HISTORY OF REIKI TAUGHT IN THE WEST

Everything we knew about Reiki in the West until now came from the oral traditions of Master Hawayo Takata, considered the third spiritual successor to Reiki after Dr. Mikao Usui. I shared with my students the history of Reiki, slightly modified by reading the aforementioned book by W.L. Rand.

The history of Reiki as passed down so far, among others in Poland:

Reiki is a method, a healing technique based on the laying on of hands, known for millennia and rediscovered in the late 19th century. The history of this discovery is still rife with ambiguities and issues requiring clarification. There are materials on Reiki that have not yet been translated into any Western languages, and others that have never been translated into any language at all.

Reiki was introduced to us by Dr. Mikao Usui, and the healing system he established is now known as Usui Shiki Ryoho. Dr. Usui was the dean of Doshisha University in Kyoto and a priest. The legend surrounding the discovery of Reiki has it that his students constantly asked him questions about how Jesus healed the sick. He didn't know the answers to these questions, but he decided to take steps to find them. This process lasted 10 years. Dr. Usui left Japan for the United States, where he stayed for 7 years. During this time, he began studying theology at the University of Chicago. He studied comparative history, religion, and philosophy. He studied Sanskrit, the liturgical languages of India and Tibet. However, he didn't find what he was looking for. Interestingly, from this point on, there is no further mention of Dr. Usui the Christian priest. As a Buddhist, he moved to Japan and lived in a Zen monastery. Usui knew that Jesus healed in the same way as the Buddha, but the people he turned to for help told him they didn't believe that healing the body and the spirit were connected. They focused their healing energy on the spirit, leaving the healing of the body to specialists in the healing arts.

In a Zen monastery, Dr. Usui spent years reading sutras, teachings, and writings of the Buddha, meditating, and studying Sanskrit, considered the mother of all languages. Knowing Sanskrit, he began studying the Tibetan Buddhist school and finally found what could be the key to healing. However, there was no mention of a method for activating energy for healing in these materials. I believe this had its explanation. The secrecy of the sutras was intended to prevent this great power from falling into the wrong hands. Hawayo Takata, in his book "The History of Reiki by Mrs. Takata," writes on page 4 of the transcript that not everything regarding the discovery of Reiki is fully explained.

And about Usui's work she wrote:

"He continued to study Sanskrit and learned it not without great effort. This helped him understand that the method was as simple as daylight, not complicated at all. Two plus two makes four. And then he said to himself: I have it. I have found it. Now I have to interpret it, because it was written 2,500 years ago. This is a test I must undergo."

This test was a journey to the sacred Mount Kuryama near Tokyo. After choosing a place for meditation, he placed 21 pebbles in front of him. Each morning, he threw one of them in front of him. He fasted and meditated. Before dawn on the 21st day, as usual, he prayed and asked God for enlightenment. Suddenly, he saw a light approaching him at tremendous speed. He wanted to flee, but by remaining there, he decided to accept things as they were, as the answer to his prayers and meditations, even at the cost of his life.

The light grew brighter, and at one point, he felt a blow to the center of his forehead. He lost consciousness for a moment, then saw millions of bubbles shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow. Suddenly, the yellow, purple, and white bubbles separated from the rest, and Usui saw holographic Sanskrit symbols—Reiki symbols he knew from the writings of Tibetan Buddhist teachers. He received instructions on how to use them to activate healing energy. He felt thrilled and happy, despite all the days of fasting, full of energy. This was his first Reiki initiation.

While descending Mount Kuryama and returning to the monastery, he stubbed his toe. He touched it, and the bleeding and pain stopped, and his hands felt warm. On the way down, he stopped at a traveler's hut because he felt hungry. He asked for a hearty meal, which was unthinkable considering the fasting period, during which he drank only water. To the innkeeper's surprise, the meal did him no harm. His third "miracle" was relieving the toothache of a girl serving at the inn by laying his hands on her face. Finally, upon arriving at the monastery, he found the abbot lying ill in bed with an arthritic crisis. He cured him as well.

He called this healing energy Reiki. For seven years, he administered it in Kyoto's beggar district, achieving many wonderful results. He healed beggars and showed them a new way of life. However, he noticed that they preferred begging to earning a living. This discouraged him, and he decided to leave the beggar district. He even encountered cases where the poor resented him for healing them, as he forced them to work.

This attitude may have stemmed from Dr. Usui's focus solely on the physical, neglecting the spiritual and personal responsibility during recovery. He realized he was acting contrary to Buddhists. It was then that he established the five spiritual principles of Reiki. This changed his practice. He understood that there was no energy exchange during the healing process. Therefore, the physical aspect of Reiki should be integrated with the spiritual.

Dr. Usui continued to provide Reiki to those in need, and that's how he met Chujiro Hayashi, a former naval officer, whom he initiated as a master in 1925. Dr. Usui initiated 16 masters. He passed away in 1938, appointing Dr. Hayashi as his successor, who pledged to ensure the continuity of Dr. Usui's teachings. To this end, he founded, with six masters, the first Reiki clinic in Tokyo. It was to this clinic that Hawayo Takata came in 1936 seeking help.

Hawayo Takata was born in Hawaii on December 24, 1900. She was the daughter of Japanese immigrants, but held American citizenship. She was a petite and delicate woman. As a young girl, she had to work hard. She married Saichi Takata, with whom she had two children. In 1930, she was widowed and left to raise her children. The hard work strained her nervous system, causing physical ailments, including abdominal pain, pneumonia, and gallstones. Her health deteriorated, requiring surgery. In 1935, her sister died, and Hawayo traveled to Japan to inform her parents, who had relocated there. She hoped she might recover. She was admitted to the hospital and stayed there for several weeks. In addition to gallstones, they diagnosed her with a tumor and appendicitis. Surgery was essential. The night before her surgery, she heard a voice telling her that surgery was not necessary. On the operating table, she heard the same voice. She told the surgeon she didn't want to undergo surgery and asked if he knew of any other way to heal her. He told her about Dr. Hayashi's Reiki clinic, that his sister had been healed there, and that after her recovery, she had received initiations as a Reiki master there.

Hawayo Takata immediately went to the clinic and was admitted. She received Reiki treatments daily. The healers' hands were so hot that she thought they were using special devices hidden in the sleeves of their kimonos. (A small digression here. Very often, the children I give Reiki treatments to also look for special heat-producing devices in my sleeves and hands.) After four months at the clinic, Hawayo Takata was completely healed. She was so impressed, she asked Dr. Hayashi to teach her the method. However, he initially refused. He didn't want Reiki to spread beyond Japan's borders. He didn't want foreigners to learn about the method. However, he changed his mind after speaking with the surgeon at Naeda Hospital, where Hawayo Takata had previously been, and decided to teach her the method. After his wife, Takata was the second woman to receive Reiki initiations. She received her first degree in the spring of 1936. She worked alongside Dr. Hayashi for a year and received her second degree in Reiki in 1937. In the summer of 1937, she returned to Hawaii and established the first Reiki clinic. She achieved great success in her work. (...)