Review: The Original Reiki Handbook of Dr. Mikao Usui

The Original Reiki Handbook of Dr. Mikao Usui: Frank Arjava Petter is a western-trained Reiki practitioner who is living in Japan, and has a Japanese wife. He and his wife introduced western Reiki to Japan, which I'm sure was an interesting experience to say the least. While there, they have made some contact with the Usui Reiki Ryoho group in Japan, the group trained by Mikao Usui, and whose training was not derived from the Hayashi/Takata lineage that defines Western Reiki. Through that contact they have been gathering information about the true history of Reiki, and have published several books including this one.

This book is, in large part, a translation of the training manual Usui gave to his students.

This fact by itself shows the great service represented by this book. The mere existance of a training manual written by Usui and given to his students contradicts a claim made by Hayashi and Takata, that Usui insisted this be an Oral tradition and that therefore they would continue it as an Oral tradition. As we see in Essential Reiki one result of insisting that Reiki is an Oral tradition is the wide variations in the Reiki symbols taught by various teachers.

This book is divided into three portions, loosely defined. The first is a discussion of the Buddhist background of Reiki. Usui was a Buddhist (again, contradicting the Hayashi/Takata story that he was Christian), and it is helpful to understanding Reiki to understand the Buddhist context from which it sprang.

The next part is an explanation of the "three pillars" of Reiki practice, as well as a few other points of information. Reiki isn't just about performing healing, but is a path of enlightenment. The three pillars are said to be Gassho, a specific meditation style, Reiji-Ho, a style of invoking the Reiki energy, and Chiryo, or the way of giving treatment.

The style of giving Reiki treatment taught by Usui is very intuitive, which is again different than the regimented style taught by Hayashi. In the Handbook we learn that Usui taught to first meditate using the gassho method, second invoke the Reiki energy (reiji-ho) and third intuitively move the hands to wherever the energy takes them. The whole treatment is to be done in this intuitive way. At the same time the Handbook describes dozens of specific treatments for specific ailments. In the Handbook it isn't discussed why Usui gave specific treatments, but my guess is he wanted his students to have a starting point when in doubt over what to do.

This book is essential in ones understanding of the true history of Reiki.