Reiki Ryoho Plain and Simple Site Index

Introduction

Index of Techniques

Level One Manual -
Shoden

Level Two Manual -
Okuden

Level Three Manual -
Shinpiden

Supplementary Information

Tendai Buddhism - Usui was a Tendai Buddhist throughout his life. This section contains links and other information regarding Tendai.

Author's Note:  SITE UPDATED May 22th, 2001.  Welcome to the newest addition to the Angelreiki.nu website.  The Reiki Ryoho Plain and Simple e-book is being written and developed to try to bring some clarity to the profusion of the "new" old material coming from Japan.  This book continues to be a work in progress.

This update takes a look at some of the changing information that has been surfacing about Usui Sensei's relationship with the Gakkai as well as additional information about attunements.  Also be sure to check out the newest web site, Reiki-Do.  This site looks at Living Reiki, BEing Reiki.  Visit at http://reiki-do.org

Enjoy;

Vinny Amador
 

Introduction

Reiki practitioners have always had a certain curiousity and reverence about it's founder, Mikao Usui.  This curiousity surrounds the history of reiki, its development, and the events and training in Usui's life that may have influenced the development of Usui's reiki.

Mts. Takata began using teaching stories about Usui's past to try to help western students.  These teaching stories contained information that she added about him being a Christian Monk, working in a university, and other things.  This was undoubtedly done to help her western students understand Usui's life and search in the context of their cultural frame work so it would be easier to understand.

Unfortunately many began to codify these teaching stories as dogma following the death of Mrs. Takata.  Some stories began to take on a life of their own, such as the story of the beggars being used to justify "energy exchanges".  Many began to lose the connection to the points that Mrs. Takata was trying to make with her teaching stories.  This was the "reiki history" as it was known in the west.

The history was the history, until it was no longer the history.

Many began to channel wild theories regarding this and soon reiki was channeled to be from Tibet, Atlantis, Egypt or Lemuria.  It's 'original" founders were said to be "ascended masters", "galactic brotherhood's", an ancient Chinese named "Wei Chi", and many others. (author's note:  my favorite theory involved the space aliens, I always love those, especially the X-Files....)   While these channelings were interesting, they lacked any historical evidence that might lead someone to take them seriously.

It was commonly taught in the US that Hayashi Sensei was Usui's star pupil who received the mantle of Reiki.  It was also commonly thought that the lineage was passed to Mrs. Takata.  Because of this there was no movement to explore reiki in Japan.   It was not until quite recently that this began to occur.   The people exploring reiki in Japan began to uncover a number of interesting things.  Unlike the western practices of Mrs. Takata, reiki was not an "oral tradition" in Japan.  Usui and Hayashi both had written manuals that they gave students and there were handwritten notes of symbols and practices that students had been given that survived to this day.  There were historical "facts" that began to emerge such as Usui was not a Christian Monk, he did not teach at Doshisha University, he did not require payments or exchanges and on and on.   What initially was a startling finding was that there was an organization that remained in an unbroken line from Usui.  This was called the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai.  While this was a boon to find an organization that claimed to have the direct lineage from Usui, the Gakkai is a tight and closed society of members and do not freely share information regarding their art.

One of the first pioneers to look back to Japan to try to see if there was evidence remaining of reiki's past that survived Usui was Frank Arjava Petter.  He found Usui's memorial stone with a lengthy description of his life and virtue.  He began to track down leads of surviving traditions in Japan.  Much of Petter's findings are written in his books.  Recently Petter was touring the United States teaching the new history and other techniques that he discovered being practiced in Japan.  Petter released much of this information in his first book, "Reiki Fire".

Petter found that there were several remaining lineages in Japan.  In the west, it was thought and taught by the Reiki Alliance that Takata was "Grand master" of reiki and that reiki was no longer taught in Japan.  Both these assertions proved incorrect.  He discovered that Usui had made a number of masters besides Chujiro Hayashi.  Some of these were Eguchi, Taketomi, and Gyuda (also known as Ushida).  These masters, like Hayashi, had taught students and made a number of masters each.  Additionally, Hayashi had made 13 or more masters, and several of them were still living, including master Tatsumi.  There was not one reiki school in Japan, there were many.  There was not one history of reiki in Japan, there were many of them.  There was not one set of "true reiki techniques", there were several styles.  It is important to keep this in mind in evaluating the importation of these techniques.

