A direct translation of the word Reiki means Spiritual Energy. Do you think that Reiki is the same or different to Ki, Qi, Prana or rLung?
• Ki is a Japanese word meaning “life force” and is used in Japanese practices like Ki Ko, Akido etc…
• Qi is Chinese word meaning “life force” and used in Chinese practices like Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Acupuncture etc…
• Prana is a Sanskrit word meaning “divine energy” and used in Hindu practices like Yoga, Ayurveda etc…
• rLung is a Tibetan word meaning “wind, breath and life force” and used in Tibetan practices like Buddhism, Yoga etc…
This question has often been debated in the Reiki community and we want to see what you think. If you feel like it you can write a bit about why you think they might be the same or different. BUT before you do keep this in mind: don’t just repeat what you have read in a book or heard from your teacher/s, contemplate this question and see what comes up.
We’d also appreciate it if you would add to your answer whether you are a practitioner or teacher of a specific modality – it might be Yoga, Qi Gong, Reiki, Tai Chi or whatever.
Remember the word Reiki means Spiritual Energy. Please add your answers to the comment section below.
Below are some quotes to inspire you:
Prana is divine energy, life and consciousness.
By Swami Maheshwarananda from The Hidden Power in Humans: Chakras and Kundalin
Qi is not only energy but also the quitessential foundation of the universe.
By Robert Jahnke from The Healing Promise of Qi
The Egyptians called this energy Ka, the Indian rishis named it Prana, the Bible’s prophets reffered to it as Ruah, the Greek philosophers knew it as Pneuma, the early Christians alluded t it as Spiritus, and the sages of China called it Qi.
By Robert Peng from QiGong Master from My Life and Secret Teachings
Yet better definitions alone are no substitute for direct experience in achieving a better understanding of Ki.
By William Reed from Ki: A Practical Guide for Westerners
Ki is the life force, the energy field that sustains the world. Ki is not easy to define – even great Chinese sages such as Mencius admitted that the concept defied precise explanation: “It is not a ‘what’, it is unnamable” was a typical nonspecific description – but here are some possibilities: “spirit,” “breath,” “vital energy,” “vivifying force,” “cosmic energy,” “ethereal energy.”
By John Stevens from The Philosophy of Aikido
Ki is the basic unit of the universe.
It is the infinite gathering of infinitely small particles.
Everything is ultimately composed of Ki.
If you pursue this concept to the depth of human Consciousness, you will understand the universal mind which governs all creation, loving and protecting life…
Everything originates from Ki.
From Koichi Tohei
Qi (Chi) is the foundation of all Chinese medical theory……It corresponds to the Greek pnuema and the Sanskrit prana, it is considered to be the vital force and energy flow in all living things……
By Yang Jwing-Ming from Qigong for Health & Martial Arts: Exercises and Meditation (Qigong, Health and Healing)
Bronwen and Frans Stiene are the co-founders of the International House of Reiki and co-authors of The Reiki Sourcebook, The Japanese Art of Reiki, Your Reiki Treatment, The A-Z of Reiki Pocketbook and the Reiki Techniques Card Deck. Bronwen and Frans teach in the USA, Europe and Australia. Visit the Courses page to find a course near you.
Comments 39
In my experience of Reiki, Reiki is inseparable from all other energy. It’s like the Buddhist grain of sand thing, it’s like the microcosm and the macrocosm being one. All energy is connected. Reiki energy DOES have its own unique texture in the fabric of energy (qi, ki, prana, etc.) that swaths everything. I define this essence as “spirituality”. I define spirituality as what opens the heart. Reiki energy opens the heart. Anything that increases our capacity for love – to love and be loved – exists in the realm of spirit.
Oops, you wanted to know how I’m involved with Reiki. I’m a Reiki Shinpiden and I teach yoga.
