INNER LIGHT – A REIKI NEWSLETTER FOR REIKI PEOPLE

 

Volume 4 Issue 6

 

REIKI SHARES

 

The next Reiki Share will be via Zoom on Saturday 30 April 10-11 am

The theme for this will be the practice of 2 days/7 days/21 days healing practices and how they deepen our understanding of the practice.

All Reiki Shares are at Shoden level (or Reiki I if you have trained in Western Reiki), as it is always good to go back to basics and to discover the levels we have not previously discovered. They are also designed to be simple enough to put into place in our everyday life.

 

COMPASSION

 

In Buddhism, the deity with a white body and four (or up to a thousand), arms is known in Tibet as Chenrezig, In Japan as Kannon, and in Sanskrit as Avalokiteśvara, Guān Yīn in China, or The Holder of The Lotus.

This is the deity of Compassion.

In Mahāyāna doctrine this is the deity that has vowed to assist human beings to achieve enlightenment, and has a number of qualities to help us to move towards enlightenment. These are:

• Great loving kindness
• Great compassion
• The courage of a lion
• The Light of the Universe
• The creator of the Universe [Brahman in Hindu]

In Mahāyāna Buddhism Kannon is associated with the Mantra om mani padme hum which translates into Shingon Buddhism as On Arurikya Sowaka. This Mantra is chanted daily in order to relieve human beings of their suffering.

Compassion may be shown in the external form of this deity, but what is really important is this is another symbol or Jumon, that can be seen or represented externally but in reality it is something we need to work on internally. In the same way the Jumon of Okuden and Shinpiden/Shihan are training wheels for the Energy we need to internalise, so is Kannon in terms of the True Essence of Compassion.

Kannon is within each and everyone of us, as a potential state. But in the same way Professor Trelawney in Harry Potter stories covers up the Light in her teaching area with scarves, we can have veils that cover the Mind, some of which can be so thick we are unable to express our Compassion at times. Each time we think someone else is ‘other’ than ourselves we only think selfishly. We wish for our own happiness instead of their happiness of all beings, or wish our own suffering to stop instead of the removal of all suffering.

Whatever we choose to call this deity, the name means ‘one who continually looks upon all beings with the eye of Compassion’. But whilst it remains a deity that we look upon, our potential for Compassion remains ineffectual.

“Our life is our work and we are diligent in our practice” says one form of the Gokai (Precepts). We need to understand the suffering of others, with ‘suffering’ having the Buddhist meaning [The fourth truth in the Four Noble Truths is Dukkha or the mental stress of the Samsara cycle of birth, growing old, illness and death; the stress that is caused from trying to hold on to things that are changing; the stress that comes from impermanence where you have no inner core of strength to withstand the changes]. If we think our suffering is greater than other people’s suffering, we actually draw more suffering into our own lives. Being conscious of other people’s ‘suffering’, however different from our own, activates the love and Compassion that is born in us naturally. Suffering is the point of reference. It is our wish that beings can be free of suffering that may be the result of past negative acts, that can help remove future suffering. We need to work towards the happiness of all others, now and in the future.

We need equanimity also. We need to look on all beings as a parent looks on their children. Without partiality and no exceptions. We cannot divide people into those towards whom we have sympathy or affection, those towards whom we feel indifference, or those we feel antipathy or hatred. Here is our work!

How we can take the teachings of Kannon forward:

• When we take care of ourselves we take care of others, but when we harm ourselves we harm others
• Doing things that are good for us leads to happiness, doing things that cause us to be uncomfortable causes suffering
• Learn to respond positively [acting kindly, considerately, mindfully or unselfishly] to others rather than reacting negatively [striking out with anger, whether it is with gestures or with words, being unkind, selfish]
• Offer compassion to your friends and foes equally because a friend can become a foe on another day
• Using Carl Rogers’ work in Person Centred Counselling – put yourself in the other person’s place before responding so that you can offer unconditional love and compassion. By doing this you will extend your ability to be compassionate

Love, Compassion, joy and equanimity are the ‘Four Immeasurables’ and the core of our practice as Reiki Practitioners. These aspects guide our thinking, speaking and actions.

Our work on the ‘Four Immeasurables’ is an invaluable treasure.

Practising love and Compassion is not always easy. In some circumstances we can feel impotent, but this is not a cause for discouragement. We can, at the very least, make prayers and wishes for those who suffer. The fact that someone is hostile in the face of our positive intentions means this person is not acting freely. They are under the sway of ignorance, Karma and conflicting emotions preventing them from acting differently at the moment. Although we have the feeling that this person could have acted differently, they chose not to do that. Santideva said:

I am not angry

About a sickness that makes me suffer

Why therefore should I have anger for others?

They, too, are under the influence of conditions

(that make them act in this manner)

When we practise Ton-Glen, taking and sending, we ourselves will not be impacted by the ‘poisons’ we take in, we can feel the ‘texture’; of the poison, the darkness and heaviness, but then we breathe out Light, Brightness and give ourselves a sense of freshness.

When we practise Metta Sutta, we begin with our own pain, hurt, grief, being stuck or confused, and breathe out the opposite relief, health, safety, peaceful heart etc.

When we work with those that we actively dislike, the reason we dislike them is not important. The reason is immaterial, and this stops us getting carried away into thoughts and distractions. Our focus needs to be on the humanity of the aggressor; their need for love, Compassion and understanding. We need to acknowledge they too are looking for answers and seeking a way to find happiness out of their own suffering.

Wed need to feel that Heart connection with them and choose a phrase that allows us to wish them well in their searchings, such as “may those who have darkness in their hearts find love”, then visualise our Great Bright Light with love reaching out to them, from our hearts to their heart(s).

In the present situation of war – not only in Ukraine, but in many parts of the world – what the planet needs now is for those who have Light in their hearts to come forth and let that Light radiate out into the world and into every being.

HeartMath/Global Coherence research has found the vibrational Energy of Compassion from the collective contribution of meditators is on the rise since the start of the Ukraine/Russia war. Let each and every one of us contribute to the global heart that awakens love and Compassion throughout the world.