Who Was Dr Mikao Usui?

Mikao Usui was born on the 15th of August in 1865 in the village Taniai in Japan, not fare from where Nagoyo is today. His family had lived here for eleven generations and Mikao was born into the Tendai sect of Esoteric Buddhism. At a very young age he was sent to a Tendai monastery to receive his primary education. He continued his Buddhist education until he became a lay Tendai priest.

The Tiantai teaching was first brought to Japan by Chinese monks in the 8th century. Shortly it developed into what became Japanese Tendai. The Japanese Tendai did not deviate substantially from the beliefs created by the Tiantai school in China.

The Tendai sect flourished under the patronage of the imperial family and it became the dominant form of main-steam Buddhism in Japan and it also was the foundation for most of the developments in later Japanese Buddhism.

Mikao Usui was also influenced by Shintoism, the traditional faith of the Japanese people prior to contact with China. The original shintoism was a very simple religion and it had only one command: the necessity of being loyal to one's ancestors. Its early aspects were naturalistic, which includes spiritism, totemism, and nature worship. Early Japanese worshiped the sun, thunder, earth, tigers, serpents, threes, stones etc. A later stage is more intellectual and ethically oriented.

As Mikao was growing up the Japanese society went trough gross changes. It was now starting to open up to the west again. For the first time since the 1640's foreigners were allowed in the country, the ban on Christianity was lifted in 1873 and the country abandoned a feudal society and adapted to an industrialized society instead.

Mikao was an eager student and he received a doctorate in literature, he spoke several languages, and studied the western medicine, theology and philosophy. He had the opportunity to travel to China, USA and Europe where he could elaborate on his studies.

Early in his adult life Mikao lived in Kyoto with his wife and two children. He had various carriers as a businessman, and at one time he was also the private secretary to Count Shinpei Goto. At the same time he continued his spiritual studies and became involved with a group named Rei Jyutsu Kai. This group had a temple (Kurama-dera) at the base of the mountain Kurama-yama.

Mikao Usui is also said to have practices Shugenja in addition to Tendai Buddhism. Shugenja is a Japanese mountain asctic shamanism which incorporates Shinto and Buddhist practises.

Around 1900 Mikao fell very ill as an epidemic swept trough Kyoto. He had a near death experience in which he had a vision of, and instruction from, the Mahavairovana Buddha. This was a very important experience for Mikao and it caused him to rethink his life. He turned his mind to the esoteric science of healing as thought by Buddha, and he developed the compassionate wish that he may learn the methods of healing in order to benefit mankind.

Mikao went on to study Shingon Buddhism in order to find explanations to his vision. This lead to a confrontation with his family who declared him a traitor to the family and ancestors.

He spend much time and money studying Buddhist scriptures, in particular the once about healing techniques and energy disciplines. For many years he continued to study and practice the Buddhist teachings. Over time he became a respected and learned Buddhist teacher with a following of students.

In 1914 he undertook a meditation retreat at the monastery Kurama-yama. It is believed that during this retreat he was able to melt together all his knowledge and come to the realization of how he could work with the divine life energy.

He first practiced the new healing technique on himself and his friends before he, at a later stage, offered his healing to the residents of Kyoto. This gave him the opportunity to perfect and refine the healing method - later known as Reiki healing.

In 1922 he moved to Tokyo and opened up a Reiki clinic where he practiced and also taught the system of Reiki to his students. He founded the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, meaning Usui's Spiritual Energy Therapy Society, which is a society of Japanese Reiki masters still existing today.

After the Kanto earthquake in 1923 in Tokyo where over 140 000 people were killed and over three million people found themselves homeless over night, Mikao and his students went out in the streets and offered Reiki healing to countless of victims.

His fame spread quickly all over Japan and he began receiving invitations from all over the country. His schedule grew tight as requests for teaching continued to increase. He travelled throughout Japan giving healings and teachings. On March 9th in 1926 he unexpectedly died of a stroke 62 years old.

Anita Karlson is blogging about how to live a more healthy, natural and balanced life. Find new articles and inspiring tips at http://www.anitakarlson.com

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Reiki - East and West

I have seen questions raised over the compatibility of Westernized Reiki and the 'original' teachings of Eastern or Usui Reiki. There are some Reiki therapists who have been trained in the eastern variant that tend to look down their noses at western practices. I must admit that I myself am guilty of that on occasion.