To my mind Reiki is not an energy in itself but a tool for accessing that universal energy that is known by many names to many people. To my mind we all work with the same “stuff” but Reiki defines the manner in which we work with it. Even then there are differences. I have trained in the Usui system of reiki, but there are others. Many people have no training in any system of energy work but work with it through their natural instincts. Mothers are a prime example of this. I believe that no matter what our beliefs or perspectives, or what names we give to spiritual energy. when we use it for the betterment of others and the world we live in we do succeed and the more skillful we are the better we succeed. I believe that nobody who sincerely trys, fails.
What a beautiful quote from Koichi Tohei! I think that pretty much says it all. I believe that people throughout human history who are connected to the whole have discovered this spiritual energy, this profound connection, whether they were Christians who called on the power of the Holy Ghost or Reiki practitioners tapping into Reiki or Indian mystics drawing on prana or Native Americans connecting to the Great Spirit in trance or you name it. Spiritual energy, whatever we call it, is One and the same; what differs is the path by which we reach it. And all that matters is that we reach it, by whatever path, and recognize it for what it is, the ground of all being, the ground before being, the ground beyond being. Perhaps animals know this instinctively; perhaps we humans are born knowing it, then forget in the busyness of living. Thank the Light that we have been offered so many ways to find our way back! As for my own background, I have been a student of comparative religion, Native American pathways, and nature all my life, and a Reiki Master (which I define as someone who has surrendered to, given themselves to, the mastery of Reiki, never someone who has “mastered” it) for eight years and counting. So much joy, wonder, and discovery still in store! As Frans says, what a wonderful journey!
To me the energy of the Universe is all the same. It’s called by different names such as Ki, Chi, Prana etc but no different from the spirtual energy of Reiki. We may interpret the energy in order to satisfy our needs, however, whether is Ki, Prana etc I believe it is in all of us whatever the name of the system. Those of us who embrace spiritual energy will understand that the Universe doesn’t segregate, we are all one: we are all connected. The energy is all the same. I am a Shinpiden teacher and for me Reiki is all I need.
Frans, I think you may have skewed this question somewhat in favour of a particular answer by only giving one definition of the word Reiki but several, sometimes conflicting definitions of
various subtle energies. For example: ‘Ki is the basic unit of the universe’ i.e. everything in existence, compared with Ki or Qi as a ‘life force’ or ‘vital breath’ which implies it is only
present in living things.
If you translate the word Reiki by breaking it down into its two syllables and treat them as two separate words ‘Rei’ and ‘Ki’ then one literal translation could be ‘Spiritual Energy’, which
would imply that it is a specific type of Ki (or energy), which I think is indeed one meaning of Reiki. However, I don’t think that translating a single word as a combination of two words is
necessarily the best way to elucidate its meaning. For example, if we look at the word ‘legend’, the dictionary defines this as an ‘unverifiable story handed down by tradition’ (dictionary.com).
If we do not speak English and want to know what the word ‘legend’ means and split it into two words that we can more easily find definitions for we get ‘leg’ which is ‘either of the two lower
limbs of a biped’ and ‘end’ which is ‘the last part or extremity’. So we end up with a meaning for ‘legend’ that could be translated as the extremity of the lower limb of a biped, which is
usually know as a foot but can the word ‘legend’ be defined as ‘a foot’ ?
If we ask someone who speaks English they can explain that the word ‘legend’ is actually meant to be interpreted as a whole word, which has its own set of definitions. If we ask someone who
speaks Japanese they can also explain that Reiki can also be interpreted as a whole word, and can mean something like ‘mysterious aura’ or ‘divine atmosphere’ or ‘spiritual emanation’ or ‘essence
of the universe’ or, yes, even ‘spiritual energy’ but the word ‘energy’ is not really meant in the same way as physicists define energy (i.e. the capacity to do work).
If we look up the word ‘Reiki’ in a modern dictionary (Japanese or English) it will most likely refer to it as a healing technique performed by the laying on of hands. For example, looking up the
Japanese word reiki in http://www.freedict.com gives the following meanings: established rule, aura, Reiki (healing method), cold, chill, cold weather, cold wave, cold air and excitation. No mention of
spiritual energy there!
