|
|
 |
|
|
|
What we understand as “Reiki” was introduced to the world by Dr Mikao Usui.
There are a number of written accounts of Dr Usui’s life, some which follow the line of the traditional story of who he was and how he “discovered” Reiki, and also some written works that take into account the view that, for the best reasons, the traditional story was circulated to make Reiki more acceptable to a western audience at a time when it would have been difficult for a wider audience to take to a story that centred around the life of a non Christian Japanese man.
The traditional story describes Dr Usui as a Japanese man, a teacher in a Japanese Christian seminary who went in search of the truth about miraculous healing when challenged by some of his students as to whether he had witnessed such healing as Jesus and his apostles are recorded to have performed and whether such healing could be possible. This story describes how Dr Usui dedicated the following portion of his life to researching ancient texts, discovering written records of symbols associated with healing, and similarities in the written history of the healings of both Jesus and the Buddha. Following a period of meditation and fasting in isolation on a mountain top it is said that Dr Usui experienced a realisation of the nature of Reiki and how to employ the symbols with the energy. So it is said in the traditional story.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
It is known that Dr Usui was a family man. He was married and had children. Dr Usui was born in 1864 and is known to have died in 1926. Dr Usui is buried not in a Christian cemetery but in a Buddhist monastery, suggesting that he was in fact a Buddhist. The title of “Dr” is attributed to Mikao Usui in the west but there is no evidence that in life he held this title. However, out of genuine respect I will continue to refer to Mikao Usui in this way. There is no doubt that Dr Usui was a very learned man and that he had studied extensively. Following a life in business he turned to healing around the age of 40.
It is my heart felt belief that Dr Usui encountered “Reiki” in the most profound way, experiencing a great realisation following extensive study and research, culminating in a spiritual and meditative practice. How this realisation actually happened is of less importance than that following this Dr Usui set up a healing and teaching practice in Tokyo on or before 1921. From this centre he treated many people and also taught many to use reiki to help and heal others as well as themselves. Students training with Dr Usui would have worked by his side day after day for many years receiving continual attunements, rather like an apprentiship and less like the weekend Reiki courses we see today in the west.
To assist those receiving and working with Reiki Dr Usui wrote the “Reiki Ideals” you see to the left.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dr Chujiro Hayashi, a Japanese gentleman who had served in the navy and was qualified as a surgeon succeeded Dr Usui after his death. It was from Dr Hayashi in 1938 that Mrs Takata a lady of Hawaiian origin first encountered and then began to practice and teach Reiki. It was Mrs Takata who introduced Reiki to the west, and most likely through her account of the history of Reiki that the “traditional” story developed. Mrs Takata may not have had a great knowledge of the actual origin of Reiki through Dr Usui. However, given the unfamiliarity of the western world with complementary therapies and the tide of unpopular feeling towards Japan following the war at that time, it is understandable that Mrs Takata may have sought to make Reiki appear more familiar by associating Dr Usui with both Christianity and America where it was said he had studied at Chicago University, in order to make Reiki more accessible to a wider audience at that time. An audience that not only needed to benefit from Reiki then, but continues to do so to this day.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mrs Takata died in 1980. It was through her efforts to bring Reiki to the west that Reiki is as accessible as it is now. Mrs Takata attuned 22 masters, some of whom have gone on to develop Reiki schools with different versions of Reiki. Some schools of Reiki combine Reiki teachings with other teachings and symbols. The diversity of approaches to Reiki can seem quite bewildering, and the difference between approaches, hard to discern.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
What I believe is clear is that while Reiki was “re ~ discovered” by Dr Usui it is an ancient energy that had been utilised previously in human history for healing. But that this practice had become lost or redundant until it re ~ emerged through Dr Usui.
Reiki is a powerful and transformative energy which I believe enables us to reconnect to the universe through the energy network that surrounds us and all things. It does not matter so much what names you give to the energy or its characteristics, or which language you speak. Reiki can be felt and experienced by all who wish to tune to it.
I believe that Reiki has re ~ emerged at this time to assist with the process of ascension that the planet and all beings in body upon it are transiting though.
In addition to be a powerful light for healing, Reiki is also a catalyst for spiritual growth and evolution.
|
|
|
|
