Aikido Stories
This is the Takemusu Aiki of Ueshuiba. With one swing of my bokken, I gather all the life essences, all the vitality of the universal ki. This is the sword of past, present, and future.
As I grasp this sword, it absorbs the energy of the universe and condenses it into this one moment. I am holding the past, I am holding the future, for I am holding infinity, now. There exists no time and no space.
With the origin of the universe, my life began as all of life began. My whole life, its essence, its vitality, is contained within this sword. My life from the early part of this century to the moment, from the beginning of creation to this moment, is the dynamic reaction of infinity. This is the sword of infinite life.
O sensei’s voice thundered as his bokken shattered the transfixed breath of those watching. I was his uke for the demonstration, and, preparing for the long lecture that I knew was to follow, I relaxed my kamae to gedan, lower position. I was behind him. He could not see me, nor did I make a sound as the posture of my body shifted. But he had sense a subtle change in my vibration, an ever so slight lowering of intensity, and he perceived the most minute separation of my spirit from his.
My heart leapt and lodged in my throat as he suddenly whirled about. All I could see were his piercing eyes, angry and exploding with fire behind the bokken, which had stopped within a fraction of being driven into my throat.
“You must never lessen your concentration” he screamed as he spun. “You must never relax your guard”. And he continued:
The universal ki is never separated from space. Your spirit must never be separated from the enemy. The eye of Aiki is not a physical eye. Whwther it be light or dark, no matter the timing or direction. The vibration will be detected and met with the spiritual eye. The spiritual eye transcends selfish ego. The opening of the spiritual eye is the echo of the expanding universe. It is the eye of emptiness. It is the eye that mirrors the light of truth.
Only immature technicians use the physical eye. This is the eye of strategy and of clever tricks. They cannot cut with their spirit; they can only chop with their ego. For the physical eye, technique is a game. The physical eye is in a hurry; it can only enjoy victory. Why can’t people understand that the meaning of victory is no conflict? The meaning of no conflict is no separation. The physical eye cannot see the truth of satori
Extract from AIkido and the Harmony of Nature by Shihan Mitsugi Saotome
As I grasp this sword, it absorbs the energy of the universe and condenses it into this one moment. I am holding the past, I am holding the future, for I am holding infinity, now. There exists no time and no space.
With the origin of the universe, my life began as all of life began. My whole life, its essence, its vitality, is contained within this sword. My life from the early part of this century to the moment, from the beginning of creation to this moment, is the dynamic reaction of infinity. This is the sword of infinite life.
O sensei’s voice thundered as his bokken shattered the transfixed breath of those watching. I was his uke for the demonstration, and, preparing for the long lecture that I knew was to follow, I relaxed my kamae to gedan, lower position. I was behind him. He could not see me, nor did I make a sound as the posture of my body shifted. But he had sense a subtle change in my vibration, an ever so slight lowering of intensity, and he perceived the most minute separation of my spirit from his.
My heart leapt and lodged in my throat as he suddenly whirled about. All I could see were his piercing eyes, angry and exploding with fire behind the bokken, which had stopped within a fraction of being driven into my throat.
“You must never lessen your concentration” he screamed as he spun. “You must never relax your guard”. And he continued:
The universal ki is never separated from space. Your spirit must never be separated from the enemy. The eye of Aiki is not a physical eye. Whwther it be light or dark, no matter the timing or direction. The vibration will be detected and met with the spiritual eye. The spiritual eye transcends selfish ego. The opening of the spiritual eye is the echo of the expanding universe. It is the eye of emptiness. It is the eye that mirrors the light of truth.
Only immature technicians use the physical eye. This is the eye of strategy and of clever tricks. They cannot cut with their spirit; they can only chop with their ego. For the physical eye, technique is a game. The physical eye is in a hurry; it can only enjoy victory. Why can’t people understand that the meaning of victory is no conflict? The meaning of no conflict is no separation. The physical eye cannot see the truth of satori
Extract from AIkido and the Harmony of Nature by Shihan Mitsugi Saotome
Once a disciple who noticed that Morihei always evaded to the right when he attacked him with a straight blow dared to cross up his teacher by immediately striking in that direction. Morihei stood right where he was in from of the startled swordsmen: “What on earth are you doing?”
