Reiki Light: Reiki, Buddhism & the Medicine Buddha

This Book is dedicated to my Mother

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Thanks to Storm Constantine who brought this project into being from the first rewriting of The Reiki Subversives Manual manuscript, ensuring it was born and guiding it into print form. Taylor Ellwood for early editing on this work, ‘Leeza’ for early help in this project. Andy Bigwood and Danielle Lainton for taking my visual idea for the book cover and making it happen with improvements. Thanks to Rick Rivard of the Reiki Threshold for help and comments on the history section, and to Frank Ajava Petter. Thanks to Barry Jones, Helen Whitworth, Lorna Poole and Belinda for their input and support. Mick Lawlor for reading and commenting as well as introducing me to the Reiki path, Firras for training me in Reiki 3, and Erick Henderson for support and many discussions in the subject! Yuko Sekiguchi and Toby Anderton for their artistic skills. Thanks also to Nicholas Wilson and Barbara Boot for the Linux computer when it was needed to continue work on this book.

Thanks to the HH Dalai Lama for being himself and sharing wisdom to the world. I have been fortunate to attend his teachings in Glasgow and Nottingham. Thanks to Geshe Monlam, Geshe Samten Gyatsu and the Monks of Lubum monastery in exile in southern India who were brought over by Yeshe of Chenrezig Tibetan Buddhist Centre (thanks to her too) and who I was able to learn directly from.

Thanks to everyone else including friends, who helped to manifest this book, directly or indirectly, especially those who paved the way for this work, all of the ancestors and innovators of the Reiki line and spiritual seekers whose words, experience and research have helped me in writing this. Thanks to all I have shared the Reiki path with so far and to those I will share it with in the future.

Introduction

Not Another Reiki Book!

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This book is a primer for anyone who wishes to channel healing energy, learn about Reiki, or is interested in learning more about Buddhism. It’s aimed at beginners to intermediate levels of practice.

While focusing primarily upon Reiki, it approaches energy healing in general, giving you the tools you need to practice whether or not you practice Reiki. It’s also an introduction for Buddhist philosophy and includes its own healing system inspired by the Lapis Lazuli Radiance, aka the Medicine Buddha.

I cover the essentials of Reiki and healing from a Buddhist perspective, outlining some of the basics of Buddhism, with exercises that you can integrate into your own spiritual path. I’ve also included a section on more advanced Reiki methods, many particularly designed for the disabled practitioner to achieve a normal Reiki practice. These techniques can be used by everyone. In addition, I present a method of spiritual healing called ‘the Medicine Buddha healing hands technique’. This means that you can learn to channel healing energies yourself and use this book even if you do not already practice Reiki or any other healing modality. Lastly, this book also acts as a primer for the forthcoming new and updated ‘Reiki Subversives Manual’.

You might ask what Reiki has to do with the philosophies of Buddhism. These philosophies are a part of the rich soil from which Reiki sprouted and which you can utilise in your own Reiki work or spiritual path

You can use and interpret the information contained in this work as you wish. Reiki derives from Japan and I have endeavoured to give a little insight into Japanese history and what I have learned of the Japanese culture through study. Occasionally, you might find it challenging so I hope this encourages you to open your mind to self determination and free thought on your spiritual path. I also give examples that may challenge your thinking or your assumed/programmed world view.  These are chosen to help you to see that other views are possible and to help to re-frame your ability to perceive the world, if you wish to.

Awareness is everything.

My interest has always been on the truth (which should be a plural word). Truth is not always straight forward and is often a matter of individual perception. Flexibility and the ability to find truth is a useful part of any spiritual path. Part of accepting others is accepting that their views may be wildly divergent to your own. This is where free thought and freedom of expression come in. Denying others their own goes against true spirituality, that is unless it is directly harming other life.

The most important facet I hope that you come away with from this book is that just like the levellers song, ‘One Way’; there is only one way of life, and therefore of Reiki, and ‘that’s your own!