Before I proceed I should admit that I have not been trained in any variant of Western Reiki so I am speaking from a lack of experience here, but I have been attuned and trained in Usui Reiki Ryoho. My masters are of the opinion that they wished to teach and attune as closely to the original methods as they were able to and have trimmed out what they believed to be purely western influence from their instruction. I have no problem with this at all but I will state now that I have no problem either with western methods that are genuine extensions and discoveries that have proved an increased benefit to the client and/or the practitioner.

Western Reiki has acquired a bit of a bad name over the past few decades, more because of the flakiness of some of its adherents than any fault with the basis of the practice. There is a website out there today claiming to provide Dolphin Reiki! Yes, you read that correctly, and it is not a site providing holistic care for dolphins, but the practitioner claims to channel Reiki energy from dolphins. Now I don't wish to appear too judgmental here but what on earth do dolphins have to do with Reiki? I agree that they need the energies to live just as we do, but why try to channel it from them when you have the pure source at you beck and call? Dolphins do have a genuine therapeutic effect on certain conditions when the patient is in their presence, but I feel that particular website is taking the 'Reiki' theme too far.

What a lot of this boils down to is the western tendency to want to make money. The original westernized Reiki teachings promulgated by Ms Takata where perfectly fine. The history she provided was altered to take care of American prejudice against all things Japanese at the time she introduced it to the U.S.A. This accounts for much of the western belief that Reiki has Christian roots. There are others out there who believe Reiki is of Tibetan origin; it isn't. Reiki was discovered, for the first time by Mikao Usui. He was a Shinto lay preacher in Japan. The past two decades have allowed some original texts from Usui, and other historical documents, to surface that have clarified a lot of this, and I'd recommend anyone seriously interested in gaining a better understanding or Reiki's roots to read up on some of Frank Arjava Petter's work.

The money-making side of western 'New Age' has unfortunately led to a tendency for some Reiki practitioners and some energy healers, who have never been attuned to Reiki, to stick the word Reiki onto everything they offer to try to legitimize their practice. Hence Dolphin Reiki...

Reiki energies come from source, the universe, the universal consciousness, God or Allah, or whatever you wish to call the primal energy that allows everything to subsist in this reality. If you wish to filter the Reiki energy through something, then at least bring it in to this dimension in a relatively pure form first. I use Reiki energy in my Crystal Therapy sessions. Pure Reiki is perfect for cleansing, charging and energizing crystals, as well as purifying the aura and working with the chakras. Placing a crystal over a chakra and gently running Reiki through it also helps ensure the energy the client receives is of the purest kind and limits the possibility that your own energy is used by mistake. Using Reiki in this way helps to enhance the effect of another form of therapy.

I would suggest that if the person purporting to provide Dolphin Reiki really wishes to go that route then they should market it more fairly by stating they channel Dolphins in some way and project Dolphin energy into the client. What ever they do, it is not Reiki.

So far this has all sounded a little anti-western. I am not anti-western at all, I am just anti-some-new-age-money-making-practices. I need money as much as the next person but I try not to deceive my clients, it's not fair and not good karma (if you go for that line of thinking).

Legitimate western alterations I am happy about are where Masters have meditated on, and experimented with, additional symbols and further supplementary attunements. I question the need for 20 extra symbols but then I have not been trained in their use. I assume they are used to fine tune the energies for very particular needs. Supplementary attunements are okay so long as they don't interfere with the originals.

Any tradition dies if it is not open to change and evolution. Reiki has a rock solid basis on which to build but if Western Reiki is to survive, I would suggest its genuine adherents weed out the cow-boys, charlatans and snake-oil merchants, and show them up for what they truly are. East can meet West, I am sure of it, and we will all be the better for it.

Andy Cook is a Reiki Master Teacher, Crystal Therapist and Indian Head Massage practitioner. His approach to his clients is one of providing a holistic approach to the entire person, not just trying to treat the symptoms presented.

He works out of East London and is also available for Reiki training and attunements by appointment.

Andy's personal blog can be found at http://andy-cook.co.uk

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