GOKAI SELF-BLESSING RITUAL

All folks are invited to give this a test. It assumes that the practitioner has been initiated with symbols at level 2.

REQUIREMENTS :
You, your photo in which you can clearly see your head and face, your intent, and some leisure time.

STEPS :

1. Start with Hatsurei and perform at least one set each of Kenyoko, Joshin and Seichin; calm yourself.

2. Gassho and state your intent to start the Gokai Self-Blessing Ritual. (this step should not be bypassed).

3. Hold your photo in front of your physical or mental eyes for some moments and develop a rapport with your energetic being. As you perform this step, you are being connected with your energetic being and the HSZSN is activated. Thus, to bring it in conscious plane, draw HSZSN and open yourself up for the enhanced mindfulness and connection.

4. Draw a SHK on the forehead of the buddy that is in the photo (you). This can be done with index finger, all four fingers or if you feel comfortable with your mental imagination of doing this. Remember the focus must maintain on the buddy in the photo, and not on yourself.

5. While drawing SHK imagine that it is enveloping the skull like you are wearing some helmet, and it is going from forehead to top of head (crown) and then to the base of neck (jade gate). You can imagine you are ‘combing’ it from front to back of your skull like you would comb your hair.

6. Draw SHK in this manner for three times.

7. Draw CKR on the forehead of the person in the photo and imagine it is empowering the first SHK you had drawn earlier.

8. Similarly draw CKR two more times and imagine it is respectively empowering the SHK you had drawn for the second and third time.

9. Meditate on the First Principle :

• Realize that anger is our resistance to things we find wrong in other people. Realize that this universe is beautiful because of diversity, and diversity of every individual is what gives the humanity its beauties.

• Accept that there could be more versions of reality than you personally hold.

• Accept that humans are born free and freedom is everyone’s right.

• Accept that what others do might irritate you, but they might have good reasons for what they do.

• Realize that this is not your job to find reasons for them, you have just to let go!

• Give affirmations to the buddy in the photo that his/her anger is dissipating and evaporating in the universe and the vacuum is being filled by love instead. (Giving affirmations is a necessary step after you feel you have had some good time in meditating thoughts relating to Gokai Principles).

10. Meditate on the Second Principle :

• Realize that worry is the trick of our ego, and it happens through our attachment to outcomes and expectations.

• Realize that universe operates within multiplicity of diverse scenarios, and the results of our actions may change unexpectedly due to interaction of several others within the chain.

• Realize that we are not controlling the universe, we are only a part of it.

• Give affirmations to the buddy in the photo that his/her worries are melting down, and give affirmations of your understanding that saying no to worries, is actually saying yes to hopes.

11. Meditate on the Third Principle :

• Realize that gratefulness is the act of opening up ourselves to endless possibilities.

• Realize that we owe thanks to universe for its endowments, to our earlier races of humanity for handing over their knowledge to us, to our parents and ancestors for being the cause of our creation and our nurturing.

• Realize that we owe thanks to our body parts, our soul, our energetic culture for being bringing us to our present presence. Realize that we learn from others always.

• Realize that our knowledge and wisdom owes its roots in a universal reservoir of knowledge handed over generations after generations.

• Realize that social interaction is our basic need, and we owe thanks to people around us for just being there !

• Give affirmations to the buddy in the photo that he/she would care to feel gratefulness for everything, not as a burden but as a notion of acknowledgement.

12. Meditate on the Fourth Principle :

• Realize that when you work, you are in a spiritual experience.

• Doing work with honesty and commitment evokes a sense of accomplishment and achievement, that brings peace and composure.

• Realize that doing work for its sheer pleasure is what makes the work interesting, rewards are secondary to it.

• Realize that there is no substitute to work, and doing work, you are contributing to the universe as much as you are contributing towards your personal/financial gains.

• Give affirmations to the buddy in the photo that he/she will enjoy the work while doing it, and will ‘pour heart’ into it.

13. Meditate on the Fifth Principle :

• Realize that the universe is a bounded whole of many parts and the binding force is love that is unconditional.

• Realize that Love does not need recognition of others to be there. It just flows its way. Love does not need acquaintances to start with.

• Realize that love starts with gestures of kindness. Being kind to others in all our dealings is a key to let love fill our hearts, and then it is a sure road to invite love of others.

• Realize that being kind without any attachments to outcome is what we need to soften our heart, and once our heart is filled with love, we can expect things to happen just by imagining them and allowing them to happen. But this cannot be done unless we know the power of love.

• Give affirmations to the buddy in the photo, to start feeling kindness with everyone whom he/she interacts, and remember kindness assumes respect for others in the first place!

