MYŌKEN* BOSATSU:
SECRETS OF THE USUI 'MOON-STAR' CREST
Copyright © 2012 James Deacon

[Download a pdf file version of this article HERE]

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The Usui family tomb is erected on a small plot in the Saiho-ji (Buddhist Temple) graveyard in Tokyo.

In front of the tombstone itself is a low plinth on which sits a carved stone bearing a small emblem - a crescent moon with a 'star':

This symbol is commonly understood to be the Usui family mon – the family emblem or crest.

Now, on the famous memorial stone which stands to one side of the Usui tomb, it states that Usui-sensei's ancestors were from the noble samurai clan: the Chiba's.

This 'moon-star' symbol is well-known in Japan as being one of the emblems associated with Chiba clan, and, it seems, for the majority of non-Japanese Reiki folk who have heard this piece of information, the presence of the 'moon-star' at the Usui grave-site is normally understood to be simply a reference to the family's Chiba ancestry.

And thus, most Reiki folk place no further significance on it.

However, the 'moon-star' is not just a family / clan crest.

It is an important symbol of power and protection.  It is, in fact, the spiritual emblem of the bodhisattva Myōken.

More than that, it can be considered to be a spiritual conduit for the power of Myōken.

It was sometime during the Heian period (8th-12th Century A.D.) that the Chiba's adopted the 'moon-star' emblem as a potent statement of the clan's allegiance / devotion to this Buddhist deity.

Image: Chibajinja (Chiba Shrine)

The 'moon-star' emblem together with the main Chiba clan emblem: the kyuo(-boshi) mon,
in the Hall of Worship for Myōken at the Chiba Shrine, Chiba City

Myōken is perhaps (at least for most Westerners,) one of the lesser-known Japanese Buddhist deities.

While commonly considered a bosatsu (i.e. bodhisattva), Myōken is technically a Heavenly Being or “ten” - essentially, a deity of non-Buddhist Indian origin.

Myōken Bosatsu (sometimes referred to as Myōken Dai-Bosatsu – 'great bodhisattva' ) is a multifaceted being, with many different aspects and manifestations.**

The deity can appear in several different forms – sometimes male, sometimes female; sometimes wrathful in nature, sometimes compassionate; sometimes two-armed, sometimes four-armed.

Sometimes Myōken is depicted standing on the back of a dragon; other manifestations see the deity standing on the back of a composite mythical creature with a horses tail, a horses or dragons head, and the body of a turtle.
Alternatively, the deity may be depicted seated on a cloud.

Throughout history, Myōken has been worshipped across the various strata of Japanese society.

Envisaged as an armour-clad warrior wielding a sword, the deity has been venerated by various samurai clans (including the Chiba, and the No-se) as a powerful protector – of both men and horses.

Myōken is strongly associated with Polaris - the North Star, and the 'Big Dipper'/'Great Bear' constellation, both of which (star and constellation) have been essential for ships navigators.
For this reason, Myōken has been worshipped by sailors, merchants and others who rely on the sea for their livelihood - as the bosatsu of safe voyage, offering the promise of protection from shipwreck and drowning.

And as "ruler of the Venerable Star" (ie. the North Star), Myōken was venerated in the Imperial court as a protector of the Emperor, and the Nation.

For others, Myōken has been envisaged in feminine form - sometimes venerated as a deity of the home and domestic harmony  -  sometimes as a deity of beauty, fertility, fortune and prosperity.

In yet another manifestation, Myōken is considered to be a healing deity - often sharing many of the attributes of Yakushi Nyorai: the primary Buddha of Healing.

The name Myōken can translate as "keen-sighted" or "wondrous seeing" and the deity is specifically associated with the prevention/healing of diseases of the eyes.

Myōken is also said to have the power to increase ones lifespan, to afford protection from fires, ward off disasters, and generally combat evil.

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The deity has long been associated with the traditions of Shugendo (a blend of Buddhist and Shinto mysticism) and Onmyōdō (a Japanese form of Taoist magical and divinatory practice), and in many images, such as the one shown above, Myōken is depicted with right leg raised behind the left, performing a form of ritual 'stepping dance', associated with these traditions.

In further reference to Shugendo and its blending of Buddhist and Shinto traditions, Myōken forms Buddhist mudras with each hand holding a staff, while on the deity's other two upraised palms, rest two orbs - the 'sun orb' (in the right hand), the 'moon orb' (in the left).

Directly above Myōken is the deity's spiritual emblem - the Crescent Moon and the North Star., and within the disc of the 'North Star,' is the bosatsu's “seed syllable” (a character from the siddham form of the Sanskrit alphabet,) considered to hold the very essence of the deity's inner nature.

This particular symbol (sho in sanskrit) is pronounced "so" in Japanese.

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SECRETS OF THE 'MOON-STAR' EMBLEM

Commonly referred to as tsuki ni hoshi or tsuki boshi (both terms simply slightly different ways of saying 'moon-star'), the emblem is also known as the sankō

This latter term translates as 'three lights' and refers to the understanding that the symbol is not just comprised of the moon and star:

but actually has three elements: the sun and moon and star:

  Star            Sun            Moon        

is the Japanese equivalent of the Chinese yin-yang symbol.

[in = yin,     yō  = yang ]

And just as with its Chinese counterpart, so, the in-yo represents Sun & Moon, Heaven & Earth, the Cosmos & Nature, Spirituality & Physicality, Masculinity & Femininity - the in-yo essentially expresses the dynamic interplay of all existence - the interplay between heat and cold, hard and soft, tension and relaxation, inhaling and exhaling, activity and rest, waking and sleeping...

In-yō signifies a state of 'creative harmony' - the 'dynamic balance' (- as opposed to balance in a static 'levelling-out' sense) of complementary opposing forces - the power of life itself. 

This very important mystical symbol hidden within the 'moon-star' brings yet another level of connection with the disciplines of Onmyōdō  .
In fact, the 'On' and 'myō'  are actually alternative readings of the kanji characters used to write in and yō: ***

The examples given here show just a few of the hidden levels of meaning and power to be discovered within the 'moon-star' emblem.

There is significantly more to be discussed
- for example in relation to the "North Star" element of the symbol; however this might deserve an article all of its own.

Of course, having become aware of the existence of these layers of hidden meaning and power, we cannot help but ask the question:

Did Usui-sensei view the moon-star emblem simply as 'just' a family crest?
(He would certainly have understood its deeper, esoteric, significance).

For a Usui to have adopted the Bodhisattva's spiritual emblem as their family crest, was to have brought the protective power of Myōken into the family lineage in a very big way.
[If we think about it, while the Chiba's have, for more than a thousand years, been the most ardent devotees of the Bodhisattva Myōken, not even they adopted emblem as their primary family crest.]

And further, we can wonder, what influence - if any – might the ancestral association with Myōken have had on the development of Usui Reiki Ryoho?


 Could thoughts of the veneration of the 'great bodhisattva Myōken':


 have perhaps been in the back of Usui-sensei's mind when formulating aspects of Usui Reiki Ryoho...