A problem of definition for the term ‘Reiki’ also arises because, in the Reiki community, the word ‘Reiki’ is often used interchangeably for the actual practice (as a shortened form of Usui Reiki
Ryoho), something that is “channelled” or “transmitted” or “emanated” during the practice of Reiki, a subtle energy – or even the source of the phenomenon that occurs during Reiki practice.
As I mentioned, the multiple definitions of Ki, Qi and Prana also make it difficult to answer the question ‘Do you think that Reiki is the same or different to Ki, Qi, Prana or rLung?’
So, if we use Reiki in the sense of a shortened name for the practice, Usui Reiki Ryoho, then Reiki is not the same as Ki, Qi, Prana or rLung.
If we use Reiki as you have defined it i.e. ‘spiritual energy’ then it does appear to be the same or very similar to the definitions offered in some of the quotes.
However, you said that you don’t want people to reply with what they have been told or have read in a book so that would mean the answer must come from personal experience or intuition.
From personal experience (13 years as a Reiki teacher and practitioner) my experience and my intuitive feeling is that Reiki is everywhere (universal) and therefore part of everything (or more
accurately the non-dual (i.e. unified) field or matrix from which everything – physical and non-physical, (i.e. including consciousness and all subtle energies) arises. In this respect, I think
that Reiki is the same as what some people, such as Koichi Tohei, call Ki and quantum physicists call the unified field or some spiritual traditions call the Tao and others call God.
However, I also ca??????
Reiki Energy to me is a key that we have here on Earth that can be used to help balance your Beings. This energy can help one find that spot of stillnss that helps the body heal and helps calm the mind. Helps bring ones self to the center of their Being to help relieve any and all stress from the body. This energy when used in life can and will help one find their innate abilities we all have.
Reiki Energy is also a way of detoxifying everything you eat and drink as well as yourself. This energy I feel should be shown to all who want to know how the body and the mind can heal.
I also Reiki is just another way of connecting with an energy and the vibration of that energy feels so good because we come from an energy source that is full of LOVE. Sharing Energy with the thought of LOVE in your mind will amplify this energy.
Colin certainly made some good points! I agree that it would be a mistake to translate the word reiki by breaking it into its constituents. It has been told that Usui Sensei “experienced a great reiki” and after that realized he had received the ability to heal. Only much later people started to claim that the energy used in the practice of Usui Reiki Ryoho would be called reiki.
In my opinion ki is the essential life force and reiki is not separate from it, but neither is it equivalent in meaning. We practice a certain method, called reiki, to utilize the life force, ki.
Hi All,
Yes words can be confusing, which is why we need to have a direct experience of Reiki (spiritual energy). As you will read on our website we always teach (even in level I) that there are two ways to understand the word Reiki:
1) Reiki; meaning Spiritual Energy (and yes we can translate it in a variety of ways). Reiki as spiritual energy is our essence, or in other words the essence of everything. Also symbolized by the DKM (great bright light) and the precepts.
2) The system of Reiki; this system consists of 5 elements, precepts, meditations, hands on healing, symbols/mantras, and the reiju. By practicing these 5 elements we can re-discover our innate Reiki (spiritual energy).
Here are some interesting articles that you might enjoy reading which clarify this:
http://ihreiki.com/reiki_info/reiki_history/reiki_-_meaning_of_the_word/
http://ihreiki.com/blog/article/deeper_meaning_of_the_word_reiki
When I read the words Ki or Qi as ‘life force’ or ‘vital breath’ I don’t see that this only relates to livings things. When we connect deeply to a rock, a blade of grass or even the wind, we can see/feel that these elements also have a life force or vital breath. Yes on a basic level we might say that they have no life force or vital breath but when we connect deeper we realize we are mistaken.
