Word is getting around about the real roots of the system of Reiki. It isn’t just a hands-on healing system, or even just a healing system more broadly. Reiki is a system for recognizing your true nature, a spiritual path, a path for self realization.
The base of practitioners who practice traditional Reiki is growing, thanks in no small part to dedicated researchers and teachers like Frans Stiene, who have made it their mission to bring Reiki teaching in its traditional form to the world. Look up Frans’ much awaited book The Inner Heart of Reiki: Rediscovering Your True Self on Amazon.com. You can also get a glimpse of the groundbreaking material in this book, through this excerpt, Reiki is True Self, on Kindred Spirit Magazine.
From being a modern system that has been practiced with a very external focus on the world and on healing, Reiki is now increasingly being practiced as a spiritual path, to awaken to the recognition of one’s true nature as Reiki.
This has led to increasingly common expressions like: “Don’t DO Reiki. BE Reiki!”. This expression, for instance, acknowledges that “DOing Reiki” involves a separate DOer, DOing Reiki on a separate other person, and inherently this reinforces duality. “BEing Reiki”, on the other hand, is seen as a return to simply BEing our true nature, Reiki.
i.e. More Reiki practitioners are slowly treading past the comfortable boundaries of duality, into the challenging waters of non-duality. And truth is, most Reiki practitioners are not equipped to navigate this part of the journey, if they are not closely working with a real teacher, who practices and lives the deeper non-dual teaching of the system of Reiki.
So, it is becoming common these days, to hear something like this from sincere practitioners: “I’m getting better at BEing Reiki”! Wow! That sounds great! At least on the surface of it, that sounds wonderful, especially since it seems that such practitioner who claims this, seems to be getting into a space of high achievement.
But wait a minute!
Reiki is the non-dual True Self. The One without the other.
So how is it possible for a practitioner, fully wedded to their identity as a Ben, or a Victor, or a Stephanie, to BE Reiki? How is it possible for said Ben, Victor or Stephanie to achieve being their True Self?
Why not … you ask?
Well, as long as there is a Ben, Victor or Stephanie, there is duality is it not? So, a Ben BEing Reiki is inherently a dualistic idea. And being a dualistic idea, it isn’t the real non-dual deal, is it not?
When BEing Reiki happens, there cannot be a Ben, a Victor, or a Stephanie. Only Reiki can BE Reiki. Which is to simply say, that only True Self can experience True Self. Or, to put it another way, only True Self can come to a conscious recognition and experience of True Self. This is a fundamental necessity of the idea of non-duality, that there is only One, without an other.
Kind of confusing?
It partly comes with the territory. With the practice of traditional system of Reiki, we are treading non-dual waters. The conceptually comfortable world of duality, and the familiar language and expressions of duality, and most importantly the deeply held beliefs in duality don’t serve us well, especially when we go deeper in this journey.
Next time you hear a great teacher tell you to “Be Reiki”, know very clearly that what they are also telling you, is to drop the “you”. “You” can’t “Be Reiki”, but the identity of and attachment to the “you” can be let go.
How might one let go of the “I” they believe themselves to be?
That, my friends, is what Usui san has left us with the beautiful and deep system of Reiki. Start with a good teacher who lives what they teach in the traditional form of the teachings. And diligently and consistently practice what you are taught.
Reiki, or True Self cannot be realized in the the comfortable conceptual framework of the mind, but only through direct experiencing and knowing.
Comments 7
Thank you Sundar for the article.
True , I was thinking the other day , more and more practioners now saying ” being Reiki” or ” be Reiki”, thanks to Frans for that. It’s good but seems this word is also now being used as ” oneness”. Do we really know what being Reiki means ?
I just read a minute ago this Quote which goes perfectly with what you wrote I think..
“Words can never convey the beauty of a tree; to understand it, you must see it with your own eyes. Language cannot capture the melody of a song; to understand it, you must hear it with your own ears. So it is with the Tao: the only way to understand it is to directly experience it. Don’t analyze the Tao. Strive instead to live it: silently, undividedly, with your whole harmonious being.
~ Hua Hu Ching, 35
Seema, thanks for sharing that timely quote. It does capture eloquently what is implied here, about BEing Reiki.
Hi Sundar,
I was thinking abour it again, actually not really thinking but sort of came by itself.
I think natural state of happiness and joy is also another name of being Reiki. This state of happiness is different than the one we get when we are with others , whom we love or in other words when we are in harmony with others… This natural state of happiness comes when we are in harmony with nature…as in this state not just our mind is calm but it is the mind difilements which are calm…meaning anger, worry, greed, etc…
What do you think ?
Seema,
“Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside.” ~ Ramana Maharshi
Happiness is True Self, i.e. Reiki, as you suggest. And yes, this is happiness beyond duality. And thus, not corrupted by the dual opposites like sadness, grief etc.
In fact, the sages say that all happiness that we encounter in duality, is really the temporary parting of the clouds of the mind, revealing temporarily that inner happiness of True Self. i.e. Happiness which we think as arising from outside situations or events or possessions or successes or whatever, is actually a temporary parting of the mind that reveals a glimpse of that happiness within in and as True Self.
Thank you Sundar,
I think so too…we often look for happiness outside , but true happiness is inside is as its not dependent on external things. But iits not easy at all.
This is why as you talked in your article and as Frans say – practice is life long or in other words practice is life and life is practice.
We fall or fail due to different circumstances . Sometimes for short time, sometimes bit longer but as long as its not for life long , its all good….
Great article Sundar! And a very healthy reminder…
For true non-duality is beyond duality and non-duality. And the one appearing as two is just as nondual as the one being one.
Not that a state of nonduality is something that can be ‘achieved’ anyway… or a ‘state’ for that matter.
It is indeed great that more and more Reiki practitioners are seeking the essence.
May you be reiki
Martin
Busy beta brain evaluates whether one is good at something. Beta brain is all about doing. What does Beta Brain know about “Being.” Nothing much at all.