ABOUT MIKAO USUI,
THE REIKI FOUNDER
Mikao Usui was a Japanese Buddhist who became a teacher and a healer. The title Sensei is added to denote a man of high learning or teacher; it is a title of respect. Today there is some disagreement among researchers as to whether he was a Tendai or Pureland Buddhist. All sects of Buddhism have the same intention. There are different techniques and interpretations of the Dharma. The important thing is that he was a Buddhist.
The main sources of information about Sensei are his memorial gravestone located in a Pureland Buddhist cemetery in Tokyo, his writings and some of his living initiates and family. He was married to Sadako Suzuki and had two children.
Mikao Usui was born on the 15 August 1865 in Taniai Mura, Yamagata Gun, Gifuken, Japan. His family’s ancestors were traditionally part of the guard of the Chiba Clan, in other words a Samurai family. He was well educated and at an early age he studied martial arts and a Japanese form of Qi Gong called Kikko. Later in life, circa 1914, he became a Zaike or lay Buddhist and took instruction in meditation and esoteric arts.
His memorial stone states he was divinely inspired or enlightened during a 21 day meditation on Mt Kurama Yama in March 1922. This mountain is still famous for its mystics and holy men called Yamabushi, or ‘mountain ascetics,’ who practice techniques similar to those practiced by the Himalayan Mountain Yogis and Buddhist monks of India, Nepal and Tibet. His memorial stone states that he was practicing Kushu-Shinren, which is a meditative discipline involving fasting. Others believe he was practicing a technique called Zazen Shikan Taza which is a Tendai mind ceasing and contemplation meditation. This a kind of meditation involving entering and dwelling in Satori. It would seem that Usui’s original aim was to focus upon the spiritual development of himself.
After this experience he went on to formalize his realizations and teachings. In 1922 the first official organization and Dojo was created called the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, meaning “The Society of the Usui Spiritual Energy Healing Method.” The power to move Ki and use the Ajna center happens through esoteric spiritual training, giving one the power to heal others. This is also a potential ego trap and is the reason why many Buddhist monks are not interested in healing powers. From a Buddhist perspective, the only true healing is enlightenment.
Mikao Usui became a popular healer and teacher. Many people have been taught he created the Reiki system from divine inspiration. Looking into the cultural and historical background of Japan gives us a connection with the mindset of Sensei Usui. Many aspects of Reiki are gleaned from Buddhism and Qi Gong. The ideas of initiation, the Five Reiki Precepts, meditation, energy cleaning, breath work and energy work are techniques and philosophies developed by masters over thousands of years.
The Reiki symbols and mantras should be understood as tools. They help the trainee practitioner develop meditation skills and access certain energies within their own body. One of the symbols is an ancient Japanese symbol for energy, one is a Sanskrit symbol, and two are Japanese Kanji that can be found in a Japanese dictionary. It is possible that the symbols were not originally part of Reiki but were adopted because the skills and abilities of his students varied. Some students worked with the symbols and others were given mantras, depending upon their spiritual development and background. Similar practices still abound today in India, as used by Tantric Masters to develop their students.
Sensei did not teach the use of spirit guides, angels, Chakras, crystals, channeling energy from the sun or other New Age beliefs which have been added to Reiki.
The Chakra system is from the Tantric tradition of India, it is used as a means to develop subtle energies and one’s consciousness. It takes many years of dedication for a Tantric Yogi to master the chakras. Originally it had nothing to do with hands-on healing. It was incorporated into western Reiki in the 1970s.
The Chinese meridian system lends itself to Reiki therapy. The traditional hand positions work with this system. It defines energy meridians and gives guidance for treating illness following thousands of years of research. The original hand positions which were fomented to teach students Reiki treatment demonstrate knowledge of energy meridians, pressure points, spinal nerves, the organs and the endocrine system.
Usui himself did not use any fixed order of hand positions; he used five positions on the head, and his intuition to determine where to put his hands on the body. This is extremely difficult for a beginner, hence the hand positions were developed as a general guide.
After the teachings were formalised, a healing guide called Ryoho Shishin was created, other instructions were added and this became Reiki Ryoho Hikkei, a sort of booklet. At this time Reiki was not called Reiki, it was called Usui Do, or ‘Way of Usui.’
Toward the end of his life, Usui was involved with healing victims of the Tokyo earthquake which killed over 140,000 people on the 1st September 1923. In 1925 he opened a clinic in Tokyo and was in demand to teach and heal people from all over Japan. He died of a sudden stroke at the age of 62 on the 9th March 1926. He left behind over 2000 students, 70 level 2 students and 21 Reiki Masters.
After Sensei’s death, the movement split into several groups. One of the groups was led by a Mr. Hayashi Sensei. He was a medical doctor in the Japanese navy, and was a successful healer. He would go on to teach Mrs. Takata in 1938, the first western Reiki student, a Japanese lady who lived in Hawaii.
Mrs. Takata began her career as a Reiki master in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s in America. At this time, America and Japan were at war. Mrs. Takata was teaching Japanese mysticism within a Christian country which had been at war with Japan. I wonder if this is the reason that the Reiki we have in the West today is so far removed from its source. Were the stories of the symbols being invented by Usui in a state of divine inspiration, and of Usui being a Christian told to sell Reiki to the American public? Were some of the esoteric teachings removed so as not to upset Christian sensibilities? Maybe she tried to “un-Buddhist Reiki.”
Whatever happened back then has caused the Reiki system to splinter into many factions. Today the world of Reiki incorporates all manner of New Age practices and beliefs.
Recently the Japanese have been forthcoming with information and practices, which demonstrate to us that Reiki has genuine techniques derived from ancient esoteric traditions.
Reiki is being restored to its original simplicity by researchers visiting Japan.
