Irene is a student in the Reiki Mastery training at Kisetsu. In the spring of 2025, she travelled with us to Japan to deepen her practice and explore the spiritual roots of Reiki.
During one of the group sessions, a spontaneous and heartfelt conversation emerged around the meaning of the character “Rei” (靈), with valuable contributions from participants of Chinese and Japanese origin.
A few days later, Irene felt moved to write down what she had experienced and understood. This is her reflection.
During the Reiki Mastery retreat in Japan, a spontaneous and profound conversation emerged around the meaning of the character Rei (靈), one of the core elements of Reiki. Yuyan, a participant of Chinese origin, shared a vivid and heartfelt connection with the original meaning of this ideogram.
She explained that, in classical Chinese, the characters associated with Rei (靈) include elements such as rain, the human mouth, gates and fields, all combined into a single symbol. This character represents people gathered to work or to pray. In ancient times, those who led these prayer rituals were often considered mystical figures—shamans, mediums, or psychics. These kinds of figures existed not only in China but also in Japan and Vietnam, with similar characters.
From this understanding, Yuyan shared a reflection inspired by Taoist philosophy: the sky, the earth, plants, human beings… all form a single, unified whole. And that unity is not just an abstract idea—it is a living experience. She said:
“Rei is not something external or separate. It is within us. When we are connected, we can feel everything: the water, the air, the earth, the work of others… even in a cup of tea.”
These words sparked a deep and spontaneous dialogue with Jordi, the Reiki teacher, and Masaki, a participant from Japan. Together, they reflected through the lens of the tea ceremony:
“When you hold a cup of tea, the tea is outside of you. But at what point does the tea become you? When you bring it to your mouth? When it reaches your stomach? When you digest it? Or… did it already belong to you before drinking it?”
There wasn’t a single answer. What they were expressing was that there is no real separation between who we are and what surrounds us.
In the interwoven words of Masaki and Jordi:
“We are the tea. We are the earth. We are the air.
There is no god up there—we are god. This pencil is god. Everything is filled with ki, with life force. Everything is interconnected.
It’s just that, in order to understand the world, we’ve learned to divide it into parts.
But reality, at its core, is still one.”
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