REIKI AND CHRISTIANITY
An article by Penelope Quest
IS REIKI OPPOSED TO CHRISTIAN TEACHING?
I am sometimes contacted by a number of concerned Reiki practitioners who have been verbally abused by members of the public as being “unChristian”, and being “touched by the Devil” - even some of their clients have been exhorted not to have any more Reiki treatments. They have also been sent copies of articles from the Catholic press recommending that Catholics avoid Reiki, disparaging it as “pantheistic” and “a particularly dangerous form of Gnosticism”.
Whilst this is a sad situation, it is not without precedent, as various fundamentalist Christian groups have demonstrated against or published works denigrating Reiki for quite some time. This is clearly the result of a misunderstanding about Reiki and how its practise fits into religion and spirituality.
If we look at Reiki historically, it is an energy science which pre-dates the Christian faith – it originates from Buddhist practices from around 500 years before Jesus was born. However, the system of Reiki we use in the West, based on the teachings of Mikao Usui, is not a belief system, and is not in conflict with Christian beliefs. Indeed, Usui met and engaged in discussions with a number of Christians, and many of his students, and some of the Masters he trained, were Christians, and perhaps most importantly, one of those Christians was Dr Chujiro Hayashi, who clearly did not consider Reiki to be contradictory to his beliefs. Western Reiki’s lineage is through Dr Hayashi, who taught Hawayo Takata, who taught the twenty two Masters through whom Reiki has spread throughout the Western world since the mid-1970s.
Surely the main point here is “that which is good is from God”? We are told in the Bible that Jesus laid his hands on people to heal them (John 14:12; Matthew 10:8), but the laying on of hands for healing has been a part of many cultures and many religions for millenia – not just 2,000 years. Reiki is accused of being “pantheistic” – that just means believing that God is identifiable with the forces of nature and with natural substances, such as in Paganism, or it can mean the worship or tolerance of all gods. Well, we certainly don’t worship ANY gods, neither do we follow any Pagan rituals, when we practise Reiki, which is one reason why Western Reiki is suitable for people of any religion. Indeed the reason for condemning Reiki given in the article is that Dr Usui thought Buddha and Christ had an “inner energy” that helped them to heal, and that this is what he sought and found whilst on a Buddhist retreat.
If this is true, why is that wrong? Surely that is a wonderful achievement? But perhaps the disparagement of that achievement relates to the accusation that Reiki is a “dangerous form of Gnosticism” – which relates to knowledge, especially esoteric, mystical knowledge. Throughout history the Christian church (and other religions, too) have feared and distrusted mystical knowledge, that is, an awareness of things they could not understand, and Christians who embraced occult or mystical thinking which was considered heretical were labelled as Gnostics between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD.
Have we really made so little progress in the West in seventeen centuries? Surely being Christian should be less about religion, and more about behaviour – including hopefully being tolerant of things that we don’t necessarily understand.
Reiki is a safe, non-intrusive complementary healthcare modality with no known contraindications, which many people find to be a helpful support for their health and wellbeing, whether they are using it themselves, or receiving it from Practitioners. On a practical level, many of our doctors and other healthcare professionals have different belief systems which may conflict with Christianity, but this does not prevent us from accepting medical treatment!
Some Reiki practitioners may have rather unconventional views, it is true, but belief in Reiki guides, channelling, and so on, somewhat unkindly called “flaky Reiki”, are new aspects of modern Reiki styles – they were not part of Usui’s original Reiki system as it was first taught in the West in the late 1930s. But Reiki is practised by people of many different faiths all over the world, and just because someone has a different belief system to your own does not make them a “bad” person, nor does it make the healthcare practice they offer something “evil”. You wouldn’t ask your doctor if he or she accepted Christ as their saviour before accepting a prescription; nor would you ask a nurse to describe her religious beliefs before submitting to a blood test, would you?
There is a beauty and peace in the practise of Reiki that can fit easily into anyone’s spiritual life, but Western Reiki is not a religion - even its roots in Buddhism do not really constitute a religion, as Buddhism is a way of life, so it does not conflict with Christianity, nor does it pose any threat to those with Christian beliefs. What we try to promote within the practise of Reiki is an environment of tolerance and acceptance, so we do not judge our students or clients by their religious beliefs. We would wish that others would behave in the same way towards us.
(C) Penelope Quest, with thanks to Robert Jefford for contributing some information
(This article first appeared in the UK Reiki Federation's magazine "Resonance")
here to edit.
I am sometimes contacted by a number of concerned Reiki practitioners who have been verbally abused by members of the public as being “unChristian”, and being “touched by the Devil” - even some of their clients have been exhorted not to have any more Reiki treatments. They have also been sent copies of articles from the Catholic press recommending that Catholics avoid Reiki, disparaging it as “pantheistic” and “a particularly dangerous form of Gnosticism”.
Whilst this is a sad situation, it is not without precedent, as various fundamentalist Christian groups have demonstrated against or published works denigrating Reiki for quite some time. This is clearly the result of a misunderstanding about Reiki and how its practise fits into religion and spirituality.
If we look at Reiki historically, it is an energy science which pre-dates the Christian faith – it originates from Buddhist practices from around 500 years before Jesus was born. However, the system of Reiki we use in the West, based on the teachings of Mikao Usui, is not a belief system, and is not in conflict with Christian beliefs. Indeed, Usui met and engaged in discussions with a number of Christians, and many of his students, and some of the Masters he trained, were Christians, and perhaps most importantly, one of those Christians was Dr Chujiro Hayashi, who clearly did not consider Reiki to be contradictory to his beliefs. Western Reiki’s lineage is through Dr Hayashi, who taught Hawayo Takata, who taught the twenty two Masters through whom Reiki has spread throughout the Western world since the mid-1970s.
Surely the main point here is “that which is good is from God”? We are told in the Bible that Jesus laid his hands on people to heal them (John 14:12; Matthew 10:8), but the laying on of hands for healing has been a part of many cultures and many religions for millenia – not just 2,000 years. Reiki is accused of being “pantheistic” – that just means believing that God is identifiable with the forces of nature and with natural substances, such as in Paganism, or it can mean the worship or tolerance of all gods. Well, we certainly don’t worship ANY gods, neither do we follow any Pagan rituals, when we practise Reiki, which is one reason why Western Reiki is suitable for people of any religion. Indeed the reason for condemning Reiki given in the article is that Dr Usui thought Buddha and Christ had an “inner energy” that helped them to heal, and that this is what he sought and found whilst on a Buddhist retreat.
If this is true, why is that wrong? Surely that is a wonderful achievement? But perhaps the disparagement of that achievement relates to the accusation that Reiki is a “dangerous form of Gnosticism” – which relates to knowledge, especially esoteric, mystical knowledge. Throughout history the Christian church (and other religions, too) have feared and distrusted mystical knowledge, that is, an awareness of things they could not understand, and Christians who embraced occult or mystical thinking which was considered heretical were labelled as Gnostics between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD.
Have we really made so little progress in the West in seventeen centuries? Surely being Christian should be less about religion, and more about behaviour – including hopefully being tolerant of things that we don’t necessarily understand.
Reiki is a safe, non-intrusive complementary healthcare modality with no known contraindications, which many people find to be a helpful support for their health and wellbeing, whether they are using it themselves, or receiving it from Practitioners. On a practical level, many of our doctors and other healthcare professionals have different belief systems which may conflict with Christianity, but this does not prevent us from accepting medical treatment!
Some Reiki practitioners may have rather unconventional views, it is true, but belief in Reiki guides, channelling, and so on, somewhat unkindly called “flaky Reiki”, are new aspects of modern Reiki styles – they were not part of Usui’s original Reiki system as it was first taught in the West in the late 1930s. But Reiki is practised by people of many different faiths all over the world, and just because someone has a different belief system to your own does not make them a “bad” person, nor does it make the healthcare practice they offer something “evil”. You wouldn’t ask your doctor if he or she accepted Christ as their saviour before accepting a prescription; nor would you ask a nurse to describe her religious beliefs before submitting to a blood test, would you?
There is a beauty and peace in the practise of Reiki that can fit easily into anyone’s spiritual life, but Western Reiki is not a religion - even its roots in Buddhism do not really constitute a religion, as Buddhism is a way of life, so it does not conflict with Christianity, nor does it pose any threat to those with Christian beliefs. What we try to promote within the practise of Reiki is an environment of tolerance and acceptance, so we do not judge our students or clients by their religious beliefs. We would wish that others would behave in the same way towards us.
(C) Penelope Quest, with thanks to Robert Jefford for contributing some information
(This article first appeared in the UK Reiki Federation's magazine "Resonance")
here to edit.
