Mikao Usui (1865-1926), commonly Usui Mikao in Japanese, was the founder of Reiki, a form of spiritual energy healing used as an alternative therapy for the treatment of physical, emotional, and mental diseases.
He taught Reiki to over 2,000 people during his lifetime. Eleven of these students continued their training to reach the Shinpiden level, equivalent to the Western third degree or Master level. Early life, family, and education
What is our energetic aura?
He was born in Taniai village (now Miyama cho), Yamagata district, Gifu Prefecture, Japan, now located near present-day Nagoya. His ancestors were the once influential Chiba clan of Hatamoto samurai.
According to the inscription on his memorial, Tsunetane Chiba, a military commander during the end of the Heian period and the start of the Kamakura period (1180-1230), was one of Usui's ancestors.
In 1551, Toshitane Chiba conquered the city Usui and thereafter all family members acquired that name.
Usui was raised as a samurai from childhood, specifically in the martial arts techniques of aiki (合氣術) or "Way of Aiki" = Aikido.
A Shumei member recently told us that three Japanese men all belonged to an organization called Oomoto Kyo ("Great Source"). One went on to develop Reiki, another (Morihei Ueshiba) Aikido, and a third (Mokichi Okada) Jyorei energy healing and Shumei.
Aikido FounderMorihei Ueshiba developed Aikido as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. His goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to defend themselves while also protecting their attackers from injury. Aikido is often translated as "the way of unifying (with) life energy" or as "the way of harmonious spirit." According to the founder's philosophy, the primary goal in the practice of aikido is to overcome oneself instead of cultivating violence or aggressiveness against others.
Although there are many stories extant in the United States that Usui earned a doctorate in theology at the theological seminary of the University of Chicago, he never attended, let alone received any degree from the University of Chicago.
Career and activities
There is a universal life force (chi or ki)
As an adult, it is believed that he traveled to several Western countries, including the Americas, Europe, and China as a part of his continued study.
His studies included medicine, history, Buddhism, Christianity, psychology, and Taoism.
It is believed that the aim of Usui's teachings was to provide a method for students to achieve connection with the "universal life force" energy (prana, esoteric energy, holy spirit, spiritus, animating force) that would help them in their self-development.
What sets his teachings apart from other hands-on healing methods is his use of attunement (reiju) to remind students of their spiritual connection.
It seems that all of his students received five principles to live by and those with a further interest in the teachings became dedicated students.
There does not appear to have been a distinction between clients and students in the beginning though this may have changed at some point.
People began coming to Usui Mikao possibly for different purposes -- some for healing and others for the spiritual teachings.
Shugendō is a Japanese mountain ascetic shamanism that incorporates Shinto and Buddhist practices [15].
The roles of Shugendō practitioners include offering religious services such as fortune telling, divination, channeling, prayer, ritual incantations, and exorcism.
Shugendo was often used by family clans to heal disease or avoid misfortune [11].
Claims of Reiki's Christian origins
Hawayo Takata, a Reiki Master under the tutelage of Chujiro Hayashi (林 忠次郎, 1880–1940), lied about Reiki's history of development to make Reiki more appealing to the West [16].
To this end she made a relation of Reiki with Jesus Christ and not with Buddhism.
Buddhist origins of Reiki
She also falsely presented Usui as the dean of a Christian school. While he had obtained the knowledge of Reiki from the Buddhist religious bookThe Tantra of the Lightning Flash, Takata claimed that he had been inspired from the story of Jesus Christ, who had healed with the touch of his hand.
So Usui, it was said, had come to America to learn Reiki. She told this to spread Reiki among Christians, too, believing it would otherwise be extinct.
However, in 1994, the original manuscript was found, which claimed that Reiki had originated from Gautama Buddha, the historical founder of Buddhism [17]. More
The Khuddaka Nikaya, or "Collection of Little Texts" (Pali khudda = "smaller," "lesser"), the fifth division of the Sutta Pitaka ("Discourse Collection"), is a wide-ranging collection of 15 books (18 in the Burmese Tipitaka), containing complete sutras, verses, and smaller fragments of Dhamma (Teachings). While many of these have been treasured and memorized by devoted Buddhists around the world for centuries, others have never left the private domain of Pali language scholars; some have yet to be translated into English. More: accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka
14. Buddhavamsa — "History of the Buddhas": Biographical accounts of Gotama (Gautama) Buddha and of the 24 [of 27 he mentioned] supremely awakened buddhas who preceded him. Availability of English translations: Print: Minor Anthologies (Vol. III) — Buddhavamsa: Chronicles of Buddhas and Cariyapitaka: "Basket of Conduct," I.B. Horner (trans., Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1975). On-line: None known.
