When a person receives the attunement for the Reiki Master Level, in common usage he is called Reiki Master. Practically, he cannot call himself/herself a “master” after some days (on some schools, some hours) of training. The best term is Reiki teacher or Reiki instructor. There are Reiki teachers who are, indeed, Masters. And that is because they work so much on themselves, they live the Reiki principles, they heal themselves and heal the others. And, certainly, they won’t call themselves “Masters”. Reiki is about compassion, love, share, humility, gratitude, kindness, “do not anger”, “do not worry”. The ego has nothing to do with it.  

In Japan, the student is allowed to take the next level when he proved that he achieved a certain level of experience and spirituality. In the West, the student takes the attunement first, and then starts to work. Technically, every person that received the attunement of Reiki Master Level is considered a “master”. Actually, it means that the person received the Reiki Level III attunement, he/she knows the system and can pass the attunements.