At the Dragon Oak Temple,
we currently practice and teach the Unlimited Reiki Tradition,
we believe with Reiki there are no limits to healing.
Reiki History
The traditional story of Reiki, so often told by Hawayo Takata, begins in the 1800s, when Reiki was rediscovered and revived by a Christian monk by the name of Mikao Usui. (Though Reiki was an ancient method even then.) Usui was the Principal of the Doshisha University, a Christian seminary in Kyoto, Japan. When his students asked him to demonstrate and explain the healing method used by Jesus, he was unable to do so. This began a 10 year quest to find and learn the skill. Told by Christian authorities in Japan that this healing method was not talked about or even known, Usui then searched the information through Buddhism. Usui was then soon told by Buddhists monks that the ancient spiritual healing methods had been lost.
Usui's quest then led him to the United States. When he received no further information from Christians regarding hands-on-healing, he attended the University of Chicago Divinity School and became a Doctor of Theology. Able to read Japanese, Chinese, English and Sanskrit, Usui searched Chinese scripts to no avail, and eventually traveled to North India, where he was able to study the holy writings.
Usui later returned to Japan where he took residence in a Zen Buddhist monastery, where he discovered some Sanskrit formulas and symbols in old Buddhist Sutras which seemed to hold the answers to the healing formula. As described by Hawayo Takata: "He went into studying the Sanskrit, and when he later studied very hard to master it, he found a formula. Just as plain as day. Nothing hard, but very simple. Like 2 and 2 equals 4...And so he said, "Very well, I've found it. But now, I have to interpret this, because it was written 2500 years ago- ancient. But I have to go through the test.". From there he traveled to the Holy Mountain of Koriyama. It was there that he began a 21 day fast and meditation in solitude with the hope of gaining contact with a level of consciousness as described in the Sanskrit formulas. Upon his arrival at the mountain, he placed 21 small stones in front of him to count each day, throwing away one stone at the end of each day.
During his time on the mountain Usui read in the Sutras, sang and meditated. On the final morning of his quest, he saw a shining projectile of light moving toward him at great speed. It became larger and larger and finally struck his third eye . He saw millions of little rainbow colored bubbles of blue, red, pink and all the colors of the rainbow. A great white light appeared, as he saw each of the symbols in front of him glowing in shining gold. As he saw the symbols, he received information about each of them. This was the birth of Usui's system of Reiki , the first Reiki attunement of the rediscovery of an ancient healing method.
When Usui returned to a normal state of consciousness, the sun was shining bright in the sky and he felt an elation of spirit and a sense of strength and energy, Mikao Usui left Mt. Koriyama knowing how to heal as Buddha and Jesus had healed.. In his rush downward, he stubbed his toe on a rock and he fell upon the ground.. His toe was bleeding, and when he instinctively grabbed his toe in both of his hands for a few minutes, his hands became hot and the stubbed toe stopped bleeding and the pain disappeared.
THIS WAS THE FIRST MIRACLE.
Usui was very hungry, and he stopped at an inn that served pilgrims along the wayside and ordered a large meal. The innkeeper warned him not to eat such a large meal after fasting for so long, but Usui was able to eat it all without any discomfort or adverse effects.
THIS WAS THE SECOND MIRACLE.
The granddaughter of the innkeeper had a bad toothache from which she had been suffering for several days. Placing his hands upon her swollen face she immediately felt better and was relieved of the pain. .
THIS WAS THE THIRD MIRACLE.
Upon returning to the monastery, he was informed that the director was in bed with an arthritic attack, Usui also healed the director.
THIS WAS THE FOURTH MIRACLE.
After returning to his monastery, Usui decided after a few days to go to the slums of Kyoto to treat the beggars and help them lead a better life. He worked for seven years in an asylum treating many dis-eases. After healing each person, he asked that the person start a new life, however, he noticed the same people with the same old faces kept returning. When he asked them why they had not begun a new life, he was told working was too troublesome and that it was easier to go on begging. Usui became discouraged and left the slums.
Usui was deeply upset by this. He realized that he had forgotten something of great importance in his healing work, and that was mainly to teach the beggars GRATITUDE. In the following days he thought out the Reiki principles as follows:
Just for today do not worry
Just for today do not anger
Honor your parents, teachers, and elders
Earn your living honestly
Show gratitude to everything
After leaving the asylum and returning to Kyoto, Usui kindled a large torch and stood in the streets. When asked why he stood in the streets with the torch, he said he was looking for people in search of the TRUE LIGHT - people who were ill and oppressed and longed to be healed. This was a new beginning of a new part of his life, which he spent traveling around Japan teaching Reiki. In this way he met Chujiro Hayashi, a retired naval officer. Hayashi received his Reiki Master's training from Usui in 1925 becoming Usui's successor at the age of 47, and the second Reiki Grand Master in the line of tradition. Usui died in 1930, having made between 16 and 18 Reiki Masters and is now buried in a Kyoto temple with his life story written on his gravestone.
Hayashi ran a private Reiki clinic in Tokyo until 1940, where unusually severe illness and disease could be treated with Reiki. This clinic was where Hawayo Takata of Hawaii received her first Reiki treatments that would later lead her to study with Dr. Hayashi. Takata returned to Hawaii after her studies and was made a Reiki Master by Hayashi when he visited the island in 1938. Upon his death in 1941, Takata succeeded Hayashi as Grand Master herself when she was around seventy-four years of age, initiating 21 Reiki Masters to carry on the great work. On December 11, 1980, Hawayo Takata crossed over, leaving 22 Masters in the United States and Canada.