“We emphasize modesty and humility in our practice, but some students do not appreciate the spiritual aspects of the art and look at others as objects or toy to be played with, no considerate of the feelings of others. Indeed, we live in a ‘me, me, me’ society and approve of selfish behavior. Losing the spirit of practice and the meaning of Aikido, the art itself becomes another common tool for one's self-promotion and constant quest for power, authority and recognition. We must see such arrogance and egotism as the acts of those who are spiritually destitute and have lost their way from the path of Aikido. What to do, it is really so sad.

Aikido practice, indeed, takes much courage, patience, commitment and wisdom.”

- Rev. Kensho Furuya

"If it was just me, I am totally free.

But what is a world, without you and me?

Although we are one, we must think of the sum,

For all, all together, - is the true One.

We want to divide and conquer as well,

With everyone fighting, all is hell.

Stop the fighting and please stop the hate,

For the sake of peace, before its too late.

To love one's self is to love another,

We are all fathers, we are all mothers.

We, the sons and daughters of loved ones.

Share the world with one and all,

To live in harmony, is Nature's call."

- Rev. Kensho Furuya

 

 

Flashback Friday

Flashback Friday... Furuya Sensei posted this to his Daily Message on August 20, 2004:

Calligraphy by Saigo Takamori, signed by his pen name Nanshu.

Saigo Takamori is considered the "real" Last Samurai. He lived during the complex end of the Tokugawa Bakufu in the mid-1800's. He is not famous because he was the victor or because he made a great deal of money - actually he lost the war and committed seppuku as his last troops were being defeated. All his life, he was quite poor and is known for having only one set of underwear and kimono. It is said that when they were being washed, he was naked and simply didn't see any guests until they dried.

What he is famous for is his loyalty to what he believed in - regardless if it was the winning or losing side, despite fame or fortune and "for richer or poorer" as I have heard somewhere.

When I view his calligraphy, I see great inner strength as well as gentleness. It is easy to see in his strokes that he doesn't not follow any popular way but is true to himself and his beliefs. This type of brush stroke is extremely hard to imitate when such a brilliant personality shines through so strongly.

Our Aikido should be the same - true to the Path and strong but at the same time gentle.

I know some of you will ask me, "How can something be strong and gentle at the same time?"

Of course - isn't this what we are trying find out in our practice? Who can answer such a question?

Learn to "throw away"

When you look in the mirror, do you see a ghost? Sounds like an absurd question, but although many of us don't see a ghost staring back at us in the mirror, many of us act like ghosts throughout the day. Think about it, a ghost is caught in purgatory forced to relive some moment from their past over and over again. They hang around the same place and do the same thing.

Many of us spend our days relentlessly pursing some thing with the mindset, "If I could only get that thing then..." It is only after we acquire that thing (hopefully) that we realize its futility as we are no closer to happiness than when we started. Furuya Sensei called these things, "gendai seikatsu shukan byo" or modern lifestyle diseases.

Sensei advocated a type of "throw away" learning when he wrote, "As many people might think, learning is not a process of accumulation. This means that it is not a matter of taking and taking for one's self. In True Learning, throw away first. Take and throw away, take and throw away. People understand taking, but not throwing away. If I were to explain it in simple terms, "throwing away" means to take a fresh start in everything you do."

A ghost is someone who cannot "let go" and thus becomes trapped.

A true warrior knows that life is not about pushing themselves to acquire more and more but to learn how to let go of those things which hold them back.

The Best Teachers Are The Most Unreasonable

A few years ago, we had a person teaching for us. He was knowledgeable about his art but a woefully horrible teacher. When students would come to me to complain about him, I would tell them, "It is your job to work hard, overcome and get better despite the circumstances." Most would quit because they couldn't get over this person's presentation, but the real reason is that they didn't want to persevere and overcome the adversity. What these people couldn't understand is that often times, the best teacher is the one who is the most unreasonable. Sometimes the teacher's unreasonableness is intentional such as in the case of Furuya Sensei who was a staunch disciplinarian. In other cases, it is the teachers lack of ability which forces the student to surmount the situation. Either way they have to find a way to get better. The "unreasonableness" forces the student out of their comfort zone and towards mastery.

Today, we will be getting a new President. Regardless if we voted for him or not, we are stuck with him. He appears to be unreasonable. Thus we have to find a way around him whether we like it or not. We are martial artists, no matter the situation or odds, we must have the courage to step up, face the challenge and succeed.

