HISTORY OF REIKI – MIKAO USUI AND A TEMPLE ON MOUNT KURAMA
THE REIKI METHOD OF HEALING WAS FOUNDED ON THE REVELATION AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE BODY’S ENERGY SYSTEM AND UNIVERSAL ENERGY. REIKI PRACTITIONERS STRIVE TO IMPROVE HEALTH AND QUALITY OF LIFE BY CHANNELLING REIKI ENERGY AND RESTORING BALANCE. REIKI IS USED IN SELF-CARE, FOR CARE OF ONE’S FAMILY, AND IS OFFERED IN PRIVATE PRACTICE, IN HOSPITALS AND MEDICAL SETTINGS AS AN ADJUNCT AND SUPPORTIVE THERAPY TO WELLNESS AND TRADITIONAL MEDICAL CARE. THE FORM OF REIKI THAT MANY PEOPLE PRACTISE TODAY, USUI REIKI, HAS BEEN IN USE FOR JUST OVER ONE HUNDRED YEARS.
THE FOUNDER OF REIKI
THE HISTORY OF USUI REIKI BEGINS WITH ITS FOUNDER, MIKAO USUI (1865-1926). HE WOULD BE ADDRESSED AS “USUI SENSEI” IN JAPAN AS A MARK OF RESPECT (SENSEI IS JAPANESE FOR TEACHER BUT IS ALSO AN HONORIFIC TERM FOR DOCTOR OR PROFESSOR). USUI SENSEI CAME FROM A LONG LINE OF SAMURAI WARRIORS AND WAS A COUSIN OF THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN. HIS PARENTS WERE FAIRLY WELL OFF AND SENT HIM TO STUDY IN A BUDDHIST MONASTERY WHICH HE ATTENDED FROM THE AGE OF 4. HE WAS A DILIGENT AND CAPABLE STUDENT. INDEED, HIS LOVE OF LEARNING CONTINUED THROUGHOUT HIS LFE INTO HIS FINAL YEARS.
JAPAN WENT THROUGH A TUMULTUOUS PERIOD FROM THE LATE 1860’S, LARGELY DUE TO WESTERN (ESPECIALLY BRITISH) INFLUENCE. SHINTO (OR RATHER, A WESTERNISED VERSION OF THE ORIGINAL JAPANESE PRACTICE) BECAME THE OFFICIAL RELIGION IN JAPAN. IN DUE COURSE, BUDDHIST SCHOOLS AND MONASTERIES WERE CLOSED, SO USUI SENSEI DID NOT BECOME A BUDDHIST MONK. INSTEAD, HE EMBRACED SHINTOISM AND WESTERN CULTURE DURING HIS EARLY ADULT LIFE. HE WAS MARRIED AND HAD TWO CHILDREN.
HE HAD MANY DIVERSE JOBS, RANGING FROM BEING A BUSINESSMAN, PUBLIC SERVANT AND JOURNALIST. HE WAS WELL TRAVELLED, SPENDING TIME IN CHINA, EUROPE AND THE USA.
SPIRITUAL AWAKENING AND DEVELOPMENT OF REIKI
USUI SENSEI BECAME DISILLUSIONED WITH WESTERN VALUES WITH ITS EMPHASIS ON MATERIAL SUCCESS. HE RETURNED TO HIS BUDDHIST ROOTS IN HIS FORTIES AND STUDIED MORE ADVANCED PRACTICES. AS PART OF HIS TRYING TO FIND A DEEPER MEANING TO HIS LIFE, HE UNDERTOOK A 21 DAY MEDITATION AND FAST ON MOUNT KURAMA IN 1921, WHEN HE WAS 56.
MOUNT KURAMA (584 M) IS NEAR KYOTO AND HAS BEEN A SACRED MOUNTAIN FOR THE JAPANESE FOR A LONG TIME. ITS FIRST BUDDHIST TEMPLE WAS BUILT IN 770 AD. MANY TEMPLES, BOTH BUDDHIST AND SHINTOIST, WERE SUBSEQUENTLY BUILT THERE. MOUNT KURAMA HAD SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE FOR USUI SENSEI AS HIS ANCESTORS HAD WORSHIPPED THERE FOR CENTURIES. USUI SENSEI WAS SEEKING GUIDANCE, SO THIS WAS A PARTICULARLY APT SITE FOR HIM TO PRAY AND MEDITATE. ON THE MORNING OF THE TWENTY-FIRST DAY, HE EXPERIENCED A “SPIRITUAL AWAKENING”. HE SAW A BRIGHT LIGHT AND SYMBOLS (SANSKRIT AND CHINESE). HE DESCRIBES HOW HE HAD ACCIDENTALLY RECEIVED A GIFT OF HEALING FROM “THE INTUITIVE INTELLIGENCE OF THE UNIVERSE”. USUI REIKI WAS BORN.