These are the "Gods" of faith-based Mahayana, Vajrayana, Jodo Shinshu, Nicheren, Shingon...rather than the much smaller (10%) back-to-basics Theravada Buddhist tradition, which recognizes countless brahmas and devas, particularly Great Brahma and Sakka (Sakra, Indra), King of the Devas, but neither worships them nor regards them as "Gods" in the Western sense.
(Dhamma Super Rich) Here is the life of the Buddha, or at least an attempt at the highlights, told in five minutes. Sadly, it makes the usual mistake of emphasizing the wrong thing while giving a gist of the allegory that is the Awakened One's life. The Buddha literally means "the Awakened One." Where does it go wrong?
Anyone listening to this summary might conclude that the reason the wandering ascetic Siddhartha was able to "awaken" (become enlightened) is because he made a strong determination (a vow to sooner shrivel up and have his blood turn to dust before getting up from) under the Bodhi tree. He determined to awaken by a massive effort.
Clear vision happens if we strain and strive?
Anyone familiar with the story of in detail of how Siddhartha became the Buddha might notice that this is exactly why for nearly seven years he failed and could not awaken, not breakthrough, not bring about ultimate realization (penetrating insight).
It was only when he, in a sense, "gave up" pushing (extreme asceticism) and muscling (efforting) -- and instead surrendered self will -- that awakening happened on its own.
(By Sayalay Susila, Dhr. Seven)
The Truth is always there. It's just that we do not notice it, do not comprehend things as they really are, do not penetrate what we have learned and memorized to the heart of the matter. What is missing is not the Truth to be perceived. What is missing is our clear-vision, our undistorted knowing-and-seeing. And this will not be accomplished by more and more effort. That would be like straining and squinting the dust-covered eye as if by mere effort-of-will things would become clear. They will not. We must first purify the mind/heart that knows and sees. That is temporarily by the absorptions. CONTINUED
Dhamma Super Rich (video); text by Dhr. Seven; Amber Larson (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
Nobody explained existence this clearly — except the Buddha himself
Ego (Buddhism podcast)Buddhism Explained 🌿 Why are we here? [Can we go now? Can we hang out a little longer?] What is the meaning of existence? These timeless questions have haunted humanity for millennia.
And more than 2,500 years ago, one man offered the clearest, most transformative answer ever given — the Buddha. In this compelling exploration of the Buddha’s life and mission, we retrace his journey from hedonistic royal comfort to shamanic spiritual awakening, his fearless renunciation of power and pleasure in pursuit of a deeper truth, and his discovery of the Middle Way — a path of profound insight, mental clarity, and ethical freedom.
Through stories like Kisagotami, the grieving mother, and Angulimala, the feared mass murderer turned monk, we witness how the Buddha’s wisdom was not just a philosophy, but a living force of compassion and transformation.
– Why the Buddha rejected metaphysical speculation and instead focused on the practical problem of suffering
– How his teaching remains universally relevant in a world flooded with confusion, anxiety, and distraction
– What makes the Dhamma radically empowering: no savior to worship, no doctrine to blindly follow — just insight, mindfulness, and ethical responsibility
🙏 Whether a long-time Buddhist practitioner or simply searching for clarity in a chaotic world, this teaching offers a timeless mirror to see self — and life — more clearly.
💬 "Come and see for yourself," the Buddha said. This may be the most direct, most human explanation of existence ever shared.
📌 Remember to like, comment, and subscribe if this message resonates in the heart.
The Buddha and His Dhamma
Bhikkhu Bodhi anthology
Buddhism originated with an Indian Scythian prince known as [Prince Siddhartha Gautama or Siddhattha Gotama, later called "the Enlightened One" or] the Buddha, who taught in [the frontier] Northeast [of future] India [Scythia, Saka, Shakya Land, Central Asia, ancient Gandhara, next to proto-India at a time when there was not yet an "India" but there had already been a Maha Bharat] in the fifth century BCE.
Two centuries later, with the support of the Buddhist Emperor Asoka [who created "India" by uniting disparate kingdoms on the subcontinent or Jambudvipa/Roseapple Land], Buddhism spread over the greater part of India and from there traveled the full breadth of the Asian continent.
In several tidal waves of missionary zeal, it rose up from its Indian homeland and inundated other regions, offering the peoples among whom it took root a solid foundation of faith [saddha, verifiable confidence] and wisdom upon which to build their lives and a source of inspiration towards which to direct their hopes.
