AN INTRODUCTION TO MEDICINE DHARMA REIKI (Men Chhos Reiki)

                         M.V. Lama Drugpa Yeshe Thrinley Odzer, Drugmar Rinpoche IX,

                                             Drugpa Kargyu Order of Bhutan

                                                   (Dr. Richard Blackwell,

                                                  Spiritual Director of the

                                       Men Chhos Reiki International, Inc.@)

What is Men Chhos Reiki?

In order to answer this question, we must look into the teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha, and in particular at the Mahayana teachings that urges us in whatever activities we perform to benefit others. From the earliest times, the practitioners of the Bodidharma aided their fellow countrymen by practicing the healing arts.  The theoretical concept of Buddhist healing originated with Sakyamuni Buddha in that all of his teachings were aimed at eliminating human suffering in all of its aspects.

If it has a choice, no being wishes to suffer and experience pain.  All beings wish to experience enjoyment of life and happiness.  It is the primary and only goal of the Buddha to aid humankind in a positive way, teaching to them the doctrine of karmic cause and effect, the means to overcome suffering, and the methodology for gaining enlightenment.  The path of Mahayana Buddhism teaches us that we can, by aiding others aid ourselves, and at last gain the total victory of full and complete enlightenment.

What better way is there to aid other beings than by eliminating the suffering caused by illness?  And instructing beings on both the mundane and spiritual level of how to maintain bodily health and spiritual wellbeing at the same time.

Lord Sakyamuni Buddha taught us that in a different world era and a different time a physician with right motivation and compassion gained enlightenment and became a Buddha.  This Buddha is known by various names, such as Medicine King Buddha or the Lord of the Lapis Lazuli Light.

Sakyamuni Buddha also taught us that when properly invoked, Medicine King Buddha can grant supernatural healing and also empower the healer to carry on this supreme work on the physical plane.

Reiki

A Japanese physician, Dr. Usui Mikao, in the late 1800s and early 1900s after aciduously studying Buddhism, developed a hands-on healing system which was able to tap into the divine healing energies of Medicine King Buddha and apply these energies to the patient with which he was working.  Not wanting to limit it only to the Buddhists, by the use of symbols and invocations, he made it available to all, insofar as possible.

From Dr. Usui's efforts and the teaching which he gave, Reiki has evolved today into a loosely non-sectarian world-wide group of healers who have applied these methods and give these instructions to students.  These groups are known under a number of different names and use the spelling of the system as Reiki.

How Do Reiki and Men Chhos Reiki Differ?

The only way in which Men Chhos Reiki differs from the Reiki groups is in its teaching and methodology and a matter of degree.  It was Dr. Usui's intention that all of the components of the Buddhist healing techniques which could be used by non-Buddhists should be incorporated into a system of healing and that this system could be taught to benefit mankind.  Men Chhos Reiki is the totality of that system of which ordinary Reiki is a portion.

In order to practice Men Chhos Reiki it is necessary for the practitioner to be a practicing Buddhist and to have received the necessary empowerments and instructions.  The source of our information on Men Chhos Reiki is taken from the Tantra of the Lightning Flash and notes and various papers by Dr. Usui and Dr. Watanabe Kioshi Itami found contained within the case in which the Tantra was kept.

This material sets out a complete healing system according to traditional Buddhist methodology, including both the methodology for utilizing the divine healing energy, and material for the application of physical remedies for numerous illnesses.  Contained within the Tantra is a theoretical system of healing that is somewhat parallel to both the Indian Aryuvedic system and Chinese Medicine.  Since this information is found generally in the commentary it is considered additional to the basic cannon, occuring over a period of approximately 1600 years, although within the cannon of the Tantra itself, a great many parallels to Aryuvedic medicine can be found.

What is the Meaning of the Words Men Chhos?

Since Lama Yeshe, whose father purchased the Tantra and notes in 1946, is a Vajrayana Buddhist Lama and a member of the Drugpa Kargyu Order of Bhutan he chose the words "Men Chhos", meaning in Tibetan:  Men - Medicine or healing, and Chhos - Supreme teaching, or Dharma.  Since much of the material contained within the Tantra is of early Indian Mahayana and Vajrayana origin and since a great deal of this teaching has been preserved by the Tibetans, it seemed appropriate that this material be given a Tibetan name.  The Sanskrit would be Bhashijadharma, which of course simply means Medicine Doctrine.

The Theory of Buddhist Healing

Buddhism teaches us that all suffering is brought on by our past negative actions and is a result of the harm caused to ourselves and others by those actions.  The actions could either have been performed in this life or many previous lives.  In order therefore for an illness to be truly healed, the causative karma of which the illness is the result must be pacified. 

There are many methodologies taught in Buddhism to bring about this condition.  Men Chhos Reiki teaches us that as well as physical, spiritual remedies must be applied.  The Tantra teaches us those remedies and also the means by which we may attune ourselves to the healing energies of universal benefit, happily and freely dispensed by Medicine King Buddha.

It demonstrates to us at the same time how we can alter our lives that we may benefit ourselves and all other sentient beings.

The Dharma Society of the Glorious White Peacock and Men Chhos Reiki

Sponsoring our foundation is the Dharma Society of the Glorious White Peacock, organized in 1931 by Tsien Wakhyo and carried on by his son, Tsien Tsei Mya Rinpoche, a Chinese Vajrayana Lama and member of the Drugpa Kargyu Lineage of Bhutan who presently resides in Taiwan.  The purpose of the Dharma Society of the Glorious White Peacock is to promulgate the beneficial teachings of the Buddha throughout the world.

Tsien Tsei Mya Rinpoche considers both the Reiki and the Men Chhos Reiki teaching to be supremely beneficial for the wellbeing of all beings.  He considers it to be extremely important for all people during this dark time of the Kali Yuga, when new diseases are appearing in the world and both human and environmental resources are being strained to the extreme.

At this time when the stress and tension placed on human beings is so great by virtue of cultural imperatives, Rinpoche feels that a return to the traditional methods of healing, ethics, and teaching relating to human conduct, are a necessity if civilization is to survive and become stabilized.                                                                               

Rinpoche feels that Men Chhos Reiki is one tool to assist in accomplishing this desired end.

In short, we believe the ancient and traditional healing systems contained in traditional Reiki as taught by Ms. Takata and others in America and the more complex and traditionally complete Men Chhos Rei Kei teaching of Dr. Usui can only benefit all beings and assist in alleviating suffering caused by accident, illness and disease.

Done at the Vernal Equinox, 3/20/97, at the Hermitage of the Blue Peacocks.

M.V. Lama Drugpa Yeshe Thrinley Odzer,

(Drugmar Rinpoche IX,

Drugpa Kargyu Order, Bhutan;

Dr. Richard Blackwell, Spiritual Director,

Men Chhos Reiki International, Inc.@

322 Flat Creek Road, Fairview, NC 28730 USA

Phone/FAX (828) 628-0055