Part One: Reiki

Chapter One: Reiki and the Body Electric

Reiki is a method of spiritual development and healing from Japan. During a Reiki session, a form of subtle healing energy is emitted from the practitioner’s hands into the recipient to help to heal them. The Precursor of today’s Reiki was founded in the early 1920’s by a man named Mikao Usui. It was originally a method he taught in a Gakkai (group) he ran to spread his method called Usui Reiki Ryoho. In the west the energy itself and the method is known simply as ‘Reiki’, Mikao Usui may not have known the energy by this name. In essence you can gain some understanding of Reiki through its name ‘Reiki’. The Kanji (Japanese ideograms) of Reiki comprises 2 parts: ‘rei’ and ‘ki’.

New Kanji and Old Kanji

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Rei is the numinous, the spiritual. Hiroshi Doi says that it is defined as ‘ethereal’ in Japanese dictionaries (in reference to ‘Reiki’). Ki is life-force, subtle energy that has many forms, all essentially spiritual to our severed five senses.

The kanji shows this higher energy raining down from the heavens to the person below and is apparently used to indicate a healer, medicine person, etc. More usually the Reiki kanji is used to denote a ‘ghost’, ‘spirit’, or ‘ancestor’ (in that form), which suggests that Mikao Usui experienced some form of spiritual contact with a disincarnate consciousness or deity. It was through this contact that he was able to channel and transmit the energy we now call Reiki.

We may never know exactly what he experienced, but in Buddhist terms he might have experienced a Buddha or bodhisattva. If he’d been Christian or Catholic, he would probably have seen their god, Mary or Jesus. As a follower of Druidism or Shinto he’d have experienced a deity or ancestor, and so on. This is because your beliefs will define the description of your experience more than the actual true essence of the experience. In the case of the Reiki energy, we know Usui experienced something, as Reiki can be transmitted, and can therefore be experienced directly by anyone through its effects. This experience will occur regardless of your belief system and will integrate itself into what you believe, hence the whole Jesus, angels and god stuff that people ramble on about in Reiki!

Mikao Usui gained his ability to channel Reiki and transmit this ability to others through dedicated spiritual practice. The actual experience of the Reiki came at the end of a twenty-one day retreat on Mt Kurama (Horse-saddle Mountain), near Kyoto. The exact date is unknown but it is thought to have occurred during 1914, 1921 or 1922. Japan is very mountainous, and in Japanese culture mountains are seen as the portals to the sacred. Just as in most other spiritual traditions around the world, people in Japan go to sacred mountains to practice spiritual discipline, become empowered and gain enlightenment. Most mountains have particular connections to certain deities, Buddhas, spirits and ancestors; Mt Kurama is no exception. Common spiritual entities that are said to exist around sacred mountains are the Tengu, bird headed protectors of nature and initiators into the sacred. They are also known to be powerful martial artists!

The Tengu are also shape shifters and are said to live on Mt Kurama, the mountain on which Mikao Usui experienced Reiki for the first time. In fact, this mountain is known as a stronghold of the Tengu. The king of them, ‘Sojobo’ is said to reside there.

In 1963, Carmen Blacker, a fellow of Cambridge who lectured on Japanese, was visiting Japan. She was investigating the sacred places and those people who still followed the old ways, and she entered into the mystery. While on the mountain she was drawn by a deep voice repeating mantras. She followed the sounds to a cryptomeria tree, where a woman was praying before it. Carmen recognised a few words, such as ‘great Tengu’ and ‘lesser Tengu’ and when the lady had finished her devotions, she inquired about the Kami of the tree. Carmen was told it was over a thousand years old and could answer any question. The lady had glittering steely eyes and a bird-like face which, Carmen realised after the woman had gone, were attributes of the Tengu in human form.

The Tengu are not only associated with sacred mountains but also crytomeria trees! They will often initiate and teach humans about the spiritual world or martial arts. Sometimes, they are seen as antagonistic towards humans and therefore dangerous to them. In folk tradition, they are said to steal human children away, (much like our own fairy folk), but maybe human regard for nature is so poor that the protectors need to get rough?

It is obvious that these spirits are far closer to the origins of Reiki than any Middle Eastern deity or spirit and what Reiki Mikao Usui experienced is just as likely to have been a Tengu spirit, perhaps in disguise? For countless generations, individuals have sought to learn from the Tengu by practising spiritual disciplines on mountains known to harbour them.

Carmen Blacker also spoke about an ascetic called Mr Mizoguchi who ate pine needles on Mt Kurama, and in so doing could communicate with the animals. Within the last fifty years, ancient spiritual practices were alive and well on this holy mountain, now sacred in the West too as the birthplace of Reiki.

