Dr Usui- Updated info

[Lyndell Fortin]

Dr.Mikao Usui  and the origins of Reiki-

       Updated Information - This information has been compiled from many different sources, over many years. My thanks to those sources, even though I may not be able to name them at this time.
 
    Most of the information below is from Mikao Usui’s memorial. The memorial and the original notes are very long and extensive. I have chosen the basics for these notes to fill in many gaps of information previously unknown from the traditional story.
If you are interested in knowing more, please refer to the Usui memorial translations in books or on the internet for further information.                                  
The traditional Reiki story has been taught to all or most students who have been taught by all Masters trained through the Reiki Master lineage from Dr Usui, Dr Hayashi and then Mrs.Takata. Even though the story is mostly correct there was still a lot that was unknown about Dr Usui. In the 1990’s more information became available from his memorial.
    We now know that Mikao Usui was born in the village of Taniai on August 15th, 1865, where his family had lived for eleven generations. His ancestors were once an influential samurai family as well as members of the Tendai sect of Buddhists. At the age of four he was sent to be educated at the Tendai Monastery. Mikao was known to have three brothers as well as an older sister. Due to his influential heritage he received a privileged education, which included languages, weaponry and martial arts.
    He became a scholar versed in history, medicine, Buddhist and Christian scriptures, Waka poetry, divination, incantations and physiognomy (face reading). He was also fascinated by the new science coming from the west.
    During this time the new Emperor favoured modern thinking and ideas, so, the country was opened up for the first time to westerners.  Anyone with some knowledge of modern sciences was promoted to high positions. Mikao lived in the new times of “Enlightenment and Civilization”.  As part of the new influx of western ideas, came the missionaries, both Protestant and Catholics, They bought with them western medical science and Christianity which had been banned in Japan until the late 1960’s.
    Mikao lived in Kyoto in his early adulthood, with his wife, Sadako Suzuki and their two children, a son and daughter. He continued his religious studies which included extensive meditation. He is reported to have taken formal training in Shingon Buddhism.
    Mikao had an avid interest in healing techniques and apparently spent much time and money tracking down ancient texts from Japan and other countries such as China, Tibet and India related to healing. He studied extensively at Kyoto monasteries and became an advanced practitioner and master in meditation.
    The texts that Dr. Usui studied, where he accessed the knowledge of Reiki, came from the teachings of the Buddha in Northern India, via China to Japan. These teachings had found there way to Japan as well as Tibet in the 8th & 9th Century. The "Tantra of the Lightning Flash,"  was one of the Tantras that Usui taught . His  research showed that a similar practice had developed at similar times in Tibet. It seems that the practice of Tantra had diminished over the centuries until he reintroduced it at the end of the 19th century.
    Over the years Mikao collected an extensive range of ancient scripts and texts and became a respected teacher of Buddhism. He developed a large group of followers eager to advance their knowledge of healing techniques. It is noted on his memorial that he did not begin teaching his system until 1922. There does however seem to be discrepancies as to the exact time of his first teachings, as some sources range from the late 1890’s to 1915. Again there is no exact details of the form of his teachings, as to if they were taught as meditations or the hands on healing techniques.
    It is noted on his memorial that he did take part in an extensive time of meditation and fasting on Mt Kurama.  This is where he encountered the great energy that appeared over his head and when he received the empowerment of the Universal healing energy.
    It is reported that he combined his new awareness with his previous teachings and formulated the Usui healing techniques which he then used on his family and then on the people of the lower classes of Kyoto. He treated many people with his new system which gave him the opportunity to further develop and refine his system.
    Mikao apparently continued to hold regular healing groups and taught his sytem to each student to suit their particular understanding and abilities. In 1922 he moved toTokyo, where he worked for the Prime Minister as secretary. He opened a Reiki clinic and began to teach his system of Reiki.
    Mikao, believed that there were seven levels of Reiki. The foundations of these teachings are the levels 1 to 3 taught in our western society.
    The advanced levels were Buddhist teachings related to the sacred Tantras and other healing modalities including a  wide range of energetic techniques, using "laying on of hands," crystals, herbs and plant medicines and energy points on the body.
    It is reported that Mikao taught over 2000 people his system of Reiki, with 21 of these being trained to teacher level. One of these teachers was Dr Chujiro Hayashi.
    In 1922 Mikao reportedly founded the Reiki society known as the Reiki Gakkai and acted as its first president. The society was open to those that studied Usui Reiki and it still exists today.
    On September 1st  1923, Tokyo was struck by the devastating Kanto earthquake. Most of the central part of Tokyo was destroyed by fire. Mikao and his students offered help to many of the survivors. He moved his clinic to Nakano, outside Tokyo in 1924. He and his clinic became famous for their work. He received invitations to teach his techniques all over Japan. He was even awarded by the Emporer. The extra burden of  teaching and healings took their toll on his health and so on March 9th 1926 at the age of 62 he died of a stroke.
    His ashes were placed in a temple in Tokyo. Shortly after his death students from the Reiki society erected a memorial stone at Saihoji Temple in Tokyo. By the 1940’s there were about 40 Reiki schools spread throughout Japan, all teaching the methods taught by Mikao Usui.
    Another of the Reiki teachers was Kozo Ogawa who opened a Reiki clinic in Shizuoka City. He was one of the administrators of the Reiki Gakkai. He passed his teachings onto his relative, Fumio Ogawa, who is still alive today.
     Toshihiro Eguchi, reportedly taught thousands of students before the Second World War and wrote many  books on Reiki healing techniques.
 
