Many come to reiki as part of their "spirituality". We chase this up one side of the street and down another; we are "seekers". We seek union with the god that we have conceptually created for ourselves so that it can save us, we seek experiences, we seek one high after another, we seek our "path", we seek enlightenement.
We pursue this in crystals, and meditations, gurus, healing systems like Reiki and Karuna and Seichim, philosophy, theories, "ascended masters", "guides", "channeling". But I will tell you that this is a trap, for in seeking outside yourself you can never find. Enlightenment is where you are, where else could it be?
Usui's Reiki was one of many, many ways of seeing the truth, and that is healing. This is reiki. Reiki can heal, can releive pain, but don't expect reiki to do the work of removing the conditionings that veil awakening. Attunements do not equal enlightenment. Removing your suffering is up to you. Your reiki will be an expression of you, of your life, your BEing, and it will reflect the oneness and connectedness with all that you are. The more ego there is, the less it will reflect this. It has been said that reiki works best when ego is least. It has been said be a "clean bone" for the reiki to pass through.
Usui shared reiki with us. He left a set of tools to heal. Do not let those tools, symbols and techniques become a stumbling block for you. Attachment to these symbols, tools or systems as a concept or belief system is just as seperate and as limiting as any belief system. BEing Reiki is transcending these forms to BE the essence that is healing. When you are reiki you have no need of these things or systems, it is your BEing.
Do not try to understand how reiki works. Its explanation will elude you like sand slipping through clutching hands. Just be reiki.
I like using pneumonics. They help others and myself to remember things easily. One of the cutesy little pneumonics I use is "when ego goes, reiki flows". A simple phrase for a simple idea. Reiki *is*, and in that moment, miracles happen, don't stand in the way.
It is often said that reiki is driven by "intent". In being reiki, our intent is pure. That is, it is untainted by goals, levels of reiki, attachment to outcome, the need to prove that it works, need for the other to heal. A wonderful phrase I heard describes it best, "great effort, no goal." In this our practice is pure, in this we are in the moment, in the now, without judging, comparing, attaching to outcome or measuring our "achievement" in healing. Our intent is pure, free of non-attachment to the process, to the outcome, to technique, or to symbols. Just *be* Reiki, in that moment.
Wei wu wei, doing by not doing. If you attach to reiki as a concept, it is just as seperate and as limiting as any belief system. In the end, you see that there is no healer, no healee and nothing to heal. The reiki principles are instructions to be mindful, to "be". They heal, as does the energy. There is a lack of control, of ego, in them. There is a lack of attachment and desire in them. "For today only, anger not, worry not. Be Grateful and Humble. Do your work with appreciation. Be kind to all beings."
Some ask what my opinion of the so-called "add-on" techniques is. There is no right or wrong way, there is only what you do, or do not. You can really only BE reiki, and in that moment respond to what is in that moment. The rest of this is ego, conditionings, sleep, concepts and speculation. Why get so involved with these that you argue?
Keep in mind that reiki is BEing Reiki. If you are focusing on your conditionings, attachment to outcome, opinions, desires and ego then might I suggest you refocus on simply being reiki and letting it be as it is, in the moment. Respond in the moment, moment by moment in using reiki. Reiki *heals*. Do not get so caught up in all the opinions that you forget this. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that more is better.
In the search, the path so many move from one healing system to another. Reiki is taken and this did not "fix us". Usui/Tibetan Reiki is taken. That didn't fix us either. Now Karuna Reiki(tm) or Karuna Ki is taken. We still are not fixed. Now Seichim, SKHM, Rebirthing, Pranic Healing, Polarity Therapy, Therapeutic Touch, and still no fix. Realize that more is not better.
Each adds another system of belief, conditioning that covers your eyes and blinds you from the truth. Not my "truth", not "your truth", not any relative truth. Just the simple truth of *what is*. It is the search itself that prevents you from seeing it. As long as you seek, you will not find. In all honesty, will one more symbol, system, technique, hidden teaching ever give you what you believe you lack? Nothing out side of you ever can.
Where is this seeker?, and what is it that is sought? You have been seeking for what you think you are looking for, and when you find it, it was not it. Your path may lead you to think that you are on the way somewhere, to better sex, or money, being more in control, to be a better "self", a "better" healer, enlightenment. But all of that is illusion.
Using reiki to try to "manifest" things that you desire is illusion. You are not on the way anywhere, and there is no where to else to be. All you have is this moment, the only time you can do or be anything. Be Reiki, Be compassion, be loving-kindness, on this breath, in this moment. Try not to think of any of this as "right" or "wrong". Reiki is in the BEing.
There are many, myself included, who have searched and searched. There are countless people who take reiki as just another thing on their search. We have taken multitudes of classes in many different systems moving from thing to thing like a bee from flower to flower. In this we are the blind following the blind, teaching the blind, leading the blind. It is said Reiki came together for Usui after a Satori. He saw how all his many experiences and healing practices fit together and taught a simple system for others to follow. There is no one in the west that I have ever met that has become awakened by learning Reiki, yet there are countless who add all and sundry to the system.
Consider this carefully. Look at what it is you expect from Reiki. Will learning another symbol give you what you want? Will learning another system give it to you? What if they promise "ascension", "galactic healing", meeting your reiki "guides", the secret lost symbol, the lost teachings, secret channeled material from the ascended masters? Will you *be* complete then? Will you then have what you want? Will you finally be happy? What is it you seek? Will any of these things give to you what you seek? Or are they simply additional things to keep you asleep, more conditionings, more dead ends, that others have convinced you that you need to be whole.
My friends there is nothing out side of you that can give you what you want. Reiki is a tool, a pointer to the way. Use it or not. But do not expect it to do the work for you, no one can heal you but yourself.
Reiki is in the simple. Reiki is not so much something we do, it is something we are. In the moment, as the expression of what it, as love, compassion and kindness we reach out, we touch, we heal. In the moment when you stretch out your hand to heal where there is no self, no other, you *are* reiki. We can cloud our minds with attachments, things, techniques, endless debates over right and wrong, but we have all been down that road before. We know exactly where it leads.
And so in closing, I leave you with this. Simply place your hands together in gassho, and say these words. For today only, anger not, worry not. Be grateful and humble. Be kind to all. Be mindful and live these. Place your hands on self or other and let go. Let go of outcome, of worry, of conditionings, of need, and simply be. The rest takes care of itself.
May this be of benefit.
In metta, Vinny Amador
The Reiki Plain and Simple On-line Book, this site and all its contents are Copyright 1998-2001 by Vincent Amador. The author of said material allows it to be used For Free Use only. It is to be shared freely, without cost. You may print copies of this work for personal use or to be shared with students, provided that it is given in its entirety, and this copyright message remains intact with the work. This material is not to be republished on other webservers, websites, translated, altered or in any other way used without the express written permission of the author. This notice supersedes any previous notices. All rights reserved.
