintain the rest of your body’s posture and reduces boredom and intruding thoughts.
im rather peeved that you dare compare prayer with meditation, the last thing a christian nun or buddhist monk wants to hear is that they are doing the same thing.
this is the hand gesture i use when i meditate (the best and only way)
http://www.spineuniverse.com/displaygraphic.php/3524/office-keyboard2-BB.jpg
While there are important differences, I think open-minded nuns and monks would not be so upset. Like this dude: Catholic Zen Master
I didn’t mean to say it WAS a mudra, nor meditation posture. I did say gassho, which is a blessing or thanks gesture. I put mudra in quotes to point out that this isn’t what it was. Sorry for the confusion there. :smack:
The Japanese term for what you’re asking about is kata-gassho, which translates literally as “one-sided gassho”. The meaning of the gesture is the same as the full gassho. In practice, it is often used when one hand is busy doing something else. For example, in a Japanese Buddhist funeral, you hold your left hand in a kata-gassho while your right hand places a stick of incense in the incense-burner. It is often used by practitioners of martial arts which is why you see it often in movies. (I don’t know why, though.)
The gassho is meant to symbolize the joining of opposites and the unity of mind.
Maybe not. Boiled down to its simplest terms, the message of the Buddha and Jesus is the same: “Don’t be a dick.”
… except that many Buddhists DO pray, as well. A la Pure Land Buddhism. There’s a lot of different flavors out there.
Many Catholics meditate, too. Contemplative meditation, they call it. I know a Franciscan priest who teaches meditation. He’s not the only priest who knows there’s more than one path to enlightenment.
I think “telecom” was posting with tongue-in-cheek…and perhaps foot in mouth.
I see this post is seven years old. None the less, I had the same question and followed Google into this Message Board thread. I follow the practice of “Gassho” which uses two hands before the face or chest as a sign of respect for Masters, Teachers and others. I have seen the one handed sign used by some monks and wondered as to the meaning. After a lot of searching I found this answer:
Shaolin-Buddhist gesture of respect stated “Amituofo” when meeting, training and departing with comrades from the temple. Means the infinite of all things positive.
I would like others seeking this answer, to know also. So I have posted the answer to your string. All good things come to those who wait. Namaste.
Sometimes, especially in Kung-Fu movies :rolleyes:, a monk is holding a one-handed prayer gesture:
instead of the more familiar two-hands:
IIRC a monk once suffered an injury to his arm and gangrene set in. A Physician was called in to amputate the diseased limb in the night. The next day the congregation was surprised to see the recovering monk at morning services, instead of resting in bed.
As the others pressed their hands together in prayer, he could only hold up his one hand. The others, impressed with his dedication and discipline, emulated his gesture…and monks have been honoring his memory likewise since then.
They use one hand so they can clap with the other. It makes a very interesting sound.
"Huike, in order to prove his dedication and commitment to Bodhidharma as a sage, then stands in snow in the middle of the night in front of the Shaolin Monastery, undergoing extreme mountainside hardship in order to prove himself. Bodhidharma still denies him discipleship. Then, in the act of a complete devotee, Huike cuts off his left arm and prepares to cut off the other, at which point Bodhidharma accepts him as a follower, informing his new pupil that his determination to get training and enlightenment was as strong as his own.
It is in remembrance of Huike that Zen Buddhists perform the gassho (a Japanese term literally meaning “aligning of palms”) greeting with one hand. Huike goes on to become the twenty-ninth Patriarch of Buddhism, after Bodhidharma, and as a result the second Zen patriarch in China."
Hutan Ashrafian, Warrior Origins: The Historical and Legendary Links between Bodhidharma, Shaolin Kung-Fu, Karate and Ninjutsu (The History Press, 2014).
https://tinyurl.com/WarriorOriginsExcerpt