Reiki
and Spirituality
"...Sooner
or later you're going to realize, just as I did, there's a difference
between knowing the path and walking the path..."
- Morpheus, from the movie "The Matrix"
No
matter what style of Reiki that one practices, it is almost a truism
that all find it to be a spiritual practice. It is commonly said that
Reiki integrates with all spiritual practices that is because Reiki in
its nature is ALL. Universal Life Force Energy encompasses everything
that is, and for that mater, will be.
However,
not all those who use Reiki are spiritual. Spirituality is not
something that one dons rather it is something that one is. When a
person who exists in spirit engages in Reiki the Spirituality of the
experience is unquestionable. We can perceive spirituality without
being told by a person that they are spiritual. Trust your instincts.
Unfortunately there are those in the profession of healing and
spiritual exploration that exist in Ego. They are usually the ones
most concerned with money instead of you.
Reiki
Ryoho
Reiki
Ryoho or "Reiho" was the art that Usui practiced. This art
continues to be practiced in Japan, in an unbroken line since Usui, in
the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai. In the past two years, information has
been trickling out of Japan regarding the practices of the Gakkai.
These have been turbulent times in the Reiki world in the west as this
has had the effect of challenging many people's beliefs about Reiki.
For some, it has allowed them to reevaluate their practices and learn
new techniques, while for others it has caused them to dig in their
heels and hold more tightly to what they know.
Reiho
was a simple system. It was primarily a secular enlightenment system
that also allowed you to heal. You healed self, and then others. It
comprised of Five Principles that were the core of the teaching (For
today only do not anger, do not worry, be grateful, do your spiritual
work with appreciation, be kind to all living things). Living the
principles were paramount for staying in the moment and healing the
mind. Usui also included the Waka poetry of the Meiji Emperor. The
poetry was chanted before meditation to help clear the mind and set
the intent. There were a number of simple techniques to use for self
and other healing. Hatsurei Ho was a meditation technique that
strengthened the body and mind as well as helped increase the ability
to use the Reiki. Reiju was the empowerment (attunement) that was
received weekly in a group Hatsurei ho practice that empowered the
students to Reiki and helped them continue to grow.
Lastly,
the symbols were added in to aid those that had difficulty connecting
directly to the energy.
This was the Reiki
system. A simple elegant system. Let us now move to exploring the
spiritual and healing aspects.
Enlightenment
System
It
is impossible to fully understand the intent and design of these
practices without looking at the time and mindset in which Usui lived.
In doing so, we must move past our conditionings, new age-isms, and
other present day thoughts and ideas so that we avoid reading history
backwards with our present views.
First
and foremost, Usui was unquestionably Buddhist. The Teaching story
that Mrs. Takata used with Usui as a Christian Monk was a story that
was used to teach westerners unfamiliar with Japanese Buddhist and
culture the idea that Usui was a seeker in a religious sense. It was
an effective teaching tool, which unfortunately became dogma. (There
are ideas that are common to a culture that are unspoken and simply
understood. An example of this is the idea of the "American
Dream" - to get ahead. These unspoken parts of the Japanese
cultural mindset are difficult to communicate to those not familiar
with the culture and so Mrs. Takata tried to use western ideas to
teach Reiki principles.)
Usui
was a Shingon Buddhist growing up and became a Tendai Buddhist later
in life. As such, there are certain ideas about the world that are
part of his system. Reiki exemplifies the principle of "wei wu
wei", doing by not doing. By doing nothing, everything is done.
Reiki is a simple practice. We place our hands on someone and by doing
nothing (no controlling, no directing, just BEing) everything is done.
The principles teach keeping the now, and awareness. It takes
mindfulness to "not anger" and "not worry". It
takes mindfulness to "be grateful", and to "be kind to
all living things".
Looking
at the symbols he chose to place in the system also are keys to this
enlightenment system. Let us now examine these symbols and the
possible implications of them. Unlike the multitude of also ran
systems that have developed in the west since the death of Mrs.
Takata, the Usui system had only 4 symbols, and it is fairly clear
that they were added fairly late in the development of the system.
They seemed to be added in as a tool for those who had trouble
connecting to the energy directly.
The
first symbol is the "Cho Ku Rei", the so-called
"power" symbol, also called the Focus. It says, "place
the power here". It is an edict to do so, but something much more
is implied. It is also an edict to "wake up". In the oneness
you are and always have been this, interconnected with all things and
one. It is an invitation to awaken, to remember by releasing the
things that blind us to our true nature. Turning the light switch on
is another metaphor used for Cho Ku Rei appealing to something
familiar to most westerners.
The
second symbol is the "Sei Hei Ki", or the so-called
"mental-emotional" symbol. It is the one mind, Buddha Mind.
It is the mind of compassion. It is the focus in the now where
we are a new creation every moment. It is the Harmony symbol. In
the oneness that is Cho Ku Rei, Sei Hei Ki heals body mind and spirit.
It cleanses and heals by helping us to remove the attachments we have
that create our suffering and thus our illness.
