Usui was not a Zen Buddhist Priest he was a Tendai Buddhist Priest (a laypriest or Zaike meaning he was not required to live in a temple and ould have a family). He did study Soto Zen with the Kanazawa the man responsible for bringing Zen to America for about 3 years.

Reiki is a combination of Buddhism (Tendai and Zen) and Shinto (the religion of Japan before Buddhism came to the island - the veneration of nature spirits and ancestory veneration). The Gokai or Reiki precepts are Usui's version of something in Tendai Buddhism.

Usui perfomed the "Lotus Repentance Meditation" (the 21 day fast and meditation) on Mt. Kurama 5 times in his life time (a Tendai Buddhist tradition) but did not have a "satori" or enlightenment experience as so many books and teachers tell us. He also did not travel to India. He studied at the University in Kyoto where many sacred texts are held. This is probably where he got a lot of his information but Reiki is as I stated
earlier a compilation of all his life work - He studied kiko (Japanese QiQong) and Martial arts (to master levels in each) and was doing projected healing at a very young age. As someone who does, and teaches QiQong, I defintely see the Kiko influence in Reiki).

If you read Tadao Yamaguchi, Frank Arjava Petter and Walter Lubeck's (along with Chris March and Hiroshi Doi) books you learn mucha about the origins of Reiki and Usui the man. Usui's family were very high ranking Samurai. He was a very complicated and very interesting man.

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Patty Penner, RMT, RKP