A Warrior is That Person

Be that person… That person who is willing to stand up for what is right even when it is not popular. That person who will willingly put their life on the line for another person. That person who stays late even when everyone else has gone. That person who gets there earlier than anyone else. That person who wakes up early even when they don’t want to. That person who does what is necessary before they are asked. That person who eats last so that everyone else gets fed first. That person who willingly sacrifices for others. That person who does the things that nobody else will ever know. That person who is someone that everyone depends on. That person who never brags and would rather shine a light on others. That person who leads by example. That person who always tells the truth and never lies even to their detriment. That person who always follows through. That person who gets tired, but never quits. That person who will always be there when you need them. That person who is always dependable. That person who runs toward the fire. That person who is always by your side. That person who will sit with you at your deepest darkest moments. That person who is kind, compassionate and forgiving. That person stands alone… Nobody knows that person until the time comes. Training teaches how to be that person. That person can never be beat. A true warrior is that person and that is the person I want to be. 

Today’s goal: Be that person. 

Watch this video of Edgar Albert Guest’s poem, The Proof of Worth

A Warrior Has Flaws

“We all are men, in our own natures frail, and capable of our flesh; few are angels.” 
― William Shakespeare, Henry VIII

A warrior’s flaws are what makes them great. Someone once told me, “There are only two perfect people in this world: the devil and liars.” The Japanese believe in the aesthetic of wabi-sabi (侘寂) or that beauty comes from being “imperfect, impermanent and incomplete.” We see this idea of wabi-sabi in Hagi-yaki (萩焼 ) tea bowls whose beauty dates back to the 17th century. These bowls are famous for their translucent glaze and somewhat humble form. Hagi-yaki tea bowls are the epitome of beauty and would be “perfect” if it were not for a purposeful chip on the foot of the bowl. The chip was placed there by its maker so as to mar its beauty and taint its perfection and it was supposed to balance out the bowl’s beauty and signify the humbleness of man or rather that it was made by an imperfect human being. Probably one of the hardest things to accept in martial arts training is that nobody, not even the teacher, is perfect. Perfection is a disease that is at the root of so many difficulties in training. Some give up because they can’t be perfect. Others struggle against the standard of being perfect. Most times, our need to be externally perfect is driven by internal feelings of not being good enough. One of the great things about Aikido is the flow of the movement. The only way to flow is to go with the flow and the only way to go with the flow is to be in harmony with the imperfect. It’s the same in life. Our beauty, like the tea bowls, lies in our flaws. Human beings are fallible and thus we make mistakes. Budo training is the process of polishing one’s imperfections, but not to remove them but to allow the flaw to bring out one’s true beauty. Warriors accept their flaws and use their flaws to realize their true beauty and humanity. 

Today’s goal: Don’t be so hard on yourself. Nobody has it all figured out. 

A Warrior is a Cut Above

花は人は武士
Hana wa sakura, hito wa bushi 
Cherry blossoms among flowers, the warrior among people 

Samurai movies or chambara are always filled with wonderful fight scenes. In those scenes, there is always a series of showdowns as the hero gets surrounded and kills dozens of henchmen before facing off with the movie’s villain. Besides the fact that it doesn’t make for good cinema, have you ever wondered why all the bad guys don’t just attack all at once and score the victory? One reason could be culturally as a samurai was always supposed to act with honor and courage. It is said, “Doko no karasu mo kuroi” or “Everywhere the crows are black.” This proverb was supposed to mean that all humans act the same, but warriors are supposed to be a cut above and always act with honor and decorum. To fight with honor means to be brave and so attacking someone from behind is seen as dishonorable and cowardice. During these altercations, there is always someone who does attack from behind and the hero always handedly dispatches them in dramatic bloody fashion to punish them for their indiscretion. Even if one does score the victory from behind, they would still be seen as a coward and thus their stock would fall amongst their peers. In the old days, when you confronted someone, you always stated your name, clan or school, style of fighting, teacher or lord’s name, and the reason for attacking. The samurai didn’t take death lightly and we see this in how much they valued life by all the honor and etiquette that surrounded the possibility of death. Life is like that too; because we care, we must always face our problems head on with courage and dignity. Anyone can act despite being afraid, but what separates the warrior from all others is that they do it with honor and dignity. We all want to win, but at what cost? Warriors take pride in their honor and so they fancy themselves a cut above all others. 

