靈氣歷史的循證研究

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An Evidence Based History of Reiki | 2015.06.26

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靈氣歷史的循證研究 An Evidence Based History of Reiki
威廉·李連 by William Lee Rand

我第一次接觸形而上學訓練是在玫瑰/薔薇十字會(Rosicrucians－)。 作為成員之一，我以專刊的形式接受了他們的課程，這些課程裝在一個包裹中，每週閱讀和學習。 他們一開始說的一件事是，你不應該僅僅因為有人說它是真的或因為它寫在書上而相信某事。一個人可以說什麼，印刷機可以印刷任何東西，所以你不能僅根據這些標準，您就自以為可以理解什麼是正確的。 他們接著說，了解某事的最佳方式是通過實際的體驗，對於形而上學的思想和精神原則尤其如此，因為這類知識的目的不僅僅是為了理解這些思想或使您能夠擁有關於他們充滿智慧的對話，但實際上是利用這些訊息來改善您的生活並幫助他人。 這真的讓我印象深刻。

幾週過去了，這些專刊為我提供了更多發人深省的問題和思考事物的新方法。 當我們在閱讀一篇文章時，我們需要常常去問自己，這個人基本上到底想要傳達甚麼樣的意思？這些東西是從哪裡來的呢？那些思想清晰並且對他們所說或所寫的主題進行了適當研究的人將很容易回答這個問題。 然而，那些對主題只是隨便理解的人並不總是有明確的答案，有時會因為你問這樣的問題而感到不安。 然而，這種詢問是很有效的，人們應該毫不猶豫地詢問它，特別是如果人們正在尋求對其所涵蓋的主題有清晰而深刻的理解。 否則，您可能得到的只是謠言和道聽途說，這對幫助人們了解真相是毫無用處的。

在你發現這些想法的來源之後，重要的是要考慮證據的可信度與質量。 作者是否聲稱自己是該主題或領域的唯一權威或唯一可以取得資訊來源的人，或者另一方面，該資訊是否已由其他獨立研究人員通過書面記錄與驗證，任何人都可以自由取得、訪問或通過其他可驗證的資訊來源？ 對證據的收集和整理是否嚴謹，以及對信息及其來源真實性和真實性的驗證，這是歷史研究的有效基石。 (1) 這種程度的研究需要時間和精力，並不是所有作者都願意做的 因為簡單地重複別人說過的話要容易得多，即使可能不知道這些信息是否已經得到足夠的證據去驗證它。

也許這方面有著更大的問題，世界上有這麼多麻煩的原因之一是因為人們沒有被教導如何判定真相的有效方法。相反，在學校裡，人們被告知教育系統希望學生相信是真實的。通常不會向學生展示如何自己確定這一點。有一個例外是在某些形式的高等教育中，例如新聞課程和涉及科學研究的課程，在這些課程中教授學生有效的研究方法。但在大多數情況下，大部分的人並沒有被教導需要用這種更嚴格的方式思考的價值。正因為如此，人們往往習慣於相信別人告訴他們的東西，而且有時應該有很多版本的東西是真實的，他們最終決定相信同齡人中的其他人都相信什麼，或者對他們來說聽起來不錯的東西或什麼他們願意相信是真實的。這就是為什麼人們可能會相信幾乎沒有有意義證據的說法。

當我們在研究一個主題時，重要的是要盡可能不帶偏見，如果發現了新的、更準確和可驗證的資訊，就應該願意放棄自己原先的想法。 這需要擁有一個自律且理性的頭腦，因為有些信念可以牢牢堅持，因此很難放棄，特別是如果它們是一個人的人生哲學並且在情感上需要將它們當作是真相的時候。 正因為如此，一個人最大的正直必須建立在問題的事實需要以最高標準的證據去驗證其真實性，而不是堅持和捍衛先前持有的觀念或信念的個人需要。 那些具有這種水平的研究人員都會放棄先前持有的理解，轉而支持被發現的更高質量的資訊。 隨著時間的推移，越來越準確的資訊將會被發現，當我們試圖了解靈氣的歷史時，要求這種水平的相關研究是非常重要的。

