Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen: Get to Know it, Practice Using It

The Distance symbol, or Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen, is used to send Reiki to any person, animal or place in any time, including sending Reiki to yourself in the past or in the future.

Sending Reiki through the barriers of time and space seems a bit woo-woo to most, but it is very possible that common acceptance of the laws of time and space might just be wrong. Quantum physics theorizes that what our senses tell us about our physical world creates a construct in our mind and represents only a fragment of what is measurably there. And time, as we perceive it, is not how it might actually be. This is completely in line with what Spiritual Masters have been saying for countless generations – time and space is just an illusion.

Spending time with the Reiki symbols in meditation is one of the best ways I know to get to know them and practice using them in a relaxed fashion so that when you come to use them with clients you are confident and sure that you’re tapping into the intended vibrational energy.

Below is a short meditative practise to get you familiar with the vibration of Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen, to teach you how to draw the symbol properly and to experience the true purpose of time and space. It is not a practice in how to send distance Reiki, but an experience in the symbol’s abilities.

Meditation Transcript:

Take a moment to settle in and find the right frame of mind to enjoy this meditative experience.

Spend a few moments taking some deep breaths, letting go on the exhale and coming into a more relaxed disposition.

Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen, or the distance symbol, is used to send Reiki across time and space. You can send Reiki to a person, situation or animal anywhere in the physical world, send Reiki to the past, send Reiki to someone who has passed over or send Reiki to the future. Of course, you may be asking, how is this possible?

In this session, we will be getting to know this symbol and experience collapsing the illusion of time and space. Every symbol has a specific vibrational feel to it, and the distance symbol is no exception.

In this exercise, I invite you to mentally draw Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen in your mind’s eye and practice drawing it. Look at the screen, and follow along. See the patterns that form within the symbol. Watch how the symbol materialises from top to bottom and from left to right.

Close your eyes now as we contemplate the meaning of Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen. Broken down, it roughly translates to:

The root, origin or essence of a person, correctly and certainly thinks, intends or desires that which is just, right or proper.

Commonly, the following three phrases are often used to convey the message of the symbol.

“There is no past, there is no future.”

“The past, present, and future are all here now in this present moment.”

“The Divine in me recognises the Divine in you.”

What does this mean to you?… What is the divine essence in you and how does it behave and recognise another?… What images of time and space does this conjure in your mind?…

Withdraw from your contemplations now, and gently opening your eyes, we will practice drawing the symbol.

Follow along looking at the screen, and draw the entire symbol with your index finger on to the palm of your opposite hand.

Now draw the symbol again on the opposite palm with the opposite index finger.

Now place your palms together in a prayer position, close your eyes, and say the symbol name three times, either out loud or in your head.

Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen. Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen. Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen.

Now relax your hands as we enter a deep meditation.

The distance symbol collapses the illusion of time and space so if you feel some odd sensations, do not be alarmed or panicked. Time and space is an illusion that we assume is real and this meditation is going to give us a little peek under the veil.

Take some deep breaths now.

Let go of any physical tension, and allow yourself to be free of any mental tension. Imagine yourself lifting up… lifting up and up, out of your room, out of your street, up and up, further and further, up into the sky, then beyond the sky into the earth’s atmosphere and break through into the space of the universe.

Visualise yourself in outer space. You are perfectly safe, you are floating merrily with the stars. As you look about you, you see planets, distant galaxies, suns, moons, rainbow-coloured clouds of space dust… all floating in the blackness of space.

As you float here, the stars, galaxies and planets begin to fade, the lights blot out. The space appears visually empty now, but you are still supported and safe. There is no sun or moon to tell you the time of day, no hot or cold, no sources of light.

There are no longer any visual, spacial or experiential clues for your to read, and therefore no longer any need for your physical body. Your physical form fades into the nothingness. you exist as potential in the void of space.

There is no longer an above, or below, a left or right.

There is no over here or over there because without ‘here’ to start from, ‘there’ cannot be defined.

There is no ‘last week’, there is no future to plan for. There just ‘is’. A never-ending now.

There is only this moment. There is only this time.

