Reiki Is Not a Word.......

Reiki Is Not a Word by Pamela Miles

Posted: 05 Nov 2009 07:29 AM PST

How often have you seen information about Reiki that starts with this: Reiki is a Japanese word meaning universal life energy.

What is wrong with that sentence?

First of all, there are no Japanese words. The Japanese language is written in pictograms, not words.

I hear someone saying, “Picky, picky, picky.” And I completely own it. I am picky, picky, picky. But that doesn’t make a pictogram a word, or even a reasonable equivalent. A pictogram is a stylized picture. Even the most florid word is linear compared to a picture. Words define; pictograms suggest. And they can only be understood in context.

The definition above traces back to Hawayo Takata, the Reiki master who, with her Reiki master Chujiro Hayashi, brought Reiki from Japan to Hawaii in the late 1930s.

I want to go on record as having only the most profound admiration and gratitude for Mrs. Takata. But that doesn’t mean we freeze dry everything she said and use it without reflection.

Anyone who heard Mrs. Takata say those words also heard her say more, and likely felt her hands as well. Taking a line from a live event and turning it into the lead of an article doesn’t work. When writing, we have only our words with which to interest people. Make them count.

Use your words to tell people what they want to know about Reiki–how it can help them. If you lead with a definition that tells them nothing, you may not get a chance to elaborate.
email2friend

chi_solas wrote:

Reiki Is Not a Word by Pamela Miles

Posted: 05 Nov 2009 07:29 AM PST

How often have you seen information about Reiki that starts with this: Reiki is a Japanese word meaning universal life energy.

What is wrong with that sentence?

First of all, there are no Japanese words. The Japanese language is written in pictograms, not words.

I hear someone saying, “Picky, picky, picky.” And I completely own it. I am picky, picky, picky. But that doesn’t make a pictogram a word, or even a reasonable equivalent. A pictogram is a stylized picture. Even the most florid word is linear compared to a picture. Words define; pictograms suggest. And they can only be understood in context.

The definition above traces back to Hawayo Takata, the Reiki master who, with her Reiki master Chujiro Hayashi, brought Reiki from Japan to Hawaii in the late 1930s.

I want to go on record as having only the most profound admiration and gratitude for Mrs. Takata. But that doesn’t mean we freeze dry everything she said and use it without reflection.

Anyone who heard Mrs. Takata say those words also heard her say more, and likely felt her hands as well. Taking a line from a live event and turning it into the lead of an article doesn’t work. When writing, we have only our words with which to interest people. Make them count.

Use your words to tell people what they want to know about Reiki–how it can help them. If you lead with a definition that tells them nothing, you may not get a chance to elaborate.
email2friend

1. Huh? So only the written form of the language matters?? There are no spoken words???

2. The "pictogram" assertion is overblown. Phonetic borrowing -- rather than pictogram meaning -- accounts for many, many of the uses of "pictograms" in the Chinese-character-based writing. But again, that goes back to speech.

3. It seems rather ethnocentric to say, as Miles did, that "There are no Japanese words." If you're familiar with the developing vocabulary of Japanese infants who are first learning to speak, then you know that Miles is dead wrong about that.

4. Miles is ignoring the phonetic scripts that the Japanese have developed.

5. Why not go up to someone whose first language is Japanese, and tell 'em "There are no Japanese words?" Then explain Miles' assertion. He/she may well bust a gut laughing in response.

Cheers.

Bruce

Bruce wrote:

chi_solas wrote:

Reiki Is Not a Word by Pamela Miles

Posted: 05 Nov 2009 07:29 AM PST

How often have you seen information about Reiki that starts with this: Reiki is a Japanese word meaning universal life energy.

What is wrong with that sentence?

First of all, there are no Japanese words. The Japanese language is written in pictograms, not words.

I hear someone saying, “Picky, picky, picky.” And I completely own it. I am picky, picky, picky. But that doesn’t make a pictogram a word, or even a reasonable equivalent. A pictogram is a stylized picture. Even the most florid word is linear compared to a picture. Words define; pictograms suggest. And they can only be understood in context.

The definition above traces back to Hawayo Takata, the Reiki master who, with her Reiki master Chujiro Hayashi, brought Reiki from Japan to Hawaii in the late 1930s.

