How much Reiki History do you know?

Colin wrote:Sorry, Bridget, I can't select just one option in the vote because I would have to select all three options!


I have studied Reiki History in depth for years!
I have been to Japan to learn more about Reiki (don't know why I would need to go to Tibet to learn about Reiki though )
I am still learning about Reiki history!

catsquotl wrote:I guess none...
It seems the history as thought by the reiki alliance in the old days was more made of of stories to teach concepts..
The true history is slowly comming to be known to people outside japan since the work of frank petter..

But there are also loads of so called channeled info with reiki having its roots in ancient egyptian, tibetan, lemurian and alien times....

I am pondering though as i am thinking about teaching in the near future.
What is important to know as a student.. What is added and beneficial. how do I discern what may work.

For now I am thinking along lines of teaching/sharing the frank petter history. Discuss the value or lack thereof of added insights, channeled info etc. ANd sort of grow towards Reiki in the here and now.

What does Reiki do for you
How does it affect your life
etc..

WIth Love
Eelco

Colin wrote:Hi Bridget

I too believe that Usui may have spent some time in America - it even says so on his memorial stone, erected in 1927 by his students!

So, did he attend Chicago University, as Mrs Takata told her students? Why is there no record of a Mikao Usui studying there? Well, like many Japanese people who went to America (and as I think as has already been mentioned on here somewhere) he could well have changed his name to make it easier for Westerners to pronounce or may have Westernised it altogether or taken on a sponsor's family name. I doubt that we will ever know for sure!

I also says on his memorial that he visited Europe and studied in China as well, so he would very probably have studied the roots and spread of Buddhism and this would have included Tibetan Buddhism.

[from REIKI HISTORY AND REIKI MYTH: Another look at some elements of the 'new' History of Reiki...]

"In the years immediately following the reopening of Japanese ports to foreign trade, it was still very difficult for Japanese citizens to get permission to leave the county, yet in 1864, a 21 year old samurai named Niijima Jou (1843-1890) secretly found passage on a ship to the U.S. (via China) with the intent of studying Christianity and science

Settling in Massachusetts, he attended Amherst College and Andover Theological Seminary; eventually, in 1874, becoming ordained as a Protestant minister.

However, at the time, had you contacted either Amherst College or the Andover Seminary enquiring as to whether or not an individual named Niijima Jou had attended their establishment, you may well have received an answer something along the lines of the one William Rand received from the University of Chicago, concerning Mikao Usui (see above)

i.e., that their records did not indicate that Niijima Jou ever attended the establishment.

And the reason for this?

In the US, Niijima Jou, had adopted the name Joseph Hardy Neesima. (Jou became Joe became Joseph, Niijima became Neesima, and as to the middle name, Hardy, this was the surname of the people who sponsored his stay in the US)

And in taking a westernised name, Niijima Jou / Joseph Hardy Neesima could perhaps be seen to have set a precedent.
For, over the years it became a not too uncommon practice amongst Japanese students travelling to western countries to adopt western names (or at very least, westernised versions of their original Japanese names) [9]

[Which begs the question: Could it be that when Usui-sensei went to the US [10] he had also adopted this practice?[11] ]

For some, like Neesima, the westernised name was a baptismal one[12] - an outward sign of the individual's Christian faith[13], for others, taking a western name was simply part of their immersion in western culture, part of their desire to 'fit in'.

On returning home, some kept their western names (a statement of their westernisation/modernisation), some did not.

Niijima Jou, on returning to Japan in 1874, retained the westernised name Joseph Hardy Neesima.

In 1875, he opened his own Eigakko (Academy) in Kyoto.

Initially having only eight students, Neesima's academy steadily grew into an important centre for education, and by 1920, had evolved into a full-blown, private Daigaku (University) - yet it still bore its original name: Doshisha."

Colin wrote:Yes, that is the story that I was referring to when I mentioned that when Usui went to America to study, he may well have changed his name, which makes it difficiult to find a record of him being there.

Milarepa wrote:who james? dunno, haha!

chi_solas wrote:

Milarepa wrote:who james? dunno, haha!

If not James then Usui

Milarepa wrote:

chi_solas wrote:

Milarepa wrote:who james? dunno, haha!

If not James then Usui

i thought James, was Usui!