Well at least 2020 is over, taking with it all our pain and heartache, lets hope it doesn’t infiltrate 2021, instead lets be positive and inspirational, looking at fun times instead of gloom. Yes we need to change, that can be a good thing, in stead of being stuck in our old routines. The Dalai Lama has always said that we are in a state of impermanence, and we are, change sometimes throws us off kilter, as humans we like our regular lives to stay the same, some find it very challenging, others embrace it.
The next words are taken from the first lines of Charles Dickens’s Tale of two cities.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair” Charles Dickens was a man of great humanity, these words were written two centuries ago, but goodness me they sum up 2020 don’t they?
Love the above words also!
It is essential, in these surreal times to practice Reiki and embrace our inner light. Someone recently said (a student) what is an illusion? Isn’t Reiki an illusion? An illusion is called ‘Hibiki’ in Japanese, this could be a shadow, an echo or a sound, we can’t touch it as it is empty and not real. With our practice of Reiki we metaphorically touch our spirit, but in reality the student was right, we can’t tangibly touch our light or spirit, we feel it. Hibiki needs to be experienced without labelling it, if we do that we see it as real. These are words from Mikao Usui.
No matter which tactile sensations become objects of awareness, one immediately realizes that they are like reflections, like an illusion, or like a conjuration, and thus unreal.
If one experiences a pleasurable tactile sensation to which one is temporararily agreeable, one does not give rise to desirous attachment. If one experiences painful tactile sensations to which one is temporarily opposed, one does not give rise to hateful affliction. If one experiences tactile sensations to which one is neither opposed nor agreeable, one does not give rise to thoughts which retain them in mind nor does one engage in making distinctions among them. This constitutes the cultivation of calming.
What is meant by the cultivation of [insight] contemplation when the body engages tangibles? One should bring forth this thought: “Lightness and heaviness, coolness and heat, roughness and slickness and other such dharmas are all tactile sensations….. The nature of tactile sensations is that they are all empty and false.” ~ Chih-i, Founder of Tiantai
It would be good to have some opinions on this as it is a very interesting topic.
Then we have there ‘Hara’
This is our centre and in many esoteric and ancient teaching, and is regarded as the most important aspect of our Reiki Practice. Translated in Japanese, it literally means abdomen or belly. If we go to a deeper level ‘Hara’ means ‘our own true nature’. In Japanese ancient teachings it translates to being completely calm and reaching a space within us, this is called Hara ga delete ire. The word ‘Hara’ is also linked with the Chinese word ‘tanden’ which when translated means elixir of life.
So again we look at ‘Hibiki’ can we touch our ‘Hara’? Can we feel it? Yes we can touch our ‘Hara’ with our hands, but is it real? or is it Hibiki?
Move forward dear friends and embrace change. I am going to organise online teaching and meditation workshops via Zoom! So a new challenge for me also.
Love Jenny xx
For me 2020 started out as an exercise in acceptance of what is and commitment to persevere in any case. In the latter part of the year it became by necessity submission rather than acceptance. I took heart in a quote from one of my favourite books,
“The willow submits to the wind and prospers until one day it is many willows – a wall against the wind.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune
Like any of the elements wind does not have intent, it just is. Sun warms and brings life and it burns humans and land alike. As a year 2020 had no more malicious intent than any other. It was our individual and collective interpretations of it that have led to it being a ‘bad’ year.
Is it hubris to think that a year, a virus, a moment of ill luck is aimed at us specifically? If it was suggested that Reiki had intent I suspect as a notion it would be fairly swiftly discouraged.
I have had a slight change, after a recent meditation on the precepts I found myself wanting to go further. When I gave thanks I found myself saying “I am grateful for the peace I carry in my heart and actions, I am grateful for the confidence in my thoughts and decisions.”
There is no room at all for anger with that peace, no time for worry when acting with confidence.
It was lovely to chat with you earlier Jenny, to explore the absence of fear and uncertainty over my outstanding medical diagnoses and to realise that through reiki practice and self healing the road is rising to meet me. Thank you.
I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.
D. H. Lawrence
As we continue to be challenged by this terrible virus I am minded to remember that we as humans brought this upon ourselves by our greed and selfishness and failure to live in harmony and with respect with each other, the universe and all other living things. It is true I feel we are but an echo, a spirit or essence as are all things. Even as we return to the earth on death we are reborn as our core elements never disappear. Some religions talk of many lives and in a way I understand as our core elements can appear in other things many times over. Do we have an echo of previous and future use of the elements that we are made of? Something to ponder on perhaps.
I am mindful of the end of a Tale of Two Cities (the first Charles Dickens book I ever read):
“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”
One of the most moving endings to a book I have ever read. I do not wish to spoil the book for anyone who has not read it but it bring a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye every time I read it. It expresses in one sentence the essence of how we should be, with humility and selflessness to others. It is also a light of hope that we can all find peace and acceptance.