It is good to know and acknowledge the roots of Reiki’s past and its connections to its ancient birthplace. It is good to get a feeling for the solid base from which it sprang into our world, the vast and beautifully unique spiritual expression of the Japanese land and peoples. From this, we can intuit the vast debt to those who went before and paved the way for Mikao Usui; ascetics, renunciants, yamabushi and philosophers. All those who cultivated the knowledge that he used to connect to the power/s that rewarded his hard work with spiritual power. The knowledge and ability we know as Reiki came to him; he kindly shared it with others through which it was eventually shared with the world.

Reiki, uniquely Japanese and yet now uniquely also belonging to a form of ‘whole world spirituality’, is a great gift to humankind but its roots belong firmly in Japan. The trunk grows from that island of sacred mountains, particularly Mt Kurama, and its branches span the globe; its fruits are every single Reiki-attuned person on Earth. Its beneficiaries, whose numbers are growing and are perhaps already countless, are in every corner of the globe. All this from the ancient Japanese practices that one particular special man was able to put to use and somehow, through spiritual blessings, bring Reiki to Earth.

With these words, I honour that history and every one of those people who created the lighted path that Mikao Usui was to follow. With these words, I honour the Land and its Sacred Nature, its Kami, its spirits, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, to which we as the human race can gassho in thanks for the gift of Reiki. With these words, I honour Mikao Usui and his ancestors for the gift they brought and those of the Reiki tradition who gave it to the world. It is good and wholesome to remember and honour these roots, this trunk in far distant Japan, the land of the Kami, and to honour the branches that have grown from there to bring this gift of harmony and healing to all our shores. Blessed be.

We do not at present know why Mikao Usui practised his austerities at Mt Kurama, rather than another mountain, but there might have been a Buddhist temple there with which he was associated. The temple on Mt Kurama is called ‘Kurama-Dera’. It is historically associated with the Tendai school of Buddhism and its from the temple that the Mountain apparently got its name! It is known that famous martial artists such as Morihei Ueshiba, (founder of Akido), trained and practised Yamabushi techniques on this mountain. The famous swordsman, Minamoto Yoshitsune, was said to have gained his martial powers from the spirits there centuries ago while he was a novice monk. It may be that Usui, (and others like him), felt a deep spiritual connection with a particular mountain and were drawn there to practice their spiritual arts (or martial ones). There may also have been a particular temple, teacher or monk living there that attracted him. It seems from reading that Japanese people would learn a technique or method and then go off alone to practice it themselves until it was successful or complete.

The facts of Reiki itself are simple: to me it is a comforting, often warm, flowing feeling that appears to transmit to others and has a positive healing effect almost every time for both me and them. Some people will recognise this, others may experience Reiki differently. It appears that Reiki is not bound by the physical but moves ‘through’ the world and can be ‘put’ into parts of it, filling or connecting them to the Reiki energy. Reiki is something beyond and yet definable to the human senses, but as yet, not necessarily in terms of empirical scientific evidence. That time is getting closer!

Reiki History

Where there is veneration, even a dog’s tooth emits light

Traditional Tibetan saying

Much of the following comes from the translations of the memorial stone that was erected in honour of Mikao Usui in 1927.  This seems to be the best source of information as so much other information has turned out to be fabricated. However the Japanese Reiki teacher, Hiroshi Doi has commented that even the memorial stone contains inaccuracies.  Rick Rivard who diligently researches reiki history and has helped greatly with other information in this section, commented on the memorial stone,

A couple years ago one of Takata’s Reiki 2 students visited Saihoji and in talking to an acolyte there learned that the memorial was not originally at Saihoji but on the property where the Nakano train station now sits. The memorial was moved when the station was built (or perhaps expanded) and in the process it was improperly set, eventually causing the large crack we now see in it.  I would surmise that since we know Usui had moved his dojo to Nakano in 1923, that it was somewhere on the site of where the train station is now located. This also explains why it seemed odd that the memorial would have been set up at Saihoji a month before the Usui family plot was erected.

Bear in mind your common sense when reading this and other historical ‘information’ on Reiki. Do not put too much faith in anything as it is very hard to know the ‘truth’. Even public figures in our own age can be portrayed in a fallacious manner with imaginary historical ‘facts’, their words and actions twisted to suit the agenda of other vested interests or, of course, their own!

