Sometimes we learn best from contrast.
It is when the tulips don’t bloom in a season that we appreciate more the beauty of the tulips blooming in the past seasons. It is when we are parched and no drinking water is around that we appreciate the sheer refreshing and thirst quenching qualities of simple drinking water. It is when we fall sick and can’t seem to recover for days on end for no apparent reason, that we value our state of good health. It is when we are stressed out, we yearn so much for peace.
On this blog, much has been written about the Reiki Precepts of Usui san. And much more will surely be written about it going forward, since it is indeed a wellspring of great truth. For many of us, the precepts have been a source of inspiration and transformation.
For Reiki practitioners and spiritual aspirants alike, I present here the Anti-precepts:
The open way of inviting misery through many curses
The normal method of bringing dis-ease
Stay in the future and in the past and
Be angry and bear anger
Be fearful and incessantly worry
Be full of pride and greed
Be dishonest
Show hatred to yourself and others
Free yourself from empowering choices and embrace
The way of unconscious living!
Alright then, let the inner assault begin!
Contemplate on these ideas. Let this soak in. Deeply.
Feel viscerally how it produces contractions in your heart and in your entire being.
Notice how this tears through the many layers of beliefs you dearly hold, and how it creates deep discomfort.
Let it shine like a mirror, showing how we lose our peace, happiness and wellbeing every day.
And when you can’t handle it anymore, let it go.
And in leaving, let it show you, brighter than ever before, the light of truth of the precepts of Usui san.
Comments 7
HI Sundar,
I totally agree with you on this one :).
Seeing it this way , actually expose us to our vulnerability , and than we know what we are made up off.
In hindi it there is a idiom- kis mitti kae banae huae ho , literal translation is – what mud you are made up off …
When I read your post, I felt close to home .
Thank you Brother !
Seema: Thanks for those kind words. Even as the idea of the anti-precepts downloaded, and the words firmed up to form this post, I could viscerally feel my own broken-ness so to say, or rather, the numerous dysfunctionalities of the separate-I. For me, it seemed like these anti-precepts were holding a mirror in which I could see where I was losing my peace, my well being and more. And in turn, for me, that immediately offers a powerful choice on how to be in the present moment, and vastly increases the appreciation I have for Usui san’s simple, yet profound elements in the system of Reiki.
Hi Sundar,
Love it. The anti-precepts puts it all in a great perspective.
Love
Frans
Yes Sundar,
Precepts are magical. Self knowledge is painful that’s why we like to stay in that idiotic / neurotic illusion of self…like I do . Why me , what have I done etc , :-).
Really , no matter who long the road seem to be , all journeys come to an end..but we don’t use time wisely…
Usually we put off things which are important for later…like we have all the time in the world. Yet we see proof of impermance all around us.
Frans, thank you!
Seema, the seeming permanence of things gets displaced by glimpses of the reality of the impermanence of it all. And as such, it is the experience of this impermanence that can set us seeking for that which is permanent, that which is eternal, that which is present here now as our real nature, that which we already are. This is the beauty of the learning by contrast, as much as it exposes the ugly nature of some of our choices, it can be the gateway to that which we seek, that which we already are.
“Never to suffer would never to have been blessed.”
~ Edgar Allan Poe
“You couldn’t have strength without weakness, you couldn’t have light without dark, you couldn’t have love without loss”
~ Jodi Picoult
“Because you don’t notice the light without a bit of shadow. Everything has both dark and light. You have to play with it till you get it exactly right.”
~ Libba Bray
“It takes darkness to be aware of the light.”
~ Treasure Tatum
So, even as the anti-precepts exposes in a raw manner the dysfunctionalities of our choices, the feelings it generates can be the darkness that we need to be more aware of the light we already are! The light that Usui san’s precepts point us to, as the secret of inviting happiness, and the spiritual medicine for all illness.
Hi Sundar,
Was going to write something but right now this is what comes to mind 🙂
” What were you hoping
that made you so
unhappy and angry
with what I am
Becoming
When all I am
Becoming and being
Is myself and me ?
Sometimes, it is that simple yet difficult !
Oops sorry Sundar,
I just saw part of my reply got cut off , I must have pushed send bit soon.
Don’t remember what exactly was in my mind 🙂 ,but I wanted to say was . Although in one way it is a lonely journey because it’s inward journey but in another way it is never just for ourselves and it not only affects us but everyone and everything around us. So, sometimes it is not easy for others to see us change or should I say , to see how and what we are becoming.
So, in that process we do see darkness or what I say resistance because we want to hold on to that light that we have seen.And we might think we are going backwards in our practice but I think that’s not really correct. That darkness or resistance is essential step for our journey. That is what makes room for changes that tells us if we can and how we can accept certain things and change .
Thank you for the quotes as well…
Yes, darkness is very ‘teaching ” because that’s where inner brightness is there !.