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Reiki,
originating from the words raku-kei, is
the art and science of spiritual self
improvement. Reiki originated in
ancient Tibet thousands of years ago.
The Reiki calligraphy, in Sanskrit, was
used in meditation in Tibetan
monasteries. Reiki symbols were painted
upon large wall hangings in the
monasteries and acted as a the centre
focus in the practices toward
enlightenment by the Tibetan holy men.
What is
now called Reiki was re-discovered in
the 1870's by Dr. Mikao Usui. As the
story goes, Dr. Usui, the president of a
small Christian University in Japan, was
asked by his student "How did Christ
heal?". This question led Dr. Usui to
resign from his University position and
begin a ten year search for the answer.
His quest led him to many parts of the
world to study in many different
languages, and finally to original
Sanskrit Buddhist sutras where he found
ancient symbols that he believed to be
the formula for healing.
As this
point, Dr. Usui felt he had the keys to
healing, but did not know how to awaken
his healing power. He decided to go to
a mountain and meditate for 21 days, to
seek the power to heal. On the final
day, Dr. Usui saw a beam of light
rushing towards him. The light struck
him in the middle of his forehead, and
at that moment he saw the Reiki symbols
and felt them enter his mind and
memory. Dr. Usui spent the rest of his
life sharing Reiki. Before his death,
Dr. Usui passed the keys of Reiki over
to his closest associate, Dr. Chijiro
Hayashi, who ran a Reiki clinic in the
early 1900's in Japan.
Reiki was
brought to Hawaii in 1934 by Mrs. Hawayo
Takata, who was born on the island of
Hawaii in 1900 and lived in the Hawaiian
islands until 1970. In her
mid-thirties, Mrs. Takata became widowed
and very ill, and travelled to Japan to
seek treatment. While there she was
guided to Dr. Hayashi's clinic and
healed with Reiki. She studied Reiki
for a year in Japan and later was made a
Reiki Master (one who can fine tune or
empower others with Reiki energy). Mrs.
Takata spent the rest of her life
sharing Reiki, and in 1970 she moved to
California and began to train other
Masters.
Until
recently, Reiki training followed an
oral tradition. Very little was written
about Reiki, and much of Mrs. Takata's
teachings have come from her diaries and
taped interviews. |
