Did Reiki Come from Tibet?

It is commonly taught these days that reiki was "rediscovered" by Usui. This is taught most commonly in the Usui/Tibetan Schools and found in such books as "Essential Reiki" by author Diane Stein. Some, noticing some similarities between reiki and the Tibetan practice of empowerments by a master and Tibetan practices such as Medicine Buddha, began to claim that Reiki predates Usui's discovery and is in reality from Tibet. Still others developed new sources for this "tibetan history", and began to "channel" spirits, guides and other beings who told them reiki was indeed from Tibet (or Egypt, Atlantis, the Mayans, the Lemurians, etc. depending on which spirit you happen to be channeling).

The earliest statements regarding reiki coming from Tibet that I have been able to find, appear to come from Arthur Robertson's work in Raku Kei Reiki. Raku Kei Reiki was an invention of Arthur Robertson. He was a student of Iris Ishikuro who was herself a Master student of Mrs. Takata. This style was invented in America after Mrs. Takata has passed away in 1980. Raku Kei incorporates the Hui Yin (i.e., microcosmic orbit), the Breath of the Fire Dragon (Violet Breath, golden breath technique) and other Tibetan practices.

Usui states in his own words, in the Usui Reiki Hikkei (Usui Reiki Manual given to his students) that, "My Usui Reiki Ryoho is an original, it's nothing like this in the world. So I would like to release this method to the public for everyone's benefit and hope for everyone's happiness. My Reiki Ryoho is an original method based on intuitive power in the universe. By this power, body gets healthy and enhances happiness of life and peaceful mind." Going on he states that, "I've never been given this method by anybody nor studied to get psychic power to heal. I accidentally realized that I have received healing power when I felt the air in mysterious way during fasting. So I have a hard time explaining exactly even I am the founder. Scholars and men of intelligence have been studying this phenomenon but modern science cant solve it. But I believe that day will come naturally."

From his own words, Usui states that his art is original and like nothing else in the world. He does not mention Tibet, Lemuria, Atlantis, Guides, Jesus, Buddha, chakras, spirit guides or anything else that is commonly taught along with reiki. He also does not mention that he "rediscovered" it.

It is also commonly taught that Reiki comes from Tibet, Atlantis, Lemuria, the Mayans, the Ascended Masters, the Galactic Council, the Federation of Light, the Brotherhood of Light and even the space aliens. Usui's own words from his manual would seem to be in contradiction to these claims. Others have claimed that Reiki has roots going back well over 2,500 years, as well as those that speculate that it is the same healing system used by Jesus, Krishna, and the Buddha. Indeed some even make the claim that Jesus ventured into Tibet and India and learned Reiki from Tibetan Masters (see Diane Stein's "Essential Reiki"). Still others claim Reiki is from Egypt, Atlantis, and even from Lemuria over 100,000 years ago. Tibet has several touch healing systems, none of which are Reiki and it is inappropriate to call them Reiki. There is no historical evidence that Reiki ever existed in Egypt. There does not appear historically to have ever been any touch healing systems like Reiki or Seichim in Egypt. Atlantis disappeared and took her secrets with her. Atlantis and Lemuria, while the subject of great interest, if they existed, took their secrets with them when they were destroyed. There is no reason to believe that Reiki existed before Usui.

It is also commonly taught that Usui learned or discovered Reiki by reading the Buddhist Sutras. It is often stated that since Usui discovered Reiki by reading the Sutras, it must therefore have been a buddhist art that predated his discovery of it. Since countless millions have read the Diamond and Lotus (and other) Sutras and not ever seen anything that described Reiki or discovered Reiki, It should be safe to assume that the sutras, while they may have been a great inspiration, were not the source of Reiki.

In all likelihood, Reiki was a combination of several different arts and techniques that existed and were in practiced during Usui's lifetime that he combined after he had a satori (enlightenment experience or moment of oneness). Morihei Tanaka was alive at the time and in the same general area teaching his Dai Rei Do and his system used Rei Shi Jitsu or Universal energy to heal. My information also indicates that this school used Reiju as their empowerment process. Reiju was the original process to empower students that evolved into attunements in the western systems of reiki. (It was also rumored that Usui had studied with Tanaka but that cannot be confirmed.) Another school developed at this time was called Omoto Kyo. This was developed by Onisaburo Deiguchi. His practices used eating healthy food and diet and energy healing. Deiguchi's system was further developed by Mokichi Okada who developed Sei Kai Kyu Sei Kyo better known as Johrei and as the Johrei Fellowship Worldwide. Johrei also uses Reiju to empower its followers. Finally Ki Ko was the Japanese practice of Chi Kung. Ki Ko techniques were widely known in Japan and found their way into many systems including Aikido which was developed around the same time that Reiki was. Techniques such as hatsurei ho and other practices in the original Usui system were obviously from Ki Ko. It is most likely that Reiki evolved from these and other practices in Japan that Usui learned and studied.