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I came across something that stopped me mid-YouTube search recently. I heard the Japanese word hei sei (平静) being chanted as a meditation for peace and I recognised something in it immediately. Calm. Stillness. Harmony. Qualities we might associate with the Reiki mantra Sei Heki, the quality of Harmony. Sei is spelled out the same in both words using romaji (Roman letters). It was then that I started to get mindfully creative, swapping words around and being plainly irresponsible. I know, curiosity killed the cat, right?
Was there a connection? No, but it did spark a thought about kotodama and how it works.
Same Sound, Different Kanji
The first thing I checked was the kanji of these words.
Sei Heki is written 性癖: meaning natural tendency or the habitual inclination to rediscover the inner essence of your true nature. Its traditional characteristic in the system of Reiki is Harmony.
Hei sei (平静): meaning calm, serene, tranquil, peaceful harmony.
Two completely different etymological origins of kanji. And yet both circle the same experiential territory: stillness, balance, the settling of inner turbulence into clarity.
Coincidence? Probably. Yet, it encouraged me to consider kotodama.
The Power Is in the Sound
Kotodama (言霊) is the ancient Japanese understanding that sounds carry inherent spiritual power, independent of the kanji assigned to them. Remember, kanji (Chinese characters) only arrived in Japan around the 5th–6th century CE, largely through the spread of Buddhism from China. The Japanese then matched their existing spoken words (and their kotodama) to these imported characters. Kotodama is one of the oldest principles in Shintō, and it underlies the way mantras function in both the system of Reiki and Japanese martial and spiritual traditions.
Though all four mantras taught in the system of Reiki are translatable, their technical meanings are less relevant than the vibrations that are invoked with their use. Mantras are obviously physical, but also mental vibrations… by following the vibration of the sound, we can cut through mundane thoughts and reach the mantra’s quality.
Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido, understood this:
“The kototama is not merely the sound of the human voice. It is the red blood in your hara, boiling over with life. When I chant the sounds of A O U E I, the gods which perform the functions of these kototama gather around me.”
And William Gleason, writing from deep immersion in the Japanese tradition, goes further:
“The kototama is not a theory or even a teaching. It is the life energy, or ki, that gives birth to consciousness in all its myriad forms.”
The syllables/morae of Sei (se and i are pronounced individually), and whatever kanji they wear, appear in contexts of clarity, stillness, and harmonising energy. From a kotodama perspective, that is no accident. The sound itself carries the quality.
How to Work With This
The next time you chant Sei Heki, try releasing the intellectual meaning entirely. Let the kanji go. Instead, feel the sound originating from the hara (deep belly) and allow it to resonate outward. Notice what the sound does in the body, not what it means to the mind.
This is the essence of kotodama practice: you are not reciting a word. You are becoming the vibration.
And when that vibration is Sei, notice the quality it invites. Stillness. Harmony. The settling of everything back into its natural place.
The kanji may differ. The experience does not. And the system of Reiki is nothing, if not experiential.
PS. No cats were hurt in the creation of this blog.
