Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen
step into the revolving door of the realms of Light
round and round and round we climb
The third symbol in the Reiki 2 attunement is Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen. This is commonly known as the “Distance Symbol” and is translated: “All is One” or “Past, Present, Future coming together.” I affectionately call this konji the Temple or the Pagoda because it has a spatial reality to it that seems very much like a sacred place that draws its initiates through its doors for deep healing presence.
When I look at this symbol I see the axis mundi. The roots of the world’s mother tree are sent down into the earth and the trunk reaches up into the heavens. The axis mundi is the center of all things and holds the world together with her interlocking and deepening roots. It is the central point of all existence.
Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen is a challenging symbol, as well it should be. When you step into the structure of this arboreal temple you enter a realm in which there is no time (all time is one) nor space (all space is one). Temporal and spatial reality collapse into the eternal present. It is here that we are able to heal the past or send ourselves forward into the future. It is here we can forgive our younger selves for the hurts we may have caused others and we may forgive others for any harm done. It is in the sheltering warmth of the tree that we can send light to those who have already taken off their earthly personas and stepped into pure auric form. There are no limitations of form, time, or locality.
When we step into the Temple we are met by the guardians of the entire lineage. The Reiki masters all leave imprints within this symbol and their songs are keyed into its walls. Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen is powerful not simply for its own symbolic gifts but it is composite of the gifts of all the Reiki practitioners who have stepped into its sacred space.
Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen is a portal to (and of) sacred space. It holds a space outside of regular linearity and allows us to exit the realms of locality to do powerful healing work on ourselves and with others.
If you know there is an important meeting or operation or confrontation you can send Reiki light forward in time. If there was an argument that caused bruised feelings you can send Reiki light back in time to heal the wounds of that pointed moment. If someone has been injured or pained you can heal the past, which then heals the present. Every wound we heal in this lifetime is automatically lifted in every other lifetime. This is the great gift of Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen and is the miracle of Reiki itself. Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen is a place in which we reach to the Divine and the Divine reaches back. This place we touch is Grace. It is here that miracles happen.
Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen works in all the layers of our being: physical, emotional-mental, spiritual, and causal. It is most attuned to the gaseous, or glowing, state of Light. It is in that state that we are pure being and most Light. Whereas the solid state is associated with the classical element Earth and the liquid state is associated with the classical element Water; the gaseous state is associated with the classical element Air. And the catalytic change from state to state is the classical element of Fire.