Because early western Reiki had certain untruths included within it, such as Mikao Usui being portrayed as a Christian minister (probably to make it more palatable for the western market) Reiki has had an air of falseness around it. Mrs Takata, who brought Reiki to the west, gave what is now the ‘old’ version of the history of Reiki, which included this untruth. However some feel that she created this history as a form of parable to teach her students a point, rather than actually recount the true history of Reiki. It may also have been that she wasn’t taught the history herself and as she wanted to give something useful to her students she did so in this parable format. Since then Reiki has attracted its fair share of charlatans and these people have for whatever reason have seen fit to weave lies and tell tall tales, these have further muddied the water of truth around Reiki.

The energy of this falseness can still turn sensitive and aware people away from Reiki, but its slowly clearing since the actual ‘truth’ began to be discovered around 16 years ago. However not everyone is fully aware of this even with the most up to date history available on the internet and in certain books. On the whole a seasoned Reiki practitioner is very likely to know most of the real history, and point out the falseness, but those outside of Reiki could be gaining their information from outdated sources, old believers or the misinformed. The sensitive may still intuit the dis-harmony and consider the whole system false rather than a thin veneer. This is unfortunate. I am very aware of this as I was one of them, feeling intuitively that something was amiss in the information I was given. Due to circumstances and trust in Mick Lawlor who is a Reiki teacher, I decided to give Reiki a go. I am happy that I did so and later discovered my intuition appeared correct. There are still others who may avoid Reiki even though the larger truth is now freely available.

Today as Reiki’s roots are still being uncovered in a more truthful manner, there are still probably those who still like to play games and squabble rather than creating a coherent front to discover the truth, but I am sure that they are in a dwindling minority.

The original information came from Mrs Takata who brought Reiki to the US and from there the rest of the world.  However since the late nineties, new information has come out of Japan that gives more of the history of Reiki.  Frank Arjava Petter was one of the trailblazers of this new information and its dissemination through his books.

In the late 1990’s the falseness of Reiki was being blown away, however many Reiki practitioners may still not like this and perhaps prefer the old stories about Reiki. Today its hard to tell without talking to someone what they ‘know’ about the history of Reiki as the truth is hard enough to come by and we all have to decide on the ‘truth’ we wish to follow. For some this may be for religious reasons (although many Christians consider Reiki the work of the devil) or perhaps a way of justifying Reiki as a part of their religious tradition rather than an expression of a Japanese one.

Ego is usually our primary reference point and some may only accept Reiki if it appears to be a thousands of years old lost tradition of the healing of Jesus or Tibetan Buddhists or arcane Egyptian High Priests and so on. Because of this you must remember to use your common sense and intuition when reading anything on Reiki history or around Reiki itself. 

When it comes to the techniques and methods, use them only if they work and feel right for you. Effective techniques are valuable and are the only ones to use, as at this point it matters little if they are ‘authentic Japanese methods’ or not. If a technique is less than a year old and it works then use it, there is no need to to dress up an effective technique. When it comes to the origin then truth and honesty are the best ways, be wary of anyone who spouts obvious untruths and who cannot or will not share collaborating information on their sources.

While evaluating information on Reiki there must be a level of trust in relation to the source, use your intuitive feeling as to whether they and the information feels ‘right’ (or is at least in the spirit of Reiki). Any individual may be acting in good faith and might not actually be aware of the accuracy of the information they have. So at a later date this information may prove false, an honest individual will take this in their stride, admit it and move on with the new information. Don’t put your eggs all in one basket! Because of this you should bear in mind that any conceptions that you cling to can ultimately betray you. Remain flexible! 

When it comes to an individual playing games, in the end most posturing and bigotry is only the manifestation of ego trying desperately to trick its victim from the real path of spirituality. It’s just unfortunate that the main victim of this game is the manipulator themselves. The real shame is that in the meantime their own ego happens to thrash around and wash waves of confusion over the rest of us.

Beyond this, we each can experience Reiki and that is a path of harmony. Reiki contains its own truth and each of us, once empowered, walks our own path and utilises the obvious benefits of Reiki while adding methods that work best for us. In this way we each make Reiki our own, integrating the energy into our lives in the way that is most empowering for us. I’m sure this is what Mikao Usui would have wanted for all the beneficiaries of the fruits of his own spiritual quest.

