Apr 24, 2025 10 min read opinion

JJK: Chakra Associations

Hi!

I came up with 7 archetypical associations between the 7 chakras, and 7 Jujutsu-Kaisen characters, along with my reasoning as to why.

I reference Wikipedia's division of the 7 chakras, which I don't claim to be the original, or authentic version.

I do reference memories which have been built on, through a lot of googling online.

Lot of content on the net, like this, and lot of it is interesting:

I (mostly) summarized the spirit of 7 characters, so you may be ok with still reading this article, without watching the anime.

Spoiler alert for season 1.

Overall spoiler rating - 3.5/10.

Crown Chakra

Satoru Goju, undoubtedly.

Here is why I think so:

He is considered as a candidate for the strongest one, in-universe.

The downside of an overactive chakra, in this case, is a judgmental nature - one of superiority, that "looks down", I guess. Something Superman does a lot of....It's difficult to not look down when you can levitate.

And of course!

Among heaven above and earth below, he alone, is the honored one.

Mind Chakra

Someone with vision, a natural leader, and the ability to use their brain logically.

This rules out the honored one, Yuji, and Aoi Todo, in-universe, and reasonably so.

I think of Megumi Fushigoro - a tactical fighter with a strong emphasis on mission success, while minimizing losses.

In a field where you should not get angry with a monster for killing innocent people, he gets carried away the least, and maintains a level head.

Plus, his domain expansion references a lot of visualization, to give shape to his energy.

"If you can see it, you can do it! 👍"

- Drona, (Suman's version)

I think of Megumi to represent esoteric, Vajrayana buddhism - his mudras feel like ninjutsu, and his character has this dark acknowledgement that killing is a sin, and that his life is forfeit, having sinned.

He is still kind, especially compared to other cast members, while he carries this self awareness that killing is killing.

That doesn't bother him, and yet, he acknowledges it as an evil act, none the less.

Throat Chakra

Toge Inumaki - cursed speech user.

His voice is imbued with negative energy, forcing his opponent, or ally, to comply.

Based on the video game, the energy it takes is the difference between his energy, and his opponent's strength.

As powerful, wide-ranged and applicable as it may seem, using it wrong can break his throat.

Hence, its skillful use in tandem with martial arts, will reduce the burden on his throat.

For example, asking someone to fall when they're already standing, is easy to say, even if it has devastating effects.

Gravity is already acting on the target, and they would fall again, sandwiched between their own weight, and the earth.

Everyday, we are at 1 G - 1 unit of gravity. This is the force under which we walk.

We grow up under it, making our bodies naturally resistant to 1G.

Most fighter Jet pilots can tolerate from 4 - 6 Gs, as per this article

So if Toge says fall, to us, we suddenly have an additional G on us.

As per the laws of physics, the ground we are standing on pushes back with 2G, even though we are used to standing with only 1G.

It must feel like........falling onto a floor, from a window, but the effect is felt twice.

Or, someone is falling, and as they come close to the earth, they throw you towards the earth, to add to the fall.

😨

Here, his speech is a keyword that leverages existing, and in this case, well understood laws of physics to create a devastating, sudden and harsh compression - even if you react quickly at the speed of sound (he speaks it), your body needs to be equipped to deal with such force.

The only magic here, is that when he speaks, people obey.

Likewise, instead of saying don't hit me several times, he can dodge several times, saving his vocal cords for another day.

This will require martial art training - doable, but also believable for us, as the viewer.

This feels like the astasiddhi of ājñāpratihatā gatiḥ:

Sound familiar?

Heart Chakra

Someone who places compassion front and center of their actions.

Where Satoru operates from a place of divinity, this person operates in a heart first approach...

I feel he always remembers that their role is to exorcise evil, not necessarily to have fun doing so, or for the privilege of being paid well, or to exercise power.

And that, compassion often means getting hurt.

I chose Yuta for this, with Panda being a close second.

Navel Chakra

For this, I chose someone who:

Eats a lot
Uses a lot of food metaphors
Trusts their gut
....and teaches another, that the right way to think - in a wholesome way - is from the gut.
Is a good teacher
Is shirtless
Is boyish in his daydreams
But surprisingly mature, when everything goes south.

According to my understanding, Dantien is the focus in Japanese martial combat, Wing Chun, and Zen.

This stomach is the essence behind him asking Yuji to focus on his mind and body as a whole, instead of 2 separate entities, via the stomach.

There is only 1 candidate, especially considering that he considers himself as a Buddhist, and that Zen teachers in particular have unorthodox teaching styles.

Aoi Todo.

He is the brother you always wanted, until you get him.

The way he says "Brother...." reminds me of Sr. NTR, especially with the huge build they both have.

I know Japanese people say 'r' differently, but even in Japanese, Aoi Todo sounds Telugu.

In Telugu, su is a prefix, in a positive sense.

Su-man (my name), means good heart. Man (munh) means heart, which you will also see in manassu.

Similarly, Su-vasana, means good smell.