I want to go on record as having only the most profound admiration and gratitude for Mrs. Takata. But that doesn’t mean we freeze dry everything she said and use it without reflection.

Anyone who heard Mrs. Takata say those words also heard her say more, and likely felt her hands as well. Taking a line from a live event and turning it into the lead of an article doesn’t work. When writing, we have only our words with which to interest people. Make them count.

Use your words to tell people what they want to know about Reiki–how it can help them. If you lead with a definition that tells them nothing, you may not get a chance to elaborate.
email2friend

1. Huh? So only the written form of the language matters?? There are no spoken words???

2. The "pictogram" assertion is overblown. Phonetic borrowing -- rather than pictogram meaning -- accounts for many, many of the uses of "pictograms" in the Chinese-character-based writing. But again, that goes back to speech.

3. It seems rather ethnocentric to say, as Miles did, that "There are no Japanese words." If you're familiar with the developing vocabulary of Japanese infants who are first learning to speak, then you know that Miles is dead wrong about that.

4. Miles is ignoring the phonetic scripts that the Japanese have developed.

5. Why not go up to someone whose first language is Japanese, and tell 'em "There are no Japanese words?" Then explain Miles' assertion. He/she may well bust a gut laughing in response.

Cheers.

Bruce

I have no idea where she was going with this.
I tell folks that Reiki is a system that uses ULFE

Communicating with pictures/hieroglyphs shows up in
ancient caves . I'm a big fan of reading pictures.
It's my understanding that Reiki symbols are part of
the Japenese characters. I see them as whole language
each stroke has a meaning. we show a child a picture of
an orange, we are not limited to the information given
....it's a color, it's a fruit, it's a shape.

Maybe Pamela needs to clarify her thoughts so we can
better understand what she means

Pamela Miles wrote: ... Reiki is a Japanese word meaning universal life energy.

What is wrong with that sentence?

The only thing I can see that is 'wrong' with the sentence is the bit about 'Reiki' meaning 'universal life energy'

Pamela Miles wrote:First of all, there are no Japanese words. The Japanese language is written in pictograms, not words.
...But that doesn’t make a pictogram a word, or even a reasonable equivalent. A pictogram is a stylized picture. Even the most florid word is linear compared to a picture....

I think Pamela is getting confused about the difference between the various methods of writing words, and words themselves.

Pamela Miles wrote:Words define; pictograms suggest.

hmm, to be, as Pamela phrases it:

Pamela Miles wrote:...“Picky, picky, picky.”

the kanji characters used to write Japanese words are more properly Ideograms, not Pictograms

Pictograms define; Ideograms suggest

chi_solas wrote:
Maybe Pamela needs to clarify her thoughts so we can
better understand what she means

If she give such clarification, please let us know.

Bruce

Rlei_ki wrote:
Pictograms define; Ideograms suggest

Hi, James,

I was wondering whether there are any likely candidates for words in reiki or similar practices that might involve "secret writing" of combinations of characters. I was remembering your faux example in another thread, of antelope = ant + elope. But then that reminded me of the Daoist text The Secret of the Golden Flower, where supposedly parts of the characters for "gold" and "flower" can be combined into a new character that means "light," which is supposed to be the real subject of the text.

Just wondered whether you had any thoughts on this topic. Thanks.

Bruce

Bruce wrote:

chi_solas wrote:
Maybe Pamela needs to clarify her thoughts so we can
better understand what she means

If she give such clarification, please let us know.

Bruce

If she responds back to me I will

chi_solas wrote:

Bruce wrote:

chi_solas wrote:
Maybe Pamela needs to clarify her thoughts so we can
better understand what she means

If she give such clarification, please let us know.

Bruce

If she responds back to me I will

Her response was to direct me to her blog and see what others said.
so... Pamela Miles blog... should get you there

Bruce wrote:I was wondering whether there are any likely candidates for words in reiki or similar practices that might involve "secret writing" of combinations of characters.

To a certain extent, yes.