14. ‘Seal in’ the affirmations to the buddy in the photo by intending them, and request the affirmations to be permanent.

15. Gassho and say thanks to Reiki for being a part of your life.


(Copyright "Reiki Learning Lounge" )


take care



salman

hiya buddy, real interesting read this! You've let me know in advance, that the reason for SHK being so prominent was to use it to incorporate the gokai into our sub-conscious. A little suggestion, to mention in the description, this kind of purpose? cause it goes a little bit beyond a self-blessing, imo.

other than that, great to see the creativity! It's a pretty good job! If i get time, i'll try it out, though i've still to try James's out also!

warmest wishes
Wayne

Hi,

It looks like a nice ritual.

However, I feel that the approach is a bit too suggestive or 'forced'.
I think it is better to experience and realise the importance of the Gokai by meditation and contemplation, rather than forcing the ideas into your head.

You can't tell someone "realise that we are not controlling the universe" (just an example). Someone has to experience it to really know and realise it.

(Apart from that.. I think Usui-sensei wanted us to learn that we all do create and our own world..... but you only really realise that by experiencing it.)

*Gasshō*
Frank

hi frank

This ritual is not to be used on anyone but on oneself only...

Secondly, would you note that points about principles are in the nature of meditation and contemplation, exactly as u have said....

I had a presumptiom that anyone using the ritual would safely and surely replace those ideas with ones comfortable to oneself... Thats no big deal....

Take care

Salman

plus one more thing....

If auto suggestion was that undesirable why would have Usui urged us to say out Gokai 'loud and in heart', 'mornings and evenings'.....

Infact, all that ritual is based on augmenting the auto suggestion process, by using the powers of shk... That was the central theme.... (sorry, i forgot to mention that )

Salman

Hi,

Lambs-wool wrote:
This ritual is not to be used on anyone but on oneself only...

I see. It seems to me that the one doing the ritual, forces himself/herself.
I now see that I made a mistake in my previous post. I said "you can't tell someone", but I should have said "you can't just tell yourself to realise something". You either realise it or not.. If you sit down and tell yourself "now I am going to realise that.." it will be forced. (It feels kind of 'fake' to me.)
The best way to understand something is by feeling/experiencing it.

Lamgs-wool wrote:I had a presumptiom that anyone using the ritual would safely and surely replace those ideas with ones comfortable to oneself

Aaaah, now I see it.
If you are supposed to replace the ideas with your own ideas about the principles, then this exercise makes sense to me

Lambs-wool wrote:why would have Usui urged us to say out Gokai 'loud and in heart', 'mornings and evenings'.....

Because the Gokai are in fact a mantra. They should be used as a mantra and if you recite it long enough you'll notice its specific effect.

Next to that, they are principles to guide you through the day (just for today..), to keep your thought and actions 'pure'.
They are principles, -not- affirmations. This is an important difference.

*Gasshō*
Frank

there is always a difference of opinions buddy. And thats heartily welcome !

A mantra is always a subconscious imbedding of a thought / principle / energetic signature (my opinion, you of course may have to opine differently)

A question : when you 'contmplate' and 'meditate' on principles, do u do them without any 'thoughts' ?? I mean attempting to 'feel', 'realise' and 'experience' does not necessarily mean that we start with a blank mind... Of course, we have a background knowledge/thought process with ourselves when we sit for meditations... It is jst another aspect that meditation leads us to different versions of reality which we might not have had even imagined before... And thats pretty natural...


Re : principles are not affirmations :

I feel they are.


Salman

i always believed that discussions are always good... and today i found another instance...


thanks Frank for the comments, they have voiced some good food for thought for me when i was trying to accpet or not to accept them in their entirety....


when i see how we start within reiki, i find that we start with 'rituals'... initiation is a ritual, reciting Gokai is a ritual, daily self-treatments is a ritual, even that 'standard hand positions' is also a ritual...

we do such rituals when even when (in the beginning at least) we don't have a realization of what and why we been doing them... we keep doing them, we keep doing them as instructed and taught to us, and along way, we keep getting realizations about them... this is a gradual process...

when i see the plain meanings of the gokai, lets say 'just for today, don't get angry', what i m doing when i m reciting this ? i m letting my mind accept it... i m affirming that i agree to this principle even when i don't realize how deep it could mean... if you say, i m not affirming while reciting the Gokai, why we use the words "don't"... to whom these words are being spoken? we are speaking these words to ourselves and in a way 'instructing' ourselves to do such things and not to do such things... if this is not affirmation, what is this ?

why we have been instructed to recite Gokai twice daily, so that they gradually slip into our sub-conscious mind and get rooted there... during self-hypnosis we do the same... during auto-suggestions, we do the same... so i was curious to know if we could use SHK for the same purpose?

