The Five Precepts
and Other Reiki Teachings
Usui’s original teachings included five major elements, a number of which we’ve covered thus far: hands-on healing, symbols and mantras, attunements (or reiju), healing techniques (see Chapter 14), and what are known as the five precepts, or gokai, which we’ll cover in this chapter. Usui’s Memorial Stone recommends that the “Five Precepts be chanted and kept in mind mornings and evening.” 1 One of his students, Suzuki-san, said that Usui was teaching the precepts as early as 1915, while Hiroshi Doi writes that they were made an official part of the teachings in 1922 with the creation of the Gakkai. The precepts may have originated even earlier, from Japanese Buddhist teachings from the ninth century.
Just for today …
Do not anger.
Do not worry.
Be grateful.
Do your duties fully.
Be kind to others.
Just for Today
I find this line to be equal parts illuminating and reassuring. There’s an acknowledgment of the vital importance of the present moment, the moment in which we will have the greatest impact, while also giving a nod to our human fallibility. Rather than admonishing us to always be grateful or never get angry, “just for today” suggests that we will be most successful in our endeavors if we focus on the next step, not the next ten thousand. It also contains the invitation of a fresh slate, each and every day. If things go sideways on Monday and we find ourselves snapping at our partner, waiting impatiently in line for our morning latte, and taking our safe, comfortable home for granted, well, there’s always Tuesday. And Wednesday. Just for today encourages us to reset our intentions and do our very best, which might look different from day to day. We learn from and take responsibility for the moments when perhaps we could have responded differently without weighing ourselves down with shame and the heavy concept of a “ruined track record.” Just for today awaits us every morning, every moment, reminding us that we have the power to choose, and we can use each and every decision to illuminate our True Self, regardless of what we chose yesterday or five minutes ago.
Do Not Anger
There are a number of ways one could embody this precept, including the most obvious: try not to be angry. For me, this is a tad bit unrealistic (and that’s putting it mildly, depending on the day), but I do find it incredibly useful to examine the things that trigger my anger, because they typically have something to do with a story my ego is creating. The most common theme these stories share is expectation and a sense of deserving. For example, if I expect to be able to drive to work in fifteen minutes but it takes twenty-five, my ego is quite skilled at creating a story about this, resulting in anger. The anger isn’t an automatic part of the experience, though, as much as it might seem to be at times. It’s a choice. If I’m not in any particular hurry, the weather is nice and my windows are down, and there’s a good song on the radio, that extra ten minutes might slide by unnoticed or even be relished; it all depends on the story I tell myself.
This precept invites us to look at those stories and to remember that we have a say in their telling. When we’re overidentified with the ego, we can take its chatterings as fact, but when we use the five precepts and other mindfulness tools to witness these ego tales, we can play an active role in writing ones that foster curiosity for what is rather than outrage at what isn’t, acceptance of the things that aren’t under our control, and a more informed response to the things that are.
Do Not Worry
If I had to pick a favorite, this precept would be a top contender, because there truly is no value whatsoever in worrying. Worry can be sneaky, though, and fool us into thinking that we’re doing something about the issue at hand—after all, we stayed up all night worrying about it, didn’t we? So much energy can be thrown into worrying, leaving us with precious little left to actually address the situation that has us all tied up in knots. Worry and fear are bedfellows, and we are most likely to get caught in a worry loop when we allow the mind to spin out worst-case scenarios, living in these mental constructs as if they’re really happening. And, indeed, when we visualize something, this process impacts our brain in strikingly similar ways to actually doing that thing, so mentally playing out our fears spikes our stress levels, which in turn has a negative impact on our blood pressure, immune system, ability to concentrate, and so much more.
