Washing dishes, Reiki-style. June 14, 2012
Posted by ourfriendben in Master Qi, Reiki, Reiki wisdom.Tags: Master Qi, Reiki, Reiki wisdom, The Way of Illumination
add a comment
Master Qi is Red Dog Reiki’s wisdom keeper.
Master Qi was washing the dishes. “You sure must love washing dishes, Master,” a student said. “Otherwise you’d have a dishwasher like everyone else.”
“Washing dishes is my least-favorite chore,” the Master replied. “I’d rather clean out the litterbox or pick up after the dog.”
“But then why don’t you get a dishwasher?” the student asked.
“Because I do not need one,” the Master replied.
Recognizing the difference between wants and needs keeps life uncluttered and uncomplicated.
Excerpted from The Way of Illumination: The White Book of Master Qi. All content © copyright Red Dog Reiki. All rights reserved.
Half full, or half empty? June 12, 2012
Posted by ourfriendben in Master Qi, Reiki, Reiki wisdom.Tags: life lessons, Master Qi, Reiki, Reiki wisdom, The Way of Illumination
add a comment
Master Qi is Red Dog Reiki’s wisdom keeper.
A student asked Master Qi to help him see the glass as half-full instead of half-empty. In answer, the Master poured wine into a glass until it was half full, drank it, and set the glass down on a table.
“But Master,” the horrified student exclaimed, “now the glass is empty!”
“That is true,” replied the Master, “but the bottle is still full. And when it is empty, the store is full of other bottles. And the city is full of other stores. And the countryside is full of wineries, working to provide new bottles of wine to replace the ones in the stores when they are sold.”
The Source of joy is inexhaustible. It is the limitations we ourselves put on it, our insistence that everything must be this or be that, that blinds us to the infinite abundance that surrounds us.
Excerpted from The Way of Illumination: The White Book of Master Qi. All content © copyright Red Dog Reiki. All rights reserved.
More than you think. September 5, 2011
Posted by ourfriendben in Master Qi, Reiki, Reiki wisdom.Tags: Dzi beads, life lessons, Master Qi, Reiki wisdom
add a comment
Master Qi is Red Dog Reiki’s wisdom keeper. This is one of the Master’s teaching stories.
A well-known art dealer in New York City held a dinner party at a trendy restaurant. Most of the guests were artists who exhibited in his gallery, but one was another art dealer who was a good friend of his. Though her gallery was also in New York and she visited often, she lived in a Southern town with her partner, who had grown up in the South. They had brought his grown daughter to New York for a holiday, and the man and his daughter looked distinctly out of place at the arty dinner: Clearly, they were neither New Yorkers nor part of the art world.
Everyone ignored them as the meal progressed. But the host became aware that the daughter was staring intently at his necklace, an elaborate and expensive artwork that centered on a priceless bead. “What a rube!” he thought. “I’ll bet she’s never seen a man wearing a necklace before!”
“Young lady,” he announced loudly, bringing all conversation at the table to a standstill, “I see that you take a particular interest in my neckwear.” Ha! That should put her in her place, the rude, stupid ignoramus.
“Indeed I do,” she replied, unfazed, raising confident, intelligent eyes to the gallery owner’s face. “That’s a dzi bead, isn’t it? I collect them, too, but I’m sure mine are all fakes, however ancient they may look. It’s a privilege, and an honor, to see a real one.”
Hastily revising his initial impression, the art dealer stood and came around the table so the young woman could have a better look at his treasure. As they began discussing the bead, it quickly became apparent that they shared a love of talismans and that each had a deep knowledge of their history. Encouraging the rest of the party to enjoy dessert, the gallery owner and his wife left with the trio of guests so he could show the daughter his amulet collection. Later that night, he told his wife that he couldn’t remember the last time he’d enjoyed such a pleasant evening.
Don’t let your prejudices lead to false impressions. There’s often more to people than you think.
Excerpted from The Way of Illumination: The White Book of Master Qi. All content © copyright Red Dog Reiki. All rights reserved.
Meat is meat. August 11, 2011
Posted by ourfriendben in Master Qi, Reiki, Reiki wisdom.Tags: Master Qi, Reiki, vegetarianism
1 comment so far
Master Qi is Red Dog Reiki’s wisdom keeper. This is one of the Master’s teaching stories.
An American was appalled after reading an article about how Koreans ate dogs.
“How can you eat dogs?!” he asked a Korean grocer. “Dogs are pets! That’s almost like eating people!”