Accept things as they are not as they should be. Work hard, persevere and succeed.  Nobody is coming to save us, but us. The victor is not the person who sits idle and complains, but the person who keeps on going despite the situation.

2nd Doshu Kisshomaru Ueshiba passed away 18 years ago today

On this day in 1999, Nidai Doshu Kisshomaru Ueshiba passed away. Aikido is now practiced by millions of people in over 130 countries. What an achievement! Most know that the spread of Aikido worldwide was primarily due to the efforts of 2nd Doshu. What most students of Aikido don't know is how hard it must have been for him. I can only imagine what it must have been like to not only follow O'Sensei but to thrive as well. Having to follow Furuya Sensei and my own struggles must pale in comparison to what 2nd Doshu had to endure.

Here is a story that Sensei used to tell about 2nd Doshu when he was an uchi-deshi at hombu dojo in 1969 just after O'Sensei passed away. 2nd Doshu was under a tremendous amount of pressure. Every where he turned someone wanted something or was threatening to breakaway. People all over the world were gossiping about him or criticizing his every move. The most common belittling thing people would say was, "He is nothing like O'Sensei." One day after Sensei overheard some Aikidoist complaining about 2nd Doshu, he became so frustrated that he confronted 2nd Doshu and said, "Why don't you defend yourself." 2nd Doshu calmly looked up at him and said, "Aikido people don't do bad things or say bad things about other people." The look on 2nd Doshu's face must have been so reassuringly calm because at that moment Sensei was awe struck and thought to himself, "What a great man."

Hearing that story always reminded me of this quote by Kisshomaru Ueshiba, "One becomes vulnerable when one stops to think about winning, losing, taking advantage, impressing or disregarding the opponent. When the mind stops, even for a single instant, the body freezes, and free, fluid movement is lost."

He truly was a great man.

https://youtu.be/v61QXVLWv0I

Set the Right Intention

How was your New Year's Day? In Japan on January first, there are many traditional things that start with the word Hatsu (初). There is hatsu keiko - the  first practice of the year, hatsu yume - first dream, hatsu ne - the first warbling heard signing, hatsu hinode - the first sunrise and of course the hatsu mode -  the New Year shrine visit.

Albert Camus said, "Life is the sum of all your choices." With that being said, these New Year "hatsu" are supposed to set the tone for the coming year and bring with them prosperity and good luck.

To reach life's greatest heights requires that we put forth the greatest amount of attention and diligence to every thing that we do. That is why the Japanese have the rituals so that the things that they do have the right tone so that they might inspire themselves to greater heights.

The dojo is supposed to be a respite devoid of the outside world and its distractions - a tranquility. Furuya Sensei used to say, "Before you enter the dojo, cut off your head and leave the outside world at the door." We can see this idea of hatsu in everything that we do in the dojo from packing our bags to bowing to our partners.

Training calls us to prepare or put in the proper amount of respect, diligence or effort into everything that centers around the dojo and training. Mastery is then the ability to extend that hatsu or positive tone to every aspect of our lives.

Awaken the True Warrior Within You

"He is awake.The victory is his. He has conquered the world." - Buddha

"Wake up!" was something Furuya Sensei used to say to us all the time to rebuke us when we would get lazy or weren't paying attention. I used to think he was trying to get us to pay attention, but now I understand that his admonishment was for us to push ourselves to a higher level.

To be awake is to be conscious or aware of not only ourselves but our world as well. As martial artists, there is a tendency to be too shortsighted about ourselves as we believe that since we are developing ourselves that no one else matters.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. There comes a certain time in every person's training when they realize that training in the martial arts isn't about them. We call this "to be awakened."

To be awakened means that one realizes that they don't exist in a vacuum. True power lies not in destroying others but in building them up. Resisting them, roughing them up or just being a jerk shows how juvenile one's level is. Helping others, making them better and building them up is the true illustration of mastery. Are you awake?

Mind Your Manners

Mr. Miyagi from the movie The Karate Kid said, "No such thing as bad student, only bad teacher. Teacher say, student do." This thinking is not that far off from tradition Japanese values. There is a famous Japanese proverb "kodomo wa oya no kagami" (子供は親の鏡) or that "children are a reflection of their parents." As student's of Aikido, we are mago-deshi to O'Sensei. Mago means grand like in grandson and deshi means student. We are mago-deshi because we can trace our lineage back to O'Sensei. However because we are all mago-deshi we must act like direct student's of O'Sensei.