SHK is for habit treatment, and it is a prerequisite that practitioner and client have a prior agreement on the affirmations to be used by practitioner during seiheiki chyrio ho... what the client is doing in the process... he is accepting affirmations from practitioiner(infact his subconcious is doing that)... and this ritual works so wonderfully even when client hasn't yet realised about the depth and importance of affirmations... (if he had, why the need of getting a session, and why not treated habit himself)...

so i venture to say here that though the 'best' way is always that we understand the things after experience of realizations, but if we have some gospel truths (like Gokai) we can let them 'penetrate' to our minds even before getting to realise their depths... this would not be any harmful thing....

there might be a chance, that if we have Gokai imbeded to our sub-concsious, our conscious mind will find a help to grasp the meanings more deeply... this maybe a possibility... feel free to comment though

another thought that i was discussing with Wayne some days earlier is that reiki helps and aims to assimilate awareness by the meeting of mind and spirit.... if i apply that rule to this ritual, i may say that this ritual is doing the spirit-part, and the mind-part will of course come along as our realization of the Gokai will deepen... how you see this application of your that thought Wayne ??


and i humbly apologise if you felt that i was trying to 'replace' ideas behind the principles with my ideas... it was not in my intention anywhere buddy... the points included were like a reference point or specimen, you can say... lets say if somebody tries that ritual, he/she will meditate in a way suited to herself, and not on the points mentioned in my post.. that is fair to assume, or isnt??


salman

Hi,

Lambs-wool wrote:we do such rituals when even when (in the beginning at least) we don't have a realization of what and why we been doing them... we keep doing them, we keep doing them as instructed and taught to us, and along way, we keep getting realizations about them... this is a gradual process...

That is very true.

Lambs-wool wrote:A mantra is always a subconscious imbedding of a thought / principle / energetic signature (my opinion, you of course may have to opine differently)

In my opinion a mantra is a set of sounds. These sounds trigger a certain energetic experience or a specific state of mind. It is not so much about the meaning of the words itself, it is about the energy or state of mind they generate.

The gokai are used as a mantra (jumon) in the more traditional or original Reiki styles. And by reciting it as a mantra (in Japanese of course), it generates a specific energy.

Lambs-wool wrote:A question : when you 'contmplate' and 'meditate' on principles, do u do them without any 'thoughts' ??

The way contemplating was taught to me: empty your mind, focus on one of the principles and watch your thoughts.
You start off without any thoughts or attachments, you focus on a precept and you watch whatever comes to mind.

Lambs-wool wrote:we are speaking these words to ourselves and in a way 'instructing' ourselves to do such things and not to do such things... if this is not affirmation, what is this ?

You are indeed instructing yourself. This is different from affirming.
I once wrote an article about the difference, but since it's in Dutch it's of no use here

An affirmation is a positive, self-affirming (or self-empowering/self-securing/self-confirming) sentence.
Looking into the mirror and saying "I am beautiful, I am beautiful" is an example of a good affirmation. When you're in a match or contest, telling yourself "I can do it, I can do it, I can do it!" you are affirming as well.

It is a sentence used to influence your subconscious and it is very handy to enhance your self-confidence. An affirmation must be formulated in a positive way, because it is said that the subconscious can't deal with negative words such as "not" and "never". It would simply not see these words.
Therefore "I will not be insecure" is not a good affirmation for the subconcious will only see "I will be insecure". It is better to use "I am filled with self-confidence", for instance.

The gokai are (apart from a mantra) principles.
Principles are basic guidelines, rules, precepts which you choose to live by.

The gokai are part of Usui-sensei's document called "Gainen" (meaning "concept"). The Gainen is a document in which Usui explains the basic concept of his teachings and the gokai are a vital part of it. It is the basis on which his teachings are built.
Therefore the gokai are rules.. principles.. guidelines.

Looking at it this way, the gokai are principles/precepts, not affirmations.


----

Just to make sure this is clear: I (now) see the value of the exercise you made and I don't think it's a bad thing. It could be of help to people.
I wouldn't want my comments to be seen as if I disapprove of your exercise.

*Gasshō*
Frank

hi Frank

I had the idea that jumons and kotodama have been associated with symbols, but this is new concept for me that Gokai have like jumons....

If we take them in that way, sure what u've said in your posts is quite understandable by me too

I'm going to start a new topic about mantra in some days... Lemme have done a little spade work buddy.

