Discussions of Quan Yin of late have got me pondering her brothers and sisters in Buddhahood and naturally, at the top of the list, as far as Reiki is concerned anyway, is Yakushi Nyorai… the Medicine Buddha, patron saint of all things healing, whom I refer to as the Reiki Buddha.

My own interpretation of Yakushi Nyorai (or Bhaisajyaguru Tathagata as he is known in India) is that he is in fact the Buddhist representation of Jesus Christ. Both of them made their appearance for the first in scripture in about 150 AD, they are both renown for their powers of healing, and the clincher is that Yakushi Nyorai had an army of the 12 Yaksha Generals that supported him, which coincide with the 12 Apostles. Whether Buddhism went from India to the Middle East or Christianity went from Jerusalem to India has been the subject of debate for years, both sides being quite persuasive, but I am not as interested in the origins as the results and a great deal can be learned either by regarding these two as the same, or as two sides of the same coin.

Here are a couple of interesting books I would recommend for deeper analysis of this, one (In Search of the Medicine Buddha) dealing specifically with the spiritual journey of a man looking for aspects of ancient healing in the modern world, the second (Reiki and the Healing Buddha) deals specifically with Reiki’s relationship to to Buddhism in general and the Healing Buddha more specifically and the third (The Healing Buddha) deals with a  more detailed and descriptive analysis of the Healing Buddha himself.

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There are some deeply religious Christians concerned with the Buddhist nature of Reiki and how that might impinge upon their religious practices and beliefs. If the Medicine Buddha is in fact the Buddhist portrayal of Jesus, than there can be no harm at all in incorporating Reiki into a Christian philosophy. Personally I see no overlap at all between Reiki and Religion, as I’ve said in the past, there can be… should you like… but for those who would like to keep them entirely separate… there is no diminishing of either by doing so.

A few years back I went to visit Yakushi-Ji (the Japanese temple dedicated to Yakushi Nyorai) and was a bit underwhelmed at the energies I experienced there. A few weeks later I found out that there was a new Yakushi-Ji, called Shin Yakushi-Ji, and sure enough, the energies there were awesome. My plan was to see if the energies emanating from the temple and statues of Yakushi Nyorai were in any way similar to Reiki energy, and by my reckoning they were not. The energies of Mt. Kurama are the only place I’ve found with that unique frequency, and while other mountains, Like Mt. Koya, Mt. Kumano and Mt. Yoshino all possess tremendous power and healing energy, they are quite unique from that of Mt. Kurama.

There is a Medicine Buddha Reiki floating around as well, and the attunement I received to it several years ago was not very powerful at all, and was more like a very week Reiju rather than a full Reiki energy in and of itself and had no energetic relation at all to the energies found at Shin Yakushi-Ji. Another related book called Medicine Dharma Reiki, by Lama Yeshe has been discredited as being completely the figment of the author’s imagination and I would recommend staying away from that one so as not to pollute your understanding with such fabrications.

A greater understanding of the Reiki Buddha can be quite valuable towards the development of a profound Reiki practice. Whether or not you are Buddhist, doesn’t matter as you can retain the ideas that you find helpful and disregard the rest. The result will be your own unique understanding, and since Reiki is ultimately organic in nature, the culmination of all the various things you learn while on the Reiki path will be your own personal, unique and wonderful Reiki garden and right in the center is the most intense mediation spot you’ve ever seen… reserved only for you!!

For further explanation or discussion, your thoughts are most welcome and highly encouraged, please feel free to comment below!!!