Today’s goal: Things happen, but can you respond with dignity and grace? 

Watch the clip of the movie Ame Agaru to see what samurai movie fight scenes look like and how to conduct yourself as a warrior with honor. Also, watch this motivational video about being dignity.

A Warrior Has No Preferences

The best warriors learn to accept things as they are. When we don’t, we suffer. When the prolific swordsman, Yamaoka Tesshu was young, he was interested in Zen and visited a monk named Dokuon. To show his level of attainment, he said, "The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, after all, do not exist. The true nature of things is emptiness. There is no realization, no delusion, no sage, no mediocrity. There is no giving and nothing to be received.” Dokuon sat and smoked quietly and then just whacked Tesshu on the head with his bamboo pipe. This made Tesshu angry. "If nothing exists," said Dokuon, “Where did this anger come from?” Tesshu became angry not only because he was hit but also because he didn't want to be hit. Buddhist monk, Sengchan said, “The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth then hold no opinion for or against. The struggle of what one likes and what one dislikes is the disease of the mind.” Sengchan’s quote and Tesshu’s experience illustrates that we suffer not because we struggle, but because we have trouble accepting the reality of the situation. In training, there are no perfect attacks or responses. Waiting for what it is we want or how we want it is the moment when we get hit on the head. Our minds cause us to suffer as we get caught in a state of judgement between what is and what it should be. Furuya Sensei often quipped that the best students learn that “Nothing goes the way they want it to” or “Nandemo omoidori ni ikanai.” Accepting things as they are actually makes budo the art of “non resistance.” In battle and in life, the best warriors never suffer because they accept whatever comes just as it is not as it should be.

Today’s goal: Not everyone who struggles suffers. What are you having trouble accepting as it is?

Throwback Mind, Body & Soul

Throwback Thursday

Furuya Sensei posted this to his Daily Message on June 6, 2004.

In practice, don't just go through the motions. I see this lack of focus in how people work and play and how they deal with people - just like zombies who can move around but have no soul. In everything we do - from combing our hair to throwing our opponent on the mats - we must use our hearts and minds as well as our bodies. Please keep in mind, in training and in life it is more than just going through the motions - everything in our life is act of mind, body and soul.

A Warrior Never Allows Their Swords To Dull

In Japanese the word for a dull sword is namakura (鈍). Other readings of this kanji can mean “lazy” or “cowardly.” The sharpness of one’s sword is the only thing keeping death at bay and so the worst thing a sword can be is either broken or dull. Dullness pertains to one’s legerity or having both mental and physical agility or quickness but it also has many other connotations. Dullness can refer to the sharpness of one’s mind and a warrior’s ability to think, understand and read situations. The faster we can process information enables us to improve our ability to succeed. The ability to read situations enables us not to commit faux pas or commit other indiscretions that could accidentally lead to unwanted fights or hurt feelings. Dull also alludes to one’s depth or how much effort we put into understanding something before we superficially speak just to speak. We also can’t allow ourselves to become physically dull as well. A warrior has to always be in shape and physically ready. In the world of martial arts fatigue is fatal. The sword is the symbol of a warrior. It is the physical representation of what a warrior wishes to become - straight, sharp and to the point. Straight symbolizes the Way or how a warrior lives their life or one’s character. Sharp implies one’s physical and mental edge. To the point means having integrity where our actions, thoughts and words come to a point and are in alignment. A sharp sword represents the line between life and death. Sharpness can keep us alive while a dullness can quicken our journey to the other side. A dull sword is worthless and a sharp sword of high quality is priceless and thus a warrior strives to be a person of the highest quality. A warrior never allows themselves to become dull and a dojo should never be full of dull swords. Don’t allow yourself to become dull. 

Today’s goal: Think about the places in your life that you have allowed to become dull. Sharpen them. 

