Within the system of Reiki there is a practice called Reiju. Reiju has been translated in English as initiation and/or attunement. However the Japanese word Reiju itself holds many secret clues which we often do not find within the English words. These clues are needed to perform and receive a Reiju.
Throughout this article I use quotes taken from: No Beginning, No End: The Intimate Heart of Zen
by Jakusho Kwong, which will help us to gain a clearer perspective into the more traditional Japanese viewpoint of these teachings.
霊授 Reiju
霊 Rei – How to give
The basic meaning of 霊 Rei is spiritual, but the deeper meaning is a shaman praying for rain, and the rains falls down.
We should work like the rain. The rain just falls. It doesn’t ask, ‘Am I making a nice sound down below?’ Or, ‘Will the plants be glad to see me? Will they be grateful?’ The rain just falls, one raindrop after another. Millions and billions of raindrops only falling, This is the open secret of Zen.
Within Japanese spiritual teachings the image of falling rain is often used to indicate certain aspects of the teachings. The first aspect is that the rain which is falling is of one flavor, one taste. This indicates that the essence of the universe is of one flavor, non-dual in nature. The second aspect is that when the rain falls it doesn’t make any judgment of what a tree, a shrub, a flower a field, a forest, needs, it just rains and they all take from it whatever they need at that time. As Jakusho Kwong indicates, this is the open secret of Zen, a common insight used in all spiritual teachings in Japan. Just let it rain and the client/students take from the rain whatever he/she needs. This is the secret of how to give a Reiju, just let it rain, no need to judge, no need to label, just be open and let it rain.
授 Ju – How to Receive
Ju 授 means; receive, hand down, give, impart, instruct, grant, offer, invest with, bless.
This word, ju is very good. “To cut,” to open,” “to empty,” and “to receive” are all expressed by ju.
Within the kanji of ju lies the secret of how to receive. To really receive we need to be empty and open.
Before you receive you must cut.
If it is only after we cut that we are able to receive, the question is, what do we need to cut?
When you receive something, you have to let go of everything, even yourself, the one who is receiving. Past, present – yes! even present! – and future, everything must go, Then we have true receiving.
We need to cut away all our attachments, all our preconceived ideas, or in other words we need to cut away our ego, the “I”. When the “I” is out of the way we are completely empty and open and thus a perfect vessel to receive.
The word receive is also very good. When I looked it up in the dictionary, it said that re means “back” and ceive is “take.” in terms of receiving…where what we are receiving is our Buddha nature, our original nature, we take back what belongs to us, which means it has always been there.
The word receive comes from the French word receivre which comes from the Latin word recipere; to take back. What are we taking back? When we receive a Reiju we are taking back our own power, our own light. When we take back our own power we start to stand in our own light again, our True Self. Often we give away the power to a teacher or to someone else, and therefore we lose our own inner strength. But when we receive a real Reiju we take that power back, as Jakusho Kwong says, we take back what has always been there.
These secret meanings hidden within the word Reiju are therefore very important to understand and to embody. When we have the direct experience of Rei and Ju, then as a teacher we can just let it rain and as a receiver we can be utterly empty and open. Now we have a real spiritual blessing: Reiju.
Resources
It’s Raining Rei
What is the System of Reiki?
Reiki – Meaning of the Word
Based in Holland, Frans Stiene teaches in North America, Europe, UK, Australia and Asia.
Frans is also the author of Reiki Insights, it is the continuation of his previous book The Inner Heart of Reiki, taking your personal practice and understanding of the system of Reiki yet another step deeper.
Comments 8
Thank you for this post, Frans! Jakusho Kwong’s “No Beginning, No End” is one of my favorite books, so simple, so profound. No one who has given or received Reiju and reads your post will ever view their experience of it in the same way again, they will have a deepened, more humble, more reverent approach to giving and receiving. I wish everyone who was about to give or receive Reiju (and I think all of us who follow the Reiki Way should receive it regularly) could read your post beforehand!
Thanks Elly,
Yes if we understand this intellectually we can already take our practice to a different level, and one day we might even have the direct experience of it which means we take it even further.
I know his writings are fantastic, direct and simple yet so profound.
I love how you keep uncovering the deeper layers in all these profound practices Frans. Thank you. Isn’t it expectedly peculiar that Reiju is about both giving and receiving! That can be conventionally understood as how the practitioner can be to best give and the recipient can be to best receive. But there seems to be more to it, about the Reiju practice being about both giving and receiving, isn’t it?
Hi Sundar,
Indeed, if we go deeper we realize that there is no giver, receiver or anything to give at all. Just being together in this interconnectedness state of mind.
Love
Frans
Hi All,
Here is part of the book which is mentioned in the article.
“This word ju [授 in the book is a calligraphy of it], is very good. “to cut”, “to open”, “to empty”, and “to receive” are all expressed by ju.” No Beginning, No End – The Intimate Heart of Zen by Jakusho Kwong.
Hi All,
Just had a discussion about the kanji ju 授. Wow it is all so complicated 😉
I spoke to a Japanese friend who is an international calligraphy artist and knows all the deeper meanings of the kanji.
She said that: “The kanji 授 means “Receive” which is used when you receive something very special and very valuable (but you can buy) from god or respectable people (even nature) like baby, award, etc. Just regular kanji for “receive” is 受. “
Which is interesting as we “receive” Rei, spirit which is very special indeed.
Hi All,
Just noticed that I made a typo..ohh so sorry… In the previous post it states (you can buy) but it needs to be you can’t buy!!!
That is why it is so special.
Love
Frans
Brilliant explanation! If we can begin to grasp this concept of reiju, our entire practice shifts from ego do-ership to open handed, open hearted rain! Love it! Thank you!