Lecture 6:
Transmission in Tao Shiatsu & the Five Elements of Meridian Recognition
dated Mar.07,2001
Keywords: receiving transmission, types of transmission, responsibility to Tao, self-power defined, naikan defined, innen defined, sesshin defined, the heart of nature, the five elements of meridian recognition
If you really get Level 1, then Levels 2 and 3 become easy because Level 1 is both the basis and the core. The main concept in Level 1 is receiving the transmission of the traditional sprit of Tao.
There are two ways to receive transmission. One way is by using the five elements of the ki method. The other is by imagining the teacher doing Tao Shiatsu. Many students don't follow the necessary steps until they realize that it is not possible to do Tao Shiatsu with self-power (just their own ability).
Or to do it effectively as a manual technique using ego consciousness.
What is quite amazing is that when a student tries to work while also deeply imagining the teacher doing it, the effect to the receiver is the same as if the teacher were giving the treatment.
But once again motivation is important:
If your motivation is respect for the Tao and desire to follow the Tao, it happens. But if your idea is just to borrow the Tao and use it as a temporary tool or if you just want to do good shiatsu, the effect will not last long.
There are two types of transmission. One is to directly receive the spirit of Tao which is the heart of Nature and the ki of 3,000 years of oriental medical tradition. By receiving this Tao spirit, effective treatment can be given to the patient. You could call this passive transmission because the ki you receive is passed to the patient through your shiatsu.
The other type of transmission is unification; merging your life with Tao Shiatsu. This means you live in a state where you are always responsible to Tao Shiatsu. Tao Shiatsu is not just a one shiatsu method or technique: it is the heart of nature and the essence of oriental medicine.
The five elements of meridian recognition that we will practice today support the method of Tao Shiatsu.
1. Basic knowledge
2. Innen, or mind-intent. The strong will for positive results in others
3. Sesshin, 100% wanting to give and purity of motivation
4. Empathic Imagination, 100% caring for other beings' existence as your responsibility
5. Naikan, constantly looking into your own heart, in order to remain in an egoless state
You are responsible to Tao Shiatsu to the same extent you are unified with Tao Shiatsu. If your goal is to merge with the Tao, (through the elements listed above), even you are not always in this state, you are part of the stream of the Tao spirit. But if this is not your goal, you will never feel responsible to Tao Shiatsu.
To be responsible to Tao Shiatsu is not the same as "wanting to do Tao Shiatsu" (which is passive). Responsibility is 100% active because it is your life. "Wanting to do Tao Shiatsu" has a big element of self-interest, but "responsible to Tao Shiatsu"' means you feel responsible for positive results in the lives of others and desire their well-being.
Is Tao Shiatsu your responsibility or not? This is the key, difference between the two types of transmission (passive or responsible).
Not everybody fits the second type. There's a certain kind of person who is more suitable for passive transmission. And some are the responsible type, whether they like it or not. Once you receive spirit to be responsible you have to do SO MUCH WORK. I tell you it is not an easy job at all. Nobody enjoys this job from an ego point of view.
Only the responsibility itself makes you to keep working on it. To share the heart is to try to give your best for others. It is not an easy job in this modern age, especially dealing with so much ego energy around. It is a tiring job actually.
But even so. there is such a huge pleasure once a student's heart is shifted to be in the state of Tao heart and share the same sprit. Like finding treasure in the desert! Or seeing a stone changed into a diamond!
But nobody knows who will become like this or when.
The Tao itself decides and we cannot choose. I sometimes wish that this was not my responsibility.
Even Masunaga sensei wrote; " After returning from the war, I had to help my parents with shiatsu, which was my family business. I had no motivation or desire to do such a job, always dealing with sick people and old people. But I will write this book because I appreciate my destiny now." (Clinical Experiences: 100 Stories, a manuscript unfinished at the time of his death).
So nobody knows how it will happen. The shift always comes from the Tao side and is beyond our control. But once someone becomes responsible there is a total shift in their heart, so how they look at Tao Shiatsu is transformed. If they accept responsibility, if they unify their life with Tao Shiatsu, then by imagining that person giving Tao Shiatsu, someone else can create the same effect in their own treatment. This is how a Tao Shiatsu teacher is born.
A teacher is a person who receives the ki of the Tao moment to moment. Because they recieve it moment to moment, the ki of the Tao, the heart of nature, is always in their heart. This is the ki the student receives from the teacher and this is the ki (the other power) that makes Tao Shiatsu possible. By imagining the teacher doing Tao Shiatsu a student can access this ki.
It all comes from the heart. Moment to moment also means it can disappear in the next moment. Nobody knows when it will disappear, nobody knows when it will appear. To be teacher of Tao Shiatsu is an every-moment job, not relying on one's own ability (self-power ), but realizing Tao Shiatsu depends on other-power, the heart of nature, the ki of the Tao.