A True Warrior is Resilient

秋菊傲霜
The autumn chrysanthemum braves the frost

In what seems like a flash, spring and summer have folded themselves into the first day of autumn. Autumn is the gatekeeper of winter and with its arrival we see the world become a bit more darker and colder. In the old days, the winters in Japan were very harsh and so when autumn came people knew they had to start preparing themselves in order to survive. In Japan, the beauty of the chrysanthemum or kiku (菊) represents longevity, rejuvenation and nobility. The kiku is also admired because it begins to bloom just as other flowers are starting to succumb to the cold and frost of autumn and so its bloom is a pleasant reminder to be resilient. There is a saying from an old Chinese poem that I read which typified this idea of being hardy in the face of adversity: “The autumn chrysanthemum braves the frost.” This metaphor reminds us that one’s true beauty comes out when they stand bravely in the face of adversity. As the season changes, the kiku knows that the autumn cold is also coming but it still stands tall and blooms despite the fact that it too will succumb at some point to the cold. This idea of carrying out one’s duty despite imminent death is very samurai like. Does a martial art make one resilient or does it reveal what is already one’s nature? I am not sure. What I do know is that studying a martial art can change a person’s life because it teaches them how to understand themselves better which in turn makes them better human beings. When we know who we are, no amount of cold can affect us. The autumn chrysanthemum braves the frost to show us how to live our lives with a sense of grace, dignity and resilience.

Today’s goal: Today is the first day of autumn, which means winter is coming. Don’t waste your time, be resilient, but enjoy your day. 

A Warrior Trains Themselves

Tell me and I will not forget
Show me and I may remember 
Involve me and I will understand
- Xunzi, Confucian philosopher

A while back, I was having a conversation with my Shodo teacher about learning and taking shortcuts and he said, “Having a teacher is the ultimate shortcut.” I realized that if one is lucky enough to have a teacher then they have someone who will hopefully guide them in the right direction and inspire them to reach great heights. Ideally, a good teacher can also increase learning times and ensure correctness. Without a guide, we have to constantly motivate ourselves and lead us in the wrong direction which can slow us down and cause us to learn things incorrectly. I use the word “guide” because in the end teachers can only guide us; they can’t do the work for us and we really can’t be taught anything unless we want to. Having someone to guide us really only accounts for a small but important percentage of our learning. We teach ourselves because learning is a function of our actions and so a large percentage of learning is attributed to what we do and our mindsets. To hear the words and see the teacher’s techniques, one has to go to class. Sword training can teach us decisiveness and discernment but to learn it, we have to pick it up and practice. Aikido training can make us better human beings, but we have to practice it to gain the benefit from it. We have to don’t and can’t know everything  and that’s why having a teacher to guide us is the “ultimate shortcut.” We can see that because we alone have to put in the work and thus we are really teaching ourselves but the paradox is that we need others to guide us to do it well. In the end, our teachers can guide us but ultimately we have to learn it for ourselves. We can’t be taught anything, but we can learn everything and that is because a warrior trains themselves.

Today’s goal: Today is the last day of summer. Don’t waste the day. 

Embraces Your Flaws

Aiki Dojo Message - A Warrior Embraces Their Flaws

True power comes from accepting our imperfections. In Japanese, this idea of embracing the beauty and grace of our flaws can be referred to as wabi-sabi (侘寂). Wabi-sabi is an aesthetic sense which takes a long time and is difficult to achieve. Once, Sen Rikyu, the founder of the tea ceremony wanted to host a tea gathering and he asked his son, Shoan who was an aspiring tea master to help with the preparations. Shoan wanted to make a good impression. He cleaned the garden and  diligently picked the fallen leaves out of the moss and swept all the brown leaves from the stone path. Rikyu came out and noticed how meticulously his son had cleaned and just shook his head with displeasure. Shoan asked his father what was wrong with the garden and Rikyu replied, “You still have something to learn.” Rikyu went over and gently shook a red maple tree. The beautiful red leaves gently sprinkled over the walkway and Rikyu said, “Now, it looks natural.” The imperfectness of freshly fallen leaves brought out the beauty of the garden. In Japanese, there is a saying that is adapted from taoism, “Michiho shizen” (道法自然) which means, “We find out who we are by acting naturally.” Acting naturally means being ourselves and accepting that our flaws are a large part of who we are. Training teaches us to find the suki (隙) or “weak points” in our opponents.  Over time, we naturally turn our eyes inward and find our own suki and with this search we realize our own humanity. Human beings are fundamentally flawed, but interestingly, it’s our flaws which actually make us human. Our flaws give us our true power by bringing out our humanity which gives us the capacity for empathy and compassion. Our true inner power doesn’t come from becoming strong and impervious, but rather it comes from being flawed and finding comfort with who we are and that is why a warrior embraces their flaws. 

