Why is meditation the foundation of Japanese Reiki?
September 13, 2026
Chakras came into Western Reiki from the New Age movement and have nothing to do with the Japanese system. Teaching from a Japanese perspective, I work instead with Sanmitsu, which I call the Three Diamonds: body, mind, and the breath that links them. Those three sit at the base of every practice in the system.
It is not just Japanese Reiki teachers. I am not a Japanese Reiki teacher; I am a Reiki teacher who teaches from a Japanese perspective, and I do not use chakras, because chakras come from the New Age movement. They do not have anything to do with the Japanese healing system.
Instead we use Sanmitsu, which I have called the Three Diamonds just to make it easy to understand. What we are really doing is working with the body, the physicality; the mind; and the interlinking aspect of the breath.
We use these three elements to sit at the base of all our practices, and of how we understand ourselves and all beings.
The name. Sanmitsu, 三密, the three mysteries: san is three and mitsu is secret or mystery. In Japanese esoteric Buddhism they are body, speech and mind; in the system of Reiki I teach them as body, breath and mind, the Three Diamonds.
Where it sits in the system. Sanmitsu is not one of the five elements; it is the frame the five elements sit inside. Hands-on healing works the body, the mantras and Joshin Kokyu Ho work the breath, the precepts, waka and meditation work the mind.
A common misunderstanding. That the Japanese system has its own chakra-like map you simply have not been taught yet. It does not. The hara is a centre of gravity for practice, not a wheel in a column of seven.
Try this. In your next self-practice, name where your attention is: body, breath or mind. When it drifts to one, gently bring the other two back in. That is Sanmitsu in use.
You might also ask: What does ki actually mean in Japanese? · What is Joshin Kokyu Ho? · What is the Japanese view of the body in the system of Reiki?
I teach the Three Diamonds in full inside Shinpiden+.
More questions answered: Reiki Questions Answered.