As Aikidoist and martial artists, it is believed that how we conduct ourselves is a reflection on our dojo, our teacher, our art, on Hombu dojo and O'Sensei. All Japanese martial arts follow this same line of thinking.

Warriors are supposed to be experts in kokkifukurei or self-restraint in all matters of etiquette and decorum.  A famous proverb is “Yaiba ni tsuyoki mono wa rei ni suguru” which means that the greatest warriors surpass all others in etiquette and decorum.

Beyond what one's physical body can do, one's character is paramount or as Voltaire said, "With great power, come great responsibility." Furuya Sensei said it best, "Always act as if your teacher is watching." Be careful how you act, it is a reflection of more than just you.

Be strong, work hard and persevere.

Welcome to the first day of winter! Here is a classic Japanese art motif of heavenly bamboo (nanten), snow and sparrow.

Furuya Sensei said, "A truly good human being is hardly noticed by anyone because they are good. This, I believe, is true goodness." Thus, the Nanten is the symbol of our dojo and is supposed to represent something that is so plain and simple that its beauty goes unnoticed. Nanten is a powerful plant and is supposed to have the power to turn evil into good as well.

The Snow represents the harshness of winter and the need to work hard and persevere because not only its temperature but its weight can cause things to break.

The Japanese sparrow or suzume sings, "chu, chu, chu." Chu (忠) usually means to be loyal and therefore the sparrow's song warns us to be loyal, but another variation of chu translates as hard work or mame.

This scroll calls to us to be strong in the face of whatever adversity we are facing in our lives. We learn the most about ourselves during adversity.  A great quote by Albert Camus is, "In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer."

When we look at this painting, it is easy to just notice the upfront perception of being a nicely painted scroll. As we look deeper into the symbols it reminds us that in order to be successful ,despite the circumstances, we need to be strong, work hard and persevere.

After victory, tighten your helmet

"When you think you're safe is precisely when you're most vulnerable."- Kambei Shimada, Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai

No win is ever permanent. With victory sometimes comes arrogance. That arrogance brings with it a sense of righteousness where we think that either the end of the battle is the end or that we are somehow invincible.

All warfare is based on some form of deception, misdirection or sleight of hand. Sometimes the win is just the calm before the storm or a rouse our opponents uses to gain the overall victory. In martial arts this type of technique is a sutemi-waza or sacrifice technique. We give up something small to get something even bigger.

There is a Japanese saying that Furuya Sensei was fond of, "Katte kara kabuto no o wo shime yo" which means After victory, tighten your helmet.  Never let your guard down even if you think you have won. That just might be what your opponent wants you to think.

Serenity is the path.

The author, Haruki Murakami said, "When you come out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about." As Furuya Sensei used to say, "The Way is in training." The goal of training is serenity. The path to serenity is training. Training itself is serenity.

What we are trying to achieve by training in the martial arts is not the ability to destroy others but rather the ability to control ourselves so that we don't have to. We seek to be the calm in the eye of the storm.

When confronted, it is easy to lash out and use our darker more negative self to win, but after a while one realizes that the true opponent lies within. It takes a more evolved and more sophisticated person to realize where the real battle lies.

Yoda once said, "That which you seek, inside you will find." Serenity is that thing we all seek. Training is serenity. Serenity is the path. The path is serenity. "The Way is in training." Keep on training because training is the Way.

Flashback Friday

Flashback Friday Furuya Sensei posted this to his Daily Message on November 19, 2002. His statements ring true today more than ever. We as martial artist must strive to be better.

I think that the very basis of civilization and ultimately our own survival is that we can get along with each other. As far as we have advanced in science, medicine, technology, finance, the arts and education, we still do not do this very well at all. Why do you think this is so? Why do you think that it is so hard for us to get along with each other? We don't even get along with many people we like and love sometimes! It is really quite amazing if you think about it. Even the simple ant has evolved their own social structure and monkeys do not even have all the problems we suffer from. In Aikido, we talk about harmony and blending, we probably need to go into this idea much, much more than we really do.

Sometimes, the simplest and most fundamental questions are the hardest to answer. We still must try very hard - our lives depend upon it!