Today’s goal: Embrace all your broken and flawed imperfections and let them empower you. 

Throwback Thursday - Pure Water

Furuya Sensei demonstrating at our annual Nisei Week Open House in the late 1990s

Throwback Thursday

Furuya Sensei posted this to his Daily Message on March 6, 2004.

It is oftentimes hard to find order in our lives, but it is not so difficult to find this order in the structure and form of our regular daily practice. Eventually, through our discipline and commitment to practice, this order will filter into our daily Life.

However, we cannot expect Life to be without difficulties. When we understand that it is an essential part of our Life, both hardship and happiness, we have the possibility of freeing ourselves from the bonds in this kind of discrimination. 

In trying to make Aikido practice a part of our Life, there is a profound and fundamental paradox of not making our Life a part of Aikido. What does this mean? Competition in our job, hatred of strangers, jealousy of friends, the desire for power and wealth to dominate others, seeking fame to show ourselves superior to others, self-doubt, and envy? These are all a part of our regular life that should not be brought into our practice.

Bringing the reality of our struggling lives into Aikido practice is like pouring dirty water into pure water - there is no improvement that can be seen and in fact everything becomes clouded.

Bringing Aikido into our daily lives is like pouring pure water into dirty water - actually, one can see that the water begins to become a little clearer.

Perhaps, in our lives, we cannot attain 100% purity like pure water, but the fact that the so-called "muddy waters" of our lives can become clearer with daily practice can be a great relief and source of salvation. 

Warriors Are People of Action

不言実行
Fugenjikko
Action not words 

A warrior always under promises and over produces. People without integrity always over promise and under produce. Warriors live with integrity and thus don’t have the luxury of being incongruent. Bushi no ichi-gon or “the word of a samurai,” was supposed to imply that one’s words matched their actions. Warriors of old used to say, “Fugenjikko ga ore no yarikata” or “My way is action not words.” Warriors are people of integrity and aren’t supposed to lie, cheat or steal. In a Zoom chat, James Takata said, “Be about it, don’t talk about it.” In Japanese, a person who is “all talk” is referred to as kuchi dake (口丈). Over promising and under producing is probably one of the hardest things for students to learn when they start a relationship with a teacher. In eagerness they promise things they can’t deliver upon which shines light on their integrity. It’s usually not done maliciously, but rather it comes from a lack of self-confidence or self-awareness. While studying under Furuya Sensei, I would often get in trouble because he would ask me to do something and I would eagerly just say “yes” not realizing that I had a conflict or wasn’t able to do it. It took me close to 10 years to realize that “your word was your bond” and to stop impetuously saying “yes” before I thought it through. The Way is nothing more than a set of principles to live one’s life by. It is said, “Integrity is the virtue that ensures all others.” In the dojo, it is easy for people to be diligent because they are being supervised, but once they leave the dojo or are on their own and one’s integrity comes into play. Warriors are supposed to be people of high moral caliber and they felt that words alone would demean their honor and so they prove themselves by doing it, not by talking about it and that’s why a warrior always under promises and over produces. 

Today’s goal: Do you “under promise and over produce” or just the opposite? 

