Reiki
- Reiki History & Principles
THE FIVE PRINCIPLES
OF REIKI ARE:
Just for today, I will not
be angry.
Just for today, I will not
worry.
Just for today, I will do
my work Honestly.
Just for today, I will be
kind to my Neighbor and every living thing.
Just for today, I will
give thanks for My many blessings.
REIKI
(pronounced ray-key) is a Japanese word meaning
"Universal Life Force Energy". Reiki is
also known as Usui System of Natural Healing. Every
human being is endowed with energy centers in the
palms of his/her hands. Reiki opens up these centers.
The palms of the hands are placed over the part(s) of
the body in different positions.
REIKI
originated in Tibet thousands of years ago. The monks
in Tibet were master of these ancient art form for
it's use in healing and self improvement and
spiritual transformation. It was kept as a secret and
was passed on to a selected dedicated few.
REIKI
was brought to the world by Dr.Mikao Usui, a
Christian scholar and teacher, who after responding
to some deep queries from his students regarding how
Jesus was able to heal the people, went in to an deep
and rigorous study of the healing techniques of
ancient spiritual leaders. He found the healing
techniques in ancient Buddhist scriptures and spent
his life applying and teaching the techniques to his
students.
REIKI
reached the world in late 1970's in west through
Mrs.Hawayo Takata. Since then millions of people have
received Reiki worldwide.
HISTORY
Usui
Shiki Ryoho
The Usui
System of natural Healing
Reiki in
Japanese is used to describe any healing work based
on life force energy. The system of healing that used
by Dr.Usui is called the Usui System of Natural
Healing or Usui Shiki Ryoho. All present information
about the history of Reiki and its source of
rediscovery, Dr. Mikao Usui, comes from the oral
story of Mrs. Takata, which was passed by her to her
students. According to this story, Reiki was
something Dr. Usui had rediscovered and therefore, it
must have existed before. No written records are
known to exist about Dr. Usui's experience.
There are
spiritual lineages in Tibetan Buddhism involving the
transmission of energy through empowerments. Since
Tibetan Buddhism is the only form of Buddhism that
uses empowerments, it is very much possible that the
Reiki Dr. Usui rediscovered was in fact a Tibetan
technique that had been lost to the world. It is
believed that a spiritual lineage of this type may
stop due to the failure of the teacher to pass it on.
The lineage may then resume hundreds or thousands of
years later when a monk or spiritual seeker receives
instruction and empowerment during a mystical
experience. Perhaps this is what happened to Dr.
Usui. Perhaps he had been a Reiki Master in a past
life and this gave him the determination to seek the
healing power again. Perhaps the lineage had come to
an end only to be started again when Dr. Usui's Reiki
was reactivated during his mystical experience.
The Usui
System of Natural Healing has evolved over time. In
its present state, it is much more organized than the
intuitive method practiced by Dr. Usui. In the
following paragraphs we are going to learn about the
evolution of the Usui System of Reiki.
During his
mystical experience on Mt.Kori-yama, Dr.Usui gained
the ability to pass on Reiki treatments, the Reiki
symbols and the ability to pass Reiki to others.
After some time he added his Reiki Ideals and the
idea that one has to take compensation for a
treatment. Dr.Hayashi added the standard hand
positions, the three degrees and their attunement
processes. Mrs.Takata added the fee structure. The
necessary waiting periods in between the classes were
introduced by the members of the Reiki Alliance after
Mrs.Takata passed away.
After
Mrs.Takata's progression, a few teachers made changes
in the way they taught Reiki. Many changes were
beneficial as they came from the inner self and
wisdom. However, some of the changes were restrictive
in nature and it made the progress of the students
slow and difficult. Often, the fact that they had
modified the usui system was not mentioned to their
students and when their students became teachers,
they began teaching what they thought was pure Reiki
when the fact was that it was not so. In this way,
many styles of Reiki have developed in its modified
form
