Look at the Japanese sources and you quickly see that meditation was no add-on for Usui. The scroll handed down with the five life principles carries the instruction 朝夕合掌して心に念じ口に唱へよ, asa yū gasshō shite kokoro ni nenji kuchi ni tonaeyo: "Morning and evening, put your hands together in gasshō, hold the words in your heart and recite them aloud." The memorial stone, too, says the life principles are to be recited aloud morning and evening, with attention in the spiritual heart. In this article I'd like to explain which forms of meditation belong to the Reiki tradition and how they connect with Shingon.
Gasshō 合掌
In Japan and throughout East Asia, gasshō is the basic gesture of spirituality. You'll see it at every temple and shrine as an expression of respect, gratitude and gathering yourself. In esoteric Buddhism the right hand stands for the world of the Buddhas and the left for the world of human beings, and in gasshō the two come together. In the Reiki tradition, practice usually begins with this gesture. Put simply, it's the threshold between everyday life and practice.
Jōshin kokyū hō 浄心呼吸法
Jōshin kokyū hō 浄心呼吸法 literally means "breathing method for purifying the heart." This breathing exercise is known from the Reiki handed down since Usui. It works with the hara 腹, the area below the navel that Japan regards as the seat of life force. In Zen, the martial arts and Shugendō, the hara anchors every posture and movement. How to do the exercise belongs in shared practice, where you can join in directly and ask questions. For more on how well the Japanese Reiki techniques are documented, see the article on Japanese Reiki techniques.
Meditation in Shingon 三密
In Shingon there's hardly a meditation without the three mysteries (Japanese: sanmitsu 三密) of body, speech and mind. The body forms a hand gesture, speech recites a mantra, and the mind focuses on a Siddham character (Bonji in Japanese) or a Buddha. In the West many people think of meditation mainly as quietly observing the mind. Shingon meditation, by contrast, involves the whole person.
What I find fascinating is that this structure turns up in Usui's instruction. Gasshō shite, putting the hands together, is the body. Kokoro ni nenji, holding it in the heart, is the mind. Kuchi ni tonaeyo, reciting it aloud, is speech. That's why I think it's very likely that Usui deliberately built on Shingon practice here. Well-known Shingon meditations include the moon disc meditation and the 108-breath meditation.
The life principles as meditation 五戒
The best-known meditation of the Reiki tradition is reciting the five life principles (Japanese: gokai 五戒). When you speak them in gasshō while staying with the words in your heart, body, speech and mind work together, and the sentences become a kind of mantra. That's something different from an affirmation you use to talk yourself into something. I explain what's in each principle, for example why the character 業 is read the Buddhist way, gō, and means karma, in the article on Usui's life principles.
Meditation as a daily practice 日課
Usui meant it literally: morning and evening. In Japan a daily practice like this is called nikka 日課, the "task of the day." In my experience regularity matters more than length. A few minutes every day carry you further than an hour once a month. I lay my hands on myself every morning right after waking up, to wake up and start the day relaxed.
In Shingon Reiki meditation is part of the path from the very beginning, and you experience it at the live events and in the community. According to the memorial stone, unfolding extrasensory abilities came first for Usui, and meditation is a kind of root system for that. When do you like to meditate, in the morning or in the evening?
Your path in Shingon Reiki
If you'd like, take your time and see which way in fits you.
Your path in Shingon Reiki