A Warrior is Never Bored

自業自得
Jigou jitoku
We reap what we sow

A warrior is never bored. Warriors pride themselves on their ability to toil. Japanese society seems to pride itself on industriousness. This can be traced back to the 1500s and the hierarchical structure of society: nobles, samurai, farmers, artisans and merchants. Interestingly, when we examine the structure, we see that the system is based upon industriousness. War and agriculture require constant toil and so it's natural that the farmer would follow the samurai as they tend to share the same values of hard work. In the past, a common insult to a Japanese person was to accuse them of laziness because to be lazy was to be useless to society. Martial artists also hate laziness because laziness is an attitude that is often accompanied by a lack of effort and care. To a teacher of old, the worst possible thing a student could say was, “I am bored.” Saying this would set a teacher off because they knew that boredom was nothing more than applied laziness. To be bored only shows off one’s laziness and their lack of sophistication and depth. By being bored, we show our short-sightedness and what we are really saying is that we don’t care enough about what we are doing to work hard and look deeper. Author Robert Pirsig said, “Boredom always precedes a period of great creativity.” What he means is that when we become bored the cure is curiosity. When we become curious, we tend to look deeper and when we do, we find wonderment which then fuels our creativity. With this curiosity, there is no bottom and things become endless and thus no boredom. A martial artist constantly toils because they understand jigou jitoku or that “we reap what we sow.” We get out of training and life what we put into it. The more we train, the more we see its beauty and sophistication and that is why a warrior is never bored. 

Today’s goal: Think about the definition of boredom and ask yourself when you are bored if you are really just being lazy.  

A Warrior Perfects Themselves

身から出た錆び
Mi kara deta sabi 
To remove the rust from one’s sword

Martial arts training is the process of perfecting oneself. It’s no secret that success or achievement in any endeavor is a function of putting in the work. Basketball legend, Jerry West said, “You can't get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good.” Understanding West’s assertion, the real secret is to put in the work on the days when we don’t want to. Being constant and consistent in whatever it is we do is necessary, but the days or times when we don’t want to actually count way more. Furuya Sensei said, “The sword is a tool of truth.” It is the tool of truth because once we use it, it reveals the truth of who we are, but for that to happen, we must first pick it up. With that being said, anything can be a tool of truth. Getting out of bed to workout, going to practice, eating a salad, not eating a donut or going to the dojo can all be tools of truth because whether we do so or not reveals our true character. It’s easy to do something when we feel good, but it takes infinitely more fortitude to do so on the days when we don’t feel like it or even feel bad and that’s when it becomes the tool of truth. A real warrior knows that true success is not in winning or losing but in having the ability to show up. There are many that feign success when the weather’s nice but only true few can show up on the rainy days when they don’t want to. Like with every swing of the sword, every time we get out of bed or go to the dojo, we are in the process of removing the rust from ourselves and in doing so we are removing our imperfections which O’sensei referred to as masakatsu agatsu or a “victory over ourselves.” Success only comes as a result of putting in the work, but the real perfection happens when we overcome ourselves.

Today’s goal: Do what you don’t want to do. Get out of bed, workout, only eat half or whatever else it is that you know you have to do, but don’t want to do.

A True Warrior Serves Others

It is easy to think that the title of Samurai (侍) would mean something like “death” or “killing,” but it actually means “One who serves.” Interestingly, the ideograph for samurai is made up of the characters for human (人) and temple (寺). Thus on a certain level, being a  samurai is about the sacredness of one’s self. If they regard themselves as being “sacred” then their main preoccupation can’t be killing and thus as Furuya Sensei said, “true budo does not kill” or “shinmu fusatsu” (真武不殺). This makes sense since budo training is supposed to teach us how to be better human beings as opposed to making us into killing machines. The human spirit is not about killing but rather compassion. Humans are predispositioned to care and serve others and we have to look no farther than their babies who are altricial or unable to care for themselves at birth and would perish if not for the love and compassion of others. When we reflect on the events of 9/11 we see the madness of a few weak individuals, but we also see the indomitable spirit of all of those who rushed in to help disregarding their own safety and health just to be of service to others. In training, we are taught how to harm others, but paradoxically what we are really learning is the sacredness of human life and thus the necessity for the compassion of restraint. Sensei said, “Harming others is a bad habit.” It is a bad habit because if we follow the way of the samurai then we have to surrender our sacredness or humanity in order to do harm to another and that’s why “true budo does not kill.” Marvin Gaye sang that, “War is not the answer for only love will conquer hate.” He was right because compassion takes more strength than hate and killing and that’s why a true warrior serves others. 

