I have always been a bit uncomfortable with the concept of lineage,
Usui Sensi, Founder of Reiki
which appears to be something important in our Reiki training, and which for me, with my very English background, draws up images of kings and queens and dukes and ladies – those with prized lineages that allow them entitled benefits….
Even in many Reiki practitioners today we find people very attached to something special their Reiki lineage seems to endow them with that makes their Reiki, and perhaps them? what – superior – to others? Better than others? A contentiousness that has no spiritual home in right practice but finds a home in our human hearts.
How then do we approach lineage with understanding and humility?
When I undertook my Eastern Usui training
with Frans Stiene in 2015, I was able to identify with and accept the concept of primordial lineage; our spiritual lineage that connects us back through time and eternity to our true self, our spiritual root, of beingness. This was an easier concept for me live with, as it has universal application without denoting hierarchy or carrying any nascent imagery of privilege and class to it. Every one of us embodies a true primordial lineage to our higher, beautiful true self.
Still I grappled with the question,
what is the true place and purpose of lineage in our Reiki experience?
The inner questions were still not fully quieted around how lineage really, deeply matters in the learning of Reiki, although I did and do fully accept that one must have a good and true teacher. This is important and understandable as we all receive knowledge and experience through our teachers.
What has anchored the concept of lineage for me
most recently is a Buddhist concept explained by the Dalai Lama in his book “Stages of Meditation” that I am currently wending my way through in my morning practice. The Dalai Lama speaks of the lineage of the teaching as being an important factor. This then, became a clear light of understanding for me. Lineage in another form, from another view, is not about the people, but about the teaching. In Buddhist practice knowing the lineage of a teaching offers a look into the purity and trustworthiness of the teaching itself. Much knowledge comes to us through human paths. Knowing the quality of life of those through whom the teaching has passed on its path to us is of great import in the quality, shape and spirit of the teaching we receive. We must know the teaching is of right spirit and will produce spiritual life and growth in us as we receive and work with it. In the well-known parable of the seeds found in the bible, it was the ground into which the seed fell that was emphasized, dry or hard, weed-filed or fully ready to receive. As the time of Spring approaches and we look to the earth and to cultivating and planting in the soil, any gardener knows that the quality of the seed is as important as the quality of the soil that receives it. And furthermore, the quality of the care given to both, who become one as growth takes place, is as important as the first two conditions in producing the desired results.
And so, the question of lineage becomes clearer for me.
It is the lineage of the teaching that is vital to our learning. We receive it through human transmission, tempered by the spiritual connection, or right path, of the teacher to the originator, the first synthesizer of the thought into human experience. Much like an original work of fine art, the teaching must be handled with great care, and knowledgeable efforts made in its preservation, illumination and continuation. This is the lineage we become part of as we learn about Reiki. We are asked to take on the responsibility of continuing to polish the teaching in its own true light of understanding through dedication, life-long learning, and care and respect for the illuminating intention of its origin.
Know, and honor, your lineage.
Namasté
Learn Reiki!
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