Chanmi Qigong and Reiki

There is a Qigong that does not come from Daoism. One whose roots lie in Buddhism — more precisely, in the union of Chan (Zen) and tantric Buddhism, the Mikkyo. It is called Chanmi Qigong. And anyone interested in Reiki will find a kinship here that runs deeper than most suspect.

Because Qi 氣 and Ki 氣 are the same character. The same force. In China one says Qigong — work with Qi. In Japan one says Reiki — spiritual Ki. The script is identical. The foundation is the same. What differs is the path that gives access to this force.

What is Chanmi Qigong? 禅密気功

The name says it all. Chan 禅 is the Chinese reading of Zen — the meditation tradition that places stillness and direct experience at the centre. Mi 密 means "secret" or "esoteric" — the same character as in Mikkyo 密教, the Japanese term for esoteric Buddhism. And Mikkyo is the very tradition Shingon 真言 grew out of.

Chanmi Qigong thus joins two Buddhist currents: Zen meditation and tantric esoteric practice. The foundations reach further still — Buddhism, Daoism and Confucian philosophy flow together. The result is a practice based on an old principle: "We grasp the round and receive the One."

The circular movement is the basic principle of Chanmi Qigong. "Grasping the round" means: the body moves in spirals and circles, flowing, without beginning or end. Qi flows like water — it finds its way around blockages, gentle and persistent. Anyone who has experienced how the body dissolves into this spiralling movement immediately senses the parallel: the spiral in Cho Ku Rei, the first Reiki symbol, follows the same principle. Circular movement as the condensation of force.

Reiki is Qigong — Usui as Qigong master 臼井氣功

That sounds bold at first. But it is a fact known in Japan and unknown to almost anyone in the West. In a Japanese Qigong reference work, Mikao Usui is listed as one of the most famous Qigong masters of the early 20th century. Reiki is described there as a form of Qigong — as a method of working with Ki/Qi.

This makes sense once you look at the practice instead of the labels. What happens in a Reiki session? Hands are placed. Energy flows. The practitioner directs attention — Nen — onto the receiver. What happens in Qigong? Hands move. Energy flows. The practitioner directs Nen onto the body. Both paths work with the same force: 氣. Both use the focus of the mind to guide that force. The difference lies in the form — not in the essence.

In Chanmi Qigong, alongside the flowing movements there is also self-application and therapeutic use — placing hands on the body, guiding Qi through intention to where it is needed. That is almost literally what happens in a Reiki session with bodyscan.

Grasping the round — spiral, circle and Cho Ku Rei 圓

"We grasp the round and receive the One." This sentence from the Chanmi tradition describes what happens in practice: through circular, spiralling movement, unity arises. The mind becomes still. Qi and Nen — energy and focus — merge into a single force. That is the "One" meant here: not a number, but a state. Harmonic unity.

In Chanmi Qigong this shows in the flowing spinal movements. The body sways in waves and spirals, gentle and continuous. Blockages are not broken through by force — Qi flows around them like water, dissolves them, transforms them. At the same time, the same spiralling movement can be used in martial arts — soft and hard techniques rest on the same circular principle. What looks soft from outside can release enormous force.

Anyone who knows Cho Ku Rei — the first Reiki symbol — recognises the spiral at once. The line winds inward, condenses, gathers force in a single point. The same principle, a different form. The interplay of Qigong and Reiki makes it clear: both paths work with the spiral as the basic pattern of energy movement.

Qigong as part of the daily practice 日々

In Mark's daily routine, Qigong and Reiki are not separate blocks but parts of the same flow. In the morning the flowing movements of Qigong — the spine wakes up, Qi begins to circle. Then the stillness of Reiki meditation — hands on the Hara, Nen directed, Ki flowing. Both complete each other like inhale and exhale.

Because Qigong sets the body in motion, opens the meridians, releases stagnations. Reiki brings the mind into stillness, directs intention, deepens the flow. Whoever practices only Qigong has movement without depth. Whoever practices only Reiki has depth without movement. Together they create what the Chanmi tradition calls the "harmonic unity of Qi and focus."

This combination is no modern experiment. The roots of both paths lie in esoteric Buddhism, in Shugendo, in shamanic Daoism and in Shinto. Usui himself was understood in Japan as a Qigong master. That this connection was forgotten in the West says more about Western reception history than about the practice itself.