This is a very interesting question. It often arises from Westerners who go over to an Eastern tradition, because it's very different from what Westerners are used to, and so they therefore reject it. So I'm going this approach this question in a different way, because over the 16 years in Thailand, some of the things I thought were cultural in the beginning weren't really cultural.
We have to be quite careful to not reject things just with the idea that it's cultural until we have investigated into them deeply to understand whether they really are cultural or not. Fortunately in Theravadin Buddhism we do have the Kalama Sutta, which prevents us from having blind faith in any particular tradition or teacher, we are allowed to have the quality of investigation into things without having to accept them totally.
Some things people think are cultural, for example bowing to the Buddha statue - they think it's just religious, just cultural, it's good for Asians and not good for themselves. They see Asians lighting incense and putting flowers around the Buddha statue and they think this is cultural, but actually they don't know that the Buddha taught wise reflections about these types of rituals. Some people think these are just rituals, but if they are doing it as a mind development practice they will be using wise reflection while doing it. For example, with incense, the reflection which is taught is to think of the beautiful smell of the Dhamma spreading out to the others. When offering flowers, they're encouraged to reflect that these flowers are beautiful now but as they decay they will soon get ugly and go back to the ground. Then to reflect about these flowers as being similar to my body. Even as it is beautiful now, it will decay, and go back to the ground.
So some of the things we consider cultural may have a deeper meaning behind it. Unless we actually ask questions of someone who knows about these things, we may just reject them as being cultural. The bowing has very beneficial effects if we're taught how to bow correctly and understand the value of confidence and confidence-inspiring objects of meditation. This is often not taught to Westerners because a lot of Asian teachers do not know that most Westerners do not have these foundations. So sometimes Westerners will go to these places, see these rituals, not understand their meaning and then just simply reject them as cultural and think, "I'll get the essence of the Buddha Dhamma". This is not understanding how some of these rituals have some deeper meaning behind them and are here to inspire us, especially when we're having doubt and skeptical disbelief in our ability or the tradition.
It's important to investigate into them. After all, some of them are cultural and not the Buddha Dhamma at all. For example, at some temples, mainly Chinese, there are people doing fortune telling, giving out good luck charms and things like this. This is not the Buddha Dhamma as the Buddha taught, and we can reject these things as just being something that has crept into the tradition from people's wishes for some sort of belief and feeling of security. If people have simply just been born Buddhist, as many people are born Christian, they may not understand these traditions and use them as superstition. Some people look at the spirit houses and think that this is cultural, but actually some people view them as a way to show more compassion and lovingkindness to the spirits if they exist. So it's a way for them to understand that these spirits, if they do exist, often may live in the realm of the hungry ghosts. It is believed that these beings have a very difficult life, so a lot of people may put out food and shelter to try to lessen the suffering of these beings if they exist. So some things are cultural, yet if we understand their meaning and purpose better, we may not view them so negatively.
Some things, for instance, sexism is certainly cultural, and that we don't have embrace. Still, I'm not going to be openly aggressive about it, as I realize that I have had very good fortune to have opportunities that I wouldn't actually have if I was a Thai woman. So I try to remember, when I feel left out of some things, the benefits of what I do have, and I remember that the Buddha didn't limit any person's potential, man or woman. As well, it is often not the outward form that will give you the opportunities. Sometimes in the outward form I see disadvantages in the sense that sometimes men are given opportunities that ignite the eight worldly dhammas much more easily. They are given status and fame, and these are very dangerous. So some of the traditions we don't have to take on, and we can try to remember what is the essence of the Buddha Dhamma. However, before you reject anything as being merely cultural, it's important to actually ask about it, ask someone who knows a little bit about the tradition, and maybe there will be a deeper meaning behind these things that we can benefit from.
One of the reasons I started to teach bowing was because of many people's confusion about this particular aspect of the Buddha Dhamma, the gratitude, the respect, the developing of confidence, so I wanted to be able to teach people the deeper meaning behind it. I don't usually teach new meditators about this because everything's too strange. I teach the old students and it's voluntary.
I'm starting to teach chanting to our assistants and they're learning the deeper meaning behind these chants so that when they hear it, they will know what the Thais are chanting.
However when most Westerners come to Thailand for a retreat, they're only with us for a short time, so we try to teach them what is most important, as there's just not enough time to teach them this and it wouldn't be appropriate.
With old students, however, if they have doubts about whether something is merely cultural or not, it's a good idea to ask us about it and get our understanding of these things. Certainly I have rejected a lot of my ideas that I had in the beginning as I got more understanding of the Thais and where they were coming from, and why they did things.
Westerners also have to be careful about what I call cultural superiority. Because they're very well-off materially, often they will look down on Asian cultures, their rituals and traditions, somehow thinking that they're superior to them.