Mikao Usui Reiki Ryoho’s missions are to lead a peaceful and happy life, heal others and improve happiness of others and ourselves.

This method is to help body and spirit with intuitive power, which I’ve (Mikao Usui) received after long hard training.

From the ‘Reiki Ryoho Hikkei’

(the handbook of the URR Gakkai) Translated by Mari Marchand, Emiko Arai, Richard Rivard, Nadya Zaverganietz and Amy Dean available from the Reiki Threshold Website.

These are what his group was taught and what we can assume he was teaching. I would like to add honesty to the mission. As part of the spiritual path, honesty is essential. In fact I consider that without honesty, there is no spiritual path. When mistakes are made then honesty can be relied upon to recognise and to correct them.

This history is as accurate as I can gather at present and it gives a feeling for Reiki’s roots. Reiki, as much as anything is, what you do with it and this is what counts the most. Avoid defining Reiki too much or placing it in a box of beliefs, because this can limit its potential and your own, as well as giving ego a handful of aces to play against ‘you’. Your own experience is the key teacher in the path of Reiki once you have been empowered with it.

Mikao Usui

Mikao Usui, the originator of Reiki, was born in the Taniai-Mura (Taniai-village) in Yamagata-gun (-county) of gifu-ken (-prefecture) on 15 Aug 1865.  He belonged to the samurai class of the Hatamoto samurai. The samurai class were being made obsolete by the new government of the Meiji emperor. The new Japan had begun and Mikao Usui was a child born of this new era in Japanese history.

The social and political changes of the time must have made a mark upon Mikao Usui. The religiously dominant Buddhism was slowly pushed into the background and over the years of Mikao Usui’s life the new religion of ‘State Shinto’ was slowly codified in its place. After many years of isolation Japan was dragged into an age of industrialisation, where folk-ways were suppressed and the traditional was crushed under the heel of the newly adopted westernised ideals of ‘progress’.

Mikao Usui was born into the Tendai Buddhist tradition and seems to have remained a Tendai Buddhist all of his life. Hiroshi Doi suggests that he spent time as an adult practising Soto Zen and this led to his satori. He also may have spent many of his younger years attending a temple and in later life become a Zaike, a lay priest. That’s a priest that lived at home rather than in a temple.

As a boy of about 12 he began studying martial arts and did well at them. Chris Marsh has stated that during his life he knew Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969-the founder of Aikido), Jigoro Kano (1860-1938-the founder of judo) and Gichin Funakoshi (1868-1957-the founder of shotokan style karate). I think all or most of these people had some connection to Kuramayama through using this mountain to practice at, as did Usui.

There is no way to confirm any of these connections but for instance, Ueshiba was living in distant Hokkaido until he moved to live in Ayabe (near to Kyoto) at the spiritual movement of Omoto-kyo where he became the bodyguard of its leader Deguchi Onisaburu. He stayed at Ayabe until leaving for China in February 1924. There is always a chance that Usui visited Ayabe to investigate the spiritual movement of Onisaburu which during 1919-1921 boasted several million members and was known by many more through its publications. As a spiritual seeker Usui may have made a passing acquaintance with either Morihei or Onisaburu. However given Usui’s own ‘fame’ this should have been recorded somewhere.

The spiritual side of martial arts was of great importance before it became sport orientated and contained much in the way of spiritual-magical practice. To develop the spirit was as important in defeating the enemy or as training the body, although many unenlightened martial artists wouldn’t have realised this, any good teacher would have an awareness.

Mikao Usui seems to have liked to read and travel. He is said to have travelled to China, Europe and America. His reading interests included the esoteric, divination, religion, magic, medicine and so on.

Melissa Riggall’s research suggests that he practised kiko, Japanese chi-kung. As a martial artist, priest and keen researcher into the esoteric, this would seem appropriate. Kiko empowers and strengthens the energy body, maintains health and increases vitality. 

If he practised kiko, then it is likely that he would have at least known about ‘emitted ki’ techniques for transferring the cultivated energy (ki) from the kiko techniques into another person. This is a form of energy healing and it is a possibility that Mikao Usui may have learnt or practised this at some point before gaining Reiki. However, if true, he may have come into such practices around the same time or after his Reiki experience, since some of the traditional methods within Reiki are also kiko techniques.