Another person that explored reiki in Japan was Dave King.  Mr. King received his material from a living surviving Hayashi Master whose name was Tatsumi.  This material was put together and called "Traditional Japanese Reiki", and more recently "Usui-Do".  Initially, those that received this material were quite reluctant to share any of it and they continue to be this way.

Starting about 1998, a new stream of information began to trickle from various other individuals who were researching this in Japan.   Frank Petter released a second, and then third, book about the subject.  Several western masters made the acquaintance of a man practicing in Japan named Hiroshi Doi.  Doi was brought over in September 1999 and taught a seminar on Reiki Reiho based supposedly on the teachings of the Gakkai.

This "new" material  from these Japanese sources has been lumped together under the name "Reiki Ryoho", "Usui Reiki Ryoho",  or just plain "Reiho".   Some new schools have started calling themselves Usui Reiki Ryoho International" or "URRI".   In the west, the vast majority of lineages and teachings come from Hawayo Takata, who was a master and studied under Hayashi in the early 1930's.  She called her Reiki, "Usui Shiki Ryoho", or Usui System of Natural Healing.  Tatsumi, another of Hayashi's masters called his reiki, "Hayashi Reiki Ryouhou Kenkyu-kai", or Hayashi Reiki Research Society.  It needs to be noted that Hayashi continued to develop reiki in Japan in his organization and he taught others after Takata.  It should be no surprise therefore that there are surviving lines of reiki in Japan, and lines that differ from one another.  However it should also be no surprise that they are more alike that different and different from reiki as it evolved in the west.  There are surviving Hayashi lineages from Hayashi, and from the Masters that he made during the course of his teaching.

This Reiki Ryoho material is mostly from the Petter and Hiroshi Doi sources.  Petter is originally a western Hayashi lineage master that began teaching reiki in Japan.   Doi Sensei was a western trained reiki master that also studied with masters in Japan.  It needs to be noted that despite Doi Sensei's impeccable credentials, he is only Okuden (level II) in the Gakkai, not a master.  He has never been taught the secret teachings.  (There are three levels, Shoden, Okuden, and Shinpiden (master or secret level).  Doi trained with western masters and then went to japan and trained with masters in some of the surviving Japanese lineages.  It is said that he also trained personally with Kimiko Koyoma Sensei who was the 6th president of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai.   His style that he teaches in Japan is called "Gendai Reiki", or "Modern Reiki Method".

These techniques were greeted with a great enthusiasm by some, and a great skepticism by others.  The enthusiastic beamed that we had found Usui's original art and the "lost" techniques.  The skeptics tended to focus on a number of significant issues.  First, Japanese society has a far greater emphasis on tradition, and clubs and societies in Japan tend to closely keep their information among their members.  The Gakkai and these other organizations have existed for years with indifference to the western practices, so why would they suddenly decided to reverse course and open up.  Second, the Gakkai itself has disclosed nothing.  Most of the purported Gakkai material comes from a level II student there (he is a master in the western tradition), not one initiated in the Shinpiden or secret teachings.  Additionally, there is no one reiki in Japan.  Some of the schools have different information that is hard to reconcile and indeed little has seemed to come directly from any of them, but rather through a number of intermediaries.  This is not to say that these were not original Usui techniques, but rather that it is impossible to tell.  Perhaps one day some of these individuals and organizations that claim to have Usui's original notes will deign to release them to the rest of the reiki world and then we shall know with certainty.  Until that time, these should be regarded as interesting techniques that represent the evolution of Reiki in the various Japanese lineages.  Try not to focus on this in terms of correct, original, or right,  but instead as a parallel system to the Hayashi-Takata evolution that came to the west.

Additionally, understand that while some might consider these techniques and practices to be a welcome addition, they are not necessary to practice reiki.  A parallel from the martial arts might help explain this.   Karate is a martial art that was practiced in Okinawa.  Originally, the kanji for karate was two separate kanji; kara and te.  "Kara" meant "China" and "te" meant hand.  The art originally came from Chinese Kung Fu.  Over time, the kanji were said to mean "empty hand", rather than "china hand".  The art evolved.  Large flowery movements became streamlined, linear and more direct.  It was adapted by the masters to fit the needs of the Okinawans.  The art was taught to Gichin Funakoshi, a Japanese man, who brought the art to Japan.  These days there are many styles of Karate.  Each represents an evolution, and an adaptation for the people who received it.  There is no better style, just different ones.  Hayashi made changes to reiki from Usui's model.  The Gakkai made changes from Usui's model.  Many of the other masters made changes as they saw fit for the benefit of their students.  Hayashi taught Takata, who made changes necessary to make reiki understood for Americans.  Reiki has flourished in America.  Her art was streamlined and flowed smoothly, and is the legacy we have today.  As Karate is no longer Chinese Kung Fu, perhaps Takata's gift is no longer exactly the same practices that have evolved in Japan, and yet we are all brothers and sisters of Usui's gift.  Share it, enjoy it, be with it.  If you find any of these from the Japanese line of benefit, then use them.  If not, be grateful for the gift of reiki that we have.