Step deeply into yourself

Like most, Mondays always seem so blah. I thought I'd re-post something Furuya Sensei wrote about training in hopes that it might help us get over the doldrums of Mondays.

Sensei's explanation: Museishi (無声詩)- The Unvoiced Poem - the message of our training is like a poem, the words are heard but the message lingers elsewhere silently. . . . To go deep into the art of Aikido is to go deep inside one's self.

At the heart of Aikido training exists our true selves.  This journey can be hard and arduous but it ultimately leads to joy and happiness.  The first step begins with us and looking at our lives with a lens that is trained inward.  We are our biggest problem and when we start to see that we can begin this journey inward.  Until that time the world will be against us and every person and every thing will be our enemy.  Give up the need to find the source of your problems outside yourself and begin to look inside of you.  This is the only way out.

Always be prepared

Martial artists aren't giri-giri type people. Giri-giri is an onomatopoeia that Japanese use to refer to something that is done last minute. This morning on the radio, I heard that there was an earthquake advisory in effect from now until October 4th. This advisory happens to come at the end of national preparedness month. This made me think about how a martial artist needs to be prepared for any person, condition or thing.

As martial artists, we are always supposed to be prepared. It is part of our training and the reason why we train so much. I am sure many of you have heard this one, "How long have you been training? You've been going so long, why do you still need to go?" We still need to constantly train because, like in emergency preparedness, we never know when the "Big one" will hit.

As martial artists, we are people who not only learn from our mistakes, but from others as well. I can remember this one time when I was a student and someone forgot their hakama at a demonstration and how mad Furuya Sensei got. From that point on, I always kept a back up uniform in the car just in case and I know that many others did too. I learned from that person's mistake. There is a famous story about Tiger Woods during his time at Stanford. Supposedly, there was a really bad storm out and Tiger was seen heading toward the driving range. Someone stopped him and he said, "This is the only time I will ever get to hit balls in these type of conditions." Tiger wanted to be prepared if he ever had to play in hostile weather conditions.

We train so that our minds and our bodies will be ready for anything that comes our way. Nothing would be worse than to succumb to someone or something because of a silly mistake or underestimation.

Martial artists must be prepared for anything, natural or man-made. We are always prepared and thus are never giri-giri. Please make sure that you are always prepared.

Fighting one man is the same is fighting ten thousand - Miyamoto Musashi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PgKg0Hc7YIA I recently saw this video made in Japan where three Olympic fencers took on 50 untrained or barely trained fencers on a Japanese variety show. The video was made for a TV so it wasn't that serious but I was amazed at how poorly the Olympic fencers performed.  Not only did they show a low level of skill, but they also showed that since it is a sport there was no group strategy.

At first as the 50 converged on them, the Olympians fled to the stairs.  I thought, "Ahh, this is correct."  Furuya Sensei taught us that to fight one person is the same as hundred and to strive for high ground (which I am sure was gleaned from Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings strategy).  Going to the stairs would have provided them a natural barrier for three of the four sides of attack and they would only have to face opponents from only one direction and, most crucially, only one at a time.  This strategy would have allowed them to use their skill to win the battle.

As you can see from the video they abandoned the strategy of working together and using the stairs.  Those three Olympic fencers would have been overwhelmed and killed in a matter of minutes if it were are real fight.  They would have been picked apart as the odds stacked up against them because each Olympian could be surrounded by as many as 16 people at any given time who would be attacking from all sides.  Also, did you see by how many times the untrained fighters just poked them in the arms and back as they ran by?  This method is called "Death by a thousand cuts" in knife fighting where small non-lethal wounds add up to a tremendous amount of blood loss and eventually take their toll on the fighter as the battle rages on.

It is interesting, as things become more "modern" or sporty they can sometimes lose their martial sense. As martial artists, we can look at this video and take heart to make sure that we practice our arts as martial arts and not just something we do for exercise.

Happiness is a matter of perspective

This is a great little article by Furuya Sensei about happiness being a matter of perspective. Have a great Friday! Isn't It Funny?

When we consider what we have, we are always happy. But somehow, when we begin to think what we don't have, we are never satisfied. Isn't it better not to go there in the first place?

In Zen, there is a well-known saying: "Houken wa te ni ari."

"The Treasure Sword is in your hand." Everyone searches of their "treasure sword" (wisdom) yet, it is something which we already possess in our own hearts.