He would almost certainly have come across other tea-te (hand) techniques for healing using energy. The long time practitioner of kiko would naturally develop the ability to emit healing energy as they become more and more attuned to the universal ki. In time it flows without effort as they achieve more refined spiritual levels. James Deacon in his website said that in China this is called ‘Ling Qi’, according to The Reiki Threshold site this is ‘Rei-ki’ in Chinese! Walter Lubeck discuss’s this in more detail in the book ‘The Spirit of Reiki’. James Deacon also suggests that Reiki gives you the ability to emit this ki/chi like a practised kiko expert, which seems reasonable. In China they have used the cultivation of chi and then the emitting of this cultivated chi into a dis-eased person to strengthen and heal them, for a very long time.

We do not know when Mikao Usui began in his role as a spiritual teacher, some say that it was at least by 1914. When he formulated his own spiritual system, he may have deliberately created it outside of Buddhism in response to the state oppression of the period. On one hand, he created a practical system for personal empowerment and achieving calm centred living. On the other he appears to have created a non-denominational system for anyone to use whatever their faith or tradition and available to all.

The massive upheaval of this period of industrialisation and foreign influence, created a spiritual vacuum into which an explosion of new spiritual expressions, or new forms of the old religions flourished and spread. The State kept an eye on such activities and in the case of the Omoto-kyo movement of Deguchi Onisaburu decided it was to dangerous, or rather too popular and therefore had enough followers to threaten the state if it wished and so acted to destroy it. There is a strong likely hood of Usui’s flourishing group being observed and tracked and state officials are said to have visited Usui’s Dojo on a number of occasions to observe what happened there. Keeping in line with the state was therefore essential for survival.

The eventual method of Mikao Usui was built on years of his own practice and experience, which seems to have spanned knowledge from many traditions. It was a spiritual system and may not have had the healing methods we recognise as ‘Reiki’ within it. However any spiritual method should naturally bring healing to the practicing individuals. This should be seen as a by product, not a goal, just as regular meditation will improve your health. He created a simple yet powerful system that could be applied by all and that fit neatly into the times while giving concrete benefits to its practitioners. Rick Rivard comments,

According to Tenon-in, Usui never taught a healing system in the dojo.  And she was there every day.  It is not known what he did outside the dojo, but Usui did rent it out in the evenings to members who wished to give their own lectures.  Eguchi did this often.

Both Eguchi and Tenon-in were students of Usui and it appears Eguchi had a definite interest in Tea-te. In all probability the addition of the techniques that we define as Reiki today seem to have come long after his teaching career began and may even have been added by others. Probably his friend Eguchi.

If Usui was a zaiki, maybe he taught Tendai methods before formulating his own spiritual system. It’s usually said Reiki was born was after an experience in 1921 or 22 when Mikao Usui was practising a ‘shugyo’ style technique on Kurama-Yama (Horse saddle-Mountain) that he perceived Reiki. Although Tenon-in, a surviving student of Usui, has pointed that he did not travel to Kuramayama during that time, but that he did frequently visit Mt. Hiei, which is the base of the Tendai Buddhist tradition in Japan.

Dave King (a Reiki researcher) has said that both through his Japanese contacts Tatsumi-san and Onuji-san, that Usui’s experience was actually in 1914.

The technique Usui used is said to have involved 21 days of fasting and meditation.  At the end of this period he experienced a ‘great Reiki’ over his head and achieved ‘satori’, satori is a powerful stage in the process of enlightenment. From this Mikao Usui gained the Reiki energy and must have discovered later that he could transfer this ability to others for the benefit of their own spiritual growth.

In April 1921, he had added the Gokai or 5 precepts, as they are usually called today, to his own teachings. These seem to echo the statements in a book published in 1915, but may reflect earlier concepts for teaching spiritual mindfullness. A year later he established his school or ‘dojo’ in Hara Suku, Tokyo. On the building his motto read ‘Unity of Self through Harmony and Balance’.

