Judge & Jury

One of the most important elements within the Reiki Jin Kei Do tradition, as it is with other Reiki traditions is the focus on the Reiki Principles or Ideals. A whole chapter is devoted to the Principles in the book, but it is worth I think just pulling out some themes related to one of them, which for me is quite pertinent today and for most of us most of the time to varying degrees.

Why for me today? I have had lots of anger coming up! So this is a cathartic exercise for me!

The Principle as it is expressed in Reiki Jin Kei Do, goes like this: Be mindful each moment of the day to observe the arising of greed, anger and delusion, looking deeper for their true cause.

Anger is essentially based in a deluded state of mind which springs from desire and thus attachment. We have all felt this at times and it is intrinsically linked to the title of this post: Judge and Jury. We all judge a lot of the time. The consequence of judgement is often anger.

Here today it rained a lot - now I don't mind this, I like rain. My boss on the other hand moans about it, like most do in the UK - we are a right miserable bunch when it comes to rain. Instead of appreciating it for what it is and for what it gives us the English, sheep-like and en mass whinge when it rains. Bit silly really for people living in a country where it will inevitable rain most of the time, but really; what is the point of this perpetual whinging about the weather? Will the weather change as a consequence and apologize for being so inconvenient? No. Will it get upset and promise not to do it again? No. Will we feel better for having a good whinge? No. I guess we could come up with all sorts of fantastic outcomes that we would like if whinging actually did anything constructive, but it doesn't - it just makes us feel worse; resigned to our fate as being wet...and miserable.

This whinging about the weather, or moaning about how much we are taxed, or how useless the postal service is these days, or how the the youth 'wouldn't have done that in my day' is all an expression of judgement and anger. We judge because the world just isn't the way that we think it should be. So, in judging we are doing two things: revealing our insecurity in being attached to a specific way that the world should in fact be because we are uncomfortable or vulnerable with the way things actually are, and we are also revealing an attachment to ego because we think we have the answers. How arrogant! But we all do it. Of course the consequence of having this attachment to the way things should be is often anger or irritation or frustration - all expressions of anger in one form or another.

We get angry at politicians for being so smug, at each other for being too late or too early, for burning the dinner or spilling a drink. For not listening when we are talking or not saying what is really meant when we are trying to listen. For the criminal justice system for being too lenient or for the way that the police are so arrogant. We might even get angry at the oven for burning the cake that we just made! Life just isn't the way it should be is it? So we get angry. We get angry as I said as we have these very strong attachments to how we think things should be. We want it all our way - just like a two year old child having a tantrum when we take away their bricks before bed. How childish are we in fact? Very, a lot of the time. It is not however that easy to stop the anger. Most of the time, we don't even try because we feel that we are justified in being angry. The world or specific individuals simply should conform to our assumptions of how things should be.

The consequence of having these attachments is that we live in a delusional and a psychologically disturbed state of being. This might appear to be a somewhat odd way of looking at things, but in fact the more belligerently someone insists on their way as being the best way, the more of a psychological problem they have. They live in a perpetual state of delusion and are unable to see the world for what it really is as they impose onto what is there in front of their noses what they think should be there instead. They literally can't see the wood for the trees. So this attachment that results in anger (expressed through judgement) leads to delusion - a sever mental aberration that we all suffer from at times. We lose the sense of joy at life, and instead wither under the weight of our baggage and our quick fixes that we have for the world and its problems.

As the Buddha said 'when we have anger at someone it is like picking up hot coals to throw at our enemy - who gets burned first?' Anger never hurts the object of the anger as much as the person being angry.

Heaven forbid that the world should actually be exactly as any one individual thinks it should be - what a catastrophe for the whole human race. It doesn't work when we have a collective democracy and everyone in the country gets a say - still things go wrong and it is far from a perfect place.

But what has this to do with Reiki and with Reiki Jin Kei Do? Reiki is about perfecting ourselves and bit by bit, in little increments, re-learning that we are all intrinsically connected and that no-one is an island unto themselves. The world is in fact perfect just the way that it is. This might be hard to swallow sometimes, but it is the truth. We all make mistakes. We all lie and cheat and deceive and do things that perhaps we shouldn't do at various times throughout our lives.

In realizing that none of us are perfect, it then perhaps becomes easier when next someone does something or says something that is not in keeping with our worldview to simply let go and accept that this is the way things are. More than this however, perhaps we can also learn to send love, compassion and forgiveness to the transgressor. Perhaps we can realize that just as the other person is not perfect, nor are we.

As a practitioner of Reiki Jin Kei Do there is a method for finding the root of anger. It is quite a simple method called 'MindCheck' that was developed by the lineage head Dr Ranga Premaratna. Of course, I have just told you what the root of anger is, but this is not enough. To know on an intellectual level that anger is based in an attachment to an unreal world of judgement and delusion is only the beginning. If we are to replace anger with love and compassion, and surely this is a worthwhile goal for anyone, then we must develop a real and profound understanding of how anger arises within us. What exactly is it that promotes this feeling within? Once we think that we have the answer, further exploration using the MindCheck method will uncover depths that you perhaps had not even guessed at previously. You will find in fact that the cause is possibly not what you had first thought it to be.

Ultimately in using MindCheck or any other method of self-exploration, you come to the inevitable conclusion that anger arises only from within and is never a consequence of that which is without. No one else can make you angry, only you can make you angry. It is your personal choice because life is not the way that you think it should be.

So in reflecting on these ideas we can see that actually the Reiki Ideals are a fundamental part of the Reiki canon. They are not some 'add-on' that can be largely ignored as we get on with our work of hands-on healing. They are fundamental to the practice, in fact are indeed the reason for having a practice - to realize deeply the immutable truth of these beautiful Ideals.