This is where the “I” or ego comes in, the more we think we and the animals are the only living things, the more we see ourselves separate and the more we destroy the earth. Everything is living, everything is sacred, everything is breathing, everything needs to be respected. This is why the word Reiki can also be translated as “sacred energy”.
All energy is One. And when “one” is One with the ONE, there is no “this” and no “that” – only so from the perspective of duality. It is what the great spiritual traditions from India and the practice of yoga teach. “I am That.” I am one with the ONE. The God of the Hebrews revealed Himself as “I AM Who AM.” When we step into that place of Oneness – there is no other. We give that Oneness different names and different traditions and access it from different perspectives – but it is One. Only That.
Dr. Olga Rasmussen, theologian, Anusara Yoga certified teacher, Reiki Teacher, Shinpiden
Excellent, Olga! I would love to share that on my facebook page, if I may! 🙂
Hi Olga,
In Japanese esoteric teachings one of the main sutras is the Mahāvairocana Sūtra. In this sutra they use the term “As it Is”. For me “As it is” and “I am That” is the same.
Here is a wonderful quote from a Manual of Zen Buddhism by D.T Suzuki:
The master said to Pai-hsiu:
Buddhas and sentient beings both grow out of One Mind, and there is no other reality than this Mind. It has been in existence since the beginningless past; it knows neither birth nor death; it is neither blue nor yellow; it has neither shape nor form; it is beyond the category of being and non-being; it is not to be measured by age, old or new; it is neither long nor short; it is neither large nor small; for it transcends all limits, words, traces, and opposites. It must be taken just as it is in itself; when an attempt is made on our part to grasp it in our thoughts, it eludes. It is like space whose boundaries are altogether beyond measurement; no concepts are applicable here.
Hi All,
My personal interest is looking at different spiritual practices and seeing the similarities and differences.
I have worked with and discussed Ki, Qi, Reiki, Tao, with quite a few Chinese Qi Gong masters and they all say the same thing: Ki, Qi, Tao, Reiki is in essence all the same, only the methods to realize this are different.
It is like a bright light hitting a crystal, when the bright light goes through it we see lots of different colors but the essence of these colors is the bright light. However most of the time we do not see this and we only focus on, and get side-tracked by, the colors.
This is why in the system of Reiki you have the DKM, level III symbol and mantra, which literally translates as the Great Bright Light. This is the Great Bright Light which hits the crystal, we can call this Great Bright Light also Reiki, both are one and the same, different word for the same essence.
Hello,
I’ve been thinking a while about this and the most honest answer that I can give is that I don’t know.
I think that from a dualistic point of view things can feel different from other things.
From a practitioner point of view I think it’s more useful just to practice and not think about whether things are “this” or “that”. Things are what they are. Trying to stick labels on them does not help.
So saying “I don’t know” gives everything space to be what it actually is. It’s an attempt to choose not to make a choice. Things are fine as they are, they don’t need putting in a series of labelled boxes that may or may not fit.
When I practise I may have many different experiences of energy. These are just what my practice is like at the moment I experience them. It’s very easy to try to stilck labels on because this is something that human beings like to do and we spend a long time learning increasingly subtle ways of doing so. However, if we take a step back to question this action we can see a dualistic intent behind it. Saying somethings is “this” automatically means that something else has to be “that”. Even if we say the things we are trying to define are all the same then this still implies a dualistic viewpoint.
My background: I practice meditation. I teach Reiki.
I have to say, I’ve always thought the “I am” to be the ultimate validation, the ultimate authentication. Within Judeo-Christian tradition, when God Creator said “I AM what am,” when Lord Jesus said “I AM the truth, the Way, and the life,” and when Mother Mary said “I AM the immaculate conception,” these powerful affirmations were individually and collectively enough to break through (“He who hath ears to hear, let him hear”) and bring us to enlightenment, satori. The same is true when Reiki Masters assert, with conviction, “I AM Dai Komyo.” I am. You are. We are. All are. All IS. All is what is. And that is all, and it is enough.
