Teachings that are handed down to a student are the student’s ‘lineage’. A lineage is expressed as a list of teacher’s names in chronological order. The lineage should be able to be traced back to the founder of the system, in the case of the system of Reiki this is Mikao Usui.
In modern times an imbalance has developed in the teachings. The importance of the attunement has grown disproportionately to the rest of the five elements of the system of Reiki. In fact many people today say ‘I’ve had my Level 1 attunement therefore I am now a Reiki practitioner’. What has actually occurred is that they have completed a course (which included attunements) and they have now set off on the path of a Reiki practitioner. In this case some of the modern Reiki teachings believe that an attunement ‘makes’ you into something, e.g., a Level 1 or 2 practitioner. Here the idea of the attunement being the course itself has taken over.
In the earlier teachings of Mikao Usui, an attunement or reiju is performed to support a practitioner in his or her practice. For this reason the Usui Reiki Ryôhô Gakkai (that still exists today) offers reiju to members at each gathering.
Therefore the lineage of a student will depend upon the teachings that the student has received. This means not just the style of attunement or reiju, or just the five elements of the system of Reiki or even just the energy of the teacher. It is the entire teachings that are being handed down. This is what a student has acquired by the time he or she walks out of the door.