Hi,

I would like to share with you some results from my research about the question "What is Reiki?". I have found a great source of material at the "Center for Studies in New Religions" ( www.cesnur.org ). Putting in their Search “Reiki” a long list of various articles, conference interventions and references to studies conducted can be accessed – most of it in Italian, or German, but there is also English literature, too.

Particularly I recommend you to read – if you are interested in the topic – the following article:

Reiki: Heilmethode oder Religion? - Ermanno Pavesi (vobiscum. Publikationsorgan des Erzbistums Vaduz, 8. Jahrgang, 05 2006, 36-43) http://www.cesnur.org/2006/reiki.htm  . This work, entitled “Reiki: healing method or religion?” and published by the Archdiocese of Vaduz –unfortunately only in German - gives a description of the before mentioned “symbols” used in the attunement and compares the Eastern and Western forms of Reiki, as well. The final conclusion is very succinct:

“Mehr oder weniger berechtigte Enttäuschungen über unser Gesundheitssystem stellen für nicht wenige Zeitgenossen den Anlass dar, alternative Therapien zu versuchen. Man muss aber vor Reiki dringend warnen. Man darf nicht vergessen, dass Reiki aus einer mystischen Erleuchtung entstanden ist, auf wissenschaftlich unhaltbaren Theorien begründet ist und ihr eigentliches Ziel eine Bewusstseinerweiterung ist, die von den Reiki-Meistern als Buddha-Bewusstsein bezeichnet wird. Abgesehen von der immer vorhandenen Gefahr, dass die Suche nach alternativen Therapien wirksame schulmedizinische Behandlungen versäumen lässt, muss betont werden, dass diese, oft als "sanft" bezeichneten Therapien schwere Nebenwirkungen haben können, nämlich spiritueller Art“  - that is more or less: you cannot practice Reiki without what the Author calls „Side effect“, an involvement in a spiritual way rooted in Buddhism.

Another basic treatment of the topic is from CESNUR’s Massimo Introvigne “Il reiki: tecnica o religione?” (Reiki: techique or religion?”) http://www.cesnur.org/testi/reiki.htm  - attempting to get near to a definition of this phenomenon. Reiki is called by one of its proponents,  William Lee Rand  in “Reiki. The Healing Touch. First and Second Degree Manual, (Vision Publications, Southfield MI, 1998) as “sacred metaphysical order” which reveals in the opinion of Introvigne the best its nature as “quasi-religion”.

Hopefully, such analysis might be helpful to form your opinion on this very successful and rapidly growing “set of quasi religious or spiritual ideas and practices” as I would call it.

Kris