It is all tied in with the science of Kotodama (which deals with the power of the 'spirit of the word')

Kotodama is a multi-faceted, complex discipline (going far beyond the over-simplistic practice shared by those who teach the socalled 'Reiki Kotodama').
It deals with the power of words on all levels - whether as unexpressed thoughts, or as vocalised sounds, or in their written aspect; and is heavily interwoven with other elements of Japanese magic, numerology, kuji no in, etc.

Bruce wrote:.... the Daoist text The Secret of the Golden Flower, where supposedly parts of the characters for "gold" and "flower" can be combined into a new character that means "light," which is supposed to be the real subject of the text.

Generally, the focus on the written aspect of kotodama is more to do with whole kanji rather than the bushu (radicals) or other elements that make up the particular kanji; and amongst other things, can involve hiding / revealing deeper meanings of words through the substitution of a specific kanji's 'Chinese Reading' for the 'Japanese Reading' (and vice versa); or by substitution of actual kanji themselves.

There are very specific rules governing both the substitution process itself, and the different levels of meaning arrived at as a result of the process.

.
.
.

chi_solas wrote:
Her response was to direct me to her blog and see what others said.
so... Pamela Miles blog... should get you there

That was quite an unresponsive statement from her. I went to the blog and saw that she hadn't addressed the points. So I'm leaving a message on her blog.

Bruce

Rlei_ki wrote:

Bruce wrote:I was wondering whether there are any likely candidates for words in reiki or similar practices that might involve "secret writing" of combinations of characters.

To a certain extent, yes.
[. . . .]

Thanks for your response. Reading over your explanation made me think that either 1) my head might explode, or 2) I just won't ever understand intricacies of the system. Actually, maybe both (1) and (2). Ah, well.

Bruce

I read some interesting material about sanskrit a little while back...... and about how the words both written and spoken have a very precise energetic vibration when said correctly with the correct spiritual integrity..the explanation was beautiful, about how these words ebb and flow and create the perfect sacred space for the following words......I'm not articulate enough to express the point, but it resonated with me......If I can find the material again I'll post it...

I guess what I'm trying to say, is, some words have a deeper hidden potential depending on the person reading them.... words and language ( in all it's forms) carry the energy of the person writing them... as regards some ancient sanskrit texts, these were written by spiritually awakend personalities.....their words ( in all forms) hold a deeper symbolic meaning carried within their energetic potential...

on a different note but I feel relevant....when I was a young girl I remember lying n my bed one night trying to figure out the meaning of my name....( I was about 8 or 9) Sharon... nothing fancy and certainly not unusual or unique as my mate tracy will tell you!! ahahahah anyway....I started saying my name in as many different ways as I could...putting emphasis on the different letters in the name using different tones...when eventually my name broke itself down and seperated at which point I had a rather lovely out of the body experience.... where I started to travel through space watching the universe flash by me... ( theres a symbolic message in here somewhere!!)

and I wonder what Pamela Miles' view of sign language is??...

Shakti ~ Rising wrote:I read some interesting material about sanskrit a little while back...... and about how the words both written and spoken have a very precise energetic vibration when said correctly with the correct spiritual integrity..the explanation was beautiful, about how these words ebb and flow and create the perfect sacred space for the following words......I'm not articulate enough to express the point, but it resonated with me......If I can find the material again I'll post it...

I guess what I'm trying to say, is, some words have a deeper hidden potential depending on the person reading them.... words and language ( in all it's forms) carry the energy of the person writing them... as regards some ancient sanskrit texts, these were written by spiritually awakend personalities.....their words ( in all forms) hold a deeper symbolic meaning carried within their energetic potential...

It's interesting to speculate on what happens when Sanskrit isn't the original language. The early Buddhist texts were written in Pali, then translated into Sanskrit. What was lost in translation? What was gained in translation? What happened when Pali was translated into Sanskrit which in turn was translated into another language like English? How about comparison of Pali-English and Sanskrit English translations of the same early Buddhist text? I don't know.

Bruce

there will always be more questions than answers

how do you know?

(just wanted to pose another question to your answer, hehe)

that was obvious wasn't it?

It was to me. How about you?

Shakti ~ Rising wrote:and I wonder what Pamela Miles' view of sign language is??...

