The origin of Mikao Usui’s precepts
Mikao Usui gave his students a special set of precepts to follow (now referred to as “the Reiki Precepts”) and there has been a lot of speculation about where these precepts came from. It has been claimed that they originated in a book that was published in Usui’s time, and it has been suggested that they are based on the edicts of Mutsuhito, the Meiji Emperor. Certainly it seems that many Tendai and Zen teachers were in Usui’s time passing on principles similar to those of Mikao Usui.
But now we know that Usui’s precepts were his wording of an earlier set of precepts that have been traced back to the early 9th century, precepts that were used in a Tendai sect of Shugendo with which Usui Sensei was in contact. These precepts were a way of addressing aspects of the Buddhist eight-fold path in a simplified form, and they are the very ‘hub’ of the whole system.
These are Mikao Usui’s precepts
Here is the full wording of Mikao Usui’s precepts. The actual precepts start at “just for today” and end with “be compassionate…”:
The secret of inviting happiness through many blessings
The spiritual medicine for all illness
For today only: Do not anger; Do not worry
Be humble
Be honest in your work
Be compassionate to yourself and others
Do gassho every morning and evening
Keep in your mind and recite
The founder, Usui Mikao
NOTE
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