Distance Reiki — across space and time

Can a Reiki treatment take place when the person giving it sits in Heidelberg and the person receiving it in Tokyo? In the Reiki tradition the answer is yes. There's a specific symbol for it, and the explanation behind it goes back to Buddhist thought that is many centuries old.

Hon Sha Ze Shō Nen 本者是正念

For Buddha consciousness, space and time don't matter, and that's why this symbol is used for working across distance. I explain the characters, the pagoda hidden in the symbol and why I think Usui created it himself in the article on Hon Sha Ze Shō Nen.

The Buddhist foundation 縁起

An important Buddhist concept here is engi 縁起, dependent arising. Nothing exists in isolation. Everything arises in dependence on causes and conditions and is connected with everything else. You could compare it to a stone falling into water, whose waves spread across the whole surface.

Shingon goes a step further with the mandala. In the two great mandalas of Dainichi Nyorai, every Buddha and every being is connected with all the others. The mandala isn't just a diagram, it's understood as a map of reality, and in this reality separation is ultimately an illusion of a limited consciousness. In other words, distance Reiki doesn't so much build a bridge as make visible a connection that's already there.

Distance prayer in Japan 遠隔

Working across distance is nothing unusual in Japan, and not limited to Reiki. In Shingon temples, priests perform prayer rituals (kaji kitō 加持祈祷) with mantra and mudra for people who aren't present. Many shrines also offer prayers (kitō 祈祷) that are carried out for people who live far away. In Shugendō, the mountain ascetics (yamabushi) likewise perform kaji 加持 for others.

Early Japanese Reiki also had its own method for this, enkaku chiryō hō 遠隔治療法, the "method of distance treatment." So distance Reiki isn't a modern invention, but an application of a principle that's deeply rooted in Japanese spirituality.

Distance and time 時空

Since Buddha consciousness is beyond space and time, the symbol is also used in Reiki for working with time. This doesn't mean changing the past. It's about your relationship to an event that still affects you, or about supporting an upcoming situation, like an important conversation or a trip, without trying to manipulate its outcome. How exactly this is done belongs in the initiation.

A few practical points 問答

You receive the symbol in the second Reiki level, together with its initiation. Many people find that distance treatments feel just as intense as direct ones, and some even perceive more finely, because the physical body doesn't distract them. It helps to agree on a time with the person receiving, because conscious openness deepens the experience. And it goes without saying that you only send distance Reiki to someone who agrees to it. Respect for the other person's autonomy is a basic principle of every spiritual practice.