At different points in history Buddhism has commanded followings in countries as diverse geographically, ethnically, and culturally as Afghanistan [Kapilavastu/Kapilavatthu, Kabul, Bamiyan, and Mes Aynak] and Japan, Siberia and Cambodia, Korea and Sri Lanka; yet, all have looked towards the same Indian sage as their master. More
Ego (Buddhism Podcast), July 8, 2025; Bhikkhu Bodhi, As It Is, Tape 1; Bhikkhu Bodhi, 2006, BPS.lk, Wheel 433, The Buddha and His Dhamma, Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), Nov. 30, 2013; Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
(Ajahn Sona) Premiered June 22, 2025: This video essay explores the influence of Western culture -- particularly those of ancient Persia (Aryan Iran) and Greece -- on Indian Buddhism in the first 500 years after the Buddha's passing [into final nirvana].
Focusing on the region of Gandhara (in present-day Afghanistan/Pakistan, Central Asia), this video traces how early encounters between these civilizations shaped the development of [Greco-] Buddhist art, writing, and the transmission of ideas [particularly along the Silk Road].
Through reflections on script, statuary, and cultural exchange, this documentary sheds light on the oft-overlooked role that Western thought played in shaping early Buddhism -- a legacy that still echoes to this day.
0:00:00 - Title
0:00:15 - Chapter 1: Two empires arrive in India
0:24:11 - Chapter 2: Roots of writing the Dhamma
0:52:23 - Chapter 3: Buddha statues and monasteries
The big cultural celebration at the Mindfulness Meditation Center petered out, as most of the Sri Lankan community still had Vesak religious celebrations to attend at other Sinhalese-speaking venues. NoHo's Sarathchandra Buddhist Temple had a large turnout in the run up to its big Vesak lunar observance (Poya Day) on May 25, 2025.
Vesak Day Pali chanting of blessings
CLARIFICATION: Sarathchandra Temple in NoHo is celebrating a Bangladeshi Buddhist version of Vesak on Sunday, May 18, and will hold the traditional Sri Lankan version on Sunday May 25, 2025. The monks participated in Long Beach's Bodhi Mission Bangladeshi Vihara's Vesak on the May 17 in the morning and chanting in NoHo in the evening. Why? It is the joyous season of Vesak, which brings out the best in cultural celebrations for countries all over Asia and the diaspora.
Vesak continues on May 25, 2025
In Buddhist Sri Lanka (the tradition of the dominant group, the ethnic Sinhalese), the teardrop island off the tip of Southern India, which is also home to Hindus, Christians, Muslims, and animistic indigenous folk surviving in the jungles, VESAK is a weeklong celebration that is prepared for and remembered for the entire month. The great Los Angeles area has various Sri Lankan Buddhist viharas ("monasteries") in Los Angeles (Dharma Vijaya, which celebrated May 10, 2025), Covina (Mindfulness Meditation Center), the Valley (Sarathchandra Temple, North Hollywood), Sunland, and elsewhere.
Vesak Day in Theravada Buddhist Sri Lanka
Public Vesak celebrations, May 11 and 18th
Sunday, May 18, 2025, will see two giant Vesak (commemoration of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and passing into final nirvana on the full moon day of the same month called Vesakha on the ancient lunar calendar) celebrations in LA's two valleys. NoHo in the San Fernando Valley holds its annual celebration (beginning tonight, Saturday, May 17th, with chanting of blessings), observing the Eight Precepts, practicing meditation, Pali canon chanting, blessings, and lots and lots of island cuisine on May 18, 2025 and May 25, 2025. Far to the east in the San Gabriel Valley city of Covina, the Mindfulness Meditation Center (formerly the Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara of Hollywood then Pasadena) will have its annual Sri Lankan cultural celebration of Vesak on May 18, 2025, following last Sunday's full moon religious observance (the Uposatha or Poya Day as it is known in Sri Lanka) and meditation retreat. Both events are free, and all are welcome. Wear white. Call to confirm details.
