Thoughts on Usui Reiki from an American Tendai Buddhist
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In commenting on Usui Reiki from a Tendai Buddhist perspective, I have to set context first. Tendai is vast and diverse. There are said to be hundreds of esoteric rituals, hundreds of sutras, and many variations of meditations and ethical-precepts within Tendai. There are some core themes that emerge distinctly, but it would be hard, if not impossible, for any one person to know definitively all the teachings of the 1200-year-old Tendai branch of Buddhism.
Also, culturally in Japan, people seem pretty comfortable exploring and borrowing practices from other sects and religions. They might identify themselves as being in a certain group -- particularly if they were ordained in a certain lineage -- but many people freely practice and try out techniques from whatever sources suit their sense of what their spiritual quest is all about. Therefore, Buddhist, Shinto, and Shugendo teachings mixed fairly freely over the centuries. Oftentimes the difference would be in the interpreted meaning of a teaching or practice, rather than in the conduct of the practice itself. Because of this, it's easy to get confused about the original source of a certain practice.
Lastly, I want to emphasize that I am only a lay practitioner of Tendai Buddhism. I study with my teacher, I read, and I practice daily. However, I am not ordained and have only studied this material for about five years. I offer my personal reflections on my studies of Tendai and Reiki so far.
As a branch of vajrayana esoteric Buddhism, Tendai has a lot of "magical" practices in it. Many of these were picked up or converted from shamanistic practices in Japan, or even before that from various shamanic cultures that Buddhism passed through during its journey across Asia. Therefore, healing, weather control, communing with spirits, and fortune telling are all part of Tendai lore at some level.
At the same time, such things are strongly de-emphasized or reinterpreted in Tendai in order to reorient the practitioner away from "developing powers" and toward "perceiving the true nature of the self and universe". The view is that by studying supernatural powers one may gain insight into the nature of reality. Conversely, carefully cultivated authentic insight into reality and oneself may yield supernatural powers. Ultimately, the goal is the insight and awareness, not the powers themselves. Magic, like science, would just be considered a means to study reality in the Tendai view. One of the reasons esoteric or magical teachings are withheld in Tendai until a practitioner is somewhat experienced is to make sure the groundwork is laid for the proper context for such teachings.
Therefore, Usui's apparent emphasis on Reiki as a path to Enlightenment, where healing was a mere side effect, reminds me of Tendai style. It is said that he encouraged people to work on themselves, more than healing others -- at least in the beginning. That fits well with the Tendai view (and certain Tibetan views) that one cannot honestly begin to help others until one helps oneself. Before straightening yourself out, you are likely to be causing more problems in your attempt to help.
My teacher tells me that deeper esoteric Tendai practice also works with directing heaven ki and earth ki, in line with Usui's 2nd degree work. I have not learned these teachings yet in Tendai practice. At a philosophical level, the concept of "Ten-chi" reflects the polarity of heaven and earth. "Ten" is heaven in Japanese; "chi" means earth in this case (nothing to do with the Chinese word "chi" or "qi" -- that's "ki" in Japanese). The heaven/earth duality also represents "principle" and "manifestation" -- the idea that there are abstract invisible (yet very real) forces and principles driving reality, and then there is the actual manifestation of those principles in action. We might call that manifestation conventional scientific reality. This idea is not uniquely Buddhist, but is strongly represented at multiple levels in Tendai and in Usui's work.
Another not-only-Buddhist idea is that we are all one single thing -- not just born of the same source, but truly one thing even right now. Of course, Usui's work reflected that in his teachings on Oneness as a mechanism for distant healing.
The Empowerment kotodama energy, I suspect, is a teaching that I have not yet received in the Tendai tradition.
The incorporation of Shinto and Shugendo techniques in the form of kotodama and the empowerment rituals, and the generally cooperative atmosphere toward such approaches to Reiki, is also very Tendai. It fits with the cultural climate I mentioned earlier.
There is a flip side to Tendai's vastness and fluidity... it was also the imperial religion of Japan for some centuries at one point, and so developed in certain ways and places a very formal sense of what was proper and improper. I suspect that Usui would have been embraced by some Tendai Buddhists, and rather disliked by others for this reason, depending on their inclinations. However, his long time periods for each Reiki level, and emphasis on self-exploration, would probably have met with approval in the Buddhist minds of his time.
In the modern day, there is almost no discernable connection between Western New-Age-influenced Reiki and Tendai Buddhist teachings, and I don't expect modern Tendai to embrace modern Reiki. Even original Usui Reiki is not Tendai Buddhism, but is rather its own path of spiritual growth inspired by and compatible with Tendai. Reiki as taught by Reiki Evolution strikes me as an inquiring, penetrating, and responsible form of Reiki study that seeks to understand the spiritual roots that guided Usui and then bring those qualities into modern Reiki practice.
Kevin Jijo Casey is a Reiki Master living in Boulder, Colorado, USA. He began studying Reiki and Tendai Buddhism entirely separately in mid-2000, and took the Triple Refuge vow to become a Tendai Buddhist in December of 2001. He discovered Reiki Evolution in December of 2004 and was thrilled to see documented connections between Reiki and Tendai, as he had sensed a correspondence in his own studies.
Kevin studied Tendai Buddhism initially under Jion Prosser (www.tendai-lotus.org) and now studies under Stephen Kinryu-Jien Hayes (www.shkquest.com). His own website is www.boulderquest.com.
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