Daikômyô

Frans StieneArticles, English Leave a Comment

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Fudo

“Usui Sensei taught Shinpiden students one on one and he showed them the kanji dai kômyô, which indicated the consciousness of a Shinpiden practitioner.” – Hiroshi Doi Spain 2015 seminar

However, some of Mikao Usui’s students did not learn daikômyô. But that makes perfect sense as, according to Hiroshi Doi, Mikao Usui taught students according to their spiritual development. This means that some of Mikao Usui’s students were not ready to learn daikômyô.

“Usui Sensei had no standard curriculum, and the length of time of the training depended on the spiritual progress of each student. It is said that he gave one-on-one lectures mainly on the right mental attitude needed for spiritual advancement based on his own experience.” – Hiroshi Doi

Daikômyô literally translates as “great bright light”, but there are many hidden layers to daikōmyō 大光明 These deeper layers only can be rediscovered by prolonged meditation practices which Mikao Usui taught to his students. I will not go into detail about these within this blog as they can only be taught one on one in a good student teacher relationship.

“So the old Gakkai members said that Usui Sensei taught the way to Satori very intensely to those who had achieved a certain level.” – Hiroshi Doi
However, we can look at some historical elements of Daikōmyō 大光明.

Fudo Myo
One historical element is that Daikōmyō 大光明 is one of the apprentices of Fudo Myo. Fudo Myo is a deity within the esoteric Japanese tradition. But Fudo Myo is not sought outside of yourself; you are Fudo Myo. In the same way, Daikōmyō and the other apprentices of Fudo Myo are not sought outside of yourself: you are all of them and they are you, within you. When we start to realize this, we have laid bare the mind of Fudoshin, our true self, a mind which is stable like a mountain and not moved by anything. Hence a state of mind of Fudoshin is a mind which embodies the Reiki precepts: a mind which does not get angry or worried, is grateful, true to their way and their being, and a mind which is compassionate. This state of mind of Fudoshin, the embodiment of Fudo Myo, is necessary in lots of Japanese esoteric healing practices and empowerments. So it comes to no surprise that Mikao Usui taught daikōmyō 大光明 to some of his Shinpiden Reiki III students who were ready to understand and embody this concept.

Attached to this blog you find a picture which is handed out by a temple dedicated to this apprentice 童子 douji; daikōmyō 大光明.

Kōmyō
Kōmyō in itself is also used a lot within Zen Buddhism.

“Your true self is not something separated from others; it is interconnected and constantly working with others. Where? Not in your own small territory; it’s working in the huge universe! In Japanese, that working is called komyo – light. The functioning energy of the whole world is the light of the self. Because light is working from moment to moment, the whole world constantly manifests itself as the human world. At that time, the whole world is within the light of the self.” – Dainin Katagiri – The Light That Shines Through Infinity

Even the famous Zen Master Dōgen wrote a whole chapter about kōmyō in his classic work, Shōbōgenzō, Treasury of the True Dharma Eye.

“The word ‘kōmyō’ has various meanings in this discourse. It refers to a sort of light, or ‘glow’, which can be seen in someone for whom the clouds of spiritual ignorance have dispersed. However, it also refers to that which underlies this manifestation: the shining forth of one’s Buddha Nature both spiritually and physically.” – Shobogenzo – The Treasure House of the Eye of the True Teaching A Trainee’s Translation of Great Master Dogen’s Spiritual Masterpiece – Rev. Hubert Nearman, O.B.C., translator

When we embody this great bright light, then we have laid bare the virtues pointed out within the precepts. Hence the precepts are nothing other than a description of the state of mind of daikômyô.

“For the members of our association, please keep this in mind that the more you have a higher virtue in yourself the stronger your spiritual energy becomes.”- Reiki Ryoho no Shiori, handed out by the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai.

Thus to recap, the more we lay bare our innate great bright light daikômyô, through applying on a daily basis the meditation practices taught within the system of Reiki, the more we lay bare our innate spiritual power, the more we embody the precepts in all we do.

“Komyo exists in me and I exist in Komyo.” – note from a student of Mikao Usui supplied by Hiroshi Doi

Now some of you might ask why this is not commonly taught within the system of Reiki. And that is because a lot of these teachings did not spread into Japan; neither did they spread into the west.

“When John studied with Takata, he made over 20 audio tapes of her lectures and classes. On one of the tapes she discusses travelling to Japan in order to teach her approach to Reiki. While there, she met some Japanese citizens who were actively practicing and preserving Reiki as they understood in Japan. Takata regarded their approach as entirely valid, but inappropriate for the West. It was highly complex, required years of training and was closely intertwined with religious practices. She felt these factors would deter students in the West and hobble the spread of Reiki through the world at a time when, in her view, it was urgently needed.” – Hand to Hand by John Harvey Gray

So take the step and start practicing these meditation practices Mikao Usui put in the system of Reiki to lay bare your own inner great bright light daikōmyō. 大光明 Because it is only through laying bare our innate great bright light that we truly start to embody the precepts in all we do today. And it is through that that we really start to heal, not only ourselves but the world as a whole.

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