Excellent points, Rebecca!
I am reminded of the famous quote from Chapter 1 of the Tao Te Ching, of which there are many translations, but I like this one:
“The Tao which can be expressed in words is not the eternal Tao; the name which can be uttered is not its eternal name. Without a name, it is the Beginning of Heaven and Earth; with a name, it is the Mother of all things. Only one who is eternally free from earthly passions can apprehend its spiritual essence; he who is ever clogged by passions can see no more than its outer form. These two things, the spiritual and the material, though we call them by different names, in their origin are one and the same. This sameness is a mystery, the mystery of mysteries. It is the gate of all spirituality.”
Translated by Lionel Giles (1904)
Hi Rebecca,
Isn’t “I don’t know” a label as well?
Just a different label to “this” and “that”.
Also by saying “I do not know” means that there is also automatically the opposite “I do know”. Same as with “this” or “that”. 🙂
Personally for me “I don’t know” creates a barrier to knowing.
When we get into a real deep state we know things “as it is”, at this stage we have a direct experience of the ultimate reality. Yet even if we have this deep understanding of ultimate reality we still live in a relative reality. Or in easier words, when we have a very deep direct experience of non-duality we still live in a dual world.
Even saying; it is the mystery of mystery, is putting a word/label to the Tao because somehow we still need to describe the indescribable.
For example, before we practice we see a mountain and we call it a mountain. Now we start to practice and suddenly we have a direct experience that the mountain is energy, we might even be able to walk straight through it! Now we stop calling it a mountain as we know that the word mountain is just a label.
But now someone asks us where a nice cafe is, and we know it is on the mountain top, what doe you say? You can ignore the person’s question and say nothing, because you know the mountain is just a label but that is not very compassionate. So you reply and use the word mountain.
Or in other words, first we call a mountain a mountain. Then, we discover that this is just a label and the mountain no longer exists. But then, because of our current reality, we continue to call it a mountain (but, personally, we have experienced a different understanding of the mountain). What a journey!
Perhaps this Buddhist saying better expresses “I don’t know”: Even the Buddha was mute when it came to explain the ultimate reality.
Chocolate ice cream, vanilla ice cream, they are both ice cream. What can I say I love ice cream.
I like to use the light analogy as you did Frans, by referring to the Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon album cover (for those old enough to have bought albums). If you follow the different colored light back through the prism, they originate from the same source. In terms of the reiki system, the prism separates the source into heaven and earth light, but they are still light.
Scott
Thank-you so much Scott for leaving such a refreshing, accessable, non-pedantic, downright relaxing comment. I really enjoy discussing such matters with people like you!
Hello Frans,
I thinks it’s down to personal interpretation.
You interpret saying “I don’t know” as a barrieri to learning.
I interpret it as an acknowledgement that things are as they are.
2 people interpreting the same thing in different ways is just the ordinary way of things.
Motivation always comes first so I suppose it depends on what we are trying to achieve.
My interest is in practising and trying to understand things as they are.
There’s a long history of “I don’t know” in this. An internet search of Zen and “I don’t know” will bring 1000’s of entries/articles etc…
I agree that it’s important that we don’t use “I don’t know” as a barrier.
This is for each person who says it to work out, isn’t it.
Love
Rebecca
Thank you Frans!
When you said: “… first we call a mountain a mountain. Then, we discover that this is just a label and the mountain no longer exists. But then, because of our current reality, we continue to call it a mountain (but, personally, we have experienced a different understanding of the mountain).” I finally understand what Donovan was singing about in the 1960s when he sung “First there is a mountain then there is no mountain, then there is” in his song ‘There is a Mountain”!
🙂
Hi Scott! I too like Pink Floyd (and ice cream!).
