It was in the second half of XIX century, about the middle of Meiji era, when doctor Mikao Usui was heading a small Christian university in Kyoto. At the time, there happened a lot of new and exciting matters. Japan with its feudal society ordered by strict rules was embraced by the unexpected revolution. Only a few years passed since Japanese had given up voluntarily set up isolation. Now again they let into their country “foreign barbarians” called “Gajin”. Japanese very quickly adapted to the technological achievements of the first industrial revolution.
The first railway lines were built there and even the game of baseball was imported. As I mentioned, it was an exciting time, also at the level of spiritual and intellectual exchange. After the long-existing ban, along with ambassadors and diplomats from the western world, on Japanese ground entered again the Catholic missionaries who aroused new interest in Christianity in already eclectically oriented Japanese society. (How much different religions in Japan mix among themselves, can be identified by the fact that the majority of Japanese married by Shinto ritual, want to be buried by Buddhist ritual). However, dr. Usui was a convinced Christian, he even took orders as a priest and finally became the director of the theological seminary, where he taught.
One day, one of his students asked him whether he believed literally and without reservation in what is written in the Bible. “Yes”. And the other students asked him about the spiritual healing performed by Christ. Isn’t it written in the Bible:
"You will do even greater things than I do?" Why, therefore– they continued – there are no healers in the world today who would do, what Christ did ? They asked further – how should we read his recommendation to the disciples to heal ill ones and make dead ones return to life ? If the Bible is right, we ask you, teach us how to do this. Dr. Usui was off balance. His honour was issued to the test. According to Japanese reasoning he should answer the questions of his students. How could he teach, if he was not able to do even this ? He quickly drew conclusions and yet the same day he resigned from the position that he held, determined to solve given mystery. Because he primarily learned from American missionaries, he went to study theology at the University of Chicago. However, it did not compensate his thirst for knowledge. He had to run his research somewhere else. Also Buddha was attributed with miraculous healings. Was it a sufficient reason for Dr. Usui to go back to Japan and to find information about these healings there, or even to find a “new” knowledge, which was very old and only long forgotten? All notes of the wonders of Christ supposedly got lost. But why wouldn’t he reveal anything about the methods of making similar miracles by Buddha, which are mentioned in many places of The Lotus Sutra.
When he arrived he immediately started asking the questions in many Buddhist monasteries, however everywhere he heard the same. Whenever he asked the abbot: "Do you have any more detailed notes or messages about the miraculous healings of Buddha?", he said: "We do not deal with this, we only care to heal the spirit of the believers."
But Dr. Usui did not give up. After many futile attempts he reached to a Zen monastery, where for the first time he was confirmed in his research. Old Abbot agreed with him: - If Buddha, as the writings say, through the miraculous healing restored people physically to their previous state, it must be possible to miraculously heal the body, even if for the centuries one only cared about becoming an unity and healing the spirit. Old abbot brought it to a simple sentence:
“What was possible once, it must be possible always”. And he finished with the call:
“It will be best when you stay in our country and you will continue your search here in our monastery”. The enthusiasm of the abbot newly filled up Dr. Usui with zeal, as he began the studies over Japanese translations of Buddhist scriptures. When he came to no effect, he learnt Chinese and read Sutras in this language. But this also didn’t bring him much news. So then Dr. Usui devoted himself to the study of Tibetan scriptures. The condition was the knowledge of Sanskrit, which he studied with great diligence. Probably soon after, he went to Northern India, into Himalayas.
It seems interesting here that just in the last century appeared the testimonies in the Tibetan language that witness the trips of a holy man named Issa, who was recognized by some scholars that claim him to be Jesus. Did Dr. Usui discover those testimonies, whether he dealt with the other scriptures on miraculous healings - remains a mystery. We only know for sure that Dr. Usui at the end of his studies on the Tibetan version of The Lotus Sutra claimed that he had found the key to the miraculous healings of Christ. He was only missing the initiation into the secret that could wake up in himself the same force and abilities.
