By
Roberta R. Barnes
These tools enhance health and happiness. Reiki balances and
surrounds with harmony. In all ancient scripts, the search for knowledge
is spoken of as one of the most noble. Knowledge is stored in many
places. Usui Mikao, the founder of Usui Reiki Ryoho, commonly shortened
to Reiki, searched for knowledge beginning in childhood. He never
attended any college or university. He held various types of employment,
traveled, was a parent, and studied among other things Zen under
Japanese Zen monks. While not searching for any specific thing, through
disciplined meditation in 1921 he connected to the vibrations of love
and harmony of universal energy and called the system he developed Reiki
Ryoho.
Plato once asked, "What whole way of life would make
living more worthwhile for each of us". Mikao Usui in the early 1920s
said Reiki Ryoho is the "secret to health and happiness". The Gokai
(five precepts or principles) is the backbone of Reiki. The five simple
lines directly translated are actually three concepts and although the
words are few, the meanings go to the core of balance and harmony that
promote health and happiness. The first line is to be without anger and
worry, ultimately leaving space for happiness. Happiness is a subjective
state of mind, and much research has been done on the topic. Focusing
on happiness, "Positive Psychology" is now being taught in such
well-regarded US universities as Harvard and the University of
Pennsylvania.
Various people since Mikao Usui's passing in 1926
have blended other practices into their practice of Reiki. Some
practices such as Chakra healing use other forms of energy. In
scientific English terms, energy can neither be created nor destroyed,
but changes form. Reiki is a unique form of universal energy. A physic
healer tunes the transmitted pulse of energy to the level required to
heal a specific illness. Reiki automatically tunes to the level needed
to promote healing of mind and body, and promote spiritual growth. In
Chakra healing, it is helpful to know the chakric connections of the
coccygeal and sacral vertebrae. In Reiki practice, it is only required
to have an enough discipline to keep the mind from causing interference,
as in trying to direct. Some healing practices require material tools,
Reiki requires only a trained body to flow through. Reiki practitioners
listen to the ills of others, but they trust in the wisdom of the
universe leaving any diagnosing up to licensed medical care
professionals. Reiki knows where to go and what to do when it gets
there, neither the practitioner nor the receiver needs to know.
One
simple law of the universe is that you will attract to yourself what
you put out. Isaac Newton said, "Every action has an equal and opposite
reaction"; energy pushes back on its source. Living by Usui-Sensei's
concepts neither anger nor worry will be attracted to you, but kindness
will be.
I am very fortunate to have studied under three Reiki
Shihans (teachers also called masters) that each in his own way pointed
the way to the sacred tools of Usui Reiki Ryoho. I will never stop
learning, but my Gendai Reiki-ho (Reiki method for healing) and Komyo
(light bright) Reiki practices are rooted in my studies with those three
Reiki Shihans. One is member of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, the
original Usui Reiki Ryoho society in Japan. Another is also a Buddhist
monk in Japan. Another living in Canada has done an unbelievable amount
of research in factual, not created, history. There are only two Reiki
teachers between two of my Reiki Shihans and Mikao Usui, and another of
my Shihans has only three Reiki teachers between himself and Mikao Usui.
The
sacred tools of the spiritual practice of Reiki can humble any man or
women. Mikao Usui shared some with 2,000 students. Three of those
students he shared enough with so that each could connect others with
universal energy. The transfer of energy that allows another to connect
to universal energy was called Reiju. From the nineteen twenties and
thirties Reiju has a factual history that is too lengthy to go into at
this time. Because of world events at the time Reiki first crossed the
oceans, created history was best told and techniques were altered. The
Gendai Reiju I practice, which was shared with me by a member of the URR
Gakkai, is a very powerful focused energy, but different from what is
called an attunement.
Where are the sacred tools hidden? They
began to be covered over around the time Reiki crossed the oceans in
1938. Reiki began being practiced in many altered ways in the nineteen
eighties and nineties, and new names created. One person from the US and
another from Australia had books published showing numerous Reiki
symbols that countless Reiki teachers had created to help students
learn. Reiki symbols have no power and are not sacred tools; they are
excellent training wheels as one learns the feel of the energies new to
him or her.
Recently I was asked if the Reiki guides would be
angry if certain symbols were not drawn correctly. The practice of Reiki
is a blissful journey to the higher dimensions where anger and worry do
not exist. How can any being in the highest dimensions be angry if no
anger exists? As far as worrying about which symbol is used for which
illness, worry does not exist either. Note that the translation is the
word "worry", but the meaning is the kind surrounding things you can do
nothing about except loose sleep over. As Mikao Usui taught, he created
three symbols to help certain students learn to feel the energies. If a
person continues on his or her Reiki journey, training wheels and any
material supports are discarded so that the person can continue on the
journey without excess weight.
For Reiki to flow at its full
strength a person not only must have studied with a qualified Reiki
Shihan, but also be ready to have his or her channel opened to its
complete width. A person's channel will only open as much as he or she
is ready for at that time. Benching the mind to allow Reiki to flow
uninterrupted requires guidance, discipline, and much practice. Reiki
replenishes any life force energy, or Chi, that may attach to Reiki
flowing through a practitioner or teacher. Some people refer to Reiki as
Chi, implying that Reiki is life force energy. A closer look shows that
life force energy is only one kind of Chi. Having completed the highest
level in several styles of Reiki I know that Reiki is different then
life force energy, and is very different then the electrical energy that
by accident one day gave me an unexpected zap.
Sometimes it is
hard to accept what usually cannot be identified by any of the
functioning five common senses, but at the same time most people put
faith in his or her "gut feelings". Reiki learned from a qualified Reiki
Shihan makes putting faith in unconditional Reiki automatic. At Usui
Reiki Ryoho International 2002 while listening to a presentation given
by Hiroshi Doi I saw what I never had before. Besides being thankful for
the other Reiki master/teachers I met at URRI, I will always be
grateful for the clearer understanding I received of Reiki's sacred
tools.
No manual came with the connection Mikao Usui made in 1921,
so the system he developed required a great deal from his prior
knowledge and practice. Many of the things Mikao Usui shared are kept
sacred within the walls of URR Gakkai. Beginning in 1999 Hiroshi Doi, a
member of the URR Gakkai began sharing some with a few Reiki Shihans
outside of the URR Gakkai. More is being revealed and many canards and
symbols have been put to rest, but the sacred tools remain as they
always have been.
There is nothing wrong with adding anything to
the spiritual practice of Reiki, unless it is something the person
adding does not fully understand and harm is caused by the addition. No
style of Usui Reiki Ryoho is better then another, and every level is
honorable. There are many wise qualified Reiki Shihans, each with his or
her own guidelines to share; through guidelines, discipline, trust in
the universe, letting go the ego, and practice the sacred tools of Reiki
can be seen.
I point the way for my students just as my Reiki
Shihans did for me. Each attunement opens a person's channel wider, but
it is the sacred tools of Reiki rather then symbols or any added
supports that allow the end of the journey, enlightment, to be reached.
The sacred tools of Reiki cannot be purchased nor can they be written in
words that everyone understands. With Reiki's sacred tools, a person is
in a state where the mind is perpetually filled with the peace,
tranquility, and joy that is health of the whole person.