The main focus for Mikao Usui’s practice seems to have been self-development, health, personal peace and perhaps enlightenment. Enlightenment is the goal of all Buddhist practice, although in the Mahayana tradition this goal is postponed by the aspirant who vows never to reach enlightenment until they have helped all sentient beings reach enlightenment. One who swears to do this is a Bodhisattva.

As a man of obvious integrity and compassion he shared his Reiki technique for the benefit of all people, rather than the usual method of keeping it within his family. So by the time of his death he had over two thousand students. It is recorded that he personally helped many after a massive earthquake struck Tokyo in 1923 (Kanto dai shin sai). His teaching and helping of people meant that he became quite well known around Japan and so he may have been invited to visit and teach around the country. On March 9th 1926 CE he died of a stroke while in Fukuyama during a teaching tour. 

His organisation became known as the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai which was a name chosen by Admiral Ushida, one of Usui’s former students. This organisation continues today on a reduced scale. The URRG does not teach foreigners although some information is allowed through to the west by people like Hiroshi Doi who claims to be a member.

What became known to us as Reiki, travelled to the west via Chujiro Hayashi (1880-1840). Hayashi apparently was the last teacher level student that Mikao Usui trained. Hayashi broke away from the Gakkai a year or so after Mikao Usui’s death, or according to Tatsumi-San it was in 1935 and it was Eguchi who left a year later in 1927. Hayashi set up a clinic called ‘Hayashi Reiki Kenkyu-kai’. This clinic was aimed at treating illness rather than focusing on the spiritual path.

He was a retired naval officer and one of the patients he treated was a Hawaiian of Japanese descent called Mrs Hawayo Takata (1900-1980). According to her diary she had returned to Japan in December 1935 for surgery on a serious complaint and received guidance to find the Reiki clinic of Hayashi. At the clinic she was cured of the illness by Reiki and asked to learn it for herself. Hayashi began teaching her and in 1938 travelled to Hawaii where he taught her the teacher level of his way of Reiki.  From here it was able to spread around the world and eventually back to Japan!

Takata called the system ‘Mikao Usui Shiki Ryoho’ and it was most likely either her or Hayashi who castrated the system taught by Usui by throwing out the essential spiritual developmental aspects. What was left was a healing system which may not even have been a part of Usui’s own teachings. Takata seems to have added a lot of ideas which may have been of her own invention, probably for the benefit of her western market. These included claiming that Mikao Usui was a Christian minister and that you had to charge vast sums of money for the privilege of learning Reiki.

The additions to Reiki (wherever they came from) allowed it to spread well in the US and the West, even with its fallacious ‘master’ level (i.e. teacher), which you could buy for an extortionate price tag of $10,000.  Suddenly you could buy ‘master-ship’ if you were rich enough, what egotism!

However Rick has pointed out that one of Takata’s students told him that she paid Takata in 100 student referrals, each being worth $100 each! He also said that many Takata ‘masters’ paid for the ‘mastership’ level in full or in part in this way. It has been said that Hayashi’s training was very expensive, it is perhaps due to this Takata presented her Reiki as a business. Something that was lapped up by her western audience. Ricks contacts suggest it was Hayashi who changed the system dropping the spiritual side for the healing and perhaps adding a stronger financial element.

It was through this obscuring of some of the ‘truths’ of Reiki, that Reiki was sold to the western world. However the very act of spinning stories and altering the system left it with an air of ‘wrongness’. This manifests in a feeling of distrust that surrounds Reiki to this day. At first this probably didn’t matter and was less apparent, but later as the technique spread and questions began to be asked this became important. The feeling of something not being quite right is still stopping some people taking advantage of a wonderful and empowering system of self-development and healing.

The other side affect of the changes and lack of knowledge in the origins of the system left Reiki open to the ‘trickster spirits’ and fantasy has run riot within the realms of Reiki, muddying the waters further. Many crazy ideas and histories have erupted into the vacuum of ignorance and many new kinds of Reiki systems have been made up. The basic premise of Reiki, a spiritual system of harmonyhas been abused by a few of its users in the pursuit of profit.

Unfortunately when truth is hidden, people’s imaginations will fill the void. These imaginative fill-ins have slowly become truly transparent in the last 10-16 years, through the work of various resourceful individuals.

Each of us makes Reiki our own, but to create an entire system around lies, i.e. ‘Men Chhos Reiki’, smacks of