Which Reiki History?
Published in the February
1998 issue of "The Messenger"
The second most often asked question
asked of us, through our website chat, message board, or mail-lists is
"Which history about Usui and his re-discovery of Reiki is the
correct one?" To this we say "Most are correct". But, do let me tell
you why we would answer this way. In one of our other articles, we
wrote that there is value in most of the Reiki branches presented in
these modern times; which branch one takes is usually determined by
each seeker's personal inner-guidance and what they most need from the
vastness of knowledge contained in the system known as Reiki. Most
every Reiki practitioner has been taught that their Master's teacher's
lineage has evolved from the Usui - Hayashi - Takata line of Reiki
teachers. But is this the only one that exists? NO! It is true that
many teachers throughout the world have been trained by a Master that
has taken classes from someone in the evolving line of teachers
directly traceable to one of the Usui/Hayashi/Takata line, but not all
practitioners. In Japan, Usui is known to have taught perhaps 2000
students, and some of them continued to call their system by a name
that included Usui's name, while others decided to change the name
according to their own past training/understanding or just to
distinguish their own separate teaching from someone else's. The same
goes for Hayashi, Takata, and so forth. So, there are really differing
histories, as well as stories that might have been altered to make
one's system more attractive than another's. This method continues
even today. There has been much research throughout Japan and other
continents by some very thorough and dedicated historians; and their
findings are just now beginning to come forth - in book print and on
the internet. So there seems to be some truth in much of the reported
histories of the rediscovery of Reiki.
Most of the world now knows
that Mrs. Takata, the person most responsible for introducing the
Japanese system of Reiki to the western world, pre-fabricated much of
today's well-known history, in order to get the western population to
accept the teaching. It must be remembered that when this
Hawaiian-born Japanese woman introduced Reiki to the United States,
the Americans were still reeling from a war with Japan, and it was
well known that the Japanese did not hold much value on women in their
society. So, we believe that Mrs. Takata creatively created a
'Christian' version of the Reiki history, so that it would be more
acceptable to those in the West. We have come to know that much of the
story is not verifiable; Usui, it seems, did not come to America, did
not attend divinatory school in Chicago, did not travel the world
learning many languages and reading the sutras/scriptures personally,
that led to the re-discovery of some ancient healing system. There are
some notes that seem to have come from some of Usui's students, and
they are acupuncture methods of diagnoses and treatments. And even
some of the most recent of Usui's and Hayashi's surviving students,
tell that Usui was indeed an ordinary, but dedicated student of
healing arts, as well as an ardent seeker that tried to include the
'Spiritual' truths in his 'complementary health' training.
So, does
this mean that we should ignore the teachings of Reiki altogether,
just because the history is fabricated? Not at all, in fact, we think
that should spark the human initiative to search out the "Truth".
Practitioners of Reiki already know that the system works, that it is
a method of raising the vibrational frequencies of the physical body
(and corresponding subtle auric fields), and that expands our psychic
awareness and brings us to physical, mental, emotional and spiritual
balance; and that equates to better health. Follow your hearts and
continue to seek out the knowledge that Reiki is still communicating
to serious practitioners. Reiki continues to communicate its wisdom to
those that are dedicated to healing and spiritual evolvement. Do more
than just an hour treatment each day; practice on yourself and others
as if your lives depended on it. Make it a way of being, a response
to anything that seems to affect you negatively. Dedicate your life to
Reiki, and you will reap the wonders of the mysteries contained
within, and be more alive, well-balanced than you ever have been.
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