The moral of the story? Don’t waste your valuable time, energy, and health worrying. I find it helpful to write down what I’m worried about and then list the aspects of the situation that I can address. Of those, I circle the ones that I actually intend to do something about, and I get to work. Nine times out of ten, the action steps are so much easier than the worried mind would have us believe, and taking practical steps to address the issue gets our energy moving, clears away the cobwebs of confusion, and often leaves us with a sense of renewed purpose. All the things on the list that I either don’t intend to address or couldn’t even if I wanted to become fodder for releasing in whatever way feels best. I might burn the piece of paper and send the worries up in smoke, speak them into a heavy stone and plunk it into moving water, or whatever method feels intuitively right. The point is to acknowledge that you are letting these thoughts go rather than constantly toying with the idea that maybe, just maybe, you’ll do something about them, driving yourself to distraction. Let ’em go, and just for today … don’t worry.
Be Grateful
It’s easy to get caught up in cataloguing all the things that aren’t going the way we’d like, from the minute to the monumental, but if we pause for a moment and really appreciate how truly amazing it is to be alive—remembering that our time here is, in the grand scheme of things, preciously brief—we shift our mental soundtrack. Gratitude helps us see what’s working and expand on those things. It uncovers previously hidden options and creative solutions more effectively than complaining ever will, and it magnetizes support and assistance from those around us. Chronic dissatisfaction, on the other hand, primes us to home in on what’s not working, and as much as we rail against these things, we also create attachments to them, writing ourselves into the role of the victim or the rebel without a cause. To maintain this familiar (if ill-fitting) identity, we unconsciously need things to keep sucking—we need something to complain about, to pit ourselves against, or we don’t know who we are and how to act. Gratitude frees us from this trap and allows us, one grateful observation at a time, to forge a new path, one that is an expression of our True Self. Just for today, what can you be grateful for? What in this moment brings a little smile to your face or a sense of calm? Focus on these things, no matter how small they might seem, and watch them expand.
Do Your Duties Fully
Often translated as “work hard,” this precept invites us to bring our full self to everything we do. When we phone it in, we cultivate a sense of apathy and listlessness, and it’s hard to make inspired choices in this state of mind. I like to think that this precept also invites us to get curious about the areas in which we’re only delivering a fraction of our full effort and explore why that might be. Is this something we truly want to be doing? If not, why are we doing it? The answer to this frequently involves a heavy helping of shoulds and have tos, but I encourage you to look deeper. Why do you “have” to do this? What do you fear would happen if you didn’t? How might you respond if that fear were realized?
The ego’s stories can be quite convincing, and if we don’t take the time to question them, they become our life credo, regardless of how much they run contrary to who we truly want to be. The ego deals in certainties, and it doesn’t care much whether these certainties are actually true or not, just so long as we can be certain about them. To balance this tendency, we must question, question, and question some more. If the ego churns out a thought like “I’ll never be able to leave this job” or “I can’t tell her how I feel,” get curious! Become the Sherlock Holmes of your own mind and ask, Why? What if? What then? I wonder if … Could we? And then … ? When we give ourselves permission to question the shoulds and musts, we start to release the things in our life that don’t light us up, that only drum up lackluster efforts, that separate us from “doing our duties fully.” When we reclaim our right to choose what those duties are rather than wallowing in resentment, we transform our actions into devotions, and every moment becomes an opportunity to be of service by expressing our True Self.
Be Kind to Others
Like all the precepts, we can’t go wrong by simply taking this at face value: treat others with kindness. But we are also rewarded by meditating on alternate layers of meaning, such as how you treat others is a mirror of how you treat yourself. Some aspects of our self-image are closer to the surface and easier to spot, and the same is true of select snippets from our mental soundtrack—some thoughts are loud and attention getting, while others are more subtle and sneaky. It’s these harder-to-put-your-finger-on thoughts and beliefs that we can explore through this precept.
