The many contexts of Reiki

When Reiki first came to India, a lot of us were in awe of its healing results but at the same time, felt that it was very familiar to us; we were at home with it. I remember some friends saying Reiki was a lot like the culture they were passed on when young and growing up in India. The chakra system is simply exactly what the Indian system of Yoga explicates. The healing result itself however was something new; it was so brilliant that we got hooked on to Reiki.

The similarities between concepts in Reiki and a Hindu upbringing prompts the writing of a history of similarities between Hinduism and Buddhism and different parts of Asia and their cultural, philosophical, intellectual and healing traditions—a history that has unfortunately been obfuscated by discussions of differences and so-called historical occurrences that were originally coloured by a western lens—which sees religions in the place of traditions, sects and castes in the place of philosophical trajectories and contemporary redefinitions by gurus. The so-called historical occurrences are often summed up as follows—Buddha rebelled against Hinduism, Buddha created the first organized religion, Hindus drove Buddhism out of India, Hindus defended their Gods and in face of the spread of Buddhism, Buddha embraced all, Hindusim practiced the discriminatory caste system and so on. Whatever positive or negative images emerge from this historical encounter is of little use or interest to the Reiki practitioner who experiences first hand a whole host of responses upon her/his first encounter with Reiki. Needless to say, these responses concern the similarities and resonances with the Indian intellectual traditions. Practitioners, for lack of terms, could simply refer to this as to their upbringing.          

The distinction between positive and negative energy found in Reiki is, for instance, something no one growing up in India could have missed. A whole host of actions are classified as attracting positive energy—starting from the dictum of waking up early because it helps us to receive the positive energy of the universe (in the braahmi muhurta) to intense spiritual sadhana to help others and one’s own self. The entire discourse in Yoga is that of remaining energetic through asanas and accessing universal energy that the sahasrara chakra enables. The receiving of positive energy through sahasrara and its outflow through palm chakras is basic to Reiki. This is also such common knowledge in India that elders in the family revel the flow of this energy in toddlers by placing a coin on their sahasrara and seeing it throb. The abhaya mudra adopted by Gods and gurus can also be said to recognize the flow of energy through palm chakras.

Even more importantly, the story of Usui (a Japanese Buddhist) holding a torch in daylight, seeking true disciples runs parallel to the guru-shishya tradition in India, in practice from times immemorial. It somewhat resembles the search for Vivekananda by Ramakrishna. But especially important here is the understanding of the worthiness of knowledge itself. Knowledge in India too was seen as the lot of a few, because when in the hands of the misfit and worldly, it only led to accumulation of worldly objects, not fulfilling its true purpose. Of the many papas or misplaced actions delineated in the Indian intellectual traditions, apaatra daana is one too.  Thus Reiki’s appeal to practitioners to give it to those who ask and who those need is not new at all. I also find it interesting that Usui’s meditation lasted 21 days and nights. This number is seen as a natural cycle of some kind and is prescribed for a variety of practices in India. 21 parikramas, 21 japas and 21 days are seen as auspicious to continue a practice into and reap positive results.

One of the first things we are taught in Reiki is that the energy being passed on does not belong to the person giving Reiki, but to a universal life-force. The Reiki giver maybe seen as a channel or medium through whom universal life-force passes and heals the receiver. We are told that the thoughts or states of mind of the Reiki-giver are irrelevant, because anyway s/he is a mere channel and no more. The irrelevance of thoughts is again, a valuable understanding present both in Hinduism and Buddhism. While Buddhism has developed this much more by devising tools for mindlessness meditations, the Indian path has continually emphasized that the highest knowledge is not one to be comprehended by the intellect or buddhi. It has repeatedly said that spirituality is neither the function of the mind nor of thoughts. Like Buddhism does, it too recognizes that thoughts are not useful after a point but instead only obstructions in the path of the mediator—something explicated well by the 10^th century Sanskrit text Yoga Vashishtha.  Thus the ‘shunya’ referred to in both the Hindu and Buddhist traditions is well-recognized within Reiki.       

Also, the notion of the compassionate universe which is seen as the source of positive energy within Reiki, is also to be found in Hindu ways of life. From oblations at sunrise and sunset, building totti (tank) houses to let in pranic energy into the house at all times, to the very idea of Gods, this notion persists. In fact, the Gods are seen as repositories of compassionate energy, to be naturally found in the form of stones and wood. Thus a large part of Hindu beliefs view Gods as energy forms that can be invoked and received at one’s home and heart.

A typical Indian response to Reiki I hear often is that “this is our stuff gone out and come back.” Talk of the proud Indian way of encompassing and including all! When Reiki masters state that Reiki is not a religion, I suggest that we understand the seeking of enlightenment as found in Hindu, Buddhist and other traditions as irreligious and a-religous as well.

There are more similarities between different traditions and the principles that form the base of Reiki that a practitioner can recognize than I can list here. This only suggests the vastness of a tradition of seeking—it extends to different cultures and times and finds expression and innovation—once leading to Yoga, once to Reiki and so on. To those new to Reiki, this is an invitation to see how ‘at home’ you can feel with it although hailing from different traditions and retrace steps and recognize within you solutions to puzzles of significance. And to those practicing it already, this is an invitation to add to the list made here—which could very well be another harbinger of one world—the writing of a history of crossed paths and shared legacies, of singular goals leading always towards happiness.

-Sushumna Kannan