HE TAUGHT REIKI TO 9 INDIVIDUALS (INCLUDING BUDDHIST NUNS) IN 1921. HE FOUNDED HIS FIRST REIKI CLINIC AND SCHOOL IN TOKYO IN MARCH 1922.
HE WAS HUMBLE, THOUGHTFUL AND GENEROUS. ALTHOUGH HE ENCOURAGED SELF-CARE, HE WAS NOT NECESSARILY GOOD AT PRACTISING WHAT HE PREACHED IN THIS REGARD. FOR EXAMPLE, AFTER AN EARTHQUAKE, THERE WERE HUNDREDS OF CASUALTIES AND HE WENT FROM ONE TO THE NEXT, CHANELLING REIKI. HIS STUDENTS WERE WORRIED FOR HIS HEALTH AND URGED HIM TO TAKE SOME REST. HOWEVER, HE REPLIED THAT HE COULD NOT REST WHILE THERE WERE STILL PEOPLE SUFFERING AND IN NEED OF HELP. USUI SENSEI STRESSED THE IMPORTANCE OF TREATING THE PSYCHE, AS HE BELIEVED THAT THE PHYSICAL BODY WOULD NATURALLY HEAL WHEN IN A MORE RELAXED STATE.
BEFORE HIS DEATH IN 1926, HE HAD TAUGHT 19 REIKI PRACTITIONERS TO MASTER LEVEL. HE DIED SUDDENLY AT THE AGE OF 61, PROBABLY OF A STROKE.
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF REIKI
DR. CHUJIRO HAYASHI (1879-1940), WAS ONE OF THE 19 REIKI MASTERS THAT USUI SENSEI TAUGHT (IN 1925). HE WAS A RETIRED NAVAL MEDICAL OFFICER WHO WAS QUALIFIED IN SURGERY, CHINESE MEDICINE AND ACUPUNCTURE.
DR. HAYASHI’S MEDICAL BACKGROUND LED HIM TO DEVELOP A MORE SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO PRACTISING AND TEACHING REIKI, INCLUDING DEFINED HAND POSITIONS OVER THE BODY, WHEREAS USUI SENSEI HAD A LESS FORMAL AND MORE INTUITIVE APPROACH. DR. HAYASHI ALSO INTRODUCED THE PRACTICE OF USING TWO HEALERS SIMULTANEOUSLY, WITH THE PATIENT/CLIENT LYING DOWN. USUI WOULD HAVE A SINGLE PRACTITIONER PER PATIENT, WITH THE PATIENT SEATED.
DR. HAYASHI WROTE VOLUMES OF DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS INCLUDING THE HAND POSITIONS. ONE DAY, USUI SENSEI ASKED HIM WHAT HE WOULD DO IF HE LOST HIS BOOKS AND NOTES. DR. HAYASHI REPLIED THAT HE WOULD REMEMBER SOME OF THE CONTENT AND THAT HE HAD HIS EXPERIENCE TO FALL BACK ON. USUI SENSEI APPROVED HIS RESPONSE, TELLING HIM: “YES, YOUR EXPERIENCE IS VERY IMPORTANT”. HE ADDED “AND LET THE REIKI TEACH YOU”. BY THIS, USUI SENSEI MEANT THAT WE SHOULD LISTEN TO OUR INTUITION, AND THE “INTUITIVE INTELLIGENCE OF THE UNIVERSE” WOULD HELP US TO CONTINUE TO DEVELOP OUR REIKI PRACTICE. DR. HAYASHI TRAINED THIRTEEN REIKI MASTERS, INCLUDING A WOMAN NAMED HAWAYO TAKATA (SEE LATER) AND HIS WIFE, CHIE HAYACHI.
