I recently got together with Arjava Petter and Walter Lubeck in Japan
and the three of us visited Mt. Kurama and the Usui memorial. This
was my second trip to Japan and I'm filled with even greater joy and
new inspiration from the wonderful experiences we had. We met in Tokyo
and went to the Usui Memorial the next day. Saihoji temple where the
memorial is located has wonderful energy. It is part of pure land
Buddhism and the fact that Dr. Usui is buried there clearly indicates
that Dr Usui was a Buddhist. We cleaned the Usui memorial area, removing
leaves and other debris, placed flowers and burned incense.

The meditation we did was especially meaningful. I felt a connection
to the source from which Dr. Usui received his Reiki initiation and
received a healing that helped to release a restriction in my solar
plexus. This created a stronger intention to promote Reiki worldwide
and to encourage all Reiki people to work together in harmony. This
was a beautiful experience.
The next day we took the bullet train to Kyoto where we stayed in
the Gion district. This area of Kyoto has lots of small alleys that
connect with each other. They are filled with interesting shops and
restaurants and many of the alleys are covered so it is like the Kyoto
version of a shopping mall that seems to go on forever in a maze like
way. Within this maze of covered alleys there were several temples
we visited and I immediately had an uplifting experience upon entering
them. The walls of the temples were lined with Japanese lanterns which
were decorated with spiritual sayings written in Kanji. In fact, Kyoto
is known as a very spiritual city because of the thousands of temples
located there.
Early the next day we took the train to Mt. Kurama. The short train
ride goes North into the mountains and ends at Kurama station right
at the foot of Mt. Kurama. We stopped to buy muchi, a Japanese rice
confection before walking up the stairs to the entrance of the Mt.
Kurama temple area. We visited the first temple that includes a statue
of Kannon (Avalokiteshvara) and also has the three symbols representing
the aspects of Sonton, the Supreme Deity, which are power, light and
love. The love symbol is the one that looks very similar to the Reiki
mental/emotional symbol and is derived from the Sanskrit seed syllable
hrih. A little way up the mountain, we paid our respect at the two
small waterfalls which were possibly one of the places Dr. Usui had
his satori or Reiki initiation. At the main temple, we said prayers
and burned incense and also listened to a monk say his prayers inside
the temple. There are many temples on Mt. Kurama and we stopped at
others as we made our way up to the top of the mountain. There we
visited Mao Den shrine which is another possible place Dr. Usui had
received his Reiki empowerment.
I had video taped our whole experience, and the camera equipment
slowed me down, so as we started our way down the path, the others
got ahead of me and I found myself alone at twilight on Mt. Kurama.
Stopping to rest I was taken by the beauty and subtle energies of
this sacred place. As twilight deepened, the feelings that came welling
up around me and from within were both gentle and powerful. I became
aware of the spirit of the mountain and the healing and higher inner
states that it offers. Mt Kurama is truly a magical place and even
after several weeks, I still am benefiting from the experiences I
had there. An opening took place while on the mountain and I feel
even more connected to the spiritual tradition of Reiki than ever
before. I am grateful. A video tape titled "Sacred Reiki Sites of
Japan" will be available at the beginning of the year.