在靈氣的世界中，曾經多次嘗試準確地描繪靈氣的歷史。不幸的是，在我更完整的整合並描述完整的歷史後其中只有少部分的證據是被確定。我們在西方世界擁有的靈氣歷史最初來自於高田女士，雖然我們尊重她是讓靈氣在世界範圍內保持活躍並流行的人，但她所教授的靈氣史包含許多細節，這些細節已被證明不是真實的。例如，在她的靈氣故事中，她說臼井老師曾是日本京都同志社大學的校長（president of Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan.）。當我在 1989 年成為靈氣大師時，我很好奇我們可能能夠了解更多有關創始人的任何其他事蹟。因此，基於相信高田女士所說的故事，我給同志社大學寫了一封信，詢問他們是否有一位校長臼井甕男。我想知道他們是否有關於他的任何其他信息，可以增加我們對他是什麼樣的人的理解。 （說實話，我想知道為什麼以前從來都沒有人這樣做過。）他們給我回信解釋說他們已經對他們的所有記錄進行了非常徹底的搜索，可以肯定地說這個人從來沒有擔任過大學校長，也沒有當過教員，甚至沒有作為學生註冊過，他們知道 對他一無所知。（2）這些信息讓我非常痛苦。 如果高田講述靈氣歷史的故事中最核心的想法之一是錯誤的，那麼有可能其他的什麼想法也是錯誤的。 這讓我感到困擾，以至於我懷疑是不是高田編造了整個事情，包括靈氣本身的概念與想法。

芝加哥大學回函

同志社大學回函

進一步的研究表明，高田在她的靈氣歷史和她教授靈氣的方式中包含的許多其他想法也被證明是不真實的。 她說臼井老師也曾就讀於芝加哥大學並獲得神學學位，他曾是一名基督徒，並試圖發現耶穌在發現靈氣時是如何治癒的，靈氣是一種口傳的傳統，而她教的靈氣是臼井老師教過的不變的系統。(3) 遺憾的是，這些觀點也被證明是錯誤的。

雖然我意識到當時我們並沒有靈氣的真實歷史，但我也意識到靈氣能量確實可以進行治療，因此這個治療的能量是真實的。 正因為如此，我決定繼續修行傳授靈氣，並繼續尋找史實。

研究靈氣的歷史會如此困難的原因之一是，當第二次世界大戰結束並且日本被要求無條件向美國投降時，頒布的法律中禁止所有東方的治療方法，並要求只有西方的醫學才能夠進行醫療。雖然針灸師等一些日本治療團體能夠通過創建政府許可的制度繼續練習，但臼井靈氣療法學會的成員 (4) 決定他們不想經歷這個認證與許可的過程。於是為了繼續修煉，他們決定成為一個秘密社團。之後，他們只會在自己的私人聚會上執行靈氣，且不會和團體外的人談論靈氣。正因為如此，靈氣從人們的視野中消失了，幾乎被學會以外的所有人都或多或少地遺忘了。 (5) 因此，當人們去日本詢問臼井老師創立的靈氣系統時，沒有人知道關於它的任何事情。正因為如此，那些試圖在 80 年代和 90 年代初研究靈氣歷史的人都沒有成功。

然後在 1995 年，日本靈氣大師 望月俊孝（Toshitaka Mochizuki） 寫了一本關於靈氣的書，其中提供了一些關於歷史的額外事實，例如臼井靈氣的原始觀念。 1997 年出版的書籍《靈氣之火（Reiki Fire）》，其中解釋了作者 Arjava Petter 和他的妻子 Chetna Kobayashi 如何與當時的臼井靈氣療法學會現任會長 小山君子 女士取得聯繫。 書中記載了臼井老師的墓地、照片以及碑文的譯文。 這是第一本包含可驗證的有關靈氣歷史的有意義信息的書籍。

