SHIRUSHI:
Superficial
'Training Wheels' or Essential, Deeper 'Spiritual Tools'?
Copyright
© 2003/5 James Deacon
As mentioned,
one theory is that the symbols were not originally a part
of Reiki; but that they were introduced to Reiki by Usui-sensei
at some relatively early stage in the system's development in
order to help students feel and differentiate between certain
aspects of the 'energy'. i.e: the phenomenon that is Reiki itself.
Perhaps
mistakenly, this has led some people to conclude that the symbols
therefore were not really all that important to the Reiki system;
and as a result some practitioners have been taught to view the
symbols in a very superficial light - considering them to be little
more than 'training wheels' - something to be worked with initially,
then to be discarded once the student has progressed a little
way along the path that is their 'journey with Reiki'.
Yet
others would say that taking this attitude is to have completely
missed the inner significance of the essential and empowering
role of symbols in relation to Japanese spiritual-transmission
traditions (of which, in its deepest sense, Reiki is a prime example),
and that in fact it is only when we have begun to feel
and differentiate between certain aspects of the 'energy', when
we have progressed a little way along the path that is
our 'journey with Reiki' - that the symbols truly come into their
own.
Perhaps it is that we should keep using the symbols until we no
longer need them - until we truly no longer need
them: until we have reached beyond attachment to them [i.e.
achieved the ego-less state of 'non-attachment' to them].
Perhaps
it is indeed then that, if we are wise enough to still continue
using the symbols, their true worth will be revealed to us.
The
'Power' Symbol
Various
different forms of Symbol 1
The
'Power Symbol' and its 'secret Shinto jumon'
The
Choku Rei Trail -
the terms 'Choku Rei', 'Dai Ko Myo'
and 'Reiki' in Japanese 'New Religions
The
'Mental-Emotional Healing' Symbol
Various
different forms of Symbol 2
The
'Distant' Symbol
Various
different forms of Symbol 3
The
'Master' Symbol
The
Master Symbol part 2 - The Reiki symbol that (supposedly) never
was...
Various
different forms of Symbol 4
The
Introduction of the symbols into Reiki
The
Reiki Symbols - Unsubstantiated Associations
The
Symbols from a Japanese Buddhist Perspective
'Training
Wheels' or Essential, Deeper 'Spiritual Tools'?
The
Kurama Kokyo Sect and the Reiki Symbols