Looking at what we think and how we treat others offers a powerful glimpse of our inner realms. For example, if we find ourselves frequently judging people, we can bet that a harsh self-critic is lurking within. On days when I find myself quick to judge, this is an invitation to look at where I am not being as kind to myself as I could. When I amp up the self-care and self-love, this heals judgmental tendencies better than white-knuckle willing myself to “just be nice.” If you find yourself annoyed by your coworker’s habit of dominating the conversation, getting curious could lead to any number of insights, such as a desire to speak up more in conversation rather than playing the resentful audience member. Admiring your friend’s ability to say no with grace could highlight a need to practice better boundary setting in your own life. The more we witness and work with this inner material, treating ourselves with compassionate curiosity, the more we will be naturally, authentically kind to others.
The version of the precepts from the Reiki Ryôhô no Shiori, a booklet published by the Gakkai, is as follows:
The secret art of inviting happiness
The miraculous medicine of all diseases
Just for today,
Do not get angry
Do not worry
Be filled with gratitude
Devote yourself to your work.
Be kind to people.
Every morning and evening, join your hands in prayer.
Pray these words to your heart and chant these words out loud 2
The Precepts and Kamiza
Tadao Yamaguchi shares his mother’s experience in one of Chûjirô Hayashi’s seminars, where a scroll containing the five precepts was hanging in a corner of the room, and the workshop began with Hayashi chanting the precepts three times as the participants followed along.3 This seems to follow the same format Usui used when teaching. In Jikiden Reiki, this tradition is honored with modern-day seminar participants chanting the gokai in Japanese, and a replica of Hayashi’s scroll with the handwritten precepts is hung in the room in a precisely chosen location based on energy flow within the space.
The highest energy location is called kamiza and the lowest, shimoza. Like a river that flows from elevated areas to lower ones, the energy in a room flows from kamiza to shimoza, thus by placing the scroll in the high-energy spot, its energy flows with ease to the rest of the room. Yamaguchi writes that the kamiza spot is often the corner that is furthest from the room’s entrance, and he advises keeping this area neat and tidy.4 This principle can be used when setting up your treatment space, too, with the recipient’s head pointing toward the kamiza, which assists the natural flow of energy from the head to the rest of the body.
Another aspect of Reiki teachings is poetry (waka), specifically that written by the Meiji Emperor, and Usui included 125 of these poems in his teachings. Poetry created by an emperor is referred to specifically as gyôsei. In Shintô and 
traditions, waka was seen to embody magickal powers and function as a sort of spell, and the contemplation and recitation of poetry was common in Japan during Usui’s time. He advised his students to recite the emperor’s poetry as a personal development practice, which would serve to enhance both their meditation and their energetic abilities.5 In the Reiki Ryôhô no Shiori, recitation of gyôsei is said to clear the mind of thoughts in preparation for receiving spiritual energy. They were included in the teachings because “Master Usui, the founder of our association, respected the emperor’s virtue like the way a child respects his parents, and chose 125 songs from his poems as a basic guidance for his study of Reiki Therapy.” 6
Waka contains thirty-one syllables: five in the first line, seven in the second, five in the third, and seven in the fourth and fifth lines. Each poem is given a title: for example, “The Wave,” “Fallen Flowers on the Water,” and “A Gemstone.”
Working with the Waka
In addition to reciting and meditating on the poems, I like to borrow a Benedictine practice called lectio divina to deepen my understanding. While this practice can be used with any written materials, if you’re interested in working with the waka, in The Spirit of Reiki, Frank Arjava Petter includes all 125 gyôsei, translated by his mother-in-law from an older form of Japanese into modern Japanese, and then by himself and his then-wife, Chetna Kobayashi, into English (see recommended resources). While the practice of lectio divina varies somewhat by source, I use the following four-step process.7 Choose a poem to work with (you can do this intentionally or open to a random page) and take a few minutes to calm and center yourself. Read the poem and start by exploring it on a narrative level. What’s happening in this poem in a literal sense? Look at the who, what, when, where, and why. You can discuss with a partner or group, journal your thoughts, or simply muse silently to yourself. Second, reread the poem and look at it allegorically. What associations does this poem recall for you? Does it remind you of another work of art, such as a book, painting, or movie? Does it trigger a personal memory? Fill in the blank: “This poem makes me think of ____________.” Third, reread the poem and contemplate how it relates to your own life. Does it invite you to see an aspect of yourself or a situation in a different way? In what ways does the poem resonate with you, and in what ways does it seem unrelated to your experience? And fourth, read the poem one more time and reflect on an action that this piece inspires you to take. Perhaps you feel called to pay more attention to a certain aspect of your life, shift a specific behavior to align more with your values, or reach out to someone you know. When the experience feels complete, find a way to mark the end of the process, such as placing your hands in gasshô and taking a small bow.