Usually, the young Mexican American monk Rev. SanathaVihari is present in NoHo, but he is currently visiting Vietnam
Tonight commemorates three (possibly four) amazing events in the life of the Buddha. It was his birthday under the month of Vesak's moon one year. Twenty-nine years later, it was the night he decided to let go and renounce it all to go on a quest for enlightenment to make an end of suffering for everyone. (This would mean that his son Rahula had the same birthday). Six years after that, under the full moon of the same month, he experienced the great awakening of a supremely enlightened teacher. Then 45 years after that, under that very same moon, he made an end of all further rebirth and suffering by reclining into final nirvana. All that happened on full moon of this night, different years, same moon. Because he was reborn, because he renounced, because he practiced without giving up, Siddhartha became the Buddha, which means "the Enlightened One." Without this full moon, without these trees (a different kind of tree being involved in each event (sal, banyan, bodhi, and twin sals), would it have happened? We can only hope it would have. The way the story (told as an allegory) of the Buddha's life gets retold, it would be safe to say that Siddhartha became the Buddha in the last watch of the night, at dawn (with the dawning of insight) after a long, dark night of struggle with Mara* and his legions of ogres (yakkhas).
Light arose, knowledge arose = enlightenment.
What does it mean that the wandering ascetic Siddhartha Gautama (Siddhattha Gotama), 35, having renounced his palace and kingdom six years earlier, at age 29, had a Great Awakening (maha-bodhi)?
It means that after six years of struggle as a yogi learning the meditative absorptions but following the wrong path of penance through severe austerities (tapas), made a profound breakthrough to the ultimate Truth.
Having nearly died in his strenuous efforts to overcome the mental defilements, blaming the body as if it were the slave's fault that the master was all along the defiled one dragging it along, it occurred to Siddhartha to not be averse to pleasure. So long had this been his custom that it seemed wrong even to delight in the bliss of absorption (the jhanas, samma-samadhi). Realizing that such supersensual pursuits are blameless, not connected to sensuality, and followed by the wise, he pursued them and found what had eluded him for so long.
While his five wandering ascetic companions thought he had softened and given up, he set off on his own with the help of the milkmaid Sujata and her servant. They nursed him back to health, feeding him solid food. This disgusted his companions -- eating over fasting, receiving dana (donations) from the hand of a woman. Was this any way for a recluse, hermit, and wandering spiritual nomad to behave?
How did Siddhartha become "the Buddha"?
Scythians (Sakas) of Gandhara
It was! Not only did Siddhartha realize that the body was not the enemy but a potential vehicle to enlightenment, his dingy and clouded mind brightened, and he was able to think more clearly. He realized that he had been avoiding the very Path that avoids both extremes of hedonism on the one hand and severe asceticism on the other, the Middle Way.
He recalled that age 7 he had spontaneously entered such an absorption at the Spring Festival while his father, the King Suddhodana (a Scythian/Shakyian chieftain in the Saka Land called Kapilavastu or Kapilavatthu), was engaged in the ploughing ceremony.
That absorption was possible because he was left alone under the shade of tree by his nannies, who were more interested in joining the festivities. Left to his own devices, he did what he had always done in past lives -- enjoyed the serenity of samatha meditated. (It's interesting that the words samana, "wandering ascetic," and samatha, "calm meditation," are so much alike since one is primarily engaged in the other).
This may have made him a "saint" (holy man, sadhu, bhagavan) in the eyes of his fellows at the time, but it in no way made him a "saint" (arahant, arhat, enlightened one) in the Buddhist sense. For that, Siddhartha used the foundation of serenity, with the temporary mental purity it provided, and added insight (vipassana or "clear seeing") practices. Namely, he entered one or more of the eight absorptions, emerged, and practiced systematic mindfulness (satipatthana) on one of four themes, today referred to as the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. This was the Dependent Originationpractice he rediscovered, as other buddhas before him had found.
Asking the question, "Why is there suffering (dukkha, disappointment, pain, misery)?" he realized the answer lay in a causal chain of 12 links: Present suffering is due to... list of the 12 causes. The general realization is that ALL things arise from causes: "When this is, that comes to be. When this is not, that does not come to be." So to put it less simply:
Why is there aging, decay, death (dukkha, loss, woe)?
It is because there is rebirth. Why is there rebirth?
It is because there is becoming. Why is there becoming?
It is because there is clinging. Why is there clinging?
It is because there is craving (greed, desire). Why is there craving?
It is because there is feeling (sensation). Why is there feeling?
It is because there is contact. Why is there contact?
It is because there is sense (the six sense bases). Why is there sense?
It is because there is name-and-form. Why is there name-and-form?
It is because there is consciousness. Why is there consciousness?
It is because there is volitional formation [karma, fabrication, construction, intention, choices, doing]. Why is there volitional formation?
It is because there is ignorance (delusion, illusion, unknowing).
Therefore, IF ignorance (avijja) is the problem, what is the solution? The solution is enlightenment (clearly seeing how things really are) because this leads to letting go. Who would be interested in such a trap after seeing the danger, folly, and emptiness inherent in it? This letting go (nekkhamma, abandoning, releasing, relinquishing, internal-renunciation) at such a profoundly foundational level) is why the Truth sets one free. It is not an act of willful doing.
