Dr Mikao Usui

Mikao Usui was born in Japan in the mid-nineteenth century.  As he was growing up, he heard stories about the Buddha.  He was impressed with the Buddha’s quest for enlightenment, even though the Buddha, having been born into extreme wealth, did not lack any material need or pleasure.  Dr Usui was fascinated by both the Buddha’s desire to help others and the unusual metaphysical abilities he received after achieving enlightenment.  He also noted that the Buddha was said to be able to heal physical illness and that many of the Buddha’s disciples acquired healing abilities by following his teachings.

Mikao Usui looked at the people around him and saw that there were many who were unable to lead happy productive lives, because they were sick so often or had physical disabilities.  Feeling compassion for them, he wondered if it would be possible to acquire the ability to heal physical illness in the same way the Buddha had done.  After pondering this question for some time, he came to the conclusion that if this kind of healing was possible in the past, then it must still be possible.  If only one could learn how.  With this thought in mind, he set out on a quest, determined to learn the secret of healing so that he might help others.

He began talking to Buddhist teachers and priests, asking if they knew how to heal the sick.  Apparently, the ability to heal the body was either held as a secret Buddhist technique by a few spiritual groups or had been lost through disuse.  Consequently, Dr Usui was unable to find anyone that could heal the sick.  Dr Usui travelled throughout Japan, studying at Buddhist temples and asking questions about healing.  The priests and head monks he talked to always had the same answer.  They stated that they used to know how to heal the body, but this information was lost long ago when they began focusing on healing only the spirit.  They stated that the spiritual side was more important and that was why they focused only on this part.  Thus, they had lost the ability to heal the physical.  He was allowed to study the sacred writings at each temple and occasionally he would find something about healing and would copy the information into his notebook.

During his travels, he became friends with the abbot of a Zen monastery and was invited to stay and study.  The abbot also had an interest in physical healing and encouraged Dr Usui in his quest.  Wanting to read the sacred books in their original language, Dr Usui leaned Chinese and eventually Sanskrit.  It was in the Indian sutras, that he discovered a formula for contacting a higher power that could bestow healing.  Dr Usui had now found the information he had been looking for, yet it was only a formula, simply knowing the formula did not give him the ability or understanding to heal.  He talked to the abbot about this.  It was decided that all he could do now was to follow the practices in the formula, so he travelled to the holy mountain of Kori-yama where he fasted, meditated and followed the direction in the formula for twenty-one days.
  

His Mount Kori-yama Experience

On the mountain, he set out twenty-one stones in front of him and each day he threw away a stone.  On the twenty-first day, after tossing away the last stone and still not having received the healing power, he stood up.  It was night, the darkest part of the night, just before dawn.

As he looked out toward the horizon wondering what to do next, he saw a point of light coming toward him.  As he looked at the light, he realised that the light had consciousness and that it was communicating with him.  He realised the light had the healing power he was looking for and if he was to receive what the light had to offer, he must allow the light to strike him.  However, he was told that the light was so powerful that if it did strike him, it might kill him.

He was given the opportunity to decide.  Would he risk death to obtain the healing ability for which he had searched so long?  He decided the ability to heal the sick would be of such great value that it would be worth risking death to receive it.  The beam struck him in the forehead, knocking him unconscious.  Rising out of his physical body, he was shown beautiful bubbles of light filled with colours.  In the bubbles were symbols.  As he contemplated each symbols, he received an attunement for that symbol and knowledge on its use.  In this way, he was initiated into the use of the Reiki healing power.  Eventually, as the experience subsided, Dr Usui realised that some time must have lapsed since the sun had fully risen.  He was overwhelmed with gratitude for the insight and empowerment he had received and felt a strong urge to share his experience with his abbot friend.  On his journey back to the monastery he was presented with a number of opportunities to test out his new found healing abilities.

In his excitement and haste to get back to the monastery, he began to run down the mountain and carelessly stubbed his toe.  Automatically, he reached his hand to it and was surprised when within minutes the bleeding and swelling had subsided completely.  As he continued down the mountain, he came to a typical roadside stand and ordered a full breakfast.  The proprietor, familiar with the danger of eating too much after a long fast, tried to encourage him to have some broth instead.  Dr Usui declined his advice and ate a full breakfast without any adverse effects.  Whilst at the roadside stand, Dr Usui noticed that the proprietor’s granddaughter had a swollen face and seemed to be in extreme pain.  He discovered that she had a severe toothache and was unable to afford treatment.  Dr Usui offered to help, which she gladly accepted and put his hands onto the side of her face.  Within a short time the swelling and pain had disappeared.  Finally, on his return to the monastery, Dr Usui found his abbot friend in great pain with a bout of arthritis, so whilst sharing his experience with the abbot, he laid his hands on the arthritic areas and the pain very soon subsided.
  

His Practice

During the next seven years, Dr Usui spent his time in the beggar’s quarter of Kyoto, using his skills to heal the beggars and then help them to be reintegrated into society.  Although Dr Usui had many remarkable successes whilst working in the quarter, he began to notice towards the end of his stay there, that familiar faces were returning to him for healing.  Faces of people he thought had left the quarter and moved on to a more respectable life.  When he questioned the people concerned, he was dismayed to find they had returned because they did not like or want the responsibility of a respectable life and considered life in the quarter to be easier.  In his despair, Dr Usui realised that he had failed to teach them responsibility and most of all, gratitude.  It was at this point that he also realised that the healing of the spirit was as important as healing the body.  As a consequence he created the five Reiki Principles.

   
Reiki Teaching

Mikao Usui left the beggar’s quarter and taught Reiki throughout Japan for the remainder of his life.  He based his teachings around the five Reiki Principles and began to attune people to the symbols he had received on the mountain.  Dr Usui found that in amplifying their energy through the attunement process, the student was ultimately encouraged to take full responsibility for their own well-being.