Your Golden Rule says turn the other cheek when someone would strike you. This is aiki except that we would turn it before being struck. Thus the attacked is saved hurt and the attacker is saved from committing sin. -- Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969)Aikido is the result of a spiritual quest by Morihei Ueshiba, a Shinto mystic, who was transformed by three visions, the first came in 1925 after he defeated a high-ranking swords-man without drawing his sword, by avoiding his opponents cuts and thrusts until his opponent gave up.
All at once I understood the nature of creation: the Way of a Warrior is to manifest Divine Love, a spirit that embraces and nurtures all things. Tears of gratitude and joy streamed down my cheeks. I saw the entire earth as my home, and the sun, moon, and stars as my intimate friends. All attachment to material things vanished.The second vision came in 1940.
Around two o'clock in the morning as I was performing ritual purification, I suddenly forgot every martial art technique I had ever learned. All of the techniques handed down from my teachers appeared completely anew, Now they were vehicles for the cultivation of life, knowledge, virtue, and good sense, not devices to throw and pin people.The final vision came in 1942, during the worst fighting of WWII.
The Way of the Warrior has been misunderstood as a means to kill and destroy others. Those who seek competition are making a grave mistake. To smash, injure, or destroy is the worst sin a human-being can commit. The real Way of the Warrior is to prevent slaughter -- it is the Art of Peace, the power of love.Aikido ("The Way of Harmony with Ki") has been called "combat yoga". It is a purely defensive martial art. In Zen Combat Jay Gluck calls it "The Honorable Art of getting the Hell Out of There." When attacked an akidoist does not counter attack or even stop the attack. Instead he avoids the attack and uses the momentum of the attack to put his attacker in a position from which it will be difficult to press the attack.If performed properly the aikido defense will not injure the attacker. This has practical as well as spiritual value in a society where it is not unheard of for an assailant to successfully sue his intended victim for medical expenses.
I have taught self-defense classes for the Fairfax County Department of Parks and Recreation and U.S. Navy, and Stress Management and Conflict Resolution classes for government agencies. I assisted in developing the Standard Self- defense Skills (S3) program which is being evaluated for inclusion in the standard training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC).
Currently I practice with a few students every Sunday afternoon in Cambridge. I believe we constitute the smallest, most distant, and most disorganized satellite of the Virginia Ki Society.
The Art Of Peace is medicine for a sick world. There is evil and disorder in the world because people have forgotten that all things emanate from one source. Return to that source and leave behind all self-centered thoughts, petty desires, and anger. Those who are possessed by nothing possess everything. -- Morihei Ueshiba