That is a wonderful analogy. It could also be used to illustrate that many different styles of Reiki practice are also part of the same source. Red light is not better or more original than Blue light etc. Or, indeed to illustrate that the many forms of Ki which are described are all part of Ki or that in fact anything that we perceive as multifaceted or individual is actually One, if we can look past our perception filter – the prism.
This reminds me of my O-level physics classes – loved the stuff about light.
I just managed to scrape a pass…
Wow what a fantastic discussion! So many interpretations! I was teachingan Okuden course recently and one of the students had studied Zen and was quite a challenge! He saw the tree outside my cabin and said it wasn’t a tree at all. He also believed he didn’t need to learn Reiki he was Reiki. He was the energy. After the course I thought about his remarks and felt there was ego involved. Now I don’t think there was he was simply expressing how he saw life. He sent me a poem which I’ll share with you.
To reach and touch, to find and never yeild. To see the light of life in everyone you meet. And u nderstand that they can only save themselves.
You see the truth that you are only but a part. In the poem of the world you are but one sound. But in that sound eternity is formed. And forever is reflected in your smile.
If Reiki is the way to freedom for your life, do not fear to share yourself and touch the void. For as you do, the truth will set you free. You are Reiki, as Reiki is forever you.
Hi Rebecca,
The “I don’t know” answer is interesting because many people are afraid of even saying that because of ego.
Scott
Collin – like that, the prism being a “perception filter”.
Scott
Hi All,
Great comments, wonderful to see all the different perspectives.
Yes, I know the Zen saying “I do not know”. It is like “As it is” or like “the Buddha being mute”. However I had read the post in a different way :-).
When we don’t know that Ki, Reiki etc… are not the same – we have a hard time becoming One with it/them. If we know, even if in the beginning it is merely intellectual, that they are one and the same, then it is much easier to become One with it/them.
As to someone already being Reiki, why then would you take a Reiki Course? We might know something intellectually, but embodying it is a different ball game.
As with anything, we can talk about knowing (and not knowing) things till the cows come home but it is the direct experience that truly teaches us. We hope that the forum can bring about discussion but also motivate people to have that direct experience.
By the way I had a direct experience of Cinnamon Ice Cream the other day; yummy 🙂
I am a Reiki teacher and have been for about 15 years. Shortly after my Teacher initiation I came to practice Reiki as a spiritual discipline. I give treatments fairly often but am picky about teaching, especially beyond Level One. I will teach anyone Level One but require more work than most teachers. My intention is to give the student a foundation for spiritual practice as well as a tool for healing. This is my personal approach and only that. I also do not charge for Level One training.
Additionally, I spent a number of years pursuing graduate studies in an attempt to understand the impulse that makes humans create things, particularly art, poetry, philosophy, music, dance. I found that humans often have experiences or perceive things that do lend themselves to rational/scientific/empirical explanation (sometimes referred to as the para-rational). Humans take these experiences/perceptions and create ways of giving them expression in order to convey the experience/perception to others.
All that being said, I think that alll our labels for the spiritual (Ki, Chi, Prana, Ruach, Wind, etc.) are all attempts to give rational form and discourse to a fundamental and real level of being. I think that we may also call this experience Love and Divine Union. Our labels arise from our cultural roots and common languages. It can be difficult to take the langauge and cultural reference from another culture and make sense of it but with things like Yoga, Reiki, Medicine (in the North American Indian sense) we often gain new perspectives and expand our experience by wrestling with the cultural gaps.
That being said, Me like Reiki good.
Yes, I think that whenever we name something (give it a label) we are actually naming our perception of a particular manifestation of the Un-nameable (un-nameable because it is beyond manifestation and therefore does not exist to be named).
Ultimately, there is no difference between Reiki, Ki, Prana, Ruach – or a blade of grass, a rock or a person: how can there be if everything becomes manifest from the Un-nameable Oneness? Everything is ultimately made of the same ‘stuff’ it is really our different perceptions that allow us to differentiate between “this” and “that”. Some of our perceptions are hard-wired which can really take some work to move beyond (or modify) whilst others are learned perceptions, gained through direct experience, which may be modified by further direct experience. But even direct experience can only be viewed/experienced through our perception filter, whilst it is us who is having the direct experience. However, I think that this perception filter can be adjusted or tuned through spiritual practice.
