Mr Punch
03-18-2009, 10:00 PM
This is a discussion from another thread.
Aikido is a perfect example of what happens when an old soldier weary of war embraces zen buddhism and tries to turn a trust building exercise into something resembling a martial art.
In other words: not-for-fighting...
Er, completely inaccurate. He defined aikido in 1924, and used it in fighting in wartime. And he embraced a shinto cult: nothing to do with Zen Buddhism. I'm not going to argue about the lack of efficacy in modern times though: but most of that comes from people copying what he did when he was already past it and nuts...
The term Aikido was first used in 1942. Shintoism and Buddhism are intertwined in Japanese culture so you're both right. I also agree with the old soldier statement made by SimonM. O'Sensei abandoned some of the fighting aspects of Daito - Ryu Aikijujutsu when he got spiritual.What I stated was that Ueshiba defined aikido in 1924. I didn't say that that then became the common expression for it, I was just making the point that he started teaching and preaching a martial art distinct from daito-ryu in 1924. (His debate with himself on the semantics of naming his art are well-documented, and aikido was way up there with aikibudo, aikjutsu, aikijujutsu etc from the start.) This was partly a response to his experiences in the war in Manchuria and partly to bring his religious beliefs into the art: daito-ryu was still essentially a battlefield art dedicated to killing people - Ueshiba's religion, the neo-Shinto sect Omotokyo preached one-ness and harmony and could not be reconciled with daito-ryu's principles as they stood. This was compounded by Ueshiba's first 'religious vision' in 1925, when he developed the courage of his convictions.
Although Omotokyo is a Shinto sect and therefore as Phil pointed out has distinct connections to Buddhism, Shinto and Buddhism are NOT the same at all. Omotokyo is a sect stressing peace and one-ness which could be said to have parallels in Buddhism and Zen. However, the language used by Ueshiba was undoubtedly and indisputably Shinto in nature.
Here is Chiba Shihan (uchi-deshi) on the subject:
To begin with, I would like to describe how I began Zen training which, in a passive way, was due to my teacher, Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido. What I mean by a "passive way" is that he taught me the importance of spiritual discipline along with martial discipline. However, the system of spiritual discipline he followed was based on *****ON-KISHIN (method of pacifying the soul and regaining or recovering the spirit) derived from ancient Shintoism and its extension - the study of Kototama doctrine (the miraculous power of language inherent within the Japanese alphabet)...
Although I was an uchideshi at the time, I found it extremely difficult to follow and I was unable to understand most of the words O-Sensei was using in his teaching. Shintoism was the spiritual backbone of his Aikido, and in order to understand his teachings, one had to understand the KOJIKl, which required extensive study. Unfortunately, I belonged to the generation whose education was strongly affected by the post-war policy carried out by G.H.Q. (General Headquarters of the Occupation Army), established in October of 1945 (1 entered Junior school in April, 1946), the central premise of which was the systematic denial of the Japanese culture, tradition and history. Thus, the myth and the world view represented by the KOJIKI was, for a time, denied as unscientific, an absurd superstition. This view was even widely supported by the post-war Japanese academic world. As for myself, being brought up and educated this way, I found the Founder's teachings not only difficult to follow, but also apparently nonsensical.
Nevertheless, the Founder always emphasized the importance of spiritual discipline ("religious faith", in his exact words) and the practice of farming along with martial discipline, if one wished to achieve one's goals. I had no problem with following the practice of farming and martial discipline (I still do both even up to today). However, I could not avoid the increasingly strong internal resistance that, as time went on, built up within me toward the Founder's spiritual discipline. I suffered from an internal split and feared the loss of unity between the physical art and spiritