Reiki: A Solemn Warning

The History of Reiki

Reiki was developed in the heart of mainland China by a peasant farmer named Woo Chung in 1836. Within just 4 years, Chung's Amazing Reiki System was being practiced by thousands of people. By 1845, Reiki had become known and practiced by nearly 30% of all Chinese and Chung's Amazing Reiki booths collected thousands of curious onlookers in all of China's circuses and bazaars.

Little is known about Woo Chung. He was born in 1803 to Shin Yi and Yuan Tai Chun, who were both, descendants of long farming lineages. It is believed that at the age of 21, in 1824, Woo Chung stumbled across ancient and long forgotten ruins while he was out wandering in the countryside surrounding his parent's home. Chung once described the ruins to his mother as the Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen Temple (or Spirit Temple) and that they were mostly buried under the Earth and filled with water. Exactly what Chung found in the ruins has never been completely been verified, and the location and nature of the ruins themselves has remained a mystery. What we do know is that after his discovery, Chung always carried with him a small diary bound in brown leather. Stamped into the cover were two symbols we now recognize as two of the four main Reiki symbols, Sei-He-Ki and Dai-Ko-Myo.

What Woo Chung did to complete his Reiki System between 1824 and December 1836, when he first unveiled the System to his village, is unknown. Many Reiki historians believe that Chung learned to read enough Ancient Chinese to transcribe a series of tablets he had found in his Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen ruins. Others believe that Chung simply used the ancient ruins as a place of quiet meditation while formulating his system.

While its exact origin is obviously uncertain, it is clear that Reiki's system has its historical roots in No Chi Se a very old and very obscure Chinese medicinal practice. No Chi Se, much like Reiki was a four-tiered order with monk-like practitioners in the Fourth (top) Tier. It is entirely possible that Woo Chung's Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen Temple was, in fact a No Chi Se Healing Ground.

The Symbols of Reiki

On the surface, Reiki is a ritualized healing method involving the use of meditation and a 'laying of hands' technique to transfer the healing energy of Ki (or The Universal Life Force) into a tired or injured body. Reiki has a number of arcane qualities which give it the aura of Oriental Mysticism. Of these, the deeply imbedded property of symbolism is the most prominent.

The Four Symbols of Reiki are:
Body - Cho-Ku-Rei - Transfer of Life Power or Soul-Folding
Mind - Sei-He-Ki - Mind Cleansing or Mind-Energy-Transference
Spirit - Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen - Healing or Agelessness
Master - Dai-Ko-Myo - Energy To One Source
It is this final symbol, Master, which is of the utmost concern and gives rise to the title of this paper. While none of the Reiki Master can satisfactorily explain the addition of the Fourth Symbol, they all agree that the it is absolutely necessary to the practice of Reiki. What many historians and occultists are beginning to find out is that the Master symbol was once refered to as Woo Chung's Energy Well.

The Practice of Reiki

In the simplest form, Reiki is nothing more than a gentle massaging technique combined with a meditative state on the part of both the practiced and the practitioner. It is claimed that a proper Reiki session will leave its participants feeling pleasantly calm and at peace. In addition, it is also claimed that the participant's body will gradually become more healthy, free of disease, and will mend more quickly.

Many of these properties were confirmed in a 1964 study at the University of Berkeley under the direction of Dr. Alec Rumney. 16 students with a wide variety of injuries were healed at an amazingly accelerated rate using Reiki techniques. In one case, an avid bicyclist saw his broken leg repair itself enough in two days after starting the treatments that he was able to ride in a marathon and claim third place. In addition, the students all reported increased feelings of euphoria and general contentment.

The down-sides of the study, however, were disturbing: ten out of the 16 students reported extreme anxiety several weeks after the Reiki treatments were over. "It's like someone is watching me all the time. I feel like somebody wants something from me," said one of the participants. The six students that did not indicate high anxiety did report feelings of moodiness or despair. One of these six remarked, "I feel totally drained, you know? It's like part of me is missing."

Strangely, all 16 students asserted that they "definitely" wished to continue with the Reiki treatments. Of the 16, only two did not pursue further Reiki sessions in their own time. One of the two who did not continue with Reiki committed suicide seven months after the study had concluded. The other went missing later in the year and is now presumed dead.

In a 1973 survey conducted by the Molnhead Institute for the Study of the Occult (MISO), 993 Reiki practitioners were polled on a wide variety of subjects ranging from TV viewing habits to sexual performance. While most of the results contain statistically normal data for any segment of the populace, all of the respondents answered affirmatively to two questions: "Do you feel as though you are watched over by some unseen force?" and "Do you often feel tired at strange times during the day?"

Though much about Reiki remains a mystery, one thing is perfectly clear: though it has the ability to heal wounds and calm minds, its overall effect is that of a draining force on those who practice it.

Woo Chung: The Immortal

Between the years 1836 and 1927 (the year in which Woo Chung disappeared from the popular eye), no one ever witnessed him sleeping. One of Chung's first Reiki Masters, Yun Ming once commented in a Beijing newspaper interview that, "Woo is always awake. Many is the night that he wakes me up with 'Yun! Yun! I feel younger again!'" Despite his many travels across China and Western Asia, there are no records of any hotel rooms or sleeping quarters ever having been secured by or for Chung by himself or any members of his traveling entourage.

It is now believed by most serious Reiki scholars that Woo Chung never did sleep and lives on to this day, at the age of 173, in a perpetual state of wakefulness. His power derives solely from the power stolen from the injured and weary subjects of the Reiki 'healing' craft. What percentage of his followers know of the true nature of his art, it is uncertain.

Reiki: A Solemn Warning

Reiki lays down a very tempting path. It promises peace and a light heart to any that would practice its art. It has a history that is both fascinating and mysterious. It even seems to have some as-yet-unexplained beneficial physical effects.

Let this be, however, a solemn warning to any who try Reiki: Once it has taken hold, the Reiki craft will not release you easily. Once you have begun the Reiki process upon your own body, you will either continue it as the energy-slave to a 173-year-old cult leader, or leave it on a path to despair or death.

Dr. Joseph Mehan
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1976