by Frans Stiene
Within the system of Reiki we have the concept of hibiki – a feeling or sensation which we feel during hands-on healing on ourselves or others. However in Japan the concept of hibiki is also related to whatever we feel or experience during our daily life.
The word hibiki translates as echo; thus to understand the concept of hibiki we need to understand the concept of echo. In many Zen and other Japanese Buddhist teachings like Tendai, the concept of hibiki – echo is interwoven in a lot of their teachings. Mikao Usui trained on Mt Kurama which, at the time he was doing his 21 day meditation practice there, was a Tendai Buddhist mountain. Plus we also have heard the stories that Mikao Usui was training at a Zen monastery.
“In Japan we say hibiki. Hibiki means “something that goes back and forth like an echo.” If I say something, I will get feed-back—back and forth. That is sound. Buddhists understand a sound as something created in our mind. I may think, “the bird is singing over there.” But when I hear the bird, the bird is me already. Actually, I am not listening to the bird. The bird is here in my mind already, and I am singing with the bird. Peep-peep-peep. If you think while you are studying, “The blue jay is singing above my roof, but its voice is not so good,” that thought is noise. When you are not disturbed by blue jays, blue jays will come right into your heart, and you will be a blue jay, and the blue jay will be reading something, and then the blue jay will not disturb your reading. When we think, “The blue jay over my roof should not be there,” that thought is a more primitive understanding of being. Because of our lack of practice, we understand things in that way.” – Branching Streams Flow In The Darkness by Shunryu Suzuki
Zen master Shunryu Suzuki explains here what an hibiki is from a Zen perspective. He explains that when we intellectualize or get caught up with the story of what the blue jay is doing, “The blue jay is singing above my roof, but its voice is not so good,” that this thought is just noise: it is not the correct understanding of what hibiki is. When we are not disturbed by the blue jay, no analyzing, distinguishing or labeling, then that is a true understanding of hibiki.
“In an empty hall of a mouth or canyon
A voice or echo arises from vibrations of the air.
Foolish and wise ones hear it in different ways
As if anger and pleasure are really different.
Seeking the origin, we find that things have no essence.
All is unborn, imperishable, and has no beginning nor end.
Stay in the One Mind of no discrimination.
Voice and echo only deceive the ears.”
Kukai – Kobo Daishi founder of Shingon Buddhism
The founder of Shingon Buddhism in Japan explains the concept of an echo very beautifully in this teaching. An echo has no essence, so when we feel or hear an echo stay in the one mind of non discrimination. Because if we do not stay in the mind of non discrimination we will only deceive ourselves and therefore also others.
So during hands-on healing on ourselves or others, or during a meditation practice, we might feel some sensations or see some things. If we get caught up in the story of what we feel (warm – cold, light – heavy, etc.), then that is not the right understanding of hibiki. As Suzuki states: “…that thought is a more primitive understanding of being” and he notes that we do not understand the real concept of hibiki because of our lack of practice.
Within the teachings of Tendai Buddhism we find the same concept about hibiki – echo.
“No matter which tactile sensations become objects of awareness, one immediately realizes that they are like reflections, like an illusion, or like a conjuration, and thus unreal. If one experiences a pleasurable tactile sensation to which one is temporarily agreeable, one does not give rise to desirous attachment. If one experiences painful tactile sensations to which one is temporarily opposed, one does not give rise to hateful affliction. If one experiences tactile sensations to which one is neither opposed nor agreeable, one does not give rise to thoughts which retain them in mind nor does one engage in making distinctions among them. This constitutes the cultivation of calming. What is meant by the cultivation of [insight] contemplation when the body engages tangibles? One should bring forth this thought: “Lightness and heaviness, coolness and heat, roughness and slickness and other such dharmas are all tactile sensations….. The nature of tactile sensations is that they are all empty and false.” ~ Chih-i, Founder of Tiantai
Chi-i, the founder of Tiantai, points out that all these sensations are empty, just like an echo, an illusion. Take hot for example. What is hot for one person might not be hot for another person; it completely depends on our own filters, our perception. Thus we can say that hot is empty; it doesn’t exist in a concrete solid way and therefore we need to train ourselves not to get caught up in the labeling. In fact this is also pointed out deep within the Reiki precepts, just be grateful for what we experience right now. It doesn’t mean that we don’t feel hot, or cold, or any other sensation: of course we do. But being grateful means to not be caught up in trying to explain these feelings and sensations, just let them be. Because if we get caught up in these feelings and sensations, we might then get angry and worried.
“Even if one does not clearly perceive the byokan sensation, the effectiveness of the treatment does not change one bit.” – Reiki and the Benevolent Art of Healing by Tomita Kaiji (Published in 1933)
Here Tomita Kaji explains that no matter if we feel the sensation or not, the effectiveness of the treatment does not change one bit; why? Because, as he is also pointing out, hibiki – echo is not something to get caught up in. If we get caught up in it, the effectiveness then changes: good – bad etc…
Therefore it is of utmost importance in our practice that we realize what a hibiki – echo is and not get caught up in these feelings and sensations. Just as we needn’t get caught up in it if the weather makes us feel hot or cold or tired, if a feeling or sensation comes up during our practice, in our hands or otherwise, we can just feel it, and let it be.
“You should see form like a man blind from birth, hear sounds as if they were echoes, smell scents as if they were like wind, experience tastes without any discrimination, touch tangible objects without there being in gnosis any contact, and know things with the consciousness of an illusory creature. That which is without a state of being self and a state of being other does not burn. And what does not burn will not be extinguished.” – Buddha Shakyamuni