Today’s goal: Please take a moment to remember the 2,977 who lost their lives 19 years ago. Don’t let hate win. Find ways to spread kindness and compassion and be of service to others. 

Throwback Thursday - Teaching is Love

Throwback Thursday - Teaching is Love

Furuya Sensei posted this to his Daily Message on March 12, 2003.

All teaching is love - it is giving and giving without question and asking for nothing in return. Just as the teacher must give - the student must give of himself too. This is why from ancient times, the relationship between the teacher and student has alway been at the base of all spiritual discipline.

A Warrior Knows When To Sacrifice

小の虫を殺して大の虫を生かす
Shonomushi wo koroshite dainomushi wo ikasu
To sacrifice something small to save something large

Many people who start a martial art quit within the first month and only a few become steady regulars. The high attrition rate could be due to how people perceive the process. When experts talk about change, they often use words like suffering, pain, “embracing the suck” or sacrifice. I think the words are getting in the way and can create an unconscious negative feeling before we even start. It is only natural that we avert ourselves from negativity and avoid suffering. Realistically, are we really suffering? Is it really painful? Is it really a “sacrifice?” A sacrifice is “The act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy.” Dissecting the definition, we can see that sacrifice is really about the act of choosing and success is nothing more than a series of choices. If we want to get good at Aikido, we have to go to the dojo and stop watching TV. But, do we really love TV and is it really a sacrifice? Choice is about being mindful about what it is we want. We all know that watching too much TV can be bad for us, but we do it mostly unconsciously.  What we are really choosing to give up is mindlessness because the things that we are giving up aren’t really of value to us and so technically it is not a “sacrifice.” Thinking in terms of martial arts training, people stay because they find some value in it whether it is social, physical or mental and so for them it would be a sacrifice to not train. Likewise, when we bow, this small gesture leads to great results in our relationships with others and in our own self-development as well. Sometimes, I think people who achieve have a way of romanticizing their process and can’t just say, “Chose to put in the work.” The only thing of value we have is our lives and we should reserve sacrificing it for something meaningful. Giving up small things that we don’t want isn’t really a sacrifice, but we are sacrificing if we don’t do the things that we want.

Today’s goal: Analyze your vocabulary and see if you regularly use some self-defeating words like “sacrifice” which could be holding you back. 

Happy Labor Day - A Warrior Relies on Others

Happy Labor Day! 

Today we honor the contributions that American workers have made to the prosperity, and well-being of our country. Everything that we use or consume was made by someone else. It’s crazy to think about how many different hands go into making something before it reaches ours and so it is easy to see how dependent we are upon one another. DT Suzuki said, “Only if you keep your eyes wide open, can you clearly see the real world in which all individual entities are interfused without any hindrances or jiji muge (事事無碍).” Understanding interdependence, we realize that we don’t live in a vacuum and that we rely upon one another to survive and so the true currencies of life are kindness and compassion. The Dalai Lama said, “An individual is reliant on the community to survive which teaches us to strive for kindness and compassion towards one another, qualities intrinsic to human nature.” In budo, the goal of each person in training is to make one another better. In training, we are trying to attain a certain level of self-development and it is easy to think that we are doing this work alone because we are the person “doing” the technique. However, the person who is really developing themselves is actually the uke or the person that the technique is being done upon because it takes a great deal of character to sacrifice one’s self for another. Training then becomes a synergy of people caring for one another - they sacrifice and we in turn care for them. Our survival depends upon treating each other with the utmost respect, kindness and compassion because we realize that our salvation is tied to theirs. A warrior is keenly aware of interdependence and how they rely upon the kindness, compassion and sacrifice of others to be successful.

