The Second Reiki Symbol: Purification of Mind
Moving Beyond Surface-Level Purification
Restoration of Harmony
Having explored the First Reiki Symbol in the previous blog as a process of harmonisation, restoration and balance, we can now turn attention to the Second Reiki Symbol.
Second Reiki symbol is associated with mental and emotional healing. However, from the perspective of Makoto ReikiDo it serves a much deeper function as a practice of purification.
The challenges we experience in life arise not just from external circumstances, but from the ways that the mind interprets, remembers, clings, resists, and identifies with experience. Our patterns of fear, anxiety, anger, grief, and self-judgment become deeply established, shaping how we perceive ourselves and the world around us.
The Second Symbol supports practitioners in bringing awareness to these patterns so they may gradually be purified and transformed. From the Vairocana view, purification occurs through illumination, meaning things must be seen. As the light of awareness permeates our habitual mental and emotional patterns, they are able to be seen clearly. What was already running in the background of experience unconsciously is no longer.
Through repeated recognition, the distortions that obscure reality begin to relax, revealing the innate clarity, compassion, and wisdom that have always been present within the Dharmadhātu.
Purification Through Awareness
In many spiritual traditions, purification is misunderstood as removing unwanted thoughts or emotions. However, within the Vairocana view, purification is not about rejecting parts of ourselves. It is about illuminating what has become obscured.
Just as a mirror becomes clouded by dust, the mind can become obscured by habitual tendencies, fixed beliefs, emotional reactivity, and mistaken perceptions. These obscurations prevent us from seeing reality clearly.
Second Reiki Symbol can be understood as a means of directing awareness toward these obscurations. Rather than suppressing we create the conditions for them to be recognised, understood, and released.
In this way, purification occurs through understanding rather than force.
Working with the Mental and Emotional Dimension
Every experience leaves impressions within the mind. Some become useful lessons, while others remain as unresolved emotional patterns that continue to influence our thoughts, behaviours and relationships.
The Second Symbol helps practitioners bring Reiki into these subtler dimensions of experience.
As awareness deepens, it becomes possible to recognise:
- Habitual emotional reactions
- Limiting beliefs and assumptions
- Patterns of fear or avoidance
- Attachments and expectations
- Unresolved memories and experiences
- Unconscious behaviours that create suffering
The purpose is not to analyse endlessly but to illuminate these conditions so they can naturally soften within the field of awareness.
What is Vairocana?
When people first hear teaching topics such as Vairocana it can be difficult to wrap your mind around. But we can think of it in this way:
In Buddhism we learn about the aggregates. These are often taught to be examined as the things that make up our experience such as the body, feelings, perceptions, thoughts, and consciousness. This can feel a little like looking at stains in a glass of water and learning how each stain affects what we see.
Vairocana points us in a different direction. Rather than focusing on the stains, Vairocana represents the purity of the water itself.
Imagine a clear glass of water. If dirt is added, the water appears cloudy. We may spend a lot of time studying the dirt, where it came from, and how it changes the appearance of the water. This is useful, however the nature of the water itself has never been stained. Its clarity remains present beneath the disturbance.
In the same way, Vairocana is not another part of our experience, nor is it one of the aggregates that we can observe. Vairocana represents the all-pervading awakened nature of reality itself. It is the luminous, open, and unobstructed field in which all experiences arise.
From this perspective, thoughts, emotions, memories, worries, and even moments of confusion are like temporary appearances within the water. They may affect what we see, but they do not alter the fundamental nature of reality. Vairocana is that unstained clarity.
Vairocana all pervading sphere of reality
This is why Vairocana is often associated with the Dharmadhātu, the all-encompassing sphere of reality. The Dharmadhātu is not somewhere else. It is the true nature of this very moment before we divide experience into “self” and “other,” “pure” and “impure,” “sacred” and “ordinary.”
Therefore, practice from a Vairocana perspective is not about creating enlightenment. It is about gradually recognising the clarity that has always been present. As we clear obscurations and refine perception, we recognise that the stains never became the water, nor could they diminish its clarity.
The journey of practice is not to become Vairocana, but to recognise that all experience has always arisen within the vast, clear expanse that Vairocana symbolises. Like a glass of pure water, its nature has never been anything other than clear.
The Wisdom of Vairocana
Esoteric Buddhism describes Vairocana’s wisdom as illuminating reality exactly as it is. When we contemplate the Second Symbol in this way, we recognise it as an expression of this illuminating wisdom.
It helps reveal the ways in which the mind creates division between self and other, success and failure, gain and loss, preference and aversion.
As these divisions become visible, they lose some of their power to control our lives. A practitioner comes to see how stories, judgments, and attachments create much of the suffering they experience.
This recognition is itself a profound act of purification.
Purifying Relationships
Second Symbol is traditionally associated with harmony and connection. From a mandala perspective, this extends beyond individual wellbeing.
These distortions can obscure the inherent interconnectedness that exists between all beings.
As mental and emotional obscurations are purified, relationships often begin to change naturally:
- Compassion becomes easier to access
- Listening deepens
- Reactivity softens
The practitioner starts to recognise that relationships are not obstacles to spiritual practice but important parts of the mandala through which wisdom and compassion can develop.
Reiki as a Practice of Inner Cleansing
Just as the body may benefit from cleansing and purification, the mind also requires ongoing care. Second Symbol is to be approached as a daily practice of inner cleansing. Through treatment, meditation, contemplation, and mindful awareness, practitioners gradually create space around thoughts and emotions instead of becoming trapped within them.
This does not mean life becomes free from challenges. Rather, challenges become opportunities for greater understanding and awakening.
Over time, practitioners often experience:
- Greater emotional stability
- Increased clarity of thought
- Improved relationships
- Reduced attachment to reactive patterns
- Greater compassion for self and others
- A deeper sense of inner freedom
The above qualities arise naturally once obscurations are illuminated and released.
Returning to the Natural Mind
From the perspective of Makoto ReikiDo, the ultimate purpose of purification is not self-improvement alone. It is the recognition of our original nature.
Beneath the constantly changing movements of thought and emotion lies a deeper dimension of awareness that is naturally clear, responsive, and compassionate. The Second Reiki Symbol helps reveal this innate clarity by gently purifying the layers of conditioning that obscure it.
In this sense, the symbol embodies the compassionate activity of Vairocana, illuminating the mind so that its natural wisdom can emerge.
Taking mental and emotional healing deeper
The Second Reiki Symbol is far more than a method for mental or emotional healing. It is a profound purification practice that invites practitioners to examine the causes of suffering within their own minds and relationships.
Through the illumination of awareness, habitual patterns begin to soften, emotional burdens become lighter, and a deeper harmony emerges. As obscurations are purified, the practitioner increasingly recognises the wisdom, compassion, and interconnectedness that have always been present within the mandala of life.
Rather than changing who we are, the Second Symbol helps reveal who we have always been beneath the layers of confusion, attachment, and conditioning.
Read previous Blogs
Reiki Vairocana Buddha and Seeing Reality as the Mandala
First Reiki Symbol Purification through the light of Vairocana