In his search for the purpose of life he discovered a description of state of consciousness called An-shin Ritus-mei, in which one is always at peace regardless of what is taking place in the outer world. It is described as maintaining itself without any effort on the part of the individual. He understood this concept on the intellectual level and set out to achieve it. In his search, he studied under a Zen master and practiced Zazen meditation. He had no success after three years of practice. When he asked his teacher for guidance his teacher suggested a practice in which the student must be prepared to die in order to achieve An-shin Ritsu-mei In February 1922 he went to a sacred mountain north of Kyoto and was prepared to fast and meditate until death if necessary. He was not seeking a method of healing, but enlightenment. On the 21 of March 1922 a light entered through the top of his head causing him to fall unconsciousness. When he regained consciousness, he experienced himself as being the energy and consciousness of the universe. Filled with excitement he ran down the mountain to tell his Zen master. On the way, down he stubbed his toe on a rock. He placed his hand over his toe and felt a healing energy begin to flow into it. The pain went away and his toe was healed. This was the beginning of Reiki. Mikao Usui initiated twenty-two people qualified to teach Reiki. The most prominent of which was Chujiro Hayashi.
Mikao Usui asked Chujiro Hayashi to open a Reiki clinic and expand and develop it. Chujiro Haysashi wrote the Reiki Ryoho Shinshin (guidelines for Reiki healing Method) and used it as a class manual. He also developed a method of teaching Reiki that condensed it into one five-day seminar. A woman named Hawayo Takata learned Reiki at this clinic and took the practice to Hawaii. She simplified the system further stating that Japanese Reiki was too complicated for the western mind. One of her student, Iris Ishikuro had training in other healing methods in addition to Reiki. One of these methods came from a Tibetan temple in Hawaii. Iris’s student Arthur Robertson was also a teacher of Tibetan shamanism and had learned Tibetan methods of healing that involved symbols and rituals called empowerment. He merged these systems adding two Tibetan symbols and a technique called the Violet Breath.
The integration of Tibetan methods of healing is not out of place with to original spirit or practice of Reiki. The system originally set up by Mikao Usui had incorporated many aspect of Esoteric Japanese Buddhism, which is a form a Vajrayana Buddhism transmitted to Japan through China, but ultimately having its origins in Tibet. This is explored in the book The Inner Heart of Reiki.
The practice of Reiki has often been associated in the west with a system of healing in which energy is transmitted through the hands of the practitioner into the patient to heal physical and emotional diseases. However according to Frank Stein, in his book The Inner Heart Of Reiki: Rediscovering Your True Self it is much more than this. As he says, “The word Reiki has been translated in different ways but the real inner meaning of the word Reiki is True Self. Think about it, the word Reiki literally translates as spiritual energy. But then we ask ourselves the question: What and where it is this spiritual energy?” (Frans p.10) In the next paragraph he answers, “…we can start to rediscover that this spiritual energy is both inside and outside of ourselves; it is all encompassing …This non-dual experience is our True Self, who we really are without the boundaries of the ego. This is spiritual energy. This is Reiki, our True Self.” (Frans P.10) What he is getting at with this statement is that the energy healing done through the hands is a technique on the path of Reiki and not in the thing in itself. Healing of mundane illness is not the main goal of Reiki, but rather striking at the root of all illness by rediscovering the True Self.
The main techniques on the spiritual path of Reiki are The Precepts, Meditation techniques, Symbols and Mantras, Reiju/Initiation/Attunement, Hands on Healing. The symbols, mantras and initiation in particular are shared with esoteric or tantric forms of Buddhism the others are common to all forms of Buddhism. The precepts are,
- Do Not bear anger, for anger is an illusion
- Do not be worried, for fear is a distraction
- Be true to your way and your being/True Self
- Show compassion to yourself and others
- Because this center of Buddhahood
Reiki has deep roots in esoteric Japanese Buddhism, but many of its techniques do not look that way on the surface. This is because Reiki way developed in a time when Buddhism was not favorable with the government. Reiki is partial away to transmit the Buddhist dharma in a covert way so that it was socially acceptable at the time. This is discussed in a quote from Reverend Kuban Jakkoin, a Shugendo priest. He is discussing the word Hiho, which appears in the first line of the precepts. “The Expression hiho is used often by Buddhist people to speak about “the most Important teachings... Around the 1900s is the end of the Meiji period, which was against Buddhism precepts in Japan. I think Usui Sensei wanted his students to remember that to follow the six paramitas was the most important at this time. The paramitas are the keys to develop “bodaishin” which is the Way to be One with Universal Energy. Always think about the hard periods (Meiji, Taisho) in which Usui Sensei wrote and taught. It is very important to reflect like anthropologist.” (Frans p.46)
As opposed to the better known Japanese Buddhist tradition of Zen, Reiki is based mainly on two Japanese Esoteric traditions: Tendai, Shingon, and Shugendo. Tendai and Shingon are based on Vajrayana Buddhism brought to Japan 1100 hundred years ago. The main difference are their founders and the main text of their traditions. Shugendon is a bit different, “Shugendon is a set of vigorous practices for developing Siddhi (inner power). It was founded in Japan, 1300 years ago, by Enno Gyoja. As a tantric-based mountain practice that mixes Daoism and Shintoism(shamanism), it views the mountain as the perfect three-dimensional womb and diamond mandala of Dainichi Nyorai (the Cosmic Buddha).” (Frans p.110) The methods of mantra, symbols and initiation come from these schools.