我一知道這本書，就聯繫了 Arjava Petter，他邀請我來日本。 Laurelle Shanti Gaia 和我於 1997 年 9 月去了日本，Arjava 帶我們去了鞍馬山和臼井甕男的墳墓。 我在 1999 年與 Walter Lubeck 和 Arjava Petter 一起去了兩次日本，為我們的書《靈氣的精神（The Spirit of Reiki）》做研究，並在 2001 年從山口千代子夫人那裡學習了靈氣 I&II，她自稱是直接從林忠次郎老師那裡學習了靈氣。 1999 年和 2000 年，我贊助 Arjava 和 Chetna 來美國教授日本靈氣技術的研討會。 正是通過這些書籍、研討會和活動，有關靈氣歷史的可驗證信息在西方才開始廣為人知。 從那時起，將那些歷史中遺失的拼圖拼湊起來。

關於靈氣歷史的最可信的資料與訊息都是來自臼井靈氣療法學會。 基於這樣的事實，即學會的第一任會長是臼井甕男老師，接下來的四位會長都是臼井老師培養的師範（靈氣大師），他們被認為擁有與他相同的知識和能力，並被授權教授靈氣。 (6) 臼井老師之後的四位社長是牛田從三郎、武富咸一、渡辺義治和和波豊一。 (7) 學會的情報是由 Arjava Petter與學會第六任會長小山君子聯繫後並傳來的，並通過學會的會員土居裕（8）接觸學會的相關檔案。 另一個重要的信息來源是山口忠夫的著作，他的母親千代子和他的許多親戚從林老師那裡學習了靈氣。（9）

這些研究與靈氣的詳細歷史考究都可以在線上書籍《靈氣，觸碰的治療（Reiki, The Healing Touch）》在線發布版本中。 只要使用完整的文章並且不添加、更改或刪除任何內容，任何人想要將其複制並粘貼到其網站上的人都可以使用本在線版本。

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參考文獻 References

1 Charles Busha and Stephen P. Harter, Research Methods in Librarianship: Techniques and Interpretations (Academic Press: New York, NY, 1980).

2 Some said that he might have used a different name or that the university records might have been lost during the war, but additional research included the examination of a list of all the presidents of Doshisha University, the periods of time they were president and biographies of each. There were no periods of time for which there was no president listed and none of the biographies were similar to that of the life of Mikao Usui. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doshisha_University.

3 Mrs. Takata Speaks, The History of Reiki, CD and transcript (Southfield, MI: Vision Publications, 1979).

4 This is the organization Usui Sensei started in April 1922 to practice and promote Reiki.

5 Tadao Yamaguchi, Light on the Origins of Reiki (Twin Lakes, WI: Lotus Press, 2007), 66.

6 See Reiki News Magazine (Spring 2011), 18 for a photo of Usui Sensei and all twenty Shihans he trained that includes a statement in the photo in Japanese indicating that each is authorized to teach in the same way as Usui Sensei. The exception is Wantanabe who recieved Okuden from Usui Sensei and was given Shinpiden from Ushida after Usui Sensei passed.

7 Walter Lubeck, Frank Arjava Petter, William Lee Rand, The Spirit of Reiki (Twin Lakes, WI: Lotus Press, 2003), 17. This page contains a list of the presidents of the Gakkai and the fact that the first four had been trained by Usui Sensei.

8 Hiroshi Doi, Gendei Reiki-ho (Southfield, MI: Vision Publications, 2013). Previously published but out of print; new addition available Fall 2013.

