The many contexts of Reiki
When Reiki first came to India, a lot of us were in awe of its healing results which was new but at the same time, felt that the tradition it was set in was quite familiar to us; we were at home with it. I remember many saying Reiki was a lot like the culture that was passed on to them when they were young and growing up in India. The chakra system in Reiki is simply exactly what the Indian system of Yoga explicates. The healing result itself is definitely new and quite brilliant and we have got hooked on to Reiki ever since we discovered that.
The similarities between concepts in Reiki and a Hindu upbringing prompts the writing of a history of similarities between Hinduism and Buddhism and other traditions like Confucianism and Taoism and the different cultural, philosophical, intellectual and healing traditions from all over Asia—a history that has unfortunately been obfuscated by opaque political regimes and historical occurrences that were coloured by a western lens—which sees religions in the place of traditions, sects and castes in the place of philosophical trajectories and contemporary living redefinitions by gurus. The so-called historical occurrences are often summed up as—Buddha rebelled against Hinduism, Buddha created the first organized religion, Hindus drove Buddhism out of India, Hindus defended their Gods and in face of the spread of Buddhism, Buddha embraced all, Hindusim practiced the discriminatory caste system and so on. Whatever positive or negative images emerge from this historical encounter is of little use or interest to the Reiki practitioner who experiences first hand a whole host of responses upon her/his first encounter with Reiki. Needless to say, these responses concern the similarities and resonances with the Indian intellectual traditions. Practitioners, for lack of terms, could simply refer to this as to their upbringing.
The distinction between positive and negative energy found in Reiki is, for instance, something no one growing up in India could have missed. A whole host of actions are classified as attracting positive energy—starting from the dictum of waking up early because it helps us to receive the positive energy of the universe (as in the braahmi muhurta) to intense spiritual sadhana to help others and one’s own self. The entire discourse in Yoga is that of remaining energetic through asanas and accessing universal energy that the sahasrara chakra sources in. The receiving of positive energy through sahasrara and its outflow through palm chakras is just the basic of Reiki. This is also such common knowledge in India that elders in the family revel the flow of this energy in toddlers by placing a coin on their sahasrara and seeing it throb. Science in turn could say that this is because the neck bone has not fully developed or because the spine is hollow. Nevertheless, the spiritual insight is not necessarily in opposition to the scientific one but confirms through experience what is now known through the X-ray machine. The abhaya mudra adopted by Gods and gurus can also be said to recognize the flow of energy through palm chakras.
Even more importantly, the story of Usui (a Japanese Buddhist) holding a torch in daylight, seeking true disciples is similar to the guru-shishya tradition in India, which is in practice for ages. It somewhat resembles the search for Vivekananda by Ramakrishna. But especially important here is the understanding of the worthiness of knowledge itself. Knowledge in India too was seen as the lot of a few, because when in the hands of the misfit and the worldly, it only led to accumulation of worldly objects, not fulfilling its true purpose. Of the many papas or misplaced actions delineated in the Indian intellectual traditions, apaatra daana is one, which is emphasized in the story of Usui's life. Thus Reiki’s appeal to practitioners to give it to those who ask and those need is not new at all. I also find it interesting that Usui’s meditation lasted 21 days and nights. This number is seen as a natural cycle of some kind and is prescribed for a variety of practices in India. 21 parikramas, 21 japas and 21 days are seen as auspicious to continue a practice into and reap positive results!
One of the first things we are taught in Reiki is that the energy being passed on does not belong to the person giving Reiki, but to a universal life-force. The Reiki giver maybe seen as a channel or medium through whom universal life-force passes and heals the receiver. We are told that the thoughts or the states of mind of the Reiki-giver are irrelevant, because anyway s/he is a mere channel and nothing more. The irrelevance of thoughts is again, a valuable understanding present both in Hinduism and Buddhism. While Buddhism has developed this much more by devising tools for mindfulness meditations, the Indian path has continually emphasized that the highest knowledge is not one to be comprehended by the intellect or buddhi and the manas is only a mischief-maker, best conquered. The Indian traditions have repeatedly said that spirituality is neither the function of the mind nor of thoughts. Like Buddhism does, it too recognizes that thoughts are not useful after a point but instead are obstructions in the path of the meditator—something explicated well by the 10th century text, Yoga Vashishtha. Thus the ‘shunya’ referred to in both the Hindu and Buddhist traditions is well-recognized within the system of Reiki.
Also, the notion of the compassionate universe which is seen as the source of positive energy within Reiki, is also to be found in Hindu ways of life. From oblations at sunrise and sunset, to building totti (tanks or empty spaces) houses to let pranic energy into the house, to the very idea of benevolent Gods, this notion persists. In fact, the Gods are seen as repositories of compassionate energy, to be naturally found in the form of stones (saaligrama shila) and wood. Thus a large part of Hindu beliefs view Gods as energy forms that can be invoked and received at one’s home and heart.
A typical Indian response to Reiki I hear often is that “this is our stuff gone out and come back.” Talk of the proud Indian way of encompassing and including all! When Reiki masters state that Reiki is not a religion, I suggest that we understand it in the context of seeking of enlightenment as found in Hindu, Buddhist and Jaina and other related traditions: as irreligious and a-religious as well.
There are more similarities between different traditions and the principles that form the basis of Reiki that a practitioner can recognize than I can list here. This only proves the vastness of a tradition of seeking—it extends to different cultures and times and finds expression and innovation—once leading to Yoga, once to Reiki and other meditative traditions and so on. To those new to Reiki, this post is an invitation to see how ‘at home’ you can feel with it although hailing from different traditions and retrace your steps and recognize within you solutions to puzzles of significance. And to those practicing it already, this post is an invitation to add to the list made here—which could very well be another harbinger of one world—the writing of a history of crossed paths and shared legacies--of single-minded goals leading always towards happiness.
-Sushumna Kannan
Posted At :- 27 July 2012
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