The
third symbol is the "Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen", often called the
"distant" symbol but also the "connection" symbol.
It is from a Buddhist Chant that translates to "Right
consciousness is the root of everything" or "A righteous man
may correct all thoughts", or "To act in the Realization of
Absolute Beingness". But what might that mean, "Right
consciousness"? This is clearly a Buddhist idea. Right
consciousness is being fully in the moment, fully in the now. It is
acting, not reacting. This is an important distinction. Reacting is
based on our ego, our conditionings. Our conditionings are the cause
of our suffering and our illness. It is only by letting go and
removing our conditionings that we are free to be in the
moment, to respond, and ultimately to heal.
The
last symbol is the "Dai Ko Mio", or the so-called
"mastery" symbol. The symbol is the great shining light. The
goal is Reiho is to live in the great shining light. As we gain
mastery we come to know that the previous three symbols are the key,
the last is the realization. It
is the closing of one cycle and the beginning of another, such is
energy, such is life.
Perhaps
putting them all together into a sentence might help. We are one with
all things, in this oneness we heal body mind and spirit. In right
consciousness we release attachments and conditionings so we live in
the moment of the great shining light. JOY, BLISS, HEALTH
The symbols are a
tool. They are a roadmap. They are training wheels on a bicycle that
are used while needed and removed, (like all conditionings) when no
longer needed. Do not mistake the map for the journey, or the
destination.
Other
Issues - New Systems, Extra Symbols, Reiki as a Business
After
reading all of this, there are three questions that you may now be
asking:
You
may be asking, if Reiki is such a simple system, why is it that others
have developed so many new systems?
You
may be asking, if Reiki is such a simple system, why is it that others
have added and continue to add new symbols?
You
may be asking, if Reiki is an enlightenment system that allows one to
heal self and others, why is it that others have turned it into a
business?
It
would seem, that people often have an insight into the system after
using it consistently for any length of time. Some might confuse this
"insight" with a new idea regarding Reiki and thus believe
they have developed a "new" system.
Likewise,
seeing new symbols is nothing extraordinary. Sacred geometry is older
than Pythagoras, and common to many esoteric and spiritual practices.
Most of these symbols have a specific meaning to the person viewing
them and do not constitute a new system. Most of these "new"
systems with extra symbols are simply Reiki with extra symbols despite
the claims of the proponents of the systems. They are the result of
man’s need to “own” and “make their own” the system not
invented by them. Although rarely acknowledged as such many of these
new systems are “Ego” of the inventor.
This
is not to say that there are not enlightened individuals that discover
new paths, there are. Others have added in techniques from other
sources like space aliens, ancient civilizations, Celestine Prophesy,
Wicca, Tibetan practices, Ascended Masters, etc.
While
these may have some interest for some, I am forced to ask a
fundamental question: Remembering that Reiho was a secular
enlightenment system that allowed you to heal self and then others, do
these things increase the conditionings that you have or help remove
them? Or are the additional symbols developed by these people simply a
means of focusing into a particular element or nature.
Remember
that symbols were a tool to be used to aid you in connecting to the
energy, and to guide you but ones, like all conditionings that were to
be let go of when no longer needed. Does adding extra symbols help or
hinder this process? Are we helped by putting in some Tibetan symbols?
For
many these days, Reiki has turned into a business. Businesses thrive
by continually coming up with new product. New symbols, new
techniques, new packaging are all part of this process, as are the
ever increasing claims of "more powerful", "higher
vibrational", "more deeply penetrating",
"ascension systems", and on and on and on.
Summary
In
the final analysis, nothing can free you from the conditioning that
causes your suffering except you. No energy system, no matter how much
ascension and enlightenment they promise, can save you. No guru, no
system can save you. Adding to the conditionings that you have with
more and more systems, symbols and techniques will not either. Usui
handed you a key. A key in the form of 5 simple principles, a simple
meditation (Hatsurei ho), some symbols to guide your understanding,
and a way to share this universal unconditional love with others. You
are an instrument of blessing. In the moment, you reach out your
hands, place them on another in a gesture of unconditional love, and
by doing nothing, everything is done. There is nothing else that is
needed. It would seem though that people have a need to reinvent
things to whatever level of complexity their mind needs.
It
is my hope that these words will help clarify and open others to a
different way of looking at the system of Reiki that is outside of the
Business that it has become.
-
``Kundalini'' literally means coiling, like a snake. In the
classical literature of hatha yoga kundalini is described as a coiled serpent at
the base of the spine. The image of coiling, like a spring, conveys the sense of
untapped potential energy. Perhaps more meaningfully kundalini can be described
as a great reservoir of creative energy at the base of the spine. It's not
useful to sit with our consciousness fixed in our head and think of kundalini as
a foreign force running up and down our spine. Unfortunately the serpent image
may serve to accentuate this alien nature of the image. It's more useful to
think of kundalini energy as the very foundation of our consciousness so that
when kundalini moves through our bodies our consciousness necessarily changes
with it. 
