Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is administered by "laying on hands" and is based on the idea that an unseen "life force energy" flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. If one's "life force energy" is low, then we are more likely to get sick or feel stress, and if it is high, we are more capable of being happy and healthy.
The Five Spiritual Principles of Reiki:
What are the Five Precepts?
The five precepts, or gokai as they are called in Japan, are guidelines to aid students in their journey toward spiritual development.
Usui san taught them from as early as 1915. The Usui Reiki Ryōhō Gakkai perform gokai sansho, or the chanting of the five precepts three times, at the end of their regular group meetings.
The five precepts are the six sentences in the centre of the entire poetic teaching. The teaching consists of an introduction, the five precepts themselves, directions on how and when to use them and what the result of this practice will be.
The Five Precepts in Detail
There are many translations of the precepts, but most of them tend to be direct translations. The mark of a good translation is that it does not directly translate, word for word, and that it still carries the same energy and meaning of the original text. The precepts can be translated into any language and it can be recited in any language the practitioner is comfortable with. As long as the meaning and energy remains the same as the Japanese text.
Many people have asked if there is a more positive way to translate the precepts, or a way to transform the precepts into affirmations. An affirmation is always written in the present tense and starting an affirmation with “I,” “I am” or “I have” is the most effective.
Below are two examples of the precepts. One is a direct translation and the other is written as a powerful affirmation.
Just for today:
Do not anger
Do not worry
Be grateful
Work hard [spiritual work]
Be kind to others
NOW:
I am gentle and calm
I trust
I am humble and grateful
I am focused on my spiritual development
I am kind to myself and others
Examples of different ways in which to translate the five precepts.
Just for today [i.e. focus in the here-and-now]:
Principle 1 has been variously stated as:
- Do not anger
- Don’t get angry
- Thou shall not anger
- I will not be angry
- I will let go of anger
- I am gentle and calm
Principle 2 has been variously stated as:
- Do not worry
- Don’t be anxious
- Thou shall not worry
- I will not worry
- I will let go of worry
- I trust
Principle 3 has been variously stated as:
- Be grateful
- Show appreciation
- Thou shall be grateful for the many blessings
- I will give thanks for my many blessings
- I will count my many blessings
- Express your thanks
- Show gratitude to every living thing
- Honour your parents, teachers and elders
- I am humble and grateful
Principle 4 has been variously stated as:
- Work hard
- Study diligently
- Devote yourself to your work
- Earn thy livelihood with honest labour
- I will do my work honestly
- I am focused on my spiritual development
Principle 5 has been variously stated as:
- Be kind to people
- Be kind to others
- Be kind to thy neighbours
- I will be kind to every living thing
- I will be kind to every living creature
- Show compassion to every living thing
- I am kind to myself and others
Here is a look at some meanings that may lay behind the five precepts.
The secret of inviting happiness through many blessings
The spiritual medicine for all illness
This first paragraph introduces the ‘secret’. It alludes to spirituality being an instrument to good health. The ‘many blessings’ may be the benefits of the repeated receiving of the Reiju (empowerments). Usui san and the Usui Reiki Ryōhō Gakkai performed Reiju on a regular basis, believing that it could lead to enlightenment. After many years of personal practice and the receiving of the Reiju it is understood that the practitioner becomes one with the universe. Another viewpoint may see the practitioner being showered with the blessings that the universe has to offer when practising the teachings.
For today only [NOW]:
It is a practical sentence to keep the practitioner’s minds focused on the NOW. It is the typical Buddhist stance. Each moment of life is NOW. If these precepts are practised NOW then they are being practised in each and every moment of the practitioner’s life.
If you no longer want to create pain for yourself and others, if you no longer want to add to the residue of past pain that still lives on in you, then don’t created any more time, or at least no more than is necessary to deal with the practical aspects of your life. How to stop creating time? Realise deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.
(Excerpt from The Power of NOW by Echart Tolle)
Do not anger [I am gentle and calm]:
This is a basic Buddhist principle. Anger not only hurts those in the practitioner’s vicinity but the practitioner him- or herself. It is the antithesis of balance. Once the practitioner is no longer a victim to the senses then focus can energetically be placed on the spiritual path.
Sometimes people feel that anger is useful because it brings extra energy and boldness. When we encounter difficulties, we may see anger as a protector. But though anger brings us more energy, that energy is essentially a blind one. There is no guarantee that the energy will not become destructive or our own interests. Therefore, hatred and anger are not all useful.
(Excerpt from the Power of Compassion by His Holiness the Dalai Lama)
Do not worry [I trust]:
Worry causes stress at all levels. Stress lowers the immune system opening the practitioner up to the possibility of disease. To worry is a lack of faith. Fearfulness is a reaction that does not trust the universe to provide what is best for the practitioner.
… Shantideva says: “If you can solve your problem, Then what is the need of worrying? If you cannot solve it, Then what is the use of worrying?”
(Excerpt from The Healing Power of the Mind by Tulku Thondup)
Be grateful [I am humble and grateful]:
The practitioner will find this humbleness and thankfulness permeating each and every aspect of his or her life. Thoughts will be of a life of abundance rather than want. The importance of material circumstances will no longer be the gauge that existence is based on.
… True happiness relates more to the mind and heart. Happiness that depends mainly on the physical pleasures is unstable; one day it’s there, the next day it may not be…
(Excerpt from The Art of Happiness by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler)
Work hard [I am focused on my spiritual development]:
This precept is reminding the practitioner to be truthfully dedicated to spiritual progress by focusing on meditation and other spiritual techniques as taught in the Reiki Ryōhō system and not becoming a ‘spiritual materialist’.
… Understanding the energy consequences of our thoughts and beliefs, as well as our actions, may force us to become honest to a new degree. Lying, either to others or to ourselves, should be out of the question. Genuine, complete healing requires honesty with oneself. An inability to be honest obstructs healing as seriously as the inability to forgive. Honesty and forgiveness retrieve our energy — our spirits — from the energy dimension of ‘the past’.
(Excerpt from Anatomy of the Spirit by Carolyn Myss, PhD.)
Be kind to others [I am kind to myself and others]:
The practitioner will remember the connections of all things in the universe. Mindfulness brings peace to life. This thought reminds human nature that it is compassionate and to understand and experience connectedness. Oneness.
… numberless times in previous lives we have each fulfilled the role of a mother. The feeling of a mother for a child is a classic example of love. For the safety, protection and welfare of her children, a mother is ready to sacrifice her very life.
(Quote by His Holiness the Dalai Lama)
Do gasshō every morning and evening, keep in your mind and recite
Gasshō is the placing of both palms together in the prayer position, in front of the chest. It is a sign of respect for oneself, the action and the energy. This simple act balances both the mind and the body.
Keep these precepts in the mind throughout the day. They are not just for reading but also for living.
Improve your mind and body with Usui Reiki Ryōhō
Founder Mikao Usui
The last three lines name the motto, the system and its founder.
Precepts in our Daily Life
It is almost impossible to keep focused on these five precepts hundred percent of the time. Therefore it must not be considered a ‘sin’ when the practitioner is unsuccessful in following each one of them. Buddhist thought offers the idea that when a precept is ‘broken’ focus can be placed on forgiveness and kindness towards oneself. This contemplation brings the practitioner full circle back to the original precepts finding the focus, once more, on compassion and the five precepts.