As The Reiki Ryoho information came out, it has been confusing to get a comprehensive grasp on it.  This is compounded due to the material coming from several sources, and often there are multiple names for the techniques.  This is made more difficult due to the problems most westerners have with understanding Japanese.   To make it even still more confusing some have been mixing in some of the Hayashi material that did not continue on in Takata's practices.  If you were not confused enough, still others have been adding in Hiroshi Doi's Gendai Reiki practices as well.  Finally, there is information coming out now that Usui may not have founded the Gakkai.  There is only evidence that he started a clinic and school.  The Gakkai appears to have been founded by his top masters.  Because of this it is unclear which of these techniques that appear in this manual were really his original practices.  It appears certain that he taught the five hand positions listed herein, byosen and reiji, hatsurei ho, and empowered students with reiju.  Other than that the rest is anyone's guess.  Most of the techniques listed in this manual are common to many forms of  chi gung (KiKo in Japanese).

In the spirit of it's sister publication "Reiki Plain and Simple - A Comprehensive Guide to Usui Shiki Ryoho", this e-book "Reiki Ryoho Plain and Simple - A Compendium of Reiki Ryoho Techniques" is an attempt to integrate, cohesively organize, and simplify the Ryoho material that is now proliferating.  What follows in this manual is representative of areas of concurrence from the many sources that I have.  When disparate sources are reporting the same techniques it is likely that they were from a common source, namely Usui's original practices.  Differences in techniques in the various sources of information may indicate that these are techniques added later, or ones that are specific to that lineage.

Last, the issue of "what to make of all this" needs to be addressed.  When this material originally came out I was greatly excited.  I remember thinking "now we will finally know what Usui's original art was like".  As I began to explore this further I began to wonder what this meant in regards to the Usui Shiki Ryoho that we had learned here in the west.  It began to dawn on me slowly that it meant nothing at all. 

Recently I was having a discussion about the "new" old reiki ryoho material with three reiki pals. One of them was holding the position that Takata's Usui Shiki Ryoho was complete in and of itself and that while the ryoho material was nice it was not necessary.

Another of my reiki pals was insistent that only the "new" old reiki Ryoho material from Japan was worthwhile and that Takata's reiki was inferior. He began quoting from Frank Petter's recent Reiki Letter he sent out from his site http://reikidharma.org, where Petter says of Takata's Reiki; "....What she passed on to us was at the most a de-clawed cat. And even though this may be good for the furniture, I doubt that it is good for the cat."

I had had read this before and seriously laughed out loud. Think for a moment how many of us who have done reiki for any length of time have had people spontaneously heal, or who have had those with serious illnesses heal with no medical explanation and the astonishment of doctors.......  all from this "de-clawed cat".

A story I recently shared with the Reiki Revolution e-list is appropriate here as it is a story about a de-clawed cat. It is a lesson I once learned.  My cat, Sybil, was declawed front and back.  Her long persian fur was matted and she needed to be combed.  She did not want to be combed because combing her matted fur hurt. I still have scars on my hand from where her teeth penetrated and ripped open the skin.  A de-clawed cat might appear meek but watch out for the fangs.  Apparently they simply use other tools. Perhaps stop focusing on the finger and see where it points. I should trademark this saying I use it so much.

As a general observation Reiki Ryoho appears to be more focused on self healing, self empowerment, and the spiritual than the western practices that focus mostly on healing.

For those who have plodded through my pedantic and maniacal ravings know that my interest is not so much in techniques as where all this points to.  Usui's teachings were a finger pointing to the moon.  Make sure you see to where the finger pointed and not at the finger itself.  Likewise, don't get so caught up in the minutiae and think that you need more fingers.  If you would like to explore that more fully please visit Reiki-Do, Living Reiki, BEing Reiki, which is the companion site to the Reiki Plain and Simple web site.

Have fun!

Vinny Amador