At the age of 27 Dr. Usui was struck with cholera. During his illness he had a vivid dream in which he met an and was instructed by many Buddha’s and Boddhisatvas including the medicine Buddha. The Medicine Buddha spoke to him and said that since he was a physician that when he recovered from his illness it would be his job to synthesize scientific medicine and that Buddhist medicinal tradition. At that time, the Medicine Buddha expressed too him that “the spirit, the life energy, the hara is not separate from the physical body and that all physical suffering first emanates from the Hara, and is due to karmic obscurations and past actions which lead to suffering; the surgeon’s knife or the physician’s pill can only temporarily relieve this suffering. For the individual to be truly healed, he must be healed of ignorance, hatred, and greed. He must live a moral life, walking the Middle Path and seeking enlightenment for his own self and others. That is the only true healing, that the Dharma itself is the only balm and medicine for the suffering of all living beings” (p126-127 Medicine Dharma Reiki). After this he told a practitioner of Shingon Buddhism of his dream. They perform fire ceremonies to give thanks for this blessing. He then began to study and practice this path. At the age of 34 he traveled to Kyoto he found an old lacquer casket that from a Emerji Shingon Temple. He purchased it and inside he found the “Tantra of the Lightening flash”. This is the main text on which is healing system was based on and is the main link between reiki and Buddhism, specifically Tibetan Buddhism, other than his personal spiritual experiences and encounters with the medicine Buddha such as in the dream discussed above. This account of the orgins of Reiki is at odds with the account of Reiki being discovered under the instructions of zen master. Though it is possible that he study the tantric texts and only had the realization or experience of the full meaning of the Tantric texts after following meditation the instructions of a Zen master. In both accounts he traveled to Kyoto. One Mention him finding the tantric text there and the other mentions his meditation and fasting on a mountain and his subsequent realization.
The metaphor of Buddha as a healer and the Dharma as the medicine has been with Buddhism since the beginning. In fact, the four noble truths were written/spoken in the format of a traditional Indian medical diagnosis. By why was the hand-on healing practice, for which Reiki is now know, added to this system? As stated in The Inner Heart of Reiki, ”Some of Mikao Usui’s later students appeared less interested in meditation practices like joshin kokyu ho or chanting mantras, as their world was opening up and being influenced by Western cultures. To be able to guide them he also started to introduce hands-on healing in his teachings. This hands-on healing practice evolved over time to become a more externalized practice, and today many of us have forgotten inner meaning of hand-on healing for ourselves.” (Frans p160) This inner meaning is discussed a few pages later, “We might think that hands-on healing was developed to alleviate our physical pain, but that is really only the outer meaning of hands on-healing. The inner/ hidden meaning is letting go of the “I”. Because when we let go of the “I”, then there is no “I” who is worried about pain and discomfort.” (Frans p.162)
Reiki was developed at a time of major change in Japan. The state Shinto of the government had practically outlawed Buddhism and the exposure to the outside world of what had been the very isolated nation of japan, caused the Japanese to begin questioning their traditions. Although Reiki is today known mainly as a method of healing was meant as a way to transmit and protect the Buddhist dharma in a somewhat hidden way at a time when it was under threat. This is also part of the Buddhist tradition, in Buddhism it is known as skillful means.
The hands-on healing aspect of Reiki practice is in some ways the simplest aspect of the practice. The main challenge is in the work involved to become a clear channel for the Reiki energy and allow it to flow, the less effort on your part the better because your effort can block the flow of the energy. That is the essence of the practice, however there have developed a standard set of hand positions and symbols that are used by most practitioners but are not necessary for healing to occur. The hand positions in order are placing the hand on the top of the patient’s head, then one hand on the forehead and the other on the back of the head, then hand over the eyes, then over the ears, then one hand on the upper chest and one on the solar plexus, then hands on the hips. Generally, the hands are kept for 2-5 minutes in each positon. There are also a variety of symbols that can be visualized or drawn with the index finger in the air that have developed for a variety of purposes. For example, there is a symbol used to summon the Reiki energy, there is a symbol used for distance healing, and there are symbols used in the attunement process. These is only a general outline of Reiki practice as many variations and traditions of Reiki exist.
At the age of 27 Dr. Usui was struck with cholera. During his illness he had a vivid dream in which he met an and was instructed by many Buddha’s and Boddhisatvas including the medicine Buddha. The Medicine Buddha spoke to him and said that since he was a physician that when he recovered from his illness it would be his job to synthesize scientific medicine and that Buddhist medicinal tradition. At that time, the Medicine Buddha expressed too him that “the spirit, the life energy, the hara is not separate from the physical body and that all physical suffering first emanates from the Hara, and is due to karmic obscurations and past actions which lead to suffering; the surgeon’s knife or the physician’s pill can only temporarily relieve this suffering. For the individual to be truly healed, he must be healed of ignorance, hatred, and greed. He must live a moral life, walking the Middle Path and seeking enlightenment for his own self and others. That is the only true healing, that the Dharma itself is the only balm and medicine for the suffering of all living beings” (p126-127 Medicine Dharma Reiki). After this he told a practitioner of Shingon Buddhism of his dream. They perform fire ceremonies to give thanks for this blessing. He then began to study and practice this path. At the age of 34 he traveled to Kyoto he found an old lacquer casket that from a Emerji Shingon Temple. He purchased it and inside he found the “Tantra of the Lightening flash”. This is the main text on which is healing system was based on and is the main link between reiki and Buddhism, specifically Tibetan Buddhism, other than his personal spiritual experiences and encounters with the medicine Buddha such as in the dream discussed above.
© 2017 Conscious Health Institute
Lama Yeshe Medicine Dharma Reiki: An Introduction to the Secret Inner Practices with Extensive Excerpts from Dr. Usui’s Journals Delhi, India: full Circle Publishing 2001
Stein, Frans The Inner Heart of Reiki: Rediscovering Your True Self. Croydon,UK: Ayni Books, 2015.s