Reiki as Bodily Practice

Many people know Reiki as a fixed sequence of hand positions that's roughly the same for everyone. That's a good start, and for self-treatment in particular a sequence like that gives you something to hold on to. I lay my hands on myself every morning right after waking up, for example, to wake up and start the day relaxed. In Shingon Reiki, though, something else comes in: an understanding of the body as an energetic landscape. Three areas matter especially here, the spine, the eyes and the ears.

The spine as an axis 脊柱

The spine plays a central role in many spiritual traditions. In yoga, kundalini rises through it, and in Daoism the governing vessel (Chinese: du mai) runs along the back. Shingon speaks of the five great elements (Japanese: godai 五大): earth, water, fire, wind and space. You can see how these elements stack up in the body in the grave stupas at Japanese temples, the so-called five-ring pagodas (Japanese: gorintō 五輪塔). At the bottom is a cube for earth, above it a sphere for water, then a triangle for fire, a half-sphere for wind and at the very top a kind of flaming jewel for space. Put simply, it's the human body in the form of a pagoda, and the spine is its central axis.

Shingon Reiki has its own applications for the back, spinal Reiki. It's part of the Muscles & Joints live event, which also includes the initiation into Senju Kannon. You'll find more background in the article on spinal Reiki.

The eyes and inner seeing 目

In esoteric Buddhism the eyes, too, mean more than a sense organ. On almost every Buddha statue you'll see a small dot between the eyebrows, the byakugō 白毫, literally "white hair." Originally it's a white curl of hair, one of the marks of a Buddha, from which light shines out in the sutras. Today the dot is often associated with the third eye.

Shingon also has a meditation built entirely on inner seeing, the moon disc meditation (Japanese: gachirinkan 月輪観). I've written a separate article on it, the moon disc meditation. I describe the background of the work with the eyes in the article on Reiki for the eyes. Eye Reiki is also available as an online path (in German).

The ears and listening 耳

Listening holds a high place in Buddhism. A nice example is Kannon's name. Written out in full, it's Kanzeon 観世音, "the one who perceives the sounds of the world." Yes, you read that right: the Bodhisattva of compassion is named after perceiving sounds. Shingon's ritual chant, shōmyō 声明, is also less something you only hear with your ears. You feel it in your chest and through your whole body. More on Kannon in the article on Kannon.

The body as a mandala 全身

Kūkai kept stressing that awakening is possible in this very body (Japanese: sokushin jōbutsu 即身成仏). So in Shingon the body isn't something you have to leave behind. It's the place of practice. That's why I find it only logical that Reiki looks at the body more closely as well. With the kind of perception called byōsen in Japanese, you sense where the hands are needed, and sometimes those are quite different spots than you'd expect. More in the article on hibiki and byōsen.

How to actually carry out these applications is best experienced together with others at a live event or in the community. Which part of your body do you feel most clearly during Reiki?