9 Yamaguchi, Origins of Reiki.

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延伸閱讀：
《「傳統靈氣」的歷史資料》
《你學的真的是靈氣嗎？》
《靈氣歷史的循證研究》
《臼井霊気療法学会-歷代會長》
《臼井氏靈氣療法階級一覽》
《傳統學會的靈授規定》

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An Evidence Based History of Reiki
by William Lee Rand

My first experience with metaphysical training was with the Rosicrucians. As a member, I received lessons in the form of monographs, which came in a packet with one to be read and followed each week. One of the things they said in the beginning is that you shouldn't believe something just because someone says it's true or because it's written in a book — that a person can say anything and a printing press will print anything, so you can't base your understanding of what is true on these criteria alone. They went on to say that the best way to learn about something is through experience and that this is especially true for metaphysical ideas and spiritual principles since the purpose of this type of knowledge isn't simply to understand the ideas or to enable you to have an intelligent conversation about them, but to actually use the information to improve your life and to help others. This really impressed me.

As the weeks went by, these monographs provided me with more thought provoking questions and new ways of thinking about things. One reading explained how important it is to always ask what a person's ideas are based on; where did they come from? Those who are clear thinkers and have done proper research on the topics they speak or write about will easily be able to answer this question. However, those who have only a casual understanding of the subject matter will not always have clear answers and will sometimes become upset that you are asking such a question. Yet this a valid enquiry and one should never hesitate to ask about it, especially if one is seeking a clear and deep understanding of the topic it covers. Otherwise all you might be getting is little more than rumors and hearsay, which is not useful in helping one decide what is true.

After you discover the origin of the ideas, it is important to think about the quality of the evidence. Does the author claim to be the only authority on the topic or to be the only one who has access to the source of the information, or, on the other hand, has the information been verified by other independent researchers through written records that anyone can access or through other verifiable sources? The rigorous collection and organization of evidence and the verification of the authenticity and veracity of information and its sources is the cornerstone of valid historical research.(1) This level of research takes time and effort and is not something that all authors are willing to do as it is much easier to simply repeat what others have said even though it may not be known whether the information has been verified by sufficient evidence.

Perhaps even more problematic than this aspect, and also one of the reasons why there is so much trouble in the world is that people have not been taught an effective method of determining what is real. Rather, in school, people are taught what the education system wants students to believe is real. Students aren't usually shown how to determine this for themselves. An exception to this is in some forms of higher education such as journalism classes and classes involving scientific research, where valid research methods are taught. But for the most part, the general public has not been taught the value of thinking in this more rigorous way. Because of this people often become conditioned to believe what they are told and because there are sometimes many versions of what is supposed to be real, they end up deciding to believe what everyone else in their peer group believes or what sounds good to them or what they want to believe is real. This is why it's possible for people to believe ideas for which there is very little meaningful evidence.

When researching a topic it is important to be as unbiased as possible and to be willing to give up an idea one has held if new, more accurate and verifiable information has been uncovered. This requires one to have a disciplined mind as some beliefs can be firmly held and therefore difficult to let go of, especially if they support one’s personal philosophy and there is an emotional need for them to be true. Because of this, one’s greatest allegiance must be to the highest standards of evidence and veracity concerning the facts of an issue, rather than the need to cling to and defend a previously held notion or belief. Those researchers with this level of commitment will abandon previously held understandings in favor of higher quality information when it is discovered. This level of research is important to use when we seek to understand the history of Reiki as increasingly more accurate information has been uncovered over time.

In the Reiki world there have been many attempts to accurately portray the history of Reiki. Unfortunately, only a few are based on evidence ascertained in the more complete manner I have previously described. The first history of Reiki we had in the West came from Mrs. Takata and while we honor her as the one who kept Reiki alive so that it could become popular the world over, the history of Reiki she taught contained many details that have proven to be untrue. As an example, in her story of Reiki, she said that Usui Sensei had been the president of Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. When I became a Reiki Master in 1989, I was curious about any additional facts we might be able to learn about the founder. So, believing the story Takata told, I wrote a letter to Doshisha University asking about one of their presidents, Mikao Usui. I wanted to discover if they had any additional information about him that could add to our understanding of the kind of person he was. (And quite frankly I wondered why no one had done this previously.) They wrote me back explaining that they had done a very thorough search through all their records and could say quite certainly that he had never been the president of the university, nor had he been on the faculty or even enrolled as a student and that they knew nothing about him at all.(2) This information was very distressing to me. If one of the most central ideas in the story Takata told about the history of Reiki was false, then what other ideas were also false. This bothered me to the extent that I wondered if Takata had made up the whole thing including the idea of Reiki itself.

