REIKI

Usui Shiki Ryoho

Reiki is a natural healing technique, that feels like flow of high frequency energy. It was discovered by Japanese Mikao Usui, app. 1922, while he was meditating on mountain Kurama near Kyoto. (Mt. Kurama is around 500 meters high, covered by cedar and pine forest. During centuries Mt. Kurama temple belonged to Tendai Buddhist sect, today it belongs to independent Buddhist sect, dedicated to cult of Shinto deity Son-ten).

He described his experience:

I saw a flesh of light and felt strong energy on the top of my head; I was unconscious for several hours, and after that refreshed. Few days later I understood that I possessed a healing power.

Mikao Usui

(Usui is buried on small Buddhist graveyard, just behind monastery he governed in one part of his turbulent life. Stone monolith with his biography dominates over graveyard, and it is easy to recognize it. It was erected by members of Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai organization, established by Usui, which exists even today).

Usui was born in August 1865, in the village Tanai (now called Miyama), in the Gifu Prefecture. At early age he gained education in Tendai temple, on Mt. Kurama. Later, studied Kiko (Japanese style of Qi Gong), martial arts and many different traditional healing techniques.

Because of his wide knowledge and good connections with political elite during emperor Meiji period, Usui became secretary of famous politician Shimpei Goto. He was also involved in trading business, that bankrupted around 1914. That financial disaster was turning point in his career, he decided to complete his spiritual journey and achieve enlightenment. Finally, during 1922, while performing misogi purification, he had Reiki attunement experience.

Reiki kanji

Rei - supernatural intelligence, divine intervention or general term for transcendent

Ki - universal energy, energy of Universe

Usui practically understood that energy he canalized after Kurama experience is different from general Ki; to emphasize its "supernatural - divine" characteristics and divide his teaching from existing healing with Kiko techniques, he added prefix Rei. Although Reiki is usually described as "high frequency energy", "universal energy" and as similar insufficiently defined terms, we cannot call it energy in classic scientific sense, because it doesn't succumb to entropy.

What is Reiki? Usui never completely understood it or defined it; his experience is certainly new and unique and great step toward understanding universal laws.

How Reiki teaching developed? To formalize teaching and adjust it to be successful in practice, Usui introduced symbols, well known to him (the first and the second Reiki symbol are even nowadays used in practice of Tendai Buddhism, in the same form and with the same meaning as in Reiki). The third and the fourth symbol are kotodamas (affirmations), written in all Japanese letters (kanji, hiragana, katakana). Although, undoubtedly, the third and the fourth symbol are statements whose parts can we easily write (for example: kanji on the top of the fourth symbol is one of the most used in Japanese letters and means great), we cannot understand meaning of whole affirmation, from preserved look of the symbols. Usui's idea was to invoke internal state through verbal pronunciation of an affirmation (as with the third symbol, "God and man are one"), and through written affirmation of probably similar content. Today we don't understand written content of affirmation, but symbols nevertheless act. 

His teaching became great success in 1923, during Tokyo's earthquake. Treatments of earthquake victims with Reiki energy were extremely successful and attracted lots of interested people, so Usui established organization Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai and clinics in Nakan (today part of Tokyo). In only four years of teaching, until his death 1926, he initiated more than 2 000 people and became very popular as a healer.

Usui defined formal part of his teaching gradually, and his students at master degree changed it and adjusted it according to their own views and needs.

Chijuro Hayashi, physician in Japanese military navy; left Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai and significantly changed the way of teaching. He introduced three levels, instead of six (three levels and three sublevels), as Usui divided the teaching; he introduced hands positions during treatment, and as physician emphasized healing and neglecting wider aspects and possibilities of Reiki practice.

His approach and way of teaching came to West through Hawayo Takata, American of Japanese origin, who became interested in Reiki after successful healing in Hayashi's clinic.

World War II caused almost complete disappearance of Reiki teaching in Japan, Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai is closed to new members and initiates in rare occasions, new members are received only with recommendation. On West, Hawayo Takata initiated 22 students in master degree, and they continue spreading Reiki all around the world.

Today, in world, there is app. more than 10 millions Reiki practitioners.

Reiki bearing photo from Mt. Kurama!

What is Reiki?

(Scientific basis)

Additional information:

http://www.threshold.ca/reiki/

http://www.reiki.org/