The spiritual warrior

Most of us no longer have an outer enemy, a battlefield or a sword to draw. Even so, the word "warrior" touches something in many people, not because they want to fight, but because they long for clarity and strength. In this article I'd like to explain what the spiritual warrior means in the Japanese tradition and what this has to do with Shingon Reiki.

For me martial arts have always been a way to peace. I started karate at 13 in Bremen and later practiced Ninjutsu with Grandmaster Taguchi in Osaka. In my view the spiritual warrior has nothing to do with violence or aggression. It is about one question: are you willing to face what is inside you, such as fear, doubt, inertia and constant distraction?

The inner enemy 敵

The Japanese martial arts knew these inner enemies very well. In kendō, for example, people speak of the four sicknesses of the mind (jap.: shikai 四戒): kyō 驚, surprise, ku 懼, fear, gi 疑, doubt, and waku 惑, confusion. A swordsman who is caught by one of them has lost before the fight even begins, not because his technique is bad, but because his mind isn't clear.

You probably don't carry a sword, but the four are still the same. When you hesitate in front of a decision, that is doubt. When you scroll on your phone instead of acting, that is confusion. And when you avoid a difficult conversation, that is fear. Only the battlefields look different today.

Strength, clarity and determination 力

So what makes a warrior when there is no fight? In my view it comes down to three things: inner strength, so that you stay stable when everything around you is shaky, clarity, so that you can see what matters through all the distraction, and determination, so that you can make a decision and stick with it, even when it gets uncomfortable.

These qualities aren't simply there from birth. They grow through practice and repetition. In the Japanese tradition there is a term for the state you're aiming for, fudōshin 不動心, the immovable mind. That doesn't mean rigid or cold. It means a mind that is so deeply rooted that nothing can knock it over.

The Reiki principles as a daily practice 五戒

Mikao Usui left five life principles, the gokai 五戒: just for today, don't be angry, don't worry, be grateful, devote yourself to your karma, and be kind to others. At first glance this sounds harmless, but if you take them seriously, they are quite a challenge.

Just try not to get angry for a single day, not about the traffic, not about a message that doesn't come and not about yourself. You'll notice how much focus it takes to guide your own mind like that. The same goes for worry. Worry is the mind jumping into a future that doesn't exist yet, and so it misses the only moment in which you can act, which is now.

The fourth principle is especially interesting. In the Japanese original it reads gō ni hageme 業に励め. The character 業 is read gō here, as in Buddhism, and not gyō, as in the modern word for work. So it is about karma, not about your job. You can read more about this in the article on Usui's life principles.

Shingon Reiki as a warrior path 修行

In Shingon Reiki the daily practice of meditation, energy work, mantra and mudra follows the same principle as the training of a martial artist, shugyō 修行, practice as a way of life. Not as a duty someone imposes on you, but as a path you walk because you have experienced that it changes you.

The roots of this practice lie in esoteric Buddhism, Shugendō, Shintō and shamanic Daoism. The mountain ascetics of Shugendō (jap.: yamabushi 山伏) fasted in the mountains, meditated under waterfalls and walked through fire, in order to experience the limits of their own minds.

On the Master Path in Shingon Reiki there are initiations into the power of Buddhist spirits, among them the Immovable Wisdom King Fudō Myōō 不動明王, who has been a protector of warriors in Japan for centuries.

Strength with heart 心

There is an idea I like very much: only someone who is strong can really be gentle. Gentleness without strength easily becomes weakness, and strength without gentleness becomes brutality.

In the martial arts you find this in the term jū 柔, softness or yielding, which you also know from jūdō and jūjutsu. If you don't block an attack with force but redirect it by yielding, you use less energy and achieve more. That the soft overcomes the hard is a principle deeply rooted in Daoism.

The warrior path is open to everyone

You don't have to practice a martial art to walk the warrior path, and you don't even have to be especially brave yet. Courage tends to grow along the way. It starts with a decision, for example to take the Reiki principles as a daily challenge, to practice even when no one is watching, and to see strength and compassion as two sides of the same blade.

Which of the four sicknesses of the mind do you know best from your own life?