Freedom from Emotions

Some emotions are like weather. They come and they go. Others are more like layers of rock that have built up over the years and sit so deep that you take them for part of your personality, like anger that has been there so long it feels like a character trait, or grief that has settled in the shoulders.

The Shingon tradition has its own way of dealing with these layers. It neither suppresses emotions nor simply lets them out unfiltered. It tries to see through them, to recognize their nature, and that opens a space in which they can change.

The kleśas 煩悩

In Buddhism, the deep emotional patterns are called kleśa, in Japanese bonnō 煩悩, literally "that which troubles and torments." The three main ones are greed (rāga), hatred (dveṣa) and delusion (moha). These aren't moral judgments. They describe states that cloud our view of reality.

You could compare them to a dirty window. It isn't dirty because someone did something wrong, but because wind, rain and time have left their marks. The world behind the window is clear, but you see it distorted.

Esoteric Buddhism goes one step further here. In Shingon there's the phrase bonnō soku bodai 煩悩即菩提, "the passions are themselves awakening." Put simply, the kleśas aren't only obstacles, they also contain the potential for awakening. You don't awaken despite your emotions, but by really meeting them. That's why figures like Fudō Myōō, the fierce but deeply kind wisdom king and great protector, or Aizen Myōō are so important in Shingon, because they turn the power of anger or desire toward awakening.

Compassion and the body 許

In Shingon Reiki there's a forgiveness meditation. It isn't about forgiving someone because you "should," but about letting go of something that's bound up in your own body, often for years. This practice is closely connected with the work with the spine, because old emotions often show up as tension and stiffness, as a feeling of not getting through somewhere.

The attitude behind this is jihi 慈悲, compassion. Ji 慈 is the wish to give others happiness, and hi 悲 is the wish to free them from suffering, and this includes yourself. When there's room for this, emotions can come up that have been under the surface for a long time.

Reiki as a space for emotions 靈氣

Many people experience something unexpected in their first Reiki treatments, tears without a sad thought, a trembling in the hands, laughter out of nowhere, or a stillness that feels like arriving. That's not a coincidence. In a Reiki treatment the body can feel safe enough to let go. Emotions that don't find a place in everyday life, because the day is too full or the control too strong, can show themselves there. Many people experience this as freeing.

If you're highly sensitive, you may know this especially well. More on this is in the article on high sensitivity.

The goma fire ritual 護摩

One ritual of esoteric Buddhism stands like no other for transformation, the goma fire ritual 護摩. It has been performed for more than a thousand years in Shingon and Tendai temples and in Shugendō. Wooden sticks (gomagi) with wishes written on them are offered into the fire, and the fire is connected above all with Fudō Myōō, the Immovable Wisdom King, whose flames burn up what binds the mind.

If you've ever attended a goma, you'll know the heat, the smoke and the rhythmic chanting of the mantras. Together they create a state in which something can loosen that words alone wouldn't reach. In Shingon, the goma is described as both an outer and an inner fire. The outer fire burns the wood, and the inner fire stands for the wisdom that burns up the kleśas. What people experience afterward is different for everyone. Some feel lightness, some clarity, and some simply stillness. None of this can be promised, but it can be made possible. Which emotion would you most like to offer into the fire?