The Three Pillars
Frank Arjava Petter describes the foundational aspects of reiki as the three pillars: gasshô (two hands coming together), reiji (indication of spirit), and chiryô (treatment).8 Here, we’ll look at the first two elements, gasshô and reiji, and in the next chapter we’ll explore various healing techniques, or chiryô.
The word gasshô means “two hands coming together,” commonly referred to as “prayer hands.” This is associated with a meditation technique, gasshô meiso, which is a wonderful practice to calm and clear the mind and increase your energy.
Find a comfortable place to sit where you won’t be disturbed, and bring your hands into gasshô at heart level. If your arms get tired at any point, you can rest them in your lap, still in gasshô. Close your eyes or leave them open with a soft, unfocused gaze. Bring your awareness to your breath, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. On the inhale, lightly touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of the mouth, just behind the teeth, and on the exhale, let the tongue relax. Bring your attention to the point where your middle fingers touch; you might even feel the wind of the breath here. If your mind starts to wander, gently press the middle finger pads together to retrain your focus on this area. Continue the meditation for up to thirty minutes.
Petter lists the esoteric Buddhist associations for the fingers and fingertips, which are being united in gasshô.9 Each corresponds to an element and a quality:
Thumb: The void and discernment
Index: Air and operation
Middle: Fire and perception
Ring: Water and reception
Pinky: Earth and form
By bringing our attention to the middle finger, we burn away distractions with the element of fire, stoked by the air of our breath, and sharpen our perception.
The technique of reiji helps us connect with higher guidance, and it strengthens our intuition. The word means “indication of spirit,” and in her diary, Takata described it as the “utmost secret in the energy science.” 10 This is a great technique to use before a reiki treatment, as it will heighten your ability to sense byôsen, guiding the placement of your hands.
Sit or stand comfortably and close your eyes. Bring your hands in gasshô in front of your heart and set the intent to open to the flow of reiki. With your hands still in gasshô, move them up to the center of your forehead. Then, open your eyes and let your hands move to an area of the body in need of treatment, remaining there until you get a sense that it’s time to move on. Continue treating different areas of the body as you feel guided until the session is complete. Bring your hands back into gasshô and give thanks.
The Five Objects of Reiki
According to Kimiko Koyama, the sixth president of the Gakkai, there are five objects of Reiki Ryôhô:11
1. Tai (body), Ken (health)
2. En (relation, connection, fate, karma, love), Bi (beauty)
3. Kokoro (heart and mind), Makoto (sincerity, authenticity)
4. Sai (talent), Chikara (power)
5. Tsutome (duty), Do (work)
I use the objects as a focus for meditation, and while insights differ each time I work with them, here are some of my current thoughts for each object:
1. Listing this as the first object seems significant to me, as a healthy body provides a solid foundation for personal growth. While certainly not impossible, it’s more difficult to pursue spiritual practices when our health is in shambles, as we’re often consumed with simply getting through the day. By tending to our body like a sacred temple, we create more ease and expansion on the physical plane, thereby liberating energy for deeper mental, emotional, and spiritual explorations. This creates a self-perpetuating cycle: the more we explore and heal these non-physical levels of our being, the more health we experience in the body.
