History

A Japanese Tendai Buddhist named Mikao Usui claimed to have discovered Reiki after long meditation, fasting, and prayer. Usui wrote that by mystical revelation he had gained the knowledge and spiritual power to apply and attune others to what he called Reiki. Mikao Usui said that he had the ability to enable people to enhance their access to the energy through certain initiations. Usui taught that his attunements to Reiki enhanced and refined a person's pre-existing ability to connect with Reiki. Through such initiations, students are said to become clearer channels for Reiki, and thereby improve the quality of treatments that student (or practitioner) provides.

Some schools of Reiki are said to believe that Mikao Usui was pursuing knowledge of healing before he developed his Reiki method and that he also studied traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, Qigong, and Yoga. Usui, however, claimed that the awakening of Reiki and the development of his techniques was something entirely different. Nonetheless, Reiki appears to be based loosely around ideas of qi.

Usui was also an admirer of the literary works of Emperor Meiji, and, in the process of developing his Reiki system, summarised some of the Meiji Emperor's works into a set of ethical principles, one translation of which is:

"Inviting blessings of the secret method Many illnesses of the spiritual (heavenly) medicine Today only anger not worry not With appreciation do work To people be kind In morning at night hands held in prayer think in your mind chant with mouth Mind body change it for better Usui Reiki method Founder Usui Mikao"

A less literal translation is:

"The secret method of inviting blessings The spiritual medicine of many illnesses Just for today, do not anger. Just for today, do not worry. Do your work with appreciation. Be kind to all. In the morning and at night hold your hands in prayer, meditate on and say these words. The Usui Reiki method to change your mind and body for the better. Founder Mikao Usui"

Mikao Usui trained several disciples. One of his disciples, the naval doctor Chujiro Hayashi, stressed physical healing and taught a more codified and simpler set of Reiki techniques. Among Hayashi's contributions was a set of fixed hand positions to be used in the course of a treatment; Usui himself preferred a method called scanning, through which he detected imbalances, and said that the hand positions were for beginners.

Hayashi initiated and trained Mrs. Hawayo Takata, who brought Reiki to the USA. Mrs. Takata claimed that she had been appointed Grandmaster of Reiki through the lineage of Mr. Chujiro Hayashi, and that there were no surviving teachers of Reiki to be found in Japan after World War II. Researchers have falsified her claim of Grandmastership and her allegation that no Reiki teachers remained in Japan, after they discovered lineages through practitioners other than Hayashi. They also stated that the title of "Grandmaster" does not exist, and is not recognized in Japan.

Hawayo Takata claimed that, after developing the Reiki methodology, as well as receiving the spiritual ability to practice it, Usui went to the slums of Tokyo to attempt the healing of beggars. However, after several years of very little success, he claimed that it was their mindset that kept them ill, even after he had "treated" them again and again. Usui then decided that there should be an "energy exchange" in return for a Reiki treatment. This "energy exchange" may take the form of cash payment, or a trade of some sort. The idea is that the patient is expected to regard the treatment as having a value up front and is prepared to invest himself/herself in the healing process.

There are essentially two broad groups, or schools: the traditional school and the independent school. The traditionalists claim to teach and practice Reiki strictly as it was taught from Usui's time until Takata's time, although modern research suggests that training under Usui differed greatly from the way Takata taught. Another, separate branch of traditionalists advocate adherence to the (now rediscovered) Japanese school's methods. The independent schools vary greatly in their practices and methods, ranging from those descended through Iris Ishikuro, which fundamentally adhere to traditional Reiki practice but eschew Takata's practice of charging $10,000 for attunement to Reiki "Master level," to so-called "newer" schools, which either add elements to traditional Reiki or claim to have been independently developed.

Reiki has been gaining some popularity worldwide within hospitals. The UK NHS (National Health Service) as part of its CAM (Complementary and alternative medicine) program uses Reiki and other CAM therapies as part of day care patient programs. [citation needed]