I was reading Pamela's blog today
and this is one of her reflection
thoughts on "Reiki is not a word"

Reiki in the Name of Jesus seems particularly timely as we approach year-end. Although I was deliberately being a little provocative in order to get people thinking, the controversy sparked by Reiki Is Not a Word surprised me. What I wanted to underline is that there is much nuance related to Reiki that does not easily translate from Japanese culture to American understanding, and that it is worth making the effort to recognize some fundamental differences between the two cultures are. I'm not so sure that's the point that came across, but I'm always happy when people of diverse perspectives engage in respectful debate.

hmmm...... firstly.....that first sentence means nothing!

Reiki in the name of Jesus seems particularly timely as we approach the year end...

what has that got to do with anything?? ( I;m not having a go at you Solas but at Pamelas statement)

Its common knowledge that the celebration of the Winter Solstice was overtaken and hijacked by the heads of the Christian church who altered the date slightly and turned this time of year into the farce that has come to represent the birth of Jesus....

Most biblical scholars would agree that the historical Jesus wasn't even born at this time of year....

I'm sorry I've lost the point I didn't see far beyond that first sentence!! ahahahahahaah

chi_solas wrote:
I was reading Pamela's blog today
and this is one of her reflection
thoughts on "Reiki is not a word"

Reiki in the Name of Jesus seems particularly timely as we approach year-end. Although I was deliberately being a little provocative in order to get people thinking, the controversy sparked by Reiki Is Not a Word surprised me. What I wanted to underline is that there is much nuance related to Reiki that does not easily translate from Japanese culture to American understanding, and that it is worth making the effort to recognize some fundamental differences between the two cultures are. I'm not so sure that's the point that came across, but I'm always happy when people of diverse perspectives engage in respectful debate.

Frankly, Miles' claim as to Japanese culture and linguistics seems either disingenuous or naive. Her statements are the sort of things that would be said by armchair practitioners ooohing and aaahing over the "exotic" features of another culture they'd seen on rather shallow exposure. The Japanese language has no words? Nonsense.

Bruce

Shakti ~ Rising wrote:hmmm...... firstly.....that first sentence means nothing!

Reiki in the name of Jesus seems particularly timely as we approach the year end...

what has that got to do with anything?? ( I;m not having a go at you Solas but at Pamelas statement)

Its common knowledge that the celebration of the Winter Solstice was overtaken and hijacked by the heads of the Christian church who altered the date slightly and turned this time of year into the farce that has come to represent the birth of Jesus....

Most biblical scholars would agree that the historical Jesus wasn't even born at this time of year....

I'm sorry I've lost the point I didn't see far beyond that first sentence!! ahahahahahaah

Sorry about that. She had written
both articles at the same time.

now I'm really confuzzled!! ahahah.... but I agree with Bruce's last sentiments...

Shakti ~ Rising"...now I'm really confuzzled!! ahahah.... but I agree with Bruce's last sentiments...

It seems to me that she was trying
to get folks thinking about Japanese/Western
cultures interpreting Reiki. The loss that
happens when translating Usui's original
teachings. I can see that her choice of words
lead to more confusion.



Here she is reflecting on what she has said in a previous blog

Although I was deliberately being a little provocative in order to get people thinking, the controversy sparked by Reiki Is Not a Word surprised me. What I wanted to underline is that there is much nuance related to Reiki that does not easily translate from Japanese culture to American understanding, and that it is worth making the effort to recognize some fundamental differences between the two cultures are. I'm not so sure that's the point that came across, but I'm always happy when people of diverse perspectives engage in respectful debate.

Trying to get folks to think, applaud that! Even being a little provacative! Hehe, like that also!

Right/wrong, left/right, up/down, whatever. If it get's folks thinking about life, existence, etc, the practitioner serves the purpose, imo. Even if it's an emotive subject. Subjects that cause emotion, can cause more focus (at times).

i'm going off-topic here, but i know when i've been in deep debate. I always will go back & reread, for many weeks, all that has been said. This is cause, in the heat of any provactive chat, i may lose some important info another has taught me. In the cold light of re-study, days or weeks later, i have saw more readily what's been said.

So yeah, good on her, i mightn't agree with what she said, but heck, i don't agree with myself one week to the next, hehe.