In Japanese, Subarashii means 'excellent'.

Also, I hear mahodaya as magic, in Japanese (with subtitles) - but I wonder if the word maho is somehow a corruption of the word Maya, a word for reality in Hinduism, with some people having the supernatural ability to mess with it.

When Buddhism went east, lot of people associated Buddhism with magic.

The Sacral Chakra

Creation itself.

For this, I chose Sukuna.

Controversial, I know.

He is considered as a master creator, even if it's of suffering, misery, and malice.

Apparently, this chakra is associated with the first noble truth - dukka, or suffering. This took me by surprise, in my research, but makes sense - once a situation is created, karma takes over in its multiple networked web of cause and effect. This is something a child is born into.

Sukuna is ideal from this perspective - he gets (negative) karma going, while the sorcerers work overtime to clean up bad karma.

He is known to seek pleasure - for him, the intention and act of evil, is in and of itself, a source of pleasure.....reckless creation, can be destructive, and irresponsible.

In this metaphysical sense, I didn't choose another character capable of materialization, even thought it's clearly referenced in JJK.

Root Chakra

Who is grounded, reliable, sensible, easy to miss, always on time, acts a mentor figure without you asking, and is so boring, everyone relies on him?

Plus, his emotions never get the best of him?

And he looks cool?

But when he shows up, you're happy, because the cavalry is here?

Nanami-san.

Conclusion

That's all from me.

Which character stood out to you, the most?

And more interestingly, what is a quality you really liked, in the character you didn't really feel comfortable with?

Food for thought....I will talk about Aoi Todo.

Among other things, I liked how Aoi Todo was visualized - I don't know what G. Akutami meant to create, but he did a stellar job of creating an older, annoying brother, who is insensitive to those weaker, but is also, somehow, against evil manifest, in the backdrop of Zen Buddhism: suffering, impermanence, and maybe even dharma transmission.

Watching how he perceived reality, I understood that some people's daydreams, are in parallel to the boredom of reality, manifesting in some kind of thrill seeking to avoid lethargy.

This is a flaw - his bullying is driven by the need for fun, and is a flaw that is present in most characters, except Yuta, and Panda.....It seems like the exorcism field attracts those who seek pleasure, with the exact opposite intention of Buddhist teachings....but it's fine, because this pleasure is used to kill evil.

I suspect Buddha was against conditioning - I think when we act on an intent, some conditioning occurs, and he believed in transcending any conditioning.

Post-enlightenment, the Noble 8 fold path is still seen as a way to live, with the focus on 'rightness' or 'correctness'.

So, killing a demon, even if the end result is a safer society, if the reasoning is "you can" or "it's fun", you're still not having the 'right intention', which doesn't seem to bother most characters.

Buddha in Disneyland

You all pay to go high, then come low, to have fun?

This roller coaster is a mechanical contraption designed with karmic principles in mind.

In fact, it’s karma itself!

For a dharma teaching, look beyond the roller coaster.....

Not, not at the sugar candy....I meant...

No....I am not talking about Mickey Mouse, either.

I know there's a discount for the bigger roller coaster, but...hey....wait, the dharma talk is not over yet!

Come back to enlightenment!

Also....The more I trained for 100m, the more I found myself moving faster in computer science. I thought my IQ went up, initially.

But given my occasional struggle with logic, I suspect whoever I was before CS training... 100m training put that personality on Usain Bolt's back....I powered up, but didn't actually improve by much. At least, not in the traditional way logic is perceived - a chain of cause and effect, well presented.

I think my IQ increased a bit....but primarily, I was being a genius faster, leading to more communication, more jokes, more insights, more heart, in lesser time, lesser information, and lesser stress....So I suspect I bypassed the need for IQ, rather than become faster at processing logic, which is still how I think of IQ.

Or maybe, you are what you do, and all IQ is acquired. 🤔

Maybe it's time for philosophers, education theorists, teachers, and psychologists to update their model of the mind.

But, for now, I am doing EQ faster, precisely, and better, with small (and consistent) efforts to improve the IQ.

Instead of following the 1s and 0s, or cause-and-effect, maybe I started thinking with the pink brain (the hardware), and not the mind (software), leading to experiencing the reality of leetcode, and possibly, a "better" algorithm.

Over time, I am hoping the process of starting from scratch, and finishing the process, is compressed to 10 or 15 minutes, so the interviewer doesn't get bored.

I think I took the scenic route to mastery, again...

For those characters, with respectable qualities, in a personality I don't like.....

It's Sukuna. I won't mention the exact scene, or dialogue, but even as his darkness is clear from season 1, his greatness is mentioned in par with his evil.

Nothing about him is nice, and I'm sure if your baby is in the same room when the show is playing, the baby will cry.

In parallel, his expertise is praised by the narrator.

A good analogy is how Voldemort is an expert at magic, especially Horcruxes, even though, you know....a horcrux is pure, evil witchcraft, with the banality of evil at its center.