Reiki Origins: The Murky Legend of Dr. Usui

Spiritual Dangers of Reiki, Part 2

The origins of Reiki, which came to the West from Japan and spread like wildfire in Europe and America, are kind of murky. For a long time, it wasn’t even clear when the fabled “Dr. Usui” was born and died.

When I was initiated as a Reiki practitioner, my Reiki master told me the following legend, which I later passed on to my own students once I became a Reiki master. As far as I know, it’s the standard origin story every Western Reiki student gets to hear.

Here it goes…

Dr. Mikao Usui (1865–1926) was the principal of the Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. Aside from being a professor, he was also a devout Christian preacher and missionary. One day, one of his students asked him, “If Jesus could heal by laying his hands on people, then why can’t we?”

After all, the Holy Spirit did give the disciples the gift of healing… and Jesus himself said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.” (John 14:12)

This question threw Usui into a tailspin—and launched a multi-year quest for the secret of hands-on healing. He resigned his job at the university, but after many travels (which included intensive studies at the University of Chicago and at Buddhist temples in Japan, China, and India), he still only had pieces of the puzzle. Usui’s mentor, an old, wise Buddhist monk, suggested he should climb a mountain outside of Kyoto and fast and meditate there for 21 days. Note again the similarity to Jesus.

On the last day of this “vision quest,” Dr. Usui received the secrets of spiritual healing in the form of Reiki (ostensibly by God). He then came down from the mountain performing miraculous healings and set off into the world doing good works, teaching Reiki, and healing the afflicted with his newly given gift. And they all lived happily ever after.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? Except that everything about it may be a lie.

I just recently learned that it’s not clear that this background story has any basis in fact. Supposedly, Reiki master Hawayo Takata, who in 1970 brought the technique from Japan to the United States, lied about the history of Reiki to make it more appealing to Westerners. Usui was never a Christian, nor the dean of a Christian school, and there is no record that he ever attended or received a degree from the University of Chicago.