The Story of how this ancient healing was re-discovered by Dr. Mikao Usui is told by each reiki master to his students as part of their training at First Degree Reiki. This Oral tradition has been passed on from master to student for many years. No one questioned the traditional story until some masters, eager to find out more about the origins of reiki, discovered some anomalies in the story being taught, but the essential facts of the story remain the same.
Dr. Mikao Usui lived in Kyoto in Japan in the mid 19th Century. The Country had become more open to foreigners and Dr. Usui was converted to Christianity by missionaries, becoming a minister as well as teacher of the faith. He was the dean of a small Christian university and regularly taught the students. During one of his lessons one of them asked if he believed that the stories in the bible were accurate. He replied that he thought they were. The Students continued with their questioning enquiring if he believed in the healing miracles of Christ. When he replied “Yes”, the student want him to teach them the healing methods of Christ and when he said he could not, his japanese sense of honour compelled him to resign from his position as a dean because he felt he had failed.
After a long time he searhed for that healing methods of Christ by hand, finally he decided to go on 21 day retreat in the mountains where he would fast and meditate to seek enlightment. The place chosen for the retreat was a sacred mountain called Mount Kuri Yama, 15-18 miles outside Kyoto.
For 20 days he experienced nothing out of the ordinary, but just before dawn on the 21st day as Dr. Usui meditated for a sign, he saw a light appear in the darkness, which grew in size as it approached him. He began to feel very frightened and wanted to run away, but he resisted this impulse as he also felt that he should stay and see if this light would finally give him an answer to his quest.
The light came closer and closer until it struck him in the middle of his forehead. Dr. Usui thought he was dying as he saw millions of rainbow-coloured bubbles. The bubbles then slowly changed into white bubbles, and each one contained a Sanskrit character (a reiki symbol) in gold tha he had discovered in the Tibetan Scripts.
When Dr Usui came round from what had felt like a trance, he found that it was now broad daylight. He started walking down the mountain, anxious to share his experiences with the abbot. As he rushed down, he tripped on a stone and cut his toe. Instinctively, he bent down to hold his toe with his hand and was astonished a few minutes later to find that the bleeding had stopped and the pain had diminished – an amazing healing had taken place.