IN 1940, DR. HAYASHI WAS GOING TO BE CALLED UP AS A RESERVIST IN THE JAPANESE ARMED FORCES IN THEIR WAR AGAINST THE USA. HE DID NOT WANT TO DO THIS. INSTEAD, HE CALLED HIS STUDENTS, INCLUDING HAWAYO TAKATA, TO BE BY HIS SIDE AT HIS DEATHBED. HE DIED BY VOLUNTARILY STOPPING HIS HEARTBEATS. AT THAT TIME IN JAPAN, THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN CONSIDERED A RESPECTABLE AND HONOURABLE END.
SPREAD OF REIKI TO THE WEST
HAWAYO TAKATA (1900-1980) WAS AN AMERICAN OF JAPANESE DESCENT WHO LIVED IN HAWAII WITH HER SISTER. IN 1935, HER SISTER DIED AND SHE WENT TO JAPAN TO VISIT HER PARENTS.
TAKATA SENSEI WAS SUFFERING ABDOMINAL PAINS DUE TO A TUMOUR, WHICH NEEDED SURGICAL REMOVAL. SHE ALSO SUFFERED FROM CHRONIC ASTHMA, SO WAS IN HOSPITAL IN TOKYO FOR THREE WEEKS TO STABILIZE THIS CONDITION AND TO PREPARE HER FOR SURGERY. SHE WANTED TO TRY ALTERNATIVES TO SURGERY. SHE ASKED HER DOCTOR FOR ADVICE AND HE MENTIONED DR. HAYASHI’S REIKI CLINIC. TAKATA SENSEI ATTENDED DR. HAYASHI’S CLINIC DAILY FOR FOUR MONTHS AND SHE MADE A FULL AND LONG-LASTING RECOVERY.
TAKATA SENSEI ASKED TO STUDY REIKI AND DR. HAYASHI TRAINED HER IN REIKI 1 IN 1935 AND REIKI 2 IN 1936. SHE RETURNED TO HAWAII IN 1937. IN 1938, DR. HAYASHI AND HIS WIFE VISITED TAKATA SENSEI IN HAWAII, WHEN HE TRAINED HER TO MASTERS LEVEL.
TAKATA SENSEI ALSO WANTED TO SPREAD THE USUI SYSTEM OF HEALING TO OTHERS. SHE MADE SOME CHANGES TO HER REIKI PRACTICE AND TEACHING. HER PREFERRED POSITION FOR TREATING A PATIENT/CLIENT WAS SITTING CROSS-LEGGED ON THE FLOOR, RATHER THAN DR. HAYASHI’S MORE CLINICAL STYLE OF HAVING THE PATIENT ON A BED OR COUCH. SHE REVERTED TO A SINGLE REIKI PRACTITIONER PER PATIENT, AS USUI HAD ORIGINALLY PRACTISED. SHE HAD NO WRITTEN MANUALS OR NOTES. HER STUDENTS HAD TO MEMORISE EVERYTHING AND ANY NOTES THEY HAD TAKEN WERE BURNT AT THE END OF THE TRAINING DAY!
SHE CONTINUED TO PRACTISE AND TEACH REIKI VERY SUCCESSFULLY FOR OVER 40 YEARS. SHE IS DESCRIBED AS HAVING BEEN A FORMIDABLE PRACTITIONER, A PASSIONATE TEACHER AND AN ACCOMPLISHED BUSINESSWOMAN. WHEN SHE DIED IN 1980 AT THE AGE OF 80, SHE HAD ATTUNED 22 REIKI MASTERS.
TODAY, PEOPLE WHO PRACTISE REIKI USE THE SYSTEM ORIGINALLY DISCOVERED AND DEVELOPED BY USUI SENSEI. HOWEVER, THE ACTUAL PRACTICE HAS EVOLVED IN SOME WAYS AND MAY CONTINUE TO EVOLVE (REMEMBER USUI SENSEI’S SAYING: “LET THE REIKI TEACH YOU”).
AFTER HE HAD DISCOVERED REIKI, USUI SENSEI TOLD HIS FAMILY: “I DON’T WANT THIS TO BECOME A SECRET PRACTICE JUST WITHIN THE FAMILY” (IN JAPANESE CULTURE, THE USUAL APPROACH WOULD HAVE BEEN TO KEEP THIS A SECRET ONLY TRANSMITTED WITHIN HIS CLAN). HE HOPED HIS METHOD OF HEALING WOULD BE SPREAD WORLWIDE. THROUGH TAKATA SENSEI, USUI SENSEI’S WISH HAS BEEN REALISED.