After this partial success, Dr. Usui turned back to his friend, the old Zen abbot, if he could give him some clues about the mysterious transfer of the force ? After a joint meditation they both came to a conclusion that Dr. Usui should go to Kuriyama, the holy mountain, about 30 km from Kyoto. There, fasting, he should undergo a 21-day meditation, some kind of seeking the vision, just like Native Americans tend to do. A bit later, Dr. Usui went up the mountain. On the east side he found a special place of power, he gathered 21 pebbles, with help of which he counted down the days, and began to meditate. It was twentieth day of fasting, the dawn of the twenty-first was coming. It was a night with the new moon, so dark pitch black night for the eye, and he groped with his hand the last pebble. Until then, anything extraordinary happened. So Dr. Usui was praying to finally get an answer.
On the vault of blue appeared the light-spark that flowed to him quickly, and as it was approaching it was becoming larger and larger. Dr. Usui was scared. Most willingly he would get up and run away. But maybe the light-spark was a sign ? He endured so many years in his research, so that he couldn’t just give up. He was prepared for everything that was about to happen.
At that moment the light hit his forehead. Dr. Usui deemed himself to be dead. In front of his eyes millions of bubbles of light danced in all colors of the rainbow, gradually turning into white balls of light, each of which bore inside a golden three-dimensional letter of the Sanskrit alphabet. The bubbles flowed slowly in front of him, one after the other, so that he could more easily recognize the letters inherent inside each of them. Finally, he felt that the phenomenon had been over. He seethed with gratitude. It was already a bright day, when this perfect trance completed.
Now quickly to a friend ! How on earth he was dying to share with somebody his experiences. He was extremely excited, most of all he would immediately talk to the abbot. So he took quick steps down the mountain, amazed how strong and rejuvenated he felt then. And after such a long period of fasting! ... - The first “miracle” of this distinctive morning.
In a hurry he hit a stone by a leg finger. Instinctively, he seized it into his hand. To his greater surprise, a large lacerated wound stopped bleeding after a few minutes. Moreover, the wound was completely healed ! ... - The second “miracle” that morning.
At the foot of the mountain he passed by a typical Japanese canteen – the buffet, where he stopped and ordered full breakfast. Who knows the rules of long fasting, also knows about the dangers of finishing it with a hearty meal. Actually this is just impossible. The owner of the canteen felt the same. He saw the monk's robe, his tousled, neglected beard, so he recognized that Dr. Usui fasted and meditated on the holy mountain. Therefore, he suggested the Doctor Usui to be satisfied with a special broth. But Doctor Usui insisted on a complete breakfast, and drew from the bowl heavily, and digestive disorders did not appear ... - The third “miracle” of this morning. While eating a meal, some man told him about his granddaughter's toothache. Her lower jaw was heavily swollen already for many days. The old man was very poor, a dentist in Kyoto was not available to him. Thus he willingly accepted the offer of Dr. Usui’s help. When he put his hands on that girl's cheeks, the fourth miracle occurred as the pain and swelling almost disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Arriving at the monastery he immediately saw the abbot, who just suffered from a strong attack of arthritic pain. Dr. Usui, telling the monk about his experiences, was putting his hands on aching joints and the pain was stifling very quickly. The old abbot could not go out from the admiration. Then dr. Usui asked him for the advice: what should he do with his newly acquired ability ? How to use it ? The abbot told him to continue to meditate. After many debates Dr. Usui decided decided to move to the beggars area in Kyoto, to do good there. He wished to heal the beggars, then send them to the temple to receive a new name out there and then to be able to return to the society. He immediately start working. He healed both the old ones and the youth. The results were apparent at once. Many people returned to health. However, after about seven years, Dr. Usui began to meet people whose faces seemed familiar to him. He paid attention to a certain man and asked: - Haven’t we both met before ? - Yes, of course - the man answered. - I was one of the first, which you healed. I received a new name, I found a job, and even got married. But it was all exhausting. I didn’t coped with the responsibility. How much easier is to be a beggar.
Soon, Dr. Usui discovered many cases of this kind. He wept in despair. What did he do wrong? Where was that terrible mistake stuck ? And he realized his oversight: he forgot to transfer to the healed ones a sense of responsibility. He did not show to them what gratitude means and how much it is important. He understood also that it would not be enough to heal the body, the soul needs healing as well. He gave power of Reiki, but instead of healing he only intensified the beggarly mentality that he actually wanted to withdraw at all. Dr. Usui concluded from this that Reiki therapy can be effective only with genuine exchange of energy. Otherwise, the recovery is not possible. If one receives something, then he must have something to give. If one doesn’t do that, his life loses its value.
