Beautifully engraved on Mikao Usui tombstone (see “Historical Sites”) are the following wise words:
“Someone who studies hard (i.e. practises meditation) and works very hard to improve body and mind for the sake of becoming a better person is called a man of Great Spirit. People who use that Great Spirit for a soul purpose, that is to teach the right way to many people and do collective good, are called Teachers. Dr. Usui was such a teacher. He taught the Reiki of the Universe (universal energy). Countless people came to him and asked him to teach them the great way of Reiki and to heal them.
Reiki not only heals diseases, but also amplifies innate abilities, balances the spirit, makes the body healthy, and thus helps achieve happiness. To teach this to others you must follow the Five Principles of the Meiji Emperor and contemplate them daily in your heart.
They must be spoken daily, once in the morning and once at night.
1. Just for today, do not anger
2. Do not worry
3. Be filled with gratitude
4. Devote yourself to your work
5. Be kind to people
Even now, after using Usui’s passing, Reiki will be spread far and wide for a long time to come. It is a Universal Blessing to have received Reiki from Sensei Usui and to be able to pass it on to others. Many of Sensei Usui’s students have built this memorial here at Saiho Temple to honour him. May many understand what a great service Usui did to the world.”
The Art of Reiki is condensed in those 5 Principles that promote a spiritual Path of Life through the virtue of “let come let go”: although living in a dual world our relative existence, we must at the same time live in full acceptance and awareness of being One with every sentient being, from the other humans to the animals, plants, minerals, Mother Earth and the Cosmos itself.
Mikao Usui’s Spiritual Principles obviously are a message of Unconditional Love, with the intimate fusion of compassion and wisdom. In direct link to Buddhist values, the 5 Principles do imply the virtue of Ethics and the quest for Truth.
Let us practise the 5 Spiritual Principles of Reiki in a modern version:
• Just for today, I will let go of anger
• Just for today, I will let go of worry
• Today, I will count my many blessings
• Today, I will do my work honestly
• Today, I will be kind to every living creature
1. Anger: the worst of all negative emotions, and the very last one to remain deeply encroached. All afflicting emotions, eg. desire, avidity, ignorance, intolerance, … can be resumed to anger which is another word for fear. Let use move free of fears!
2. Worry: so many move in the illusion of past and future, constantly hoping to reproduce in their future positive past experiences and fearing to be again submitted to negative past experiences. Let us fully live the gift of present!
3. Blessings: We are free to enjoy every instant of this precious existence. At the end of the day we have to keep only the positive and build upon it. We can everyday say a firm “No” to negativity. Let us express gratitude to life!
4. Honesty: this is often the less understood principle as it relates to the sublimated value of work in the Japan of early last century. We truly have to live a life guided by Ethics. Let us walk the walk and talk the talk!
5. Kindness: Reiki is in the name of compassion and unconditional love: to oneself, to all other forms of life, to the Universe. The 21st century needs love, if only to save the Planet…
Reiki is a holistic healing therapy but truly a path of spiritual self-realization, as we open our 4 higher chakras to respectively release Unconditional Love, Trust, Faith and Wisdom.
“To be Reiki, to live Reiki”: let us, Beginners, Practitioners or Masters meditate on this, and integrate in our daily lives Mikao Usui’s Five Spiritual Principles.
Love, Light, Energy
Samasathi