Many people think that the system of Reiki is a form of hands on healing on others, but in reality there is so much more to it.
At a recent class, one of our students Sundar Kadayam had an Aha moment when we discussed the deeper meaning of the system of Reiki. He shared his insights:
The most compassionate thing a person can do is to awaken to their true nature, because this awakening is the end of suffering and the beginning of true freedom.
The second most compassionate thing a person can do is to help others awaken to their true nature, so their suffering ends and their freedom begins.
Within the system of Reiki there are precepts and one of the precepts is: Show compassion to yourself and others. Often people think that this means to be kind to yourself and others, true, but the deepest meaning of this is Sundar’s statement.
This is also reflected in the word Reiki which means: True Self or True Nature.
When we remember our true nature we discover that we are Reiki, at that moment we stop thinking about giving Reiki or doing Reiki, instead we Be Reiki.
By Being Reiki we bring spiritual energy into everything we do; work, play, family, friends. Everything with no exceptions.
When we practice and teach the system of Reiki our aim is, therefore, to reawaken our true nature and to support our students with reawakening their true nature.
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 5
I can relate to Sunder statement , also the other side of that is when you first see that compassion in some one you feel you have seen the bright light in them and when some one see that in you , you don’t feel proud or big you feel humble and compassionate just like a mother would feel towards a child. I am really to the founder of Reiki- Mikao Usui for giving the tools to help finding that true self in ourselves and others
Thanks, Frans, for sharing Sundar’s (as always) wise words! But I think your own “with no exceptions” truly speaks to the heart of it.
Hi Elly,
One other element is that from the precept, show compassion to yourself and others, we can see that Usui was a Mahayana Buddhist, attaining enlightenment for the sake of others. I think this is a very important aspect in Usui’s teachings and often overlooked.
I have just started working with Be compassionate to yourself and others and it has an explosive emotional charge for me. I have struggled with caring about myself and this precept is just bringing the first glimpses of this to the surface. Sundar’s words hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks- Why is it so difficult to be compassionate to myself? and… Why do I lack the desire to feel compassion for myself. These are areas that I’m just sitting with- well to be honest squirming with during meditation. They hurt. It has always been so much easier to look towards loving others and caring deeply for them that I never realized how much I neglected to look towards myself. This will be a deep area of healing for me. If you can not feel compassion for yourself is it possible to really feel it deeply for others?
Hi Michele,
To be really compassionate to someone we need to reach a state of non-duality within ourself, this is where compassion to ourselves comes into.
Without the state of non-duality we can not acces the deeper teachings of being compassionate.
Hope this helps.