Further research has revealed that many additional ideas Takata included in her history of Reiki and in how she taught it have also proven to be untrue. She said that Usui Sensei had also attended the University of Chicago and received a degree in theology, that he had been a Christian and was seeking to discover how Jesus had healed when he discovered Reiki, that Reiki is an oral tradition and that the system of Reiki she taught was the unchanged system that had been taught by Usui Sensei.(3) Sadly these points have also proven to be false.

While I realized that we did not have a factual history of Reiki at that time, I also realized that the Reiki energy did heal and therefore was real. Because of this I decided that I would continue to practice and teach Reiki and keep looking for the historical facts.

One of the reasons that Reiki has historically been so difficult to research is due to the fact that when World War II ended and the Japanese were required to unconditionally surrender to the U.S., laws were enacted that banned all Eastern healing methods and required that only Western medical methods be practiced. And while some of the Japanese healing groups such as the acupuncturists were able to continue practicing by creating a government licensing system, the members of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai.(4) decided that they did not want to go through the process of licensing. So in order to continue practicing, they decided to become a secret society. After that they would only practice at their private meetings and would not talk about Reiki to others outside their group. Because of this, Reiki disappeared from view and was more or less forgotten about by almost everyone outside the group of Gakkai members.(5) Therefore, when people went to Japan and inquired about the system of Reiki started by Usui Sensei no one knew anything about it. Because of this, those who attempted to research Reiki in the ‘80s and early ‘90s were not successful.

Then in 1995, Toshitaka Mochizuki, a Japanese Reiki Master, wrote a book on Reiki that provided a few additional facts about the history such as an original version of the Usui Ideals. In 1997 Reiki Fire was published and it explained how the author, Arjava Petter and his wife Chetna Kobayashi had made contact with the then current president of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, Mrs. Kimiko Koyama. The information in the book included the location of Usui Sensei's grave, and photos and a translation of the inscription on the memorial stone. This was the first book that contained meaningful information about the history of Reiki that was verifiable.

As soon as I found out about the book, I contacted Arjava Petter and he invited me to come to Japan. Laurelle Shanti Gaia and I went in September 1997, and Arjava took us to Mt. Kurama and to Mikao Usui's grave. I made two additional trips to Japan, in 1999 along with Walter Lubeck and Arjava Petter to do research for our book, The Spirit of Reiki, and in 2001 to take Reiki I&II from Mrs. Yamaguchi, who had learned Reiki directly from Hayashi Sensei. In 1999 and 2000 I sponsored Arjava and Chetna to come to the US to teach the Japanese Reiki Techniques workshops. It was through these books, workshops and events that verifiable information about the history of Reiki came to be known in the West. Since then additional pieces of the puzzle have been added.

The highest quality information about the history of Reiki comes from the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai. This is based on the fact that the first president of the Gakkai was Usui Sensei and the following four presidents were all Shihans (Reiki Masters) trained by Usui Sensei who are known to have the same knowledge and abilities as he had and were authorized to teach in his place when he was not present.(6) The following four presidents after Usui Sensei were Juzaburo Ushida, Kan'ichi Taketomi, Hoichi Wanami and Yoshibaru Watanabe.(7) Information from the Gakkai has come to us from Arjava Petter who had contact with Kimiko Koyama, the sixth president of the Gakkai and through Hiroshi Doi(8) who is a Gakkai member and has access to the Gakkai archives. Another important source of information is the writing of Tadao Yamaguchi, whose mother Chiyoko and many of his relatives learned Reiki from Hayashi Sensei.(9)

A detailed and referenced history of Reiki based on these research methods is located in Reiki, The Healing Touch and is also published online. The online version is available to anyone who would like to copy and paste it onto his or her website as long as the complete article is used and nothing is added, changed or removed.

 

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