We cannot will ourselves to let go of everything with our heads (intellect) and expect that the heart will really follow suit. Try it. If it were so, any smart person could be free just by study and an intellectual grasp or understanding. It is because once we see Truth as it is (things as they really are), the letting go happens naturally.
EXAMPLE: Imagine being a little boy. You see your older brother holding a fat burger in front of everyone craving it, begging for it, ready to fight each other to get it. You see it, want it, and are ready to beg or fight for it yourself -- you can't help it -- but you're smart. So you reason with him, "Brother, let me have it; you love me, and we're brothers, and you would do anything good to help your brother, as brothers do. So let me have it."
"No, Dummy, get out of here!" he says to you, as older brothers like to say. He knows you. He knows you're going to beg and fight and plead like a clingy dummy like all the rest of them. So out of love, he tells you the secret, which he knows there's no possible way you're going to believe just by him telling you. So he simultaneously tells you and shows you: "It's poop in the center, look." What happens to your craving, clinging, and desire right at that instant? It evaporates, shrinks back, is replaced by disgust and letting go (of that desire), completely abandoning it. That wouldn't have happened if he had just TOLD you. But since you saw it yourself, there's no doubt. And you know he loves you and wants the best for you, and he is holding it away from everyone. "What, but, how?" you stutter, but who cares how or why or when? There's only the what. And the what is that it's poop. Where has all your desire gone for it? He has liberated you from the flesh-craving, from that clinging, from that avarice for food of any kind, until your customary delusions and hungers return.
SLIDE: Worms poke out of hamburger on lettuce
That example is too harsh. So let's change it. Let's say, what he shows you is not directly poop between buns but a microscope slide of what's really in flesh-burger: worms, rot, traces of feces and salmonella, pus, uric acid, sweat, mucus... Now where's your craving, your clinging, your desire? You realize he really does love you and has been telling you all along, but until you saw it with your own eyes, you would've never believed it. You've been eating this cr*p the whole time. That's what flesh is; that's how the sausage (churned burger) is made. *Vomit* You feel love and gratitude for your brother for NOT giving you what you were sure you wanted and begged for and were ready to fight for. You feel love for him because instead he gave you what you didn't know you needed so desperately -- wisdom and compassion. Out of compassion for you, he shared his wisdom by giving you a "clear seeing" of what was really there all along.
It is like dropping a feather (or a modern plastic bag) into a fire. It shrinks back, pulls away, retracts by a natural reaction. It does not will to shrink away. It just does. The heart/mind will let go of all conditioned (composite) "things." And there is only one [unconditioned element] that is not a thing and therefore does not have all the faults and attributes of things -- and that is nirvana.
I was obscured by clouds, then all became clear.
Nirvana (nibbana) is not enlightenment (bodhi) as so many scholars and ordinary people seem to loosely equate. Awakening gives a glimpse of what has never before been seen in this entire Round of Rebirths (samsara), this Wheel of Life and Death: real freedom (liberation) from any further rebirth or suffering. The dependently originated formation (fabrication, construction) of these Five Aggregates clung to as "self" is no more -- and one is completely freed. This comes in stages, which may all happen following after the other or be spread out over as many as seven more rebirths. These are the Paths and Fruits (magga-phala), the stages of enlightenment, of those who have become the "noble ones."
Mara ("Death," "Obstacles," "Defilements") Devaputra in Buddhism is a malignant being of light (a Satan figure), a king of the ogres (yakkhas), who tried to stop Prince Siddhartha from Awakening (becoming enlightened and liberated from the SensualSphere) by trying to seduce him with his "daughters" (Lust, Discontent, and Passion) and an army of ogres.
In various legends, visions of beautiful women are said to be Mara's daughters [1]. In Buddhist cosmology, Mara is the personification of Death, rebirth, and sensual desire [2].
Western Buddhist monk Ven. Nyanaponika Thera has described Mara as "the personification of the forces antagonistic to enlightenment" [3].
(Sri Lanka Tourism) The Vesak festival commemorates three events in the Buddha’s life: his birth, his enlightenment, and his passing. It is a joyful season in Sri Lanka.
It is a festival of light that dispels the darkness of ignorance and a time to recall his teachings, the Dhamma, of wisdom, compassion, and peace.
This Vesak, let us appreciate humanity and practice peaceful coexistence that will raise us to greater heights.
To good health!
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