2. This object brings to mind a concept I learned through the work of C. G. Jung, something called amor fati, or “love of one’s fate.” Through dedicated spiritual practice, we begin to see the threads woven throughout our life experiences; we see the patterns of karma (cause and effect) more clearly and understand how and why we are here in this present moment. Like glimpsing a method to the madness, we see beauty in the chaos and feel a deep appreciation for everything that happened in precisely the way it did to shape who we are today. Rather than getting hung up on “Why me?” and “If only this hadn’t happened,” we release the notion of regret and see the gems hidden in every challenge—we fall in love with our fate.
3. When we suppress our True Self, we create turmoil in the mind and in the heart. By constantly biting back our words, swallowing our feelings, and stuffing down our needs and desires, we create obstructions in our energy field, which can eventually manifest on the physical plane. Living in alignment with our values liberates this blocked energy, leaving us better able to respond to each moment with curiosity and full presence, because we’re not mentally running possible responses through a complicated algorithm of how we think we should feel, think, and act. This isn’t to say we throw civility and kindness out the window—quite the contrary. When we respect ourselves by honoring our authentic nature—by speaking truthfully, by being vulnerable enough to share how we really feel, by expressing our needs instead of simmering with resentment—we naturally extend this respect to others.
4. This object feels related to the concept of a “Zone of Genius,” introduced by Dr. Gay Hendricks in his book, The Big Leap.12 When we embrace and cultivate our talents, we inhabit our zone of genius, which we can think of as the polar opposite of chilling out in our comfort zone. The zone of genius requires us to really bring our A game, but it returns the favor by gifting us with an energetic power that seems to snowball our efforts far beyond their initial effect. When we’re operating in our genius zone, rather than sticking with safe and manageable pursuits, the feeling is almost palpable; it’s electric and carries a self-sustaining momentum that we can only dream of in our comfort zone. Have you ever talked to someone about their life’s passion? Their voice takes on a fiery energy, they stand taller and with an openness to their posture, like they’re ready to take on the world, and the energy can be downright contagious. This is precisely the sort of power that comes to mind when I meditate on this object.
5. This object reminds me of the reiki precept “do your duties fully,” an invitation to bring our full attention and presence to each moment, and through this deep engagement, we create meaning in our life. I’m reminded of a passage from Abraham H. Maslow’s Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences: “The great lesson from the true mystics, from the Zen monks … is that the sacred is in the ordinary, that it is to be found in one’s daily life. … To be looking everywhere for miracles is to me a sure sign of ignorance that everything is miraculous.” 13 By bringing awareness to the details of our day—one might even call it a sense of devotion—we turn our duties into the great work of crafting a life of meaning.
Now that we’ve explored the philosophy of reiki, it’s time to round out our practice with hands-on healing techniques, the focus of the next chapter.
1. Stiene and Stiene, The Reiki Sourcebook, 68.
2. Reiki Ryôhô no Shiori, 8.
3. Yamaguchi, Light on the Origins of Reiki, 33.
4. Yamaguchi, Light on the Origins of Reiki, 109.
5. Stiene and Stiene, The Reiki Sourcebook, 75.
6. Reiki Ryôhô no Shiori, 11.
7. “Spiritual Practice Resources,” Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, accessed June 2, 2019, http://www.harrypottersacredtext.com/spiritual-practice-resources.
8. Lübeck, Petter, and Rand, The Spirit of Reiki, 145.
9. Lübeck, Petter, and Rand, The Spirit of Reiki, 148.
10. Lübeck, Petter, and Rand, The Spirit of Reiki, 150.
11. Lübeck, Petter, and Rand, The Spirit of Reiki, 97.
12. Gay Hendricks, The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level (New York: HarperOne, 2010).
13. Abraham H. Maslow, Religions, Values and Peak-Experiences (New York: Penguin Compass, 1994), 4, Kobo.