I think it is only if we are able to remove or bypass this perception filter that we can really “experience” what is on the other side of that filter. To truly do that we have to become unmanifest again – the experiencer and the experience become One (we actually become Reiki rather than experience becoming Reiki). I think that this may be what the Zen Abbott meant when he told Mikao Usui that he should try dying to find the answer to his questions about what the purpose of our life is and why we are here etc. after he was unable to find it in books and teachings. He had to have a direct experience of being close to death to be able to adjust his perception filter and realise that he was the Universe and the Universe was him (as close to a direct experience of Oneness as is possible without actually becoming unmanifest).
“Do you think that Reiki is the same or different to Ki, Qi, Prana or rLung?”
– “Does a dog have Buddha nature or not?”
Two questions, one answer…
Hi James,
Woof 🙂 Woof 🙂
Another answer would be:
“Would you like a cup of tea?”
Rebecca
x
Or…Mu!
Hi All,
Here are two nice quotes from Shunryu Suzuki to contemplate on
When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.
Moment after moment, everyone comes out of nothingness. This is the true joy of life.
Thank you, Frans – great quotes! 🙂
I am a Reiki 3 person, a teacher of Hatha yoga and a Master Practitioner of NLP. Whenever I get insights into the nature of the universe from any of these modalities, they are always complementary. I believe that this is because “all roads lead to Rome” and there is only one energy.
On taking up your challenge, Frans, to contemplate prana, this is what comes up: prana is the source of all life, there is nothing that is not prana, it is the beginning and the end. Prana is infinite; it is everything and nothing at the same time.
So I would say that, yes, prana is the same as Reiki. There is only one energy, regardless of what it is called.
I feel that Reiki is synonymous with both Tao and Qi from Taoist philosophy, and I personally feel Reiki (as I understand and perceive it) can be seen to play 2 roles; unification and life force. The unification side of Reiki (I feel best summed up by the word Rei from Reiki) is similar to Tao in that I feel it is a divine or spiritual presence that permeates and encompasses the universe, that everything in the universe is within and a part of Reiki and that Reiki is a part of everything in the universe (similar to the Dharmakaya and tathagatagarba of Mahayana Buddhism). The life force side (best summed up by the work Ki in Reiki) is the same as Qi in Chinese philosophy; an ubiquitous energy that flows through the universe and through living things like the current of a river and that living beings are born with an innate portion of this life force that they use up (or rather transform in the same way that when coal is burnt it goes from solid carbon to Carbon smoke, yet remains carbon) through the process of living and is topped up from our food, drink and air (similar to jing or yuan qi). I also feel that it is this aspect that comprises all things in the universe by being present at different vibrations or densities (lowest being solid, going up to pure life force). However I feel Reiki is both all these aspects at once and that each function is inseparable from the other and comprises Reiki as a whole. Reiki makes up all things and all things make up Reiki, and Reiki flows through all living things giving them the spark of life.
As far as Reiju/Denju/Attunements go I feel the attunement provides a direct connection to pure Reiki as a whole as opposed to what is innate within us or just what we acquire from food, drink and air, like an additional spark of life force within us that is constantly replenished from the universe via the connection provided by attunement.
Thanks Ryan,
Yes I see there is no difference between the energy of the Tao, Tai Chi, yoga etc.. it is all the same, the method might be different but that is all. As you say it is like the Dharmakaya.
It was interesting to learn that while ki and qi translate to “life force,” prana is different because it means “divine energy.” I’ve been trying to do some research about qi, ki, and prana because I’m interested in attending a reiki healing session so improve my life energy. Thanks for sharing this interesting info about the differences and similarities between them!