Reiki- The traditional Reiki story- as I was taught

[Lyndell Fortin]

The Traditional Reiki Story 
 
The traditional Reiki story, which has been taught to most Reiki students since the time of Mrs.Takata, begins in the late 1800’s with Dr. Mikao Usui.
Dr. Mikao Usui was born in Japan in the mid- nineteenth century.
There have been two versions of his story taught within the western world. One version states that he was a Christian minister who was asked by one of his students - how did Jesus heal? This then sent him off on his path to gain the knowledge of healing.               
    The other version is that he was a Buddhist who was interested in the life, teachings and healing techniques of Buddha. He traveled throughout Japan, studying in Buddhist temples in search of the healing techniques. The Buddhists however believed that the
path to Enlightenment was through healing the spirit rather than the physical body. The physical body was not of great importance to them, so the teachings of physical level healings had been lost for centuries.
    During his travels he became friends with the head of a Zen monastery and was invited to study with them. Dr. Usui then learned Chinese and Sanskrit so that he could read the ancient manuscripts. It was in the Buddhist Sutras written 2500 years ago, that he discovered the formula for healing. It was a simple formula. It did not however show how to activate the energy. (Within the Sutras information was usually written in an obscure manner to keep the teachings from the unenlightened.)
    Dr. Usui followed the instructions and embarked on a 21 day meditation and fasting on Mt.Kori-yama in Japan. He chose his meditation site and piled 21 stones in front of him, throwing away one stone at the end of each day. On the last day, in the darkest hour just before dawn, Usui saw a projectile of light coming toward him. As he looked at the light he realised that it had consciousness and that it was somehow communicating with him. He became aware that the light held the knowledge that he had been searching for. He welcomed the knowledge. The light struck him in the third eye and he lost consciousness for a time.
    In an “out of body experience” he saw many bubbles of light filled with colours and many symbols. As he contemplated each symbol he received an attunement for that symbol and the knowledge of how to use it. 
    Dr. Usui had achieved Enlightenment and had been initiated into the use of Reiki healing power.
    While walking down the mountain after his meditation he experienced what is traditionally known as the four miracles.
    *First he stubbed his toe and instinctively sat and placed his hands over it. His hands became hot and the bleeding stopped and the pain disappeared.
    *Secondly, he reached an eating house where he ordered a full meal, which is not usually recommended after fasting for so long. He ate it without discomfort or any problems with digestion.
    *Third, the granddaughter of the inn keeper, who was serving the meal, was afflicted with toothache.  He placed his hands on her face and the pain was relieved.
    *Next, when he returned to the monastery, he relieved his friend the monk of arthritis.
 
    Dr. Usui named the healing energy Reiki. He then spent the next seven years working with beggars, in the slums of Kyoto carrying the message to anyone who would listen. He found however that many people receiving Reiki healings did not always take responsibility for their own healing or bother to change their lifestyle or beliefs.
    Many who had received healings became sick again. He realized that he had been concentrating on healing of the body instead of healing of the spirit as well.
    He left the slums to return to the monastery. On his way he received further spiritual instruction which included the Spiritual Principles of Reiki.
 
                   Just for today, do not worry, accept
                   Just for today, do not anger
                   Honour your parents, teachers and elders
                   Earn your living honestly
                   Show gratitude to all living things

     (You may see different interpretations of the ideals in different teachings. These have been developed by different teachers over the years.They will aways have the same intention, even though their wording may have changed slightly.)
    

    Dr. Usui then devised a scheme of an energy exchange for healing that is still recommended today. If anyone receives a Reiki healing or treatment they should pay for it in some form of energy exchange so that they may play a responsible part in their own healing. This may be money, or a simple smile, a hug, returning a favour, preparing a meal or doing some type of service for the person giving the treatment.
    Dr Usui practised and taught Reiki throughout Japan for the rest of his life.
   

    During his travels he met Chujiro Hayashi, a retired naval officer. Dr Hayashi received his Reiki Master training in 1925, at the age of 47 and became Dr. Usui’s successor.      (Dr. Usui died in 1930)
    Dr. Hayashi opened a healing clinic in Tokyo where healers worked in groups. Up to this time, the Usui system of healing consisted of the energy itself, the attunements, the Reiki Ideals and the symbols.
    Dr Hayashi developed the standard hand positions, the system of three levels or degrees and their initiation attunements.
    It was to these clinics that Mrs. Takata was drawn for healing.
In 1930 Mrs. Hawayo Takata, then living in Hawaii, was widowed leaving her with 2 small children to raise. She developed nervous exhaustion and was diagnosed as having gall bladder dis-ease that required surgery.
Due to a respiratory condition surgery was considered dangerous. Over the next 5 years her condition deteriorated and was told that she would not live without surgery.  She returned to Japan to visit her parents and entered a hospital and prepared for surgery.
By this time she was diagnosed with gallstones, appendicitis and a tumour. While awaiting surgery she heard a voice say “The operation is not necessary”. She asked if there was any other way to heal her. She was told about the Hayashi clinics. Mrs. Takata lived at the clinic and is said to be completely healed in mind, body and spirit in 4 months. She asked to be trained in Reiki, but was originally refused because she was a foreigner.         Eventually Hayashi trained her in Reiki 1 in 1936. She joined the teams of healers and in 1937 she received Reiki 11 and returned to
Hawaii where she opened a clinic.
    In 1938 when Hayashi was on a lecture tour in Hawaii, he trained Mrs.Takata as a Master She was the 13th and last Reiki Master that Dr Hayashi trained. Hayashi had sensed that a great war was going to take place and that his clinic in Japan may be destroyed. He felt that if he did not pass the training onto someone outside Japan, the knowledge may be lost again.
    With war imminent Dr. Hayashi, felt that as a naval officer, he would be recalled to service. He wanted no part of taking another's life, so on May 19, 1941 in the presence of his students, Chujiro Hayashi is said to have stopped his own heart by psychic means and died.
    During World War 11 the Reiki clinic in Japan was taken over by the occupied forces and was no longer able to operate. Mrs.Takata however was operating healing clinics in Hawaii and later the teachings spread to mainland America, Canada and Europe. It is possible that the version of Dr.Usui being a Christian may have evolved at this time to make the teachings more acceptable to western Christians.
    Mrs. Takata believed that you should always charge for Reiki treatments or classes. She believed that only by paying the high price would the western world have value for the healing and teaching. The high prices charged were shown as a mark of respect for the energy.
        She lived and promoted Reiki in Hawaii for many years, only starting to train
other Reiki Masters in her seventies. Between 1970 and 1980 Mrs. Takata initiated 22 known Reiki Masters.
        


    After Mrs.Takata’s death in 1980, Phyllis Furomoto, her granddaughter, was recognized by the Reiki Master community as her grandmother’s successor.
       Phyllis grew up in the mid west of the United States. She was initiated into Reiki at an early age. She studied psychology and at the age of thirty decided to dedicate her life to healing work. She began to travel and work with her grandmother.
She was initiated as a Master in April 1979. 
    Apparently Phyllis wanted all the Masters to be able to support each other, so from this thought the Reiki Alliance was formed in 1983.
         Phyllis now travels world-wide to promote Usui Shiki Ryoho, the system introduced to us, in the western world through the lineage of Dr Usui, Dr Hayashi and
by her grandmother, Mrs. Takata.