In today’s spiritual and healing landscape, many modalities are described using similar language—energy, healing, balance, transmission. Yet beneath these shared terms lie profoundly different systems of training, authority, lineage, and purpose.
Two practices often compared are Reiki and Tse Dup Soul Healing, a sacred healing system preserved within the Tibetan Bön tradition. While both may support well-being, their foundations—and the requirements to practice them responsibly—are fundamentally different.
This article offers clarity for those discerning between the two.
Reiki originated in Japan in the early 20th century and is widely practiced as a hands-on or distance energy healing modality. Reiki training is typically structured in progressive levels:
Certification can often be completed over a short period of time—sometimes within a weekend or series of brief workshops. Reiki emphasizes attunement, energetic sensitivity, and compassionate intention. For many, it serves as an accessible entry point into energy awareness and self-care practices.
Reiki does not require:
This accessibility is part of its strength—but also defines its scope.
Tse Dup Soul Healing is not a modern healing technique. It is a sacred spiritual medicine rooted in the ancient Tibetan Bön tradition, transmitted through unbroken lineage and safeguarded through rigorous training.
Tse Dup is inseparable from:
It addresses not only energetic imbalance, but soul fragmentation, life force depletion, karmic obstruction, and spiritual disconnection—working simultaneously with body, speech, and mind.
To practice Tse Dup Soul Healing for others, one does not simply receive a certificate.
One must become a Drup Shen (accomplished practitioner) and, at higher levels, a Lopön (authorized teacher).
A Drup Shen is not a beginner or intermediary practitioner. This title indicates:
A Lopön is authorized not only to practice but to transmit teachings. This requires:
These titles are earned, not granted—and cannot be obtained through accelerated or commercialized programs.
Aspect | Reiki | Tse Dup Soul Healing |
Origin | Modern (20th century) | Ancient Tibetan Bön |
Training Time | Short-term | Multi-year |
Certification | Reiki Master | Drup Shen / Lopön |
Lineage Accountability | None required | Essential |
Scope | Energy balancing | Soul healing & spiritual medicine |
Ethical Vows | Not required | Required |
Teaching Authority | Certificate-based | Lineage-authorized |
In spiritual medicine, depth protects.
Tse Dup Soul Healing works directly with profound layers of the human experience—soul loss, ancestral patterns, karmic imprinting, and life-force depletion. Without extensive preparation, such work can be unsafe for both practitioner and recipient.
For this reason, the Bön tradition places rigorous safeguards around who may practice and teach Tse Dup. This is not about hierarchy—it is about responsibility.
This is not a critique of Reiki. Many Reiki practitioners offer sincere, compassionate support within the scope of their training.
However, Tse Dup Soul Healing belongs to a different category entirely—one of lineage-based spiritual medicine requiring deep commitment, humility, and lifelong practice.
For those called to this path, the question is not:
How quickly can I be certified?
But rather:
Am I willing to be transformed by the practice itself?
In Bön, healing is not something we do to others.
It is something we become capable of holding through discipline, devotion, and realization.
Tse Dup Soul Healing is not learned—it is ripened.
Lopon Bön Chong Ma
January 2, 2026