Today’s goal: Have a great holiday, but we also don’t forget those that have and are still sacrificing themselves for your survival.  

His Holiness the Dalai Lama gives a succinct overview of interdependence and Alan Watts gives an interesting but longer description.

A True Warrior is Compassionate

“Technique over strength, spirit over technique, mindfulness over spirit and compassion over mindfulness.” Rev. Kensho Furuya

Compassion is one of the highest virtues of a warrior. A samurai was supposed to develop the ability to cut down their opponent in one stroke. This showed their prowess but it was also thought to be the most merciful and compassionate thing one could do given the unfortunate circumstances of war. As we develop ourselves physically in training, we come to realize mentally, emotionally and spiritually that the only true opponent is ourselves. Because the person facing us is not our true adversary, we come to see them as they are - a human being who is in a predicament and suffers just like us. When we become mindful of ourselves and our circumstance then we can see our opponent not as a monster necessitating hate, but as being human that we feel pity for that needs compassion. Compassion is defined as, “Having sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.” Compassion is hard to manifest and give and it is easier to just hate. A weak warrior uses hatred and anger as motivation to hurt someone. The strongest warriors always has mercy and compassion in their hearts despite the fact that their job is to kill and that is why they do so in the quickest and most merciful way with just one cut. A warrior understands that there are no enemies, only people who are suffering and doing the best that they can. With training we realize that we are also suffering and only doing the best that we can as well. When we are suffering, we want kindness, compassion and forgiveness. To give it is to get and so we should also be ready to give it in turn. Giving mercy and compassion is not weakness, but rather the ultimate prowess of a warrior.  

Today’s goal: Try and give someone kindness, compassion or forgiveness even if they don’t deserve it and even if they are attacking you. 

Throwback Thursday - To Be Busy

Throwback Thursday

Furuya Sensei posted this to his Daily Message on November 18, 2005.

Everyone today is so busy. In Japanese, the word for “busy” is “isogashii.” Isogashii is written in Japanese as 忙しい. This word is written with an interesting kanji or Chinese character and I think it shows how wise the ancients were.  For the word, “busy," it is written as a compound of the words “heart” or “mind” (心) and “dead” or “dying” (亡). Putting together these words, to be isogashii or busy means that we have a dying or dead heart. For Aikido, it means that we have no time to put our “ki” (氣) energy into what we are doing - we are isogashii or “dying hearts.” So our movements and actions will have no heart at all. Please take the time to put energy into your hearts and your Aikido. 

A Warrior Strives For Peace

心の平安は嵐を静めます
Kokoro no heian wa arashi wo shizumemasu
Inner peace will quiet any storm

A Warrior Strives For Peace

On this day in 1945, Japan formally surrendered ushering in the end of WWII. Prior to that day, the Japanese were still vacillating between fighting or surrendering. Many military leaders didn’t want to face the humiliation of surrendering and urged Emperor Hirohito not to give in. After days of hotly contested debate, the Emperor declared, “Peace was preferable to destruction.” Two weeks before the formal surrender on this day, the Emperor went on the radio and said, “We have resolved to pave the way for a grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is insufferable.” In his speech, he was preparing the Japanese people for the rigors that come with changing to a more peaceful way of life. Many wept upon not only hearing his words but also upon hearing his voice for the first time. In Japanese culture, as a commoner, it was considered a great honor to even be within earshot of hearing the Emperor’s voice. Inner peace is the goal of all martial arts. It seems odd that a person seeking to learn to destroy would want peace but that is the dichotomy of training - its lethalness must be balanced out with peacefulness. The lethalness requires it be practiced with self-discipline. With discipline, one learns restraint and with restraint we come to realize the power of inner peace. When one is at peace, there is no need for war. It takes infinitely more power and inner strength to show restraint than it does to levy destruction and that is why the Emperor advocated for the perseverance for peace. When we have inner peace, we are calm and peaceful and that peace gives us the power to face any adversity and that is why a warrior strives for peace.   

Today’s goal: Learn to validate yourself by creating a validation list of all the things you have achieved or accomplished. Review it daily or whenever you need a boost.