You, without your body and its senses, without your past and future plans, are an idea. you are a divine essence of potential. You are no longer hampered by the illusion of time and space.

The space you are in, although it cannot be defined by your senses, is universal oneness, where all things co-exist in their potential state at once. It is a paradox – the thing you cannot sense is the very thing you absolutely are.

It is divine energy, the fountain of creation. It is from this point that all things come as ideas.

But it can only ever be a divine spark of an idea because it cannot be perceived without the veil of time and space. Time and space is a gift so we may see creation in action.

Right now, you are a divine spark of essence, resting in a sea of potentiality. You cannot really create or experience anything in this void, you can only exist as potential.

But you can become anything you like. Let us say you wish to experience the sensations of growth, and the best example of growth to your mind, is that of a tree… so in your wisdom, you decide to be a tree… but to just become a tree in an instant, is not to experience growth, so you enter the physical world and manifest as a seed.

In the physical, you are subject to time and space. You must wait to germinate, to take root, get strong and experience your growth, the good and the bad of it. You need time to grow into a tree and the tree takes up more and more space around it as it grows over time, changing the environment as it does so.

Seasons come and go. Storms lash at you, humans cut you, animals claw you, insects nibble at you. The sun bathes you, the moon cools you and you thrive. the gentle rain washes and hydrates you and the soil feeds and nurtures you.

Years pass, branches fall, once strong roots fail and gradually the physical form you have worn called ‘tree’ has crumbled and joined the earth beneath it. Your divine essence returns to the void once more.

In your desire to experience growth, you have excelled beyond your wildest expectations. you have grown so much and against such odds and even in physical decline you grew in knowledge of the circle of life. None of this would have been possible without time and space.

All living things evolve through a cycle, adapting and changing, growing and declining. And all the while, fed through the illusion of time and space. For without time and space, we would not be able to perceive these things.

But we forget, thanks to the veil, that we are divine essence. We think we are the seed, the tree. we only see the limitations of the time and space around us. we forget who we really are.

Using Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen is to temporarily lift the veil so we can see beyond this snapshot of time and space presented by the illusion.

With the illusion pushed aside, we can see the true potentiality of all divine essence existing in the void – the future where we are healed, the past where hurts that shaped our future occurred, and we can clearly discern that the distance, be it a hands width or a hundred steps between one divine essence and another is just a part of the illusion.

So now we can see that we can pass Reiki to another thousands of miles away, or even thousands of years away if we wish. We can press pause on the illusion and return to our divine essence and re-evaluate the creative path our lives have taken, heal the past and change our future. With the veil pushed aside, we can enter any time and space we like.

So as we float in the nothingness of space, feeling the full potential of our true essence, and remembering now the veil of time and space, we can see the value of this veil and remember that it is just a veil.

and as we do, allow the veil to descend as tiny specks of light enter the void of space. Tiny stars glisten into your awareness. beautiful galaxies, planets and moons appear in your mind’s eye, and you now become aware of left, right, up, down, here and over there.

With intention, call on planet earth, and you will gently move in space until you are hovering directly above it. The earth looks so beautiful and peaceful, you cannot help but send it loving kindness.

feel yourself moving downwards, closer and closer to earth, passing safely through the atmosphere, through the clouds, and back to where your physical body resides.

Float gently back into your body. Wiggle your fingers and toes, swallow or yawn, and have a little stretch.

If your energy still feels a little unbalanced, ground yourself by wiggling your toes and placing all your attention on your feet. Keep your attention on your feet, keep wiggling. Take a few deep breaths and release.

As we bring this practice to a close, place your hands in a prayer position… and spend a while cultivating a feeling of gratitude.

Namaste.

Article by Phoenix Fenegan

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Phoenix Fenegan is a Reiki Master Teacher, YA 200hrs Yoga Teacher, Meditation Teacher, and spiritual & energy explorer. Phoenix has a YouTube channel called Intuitive Meditations which has many resources for Reiki students and those looking to experience meditation. She is a writer of some note on yoga and spiritual matters which were first published way back in 1997.
You can contact Phoenix through her website: phoenixfenegan.com.