I'll write u soon

Take care

Salman

Hi,

Lambs-wool wrote:I had the idea that jumons and kotodama have been associated with symbols, but this is new concept for me that Gokai have like jumons....

The Reiki symbols and the mantras used in Usui-sensei's teachings are two separate things.
Although it is true that within Usui-sensei's teachings symbol 1 should have the same effect as the first jumon, they are different.
You don't need the symbol for the mantra to work. In fact, what I understand of Usui-sensei's teachings one would start with the jumon without any symbols.. and once you experience what the purpose of the jumon is.. you can connect the energetic experience with a symbol.

But this is rather off-topic I believe

I am looking forward to your new mantra-topic

*Gasshō*
Frank

Lambs-Wool wrote:GOKAI SELF-BLESSING RITUAL

What a lovely ritual. I could feel Reiki begin to emanate as I read through it!


Thank you for sharing this, Salman, you show a wonderful way of how to apply the wisdom of the Gokai into a practical method.

Lambs-Wool wrote:hi Frank

I had the idea that jumons and kotodama have been associated with symbols, but this is new concept for me that Gokai have like jumons....

If we take them in that way, sure what u've said in your posts is quite understandable by me too

I'm going to start a new topic about mantra in some days... Lemme have done a little spade work buddy.

I'll write u soon

Take care

Salman

Hi Salman and Frank

Yes, it is not very common knowledge, I don't think, that there is a great deal of power in reciting the Gokai in Japanese because of the particular sounds which Usui chose.

This is what we do in Jikiden Reiki and here are a couple of quotes from Tadao Yamaguchi's book, 'Light on the Origins of Reiki', to illustrate this point:

The teachings of the Gokai were not all originated by Usui Sensei himself. He selected useful lines from various teachings and compiled them. Within the words of the Gokai , Kotodama is alive because these words were chosen very carefully by a grand teacher, Usui Sensei himself.

and

We still practice this same Gokai at our Jikiden Reiki seminars today. The sounds of the words contain the great energy of Kotodama and we even ask non-Japanese participants to recite them in the original Japanese.

''within the words of Gokai, Kotodama is alive, since the words were carefully chosen''

Ah, this is a day of great discovery for me Colin... Real real thanks for aptly giving this knowledge at a critical point within this discussion


My topic/discussion on mantra will take a start from this point now

Frank, buddy, i can now clearly see the way u have opined.


Thanks Frank and Colin

Salman

Lambs-Wool wrote:

another thought that i was discussing with Wayne some days earlier is that reiki helps and aims to assimilate awareness by the meeting of mind and spirit.... if i apply that rule to this ritual, i may say that this ritual is doing the spirit-part, and the mind-part will of course come along as our realization of the Gokai will deepen... how you see this application of your that thought Wayne ??

sure. this is the value of the practice you've done. what i'm gonna say relates to today's chat here also, .

There's no seperation between spirit & mind. just like there's no seperation between pgysical body & aura. it's aspects of the whole. so even the mind part is the spirit-part. We can become enlightend via academic study. even going for a poop in the toilet can be the trigger, hehe.

Anyhow, study, academic study, as in using the mind, coupled with experiental spirituality is the most optimum way. lack of exercise in one, makes softens. Balanced way is best way. It's why i like this thing you've done so much. A first attempt at such a technqiue, and in many ways you've eptiomised what it's all about. this leads ot why it's important with todays chat.

Salman, i don't know if you've done this on purpose or not, we speak loads in private, but i've not highlighted this in Reiki, between us (for personal reasons). Ok, i'll get to the point, hehe. It's true, that jumon is spoken, but jumon is akin to a mystical incantation. Gokai recitation on it's own, is this. Although, this technqiues isn't Gokai recitation on it's own. So what follows only for Gokai doesn't follow for this technique. in any event, Jumon is sually used in conjunction with other things. Visualizations & mudras. This is very important with your technqiue. The Jumon, visualisations & mudras form what's commonly known throughout buddhism, and indeed many other religious practices, as 'thought, word & deed. They're the three 'secrets' in buddhism. and, imo, of mystical christianity, and maybe Islam (help me out with this). So, what you done, was use the word, the Gokai. you used the visualisation (realise). you used the deed (drawing symbols).

you know i won't align Reiki with buddhism, , but, if some where inclined to go into research, it could also be said that your technqiue also has the vital ingredients of other things. Such as the Reiki initiations. And it's a common theme in Reiki initiations for a reason.

Well done!

Warmest wishes
Wayne