    During the Second World War, a lot of the manuscripts were lost and the clinics were shut down during the western allied occupation of Japan. Fortunately, the written teachings of Usui were retrieved from obscurity in Japan in 1946, during the liberation after World War 2, in a lacquered casket which was bought from a monk seeking money to feed his fellow monks and rebuild his monastery in north-eastern Tokyo. The casket reportedly contained texts dating from the 11th century to the 1920’s. The title pages were translated, and they included copies of the Mahavairocana Sutra, copies of commentaries and lectures by Kukai and other Shingon teachers; a 13th Century Tendai document which included excerpts from several Buddhist Sutras (including the Lotus and Flower Adornment Sutra); a collection of medical and healing teachings revealed by Sakyamuni Buddha called "The Tantra of the Lightning Flash", numerous letters and notes written by Dr Usui and his student Dr. Watanabe.
    The teachings of Usui and the other texts found in the casket are now being taught as Men Chhos(c) Rei Kei (Medicine Dharma (c) Rei Kei) and are available only to Buddhists.
    One of Dr. Usui  successors, Seiji Takamori researched Tibetan Buddhism.  Seiji Takamori, was a Japanese Zen Buddhist monk and a Reiki Master who traveled to Northern India, Nepal & Tibet. There he studied for 20 years and found spiritual practices similar to Reiki. The essence of Ven. Seiji Takamori's Tibetan Buddhism discovery is taught from his Usui Reiki lineage, now called Reiki Jin-Kei Do(c) (The Way of Compassion & Wisdom through Reiki), and the advanced Buddhist practices as Buddho-EnerSense(c).
    
    “The Buddha was known as "The Great Physician" and his teachings are the medicine to alleviate all suffering in samsara (the cycle of birth and death). To think of healing on a physical level, or of this lifetime, is to take a very narrow view of healing.”
 
    Chujiro Hayashi trained with Mikao for a period of 10 months before he died in 1926. Dr Hayashi was 45 years old when he began his study with Mikao. He was a retired Naval Officer and surgeon. He opened a clinic in Tokyo and replaced some of the format of the Usui system, including a use of attunements, mantras, symbols, a system of degrees or
levels, and a detailed set of hand layouts. In 1931 Hayashi broke ties with the Reiki Gakkai. Some sources report him leaving while others say he was asked to leave because of his radical changes to the Usui system.
    Chujiro’s clinics worked on a system of using several practitioners working on the one person at a time to maximize the energy flow. He encouraged volunteers to work at his clinic by offering them training in the healing system. He started by offering first level training in return for 3 months unpaid work in the clinic. He then offered some of those students further training to second degree for another period of nine months work. Teacher level was achieved by a further two years training in the clinic and assisting Chujiro in teaching classes. 
    In 1938 Hayashi reported that he had trained 13 Reiki teachers, one of whom was Hawayo Takata. Dr Chujiro Hayashi died on May 10th 1940 of a self induced stroke or heart attack. (This date is different to traditional Reiki story)
    Mrs. Takata is the most famous of his students as she bought Reiki into the western world. She was living in Hawaii where she opened her clinics. We in the western world owe a debt of gratitude to Mrs. Takata for making the teachings available to us. The Reiki that has been taught may not be the exact teachings of Dr Usui, but it has helped us reconnect with the ability for self healing.