The Practice Levels of Shingon Reiki

People who are new to Shingon Reiki often ask me how the levels work and what changes from one to the next. In this article I'd like to give you an overview: Shingon Reiki 1, Shingon Reiki 2 and the Master Path. Each level is opened by initiations, and to understand why, it helps to look at the Japanese tradition of initiation first.

Kanjō, the tradition of initiation 灌頂

Kūkai (774–835), the founder of Japanese Shingon, received kanjō in 805 in Chang'an from his master Huiguo and brought it to Japan. Since then there have been several forms of it in the Shingon tradition. Large temples such as Tōji in Kyoto and the monasteries on Mount Kōya still hold the kechien kanjō 結縁灌頂 for lay people today, the kanjō that ties a karmic bond with a Buddha. Each further kanjō opens access to particular practices and mantras, and you receive it when the time is right for you.

In the society Usui founded in Tokyo in 1922, the initiation is called reiju. How Usui carried it out in detail isn't recorded. I think it's very likely that he knew kanjō, and that is one reason why initiations are at the heart of Shingon Reiki too. You can read more about this in the article on Reiki initiations.

Shingon Reiki 1: the hands open 初伝

The first level is where everything begins. With the initiations of Shingon Reiki 1 the hands are opened for Reiki. Many people describe tingling, warmth or a pulsing in their palms. Some notice it immediately, and for others it takes a few days.

What opens on this level is self-practice: you lay your hands on your own body and feel more than ordinary touch. I do this myself every morning right after I wake up, to wake up properly and start the day relaxed and motivated. What flows through your hands is Reiki 靈氣, spiritual life energy. Of course you can also give Reiki to others from this level on.

In the language of the Shingon tradition you could compare this level to stepping into the outer circle of a mandala. You are now part of it, even if you are still at the edge.

For many people the first level is also a time of wonder. Some notice that their perception changes a little, that they feel their body more consciously, or that things they used to call coincidence start to show a pattern. That isn't a promise, but it is something many people tell me about.

Shingon Reiki 2: symbols and distance Reiki 奥伝

At the second level the practice goes beyond the body. You no longer have to lay your hands on someone to give them Reiki, because the energy follows your intention, even over a distance.

In Shingon there is a term that helps to understand this, kaji 加持. In his treatise on awakening in this very body, Kūkai explains it with an image: the sun of the Buddha is reflected in the water of the human heart. That is ka 加, adding. That the water can take in and hold the sunlight is ji 持, holding. In other words, it takes both, the power that comes and the person who receives it.

The key to this level is the Reiki symbols. Cho Ku Rei is not a written character but a spiral with strokes, used for strengthening and directing the Reiki force. Sei He Ki was originally the Siddham seed syllable (Siddham is called Bonji in Japanese) hrīḥ; its name, 正癖, means correcting habits that cause suffering. Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen 本者是正念 joins five kanji into one sign and is used for distance Reiki.

In Shingon Reiki these symbols are not treated as isolated tools. They are experienced together with their background, which reaches into esoteric Buddhism, Shintō, Shugendō and shamanic Daoism.

Distance Reiki follows naturally from what the symbols open, namely the experience that connection is not bound to the body. That is exactly what the mandala shows as a web in which everything is connected.

The third level: the Master Path 皆伝

The Japanese word sensei 先生 is made of 先 "before" and 生 "born", so it literally means "the one who was born earlier". That doesn't mean the better person, only the one who has walked a little further on the path. I like this picture, because it shows quite well what a master is in the Japanese sense.

That is also why I call the third level in Shingon Reiki the Master Path. It runs for 24 months, and each month a new initiation is added, each one into the power of a Buddhist spirit such as Fudō Myōō, the Immovable Wisdom King and great protector, Senju Kannon or Dainichi Nyorai. Ritual, meditation and deepening in the community belong with it, and so do the deeper sources: the Siddham script 悉曇, altar practice and the mandalas.

The Master Path is first of all for you, for mastering your own path. Anyone who wants to give Shingon Reiki initiations themselves afterwards can then begin the initiation path. In the Shingon tradition the transmission to someone who is meant to carry the lineage on is called denbō kanjō 伝法灌頂. You'll find the details in the article on the Master Path.

The path itself 道

In Japan the character dō 道, the way or path, is attached to many arts: bushidō, the way of the warrior, chadō, the way of tea, and shodō, the way of calligraphy. All of these have ranks, but nobody would say you're done once you have reached a certain rank.

The levels of Shingon Reiki follow this idea. The point isn't to get to the third level as quickly as possible. Some people stay with Shingon Reiki 1 for years and discover a lot there, others go on to Shingon Reiki 2 and then deepen individual spirits in the live events. In the Shingon tradition, spiritual practice as a way of life is called shugyō 修行, and there is no point at which it is finished.

So the levels are like landmarks along the way. They show you where you are, but they don't say anything about your worth as a person. Someone in Shingon Reiki 1 is simply at a different point on the path than someone on the Master Path.

How the individual initiations and rituals unfold is something you experience along the way, from person to person. Which level are you at right now, and what are you curious about?