In the early days of the dojo, we were so poor and many times there was no money at all to even pay the bills. As it often happens, one weekend there was not a penny at all, so I just stayed in the dojo and did not go out or do anything at all. The next day, when I started to do my laundry, I found a ten-dollar bill in my back pocket. I thought I had no money to go out and buy myself some groceries to eat, not knowing the money was there right in my pocket. I could do nothing at all. I was not stopped by the lack of a little money but my lack of "understanding."

More often than not, we have everything we need to be happy but not realizing we already possess this "treasure sword," we are unhappy and complain about this and that.

Spend your days well

光陰矢のごとしKouin yanogotoshi "Time flies like an arrow."

Before his passing, Furuya Sensei would often say, "There is no time left." By the time I understood his admonishment, he was gone.  So much time has passed since those times.

Upon realizing his words, the questions arise, "what will we do with our lives?" and "How will we live them?"

If there is truly no time left then life itself as we know is fleeting - It is passing us by as we speak.  Understating this reality in Buddhism is called mujo or impermanence.

To understand budo is to understand death. Death, not in its morbidness, but in its impermanence and this inevitability teaches us how to live our lives. The glass can be either half full or half empty.

To see the fleetingness of life as something bad then we are looking at the glass as half empty. To see the glass as half full, we are realizing how in which to live our lives with what little precious time we have left.

Time does fly like an arrow, but we get to choose how and what we aim it at. What do you want to do? Who do you want to be? Time truly does fly by. Spend your days well for tomorrow may never come.

The victory is yours.

There is a Buddhist saying which some attribute to the Buddha that I am fond of, "It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles.  Then the victory is yours." This saying is very much budo inspiring.  Today, so much time is spent talking about what is "real" or true in the martial arts with practitioners on both sides claiming that their way is the best or only way.

Both arguments are hollow.  The only true way is the way that one truly follows.  All else is just talk and babble which distracts us from the real reality of actually following it.  I am talking about actually living it as best we can.

The Way or do (道) as it is referred to in Japanese traditional arts may be interpreted as a path, but more over its is the direction by which one lives their life.

Following the Way is a doing thing which requires action not a talking thing which can easily be taken over by one's ego.  The Spanish proverb, "Who knows most speaks least." is apropos to budo.

Shall we talk about it?  Shall we even fight with each other about it?  Both of those things distract us from the true battle which exists within.

Furuya Sensei used to say, "The Way is in training."  Training is a doing thing.  It takes so much focus and concentration that any little distraction like spending time discussing or arguing about it only leads us away from the Way.  Sensei didn't say the Way is in talking he said, "The Way is in training."  Training is a doing thing.

Don't get caught up in finger pointing or chest beating, none of which matters.  Who is truly following the Way will be evident by their actions and not by what they say.

The one true way is the one that we follow in thought, speech and in action.  Everything else is just a distraction.

To make the best of an unsavory situation - it's shoganai.

Somethings can't be helped and no matter what we say, think or do, we have to accept the reality of the situation. Whenever the situation could not be changed and we had to just accept it, my mom would say with a shrug, "It's shogani."  Shoganai roughly translates to "It can't be helped."

Years ago, I asked Furuya Sensei about his family’s experience during World War II and the internment camps.  I asked him, “It must have been terrible, did they ever talk about it?”  With a shrug he said, “It was shoganai” and then he said, "It was war and things happen in war."  Sensei didn’t say another word about it.  At the time I took his silence as a sign that he didn't want to talk about it.  Later as I got older, I realized that it wasn't that he didn't want to talk about it but that there wasn't anything more to say about it because it was shoganai.

I think one of the greatest things and some of the pivotal things that helped the Japanese and Japanese Americans recover from WWII were these things like shoganai.  How can we move forward if we are always stuck in the past?

Things happen and some things cannot be fixed.  When they cannot be fixed, they must be accepted and that's shoganai.  From shoganai we accept it and we move on.

In budo, the highest level is when we can attain the non-abiding mind.  The non-abiding mind is one that is fluid and does not dwell.  It is in this fluidity that we find the ability to accept something as it comes and move through it - that is shoganai.  There is a great quote that Hagrid says in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, “What’s comin’ will come, an’ we’ll meet it when it does.”

What comes will come and it is going to come and that is shoganai.