by Colin Tue Sep 01, 2009 8:41 am
Erik Jögimar wrote:I've been printing just about every page i could find over at AETW, and am wondering if anyone here knows how accurate the information given om Usui senseis memorial stone is. Is it worth taken it into consideration, or should one assume that it is strongly biased as his students wrote it?
Anyone have any ideas?
Hi Erik
I think one of the main "problems" with the Usui Memorial stone is that it is inscribed in Old Japanese, which makes it difficult for many people to translate into modern Japanese let alone into English! I would imagine it is a bit like trying to translate Shakespeare (or maybe even Chaucer) into modern English and then into another modern language...not easy to do an accurate job unless you are a trained scholar!
Also, yes, I think the information on the stone may be biased towards the work Usui did with his later students - the ones who were actually around when the Gakkai was formed. I believe the stone was erected against the wishes of the remaining Usui family and this is what actually caused, or contributed to, the rift between the Usui family and the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai (which resulted in his descendants not wanting talking about Mikao Usui and Reiki).
However, it is really the only concrete evidence we have about the life of Mikao Usui, so until some other real evidence appears which contradicts what is said on the memorial stone, I feel happy to believe what is written there - perhaps allowing for some exaggerations and flattery by students for their sensei!
Unless, of course, you are one of the Reiki conspiracy gang, who believe that the Usui memorial is a hoax and was erected in the 1980s by a certain Reiki school in Japan that wanted to "prove" their particular version of the history of Reiki!
Ai to Hikari
Colin