Source Text
The training was very demanding, both physically and mentally. We could spend hours looking at a bamboo stem until finding enough steadiness of mind to make a perfect cut, not doubting, not thinking. It was as if the blow of the sabre had its own life and with a whistle and great precision it cut through what was ahead. This exercise, called “Ki-Ai” represented a total union with your sword as if we both were one. At the beginning, in the early years, we trained with some rudimentary swords, made of bamboo or rough sticks called “boken”.
In the college they disciplined us with long meditation exercises and the learning of extensive religious Buddhist texts. So concentration and meditation were always present in my life from when I was little.
SPIRITUAL PRACTICES Swamped with so many studies and not having found the hoped for results I used to spend long periods in spiritual exercises, such as fasting, meditation or reciting sutras and mantras. Sometimes I practiced in my room, and other times in temples and places of pilgrimage. I participated in a group, called “Tatsu no Retsu3”, that carried out mystical magical practices. We went to woods and remained there motionless or entombed for days. On other occasions we invoked the elements with long recitations. We connected with something so special that we always wanted more.
BURIED ALIVE We did exercises on dying, because we had to die in a fictional reality to wake up to the true reality. We practiced dying because one day we would really die.
Reciting the heart sutra, the main sutra of our school of practice, we quickly entered into a state of trance. Within this tiny space inside mother earth we sought death so as to be born again. We used medicinal herbs with anti inflammatory, insect repellent and analgesic properties to cushion the ground and to help the body to get through so many days immobile. We also used esoteric practices for energy cleansing and the raising of vibratory frequencies. In this chamber of sensory deprivation one soon becomes alone with one’s mind.
When you return to the world, you feel as if you do not belong to it. It was very difficult to adapt to it once again. After the death experience, one doesn’t worry about the price of rice, or if the neighbour has bought a wonderful new horse, or if your wife isn’t happy because you don’t pay her enough attention. People in their mental worlds are so disturbed that they cannot escape from their mental prisons. But for them the mad one was me - the one who was totally in peace, the one who wasn’t affected by anything and who nothing annoyed. Those were some of the exercises we did. Either you find yourself or you go mad fighting with your mind.
Exercise suggestion: Meditate on the concept that we are buried and die4.
further from my mind, my past, my studies, and my desires. I distanced myself so far from all this that soon I found myself alone with myself. At last, my essence, my purity, my true nature of light emerged. I was filled with so much light and energy that I fainted. When I came to, I woke up to a new understanding thanks to this experience, to a new level of consciousness, to a new connection with everyone and everything. I, Octavio, asked him with curiosity while channeling his words, “why twenty one days?” Twenty one days represent the three states of mind: Seven days to pass through the conscious mind Seven days to pass through the unconscious mind Seven days to be in the state of “no-mind” In the first seven days you keep your thoughts at bay so that they don’t interfere with your work. You shut them off, you block them and you do not let them develop. When your mind is at peace and not distracted, then comes the following period of seven days. In this second period, a deeper unconsciousness emerges; sometimes it is almost impossible to distinguish between dream and reality. During this stage, one can have experiences with Buddhas or demons, or others, with characters that bless you and give you peace, or with beings that annoy you, frighten you or attempt to spoil your work. If you hold firm, you enter into the next period of “no-mind”, where everything is empty, where everything melts away. It cannot be explained, it is as if you explode and blur into every cloud, every mountain, into each human being, into emptiness itself.
I rose so high that I could touch the source or the source touched me! When you have gone beyond the mind, one is not the same and the mind can no longer manipulate you. Having reached this state it is very easy to teach others the true path and it is very easy for them to understand you, but it is very, very difficult for them to leave behind their old thought patterns and thinking habits.
Spiritualization is necessary because one cannot live in a healthy way without the spiritual facet. This spiritual aspect gives clarity, understanding, raises the vibrations and improves quality of life. Usui sensei not only gave healing, he helped to connect people with the deepest and most forgotten parts of their being. A person who connects with their soul, connects with a source of energy and infinite information because souls are connected. Souls connect on levels according to the levels of consciousness and those different levels are interconnected with each other. So we can live always at the same level, or we can take energy from other levels of consciousness to help us reach other levels. We can also make use of this energy to help someone to overcome an illness.
AI Summary
The Akashic Records of Mikao Usui by Octavio Lombardo Rodriguez and Albert Lledo Grima presents key insights from the contemplative tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
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Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
This entry was generated from Readwise highlights. Expand with additional context as appropriate.