After the experience from the beggars district, dr. Usui established five principles of Reiki. Then he left that place and began teaching in entire Japan. Now he understood the meaning of symbols which he saw in his vision at the top of the mountain. They are the tools of initiation, the key to the responsible care about our own fate and well-being. And since then, he wished to treat them: as a support for energy that lean the steps like a stick on the way to organize one's life.
After discarding the old ballast and re-defining his duties, dr. Usui devoted himself to the training of Reiki teachers, mostly young men who accompanied him on trips. Shortly before his death at the turn of the century, he finally entrusted the responsibility for maintaining the tradition of Reiki to Dr. Chujiro Hayashi, a retired naval officer, one of the most self-sacrificing students. Dr. Hayashi founded in Tokyo the Reiki clinic.
In 1935 Hawayo Takata, a young American of Japanese descent from Hawaii, appeared for the first time in the Reiki clinic. She was seriously ill. She suffered from a number of organic disorders, but also from caused by the state of depression - lack of energy, which teased her from the death of her husband, who died several years earlier. During a visit at her parents, who returned to Japan, she heard the voice of her deceased husband, warning her of planned surgery. She talked to her doctor, expressed her doubts and was directed by him to the Reiki clinic. There she was surrendered to the treatment crowned with a successful result. Soon she was completely healed. Obviously, Reiki made a great impression on her. She was so convinced about its effectiveness, that she decided to know and learn its rules by herself. However, there was a problem. So far Reiki was only a matter of men, what meant that women were supposed to keep away from that. Luckily for Mrs. Takata she came from the country of barbarians “Gaji”, and because of the fact she was “insensitive” enough not to give up after the first refusal. Her perseverance was compensated: she received initiations of the first and the second degree. Then she returned to the U.S. and started healing with Reiki. In 1938 dr. Hayashi, accompanied by his daughter, visited Mrs. Takata in Hawaii and before his return to Japan he ordained her to Reiki mistress.
Like every mystic, dr. Hayashi was able to see the future, to recognize the impending war with the United States and made his own arrangements. Mrs. Takata, sensitive to his worries, spontaneously went to Japan, where Dr. Hayashi warned her of impending disaster. He already knew what the hecatomb would take place, that Japan would be almost completely destroyed, and many men shall fall in battle. So he gave advises to Mrs. Takata what measures she should take to protect the movement of Reiki. He absolutely had no intention to join up the army and take part in the war atrocities. Instead, he wished to go into another form of existence. He already decided. And in the late 1930s, came a day when Dr. Hayashi, dressed in ceremonial robes, in the presence of some friends consciously left his body. Mrs. Takata stayed in Japan only a short time to help with the funeral and then went back to Hawaii, where she happily escaped during World War II from the internment of Americans of Japanese origin. This brave, petite woman also succeeded in the postwar period, during so-called McCarthy’s era, in transmitting Reiki, what was quite successful towards the intellectual limitations of those years, making up a dark spot in American history.
In 1970s, Mrs. Takata finally dedicated herself to the training of the successors. Till her death in December 1980, she initiated and formed 21 teachers of Reiki. Today there are far more than 200 of them. They teach all over the world.
When I transfer the power of Reiki, I have before myself a clear goal:
I want to help my disciples to “tune up” their physical body with the subtle one and this way to came to higher levels of consciousness. This has far-reaching consequences, because the more people will try to raise the humanity to a higher level and more extensive consciousness, the greater become the chances that the Earth as a whole finds its way into another, higher form. Initiation individuals can "tune" the whole world.
Dr. Paula Horan
Currently REIKI is taught in many systems and even different forms and names.
Every teacher, ensures of course, that his system is the best and closest to the original REIKI of Usui.
This phenomenon is unfortunately a sign of the times we live in.
The globalization, uncontrolled flow of information, civilization problems, etc. are not conducive to TRUTH, SPIRITUAL PURITY or HARMONY of man in such environment.
This global turmoil in the world surely has an impact on the current condition of REIKI.
However, I think that REIKI will resist that NEW AGE melting pot and will survive in its original form.
In the form free of religion, doctrines, precepts and manipulation, all-present around us.
It will survive so it could serve people who wish to develop.
It will survive and will help us to make OUR life became every day more precious and more wonderful in every aspect.
It will survive and will help us first of all to make our life have a deeper spiritual dimension and meaning.
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