“You Christians eat pigs!” a Muslim from Pakistan who happened to be in the store responded. “Unclean animals! What are you thinking?!”
“How can you Americans justify eating beef?” an Indian Brahmin shopping at the grocery added. “Cows are sacred in my country. We’d as soon eat our parents as eat a cow!”
“What’s wrong with eating your parents?” a Maori tribesman who’d happened on the store chimed in. “Human flesh is fatty and delicious. It’s not only nourishing, it’s so easy to capture, far easier than hunting for wild animals. And don’t you know that eating someone notable confers his qualities on you?”
“Aaaahhh!!! What are you saying?!!” screamed the Korean, American, Pakistani, and Indian, horrified.
“Flesh is flesh,” the Maori replied, untroubled. “Eat any, eat all, it’s all the same.”
Trying to draw distinctions between eating various kinds of meat is ultimately ludicrous. Eat it and take responsibility for eating it, or become vegetarian and stop.
Excerpted from The Way of Illumination: The White Book of Master Qi. All content © copyright Red Dog Reiki. All rights reserved.
Nothing and everything. August 3, 2011
Posted by ourfriendben in Master Qi, Reiki, Reiki wisdom.Tags: Dr. Usui, Frank Arjava Petter, Mari Hall, Master Qi, Mikao Usui, Reiki, Reiki wisdom, Usui Virtual Retreat
add a comment
Master Qi is Red Dog Reiki’s wisdom keeper.
“Hey, Master Qi!”
“Hi, Ben. What’s up?”
“You know I participate in the Usui 21-Day Retreat every year?”
“Yes, the meditation-in-community founded by Mari Hall. That is excellent practice.”
“Well, last year’s meditations were provided by Frank Arjava Petter, and he said something really amazing before each week’s meditation.”
“What did Arjava say?”
“He said, ‘There is nothing to be done, nothing to be changed, and nothing to be accomplished.’ What do you think of that?”
“How did that make you feel, Ben?”
“It made me feel… free, I guess, Master Qi. Like there were no burdens or expectations placed on me. Instead, I was free to focus on the meditation without the responsibility to make something out of it.”
“That is excellent, Ben. And the same would be true if Arjava had said ‘There is everything to be done, everything to be changed, and everything to be accomplished.’”
“Uh, really?”
“Yes, really. The ‘nothing’ gives you freedom, the ‘everything’ gives you hope. The human condition, at its best, combines freedom and hope. Freedom in the knowledge that you don’t have to accomplish anything. Hope in the knowledge that it’s possible to accomplish everything.”
Freedom and hope are both essential to the human condition.
Excerpted from The Way of Illumination: The White Book of Master Qi. All content © copyright Red Dog Reiki. All rights reserved.
Nothing to be done. August 2, 2011
Posted by ourfriendben in Master Qi, Reiki, Reiki wisdom.Tags: Frank Arjava Petter, Reiki, Reiki practice, Reiki wisdom
add a comment
“There is nothing to be done, nothing to be changed, and nothing to be accomplished.”
—Frank Arjava Petter
Use this illuminating, wise, and liberating quote to free yourself and deepen your Reiki practice today and every day. And check back tomorrow for Master Qi’s take on Arjava’s observation.
Washing dishes, Reiki-style: part two July 17, 2011
Posted by ourfriendben in Master Qi, Reiki, Reiki wisdom.Tags: Master Qi, Reiki, Reiki wisdom
add a comment
Master Qi is Red Dog Reiki’s wisdom keeper.
Another time, a student asked Master Qi, “Since you don’t like washing dishes, why do you wash them right away after every meal? If you let them pile up in the sink, you’d only have to wash them once a day.”
“You’re right, I don’t like washing dishes,” the Master replied. “But I like looking at dirty dishes still less, and I enjoy seeing everything clean and in its place. However, there’s a more important reason why I wash up after every meal instead of letting the dirty dishes pile up.”
“Because it would be unsanitary?” the student asked.
Master Qi laughed. “Good point! But, no, that’s not it, either. It’s precisely because I dislike washing dishes that I always clean them right away. If I left them in the sink, I’d waste time dreading having to wash them. Instead of thinking about more interesting things, I’d find myself brooding about those dirty dishes until I finally cleaned them up. By washing them right away, I free myself of them and never give them a thought from that moment on.”
Don’t put off tasks you dread or they’ll turn into a mental drain. Do them at once and move on to better things.
Excerpted from The Way of Illumination: The White Book of Master Qi. All content © copyright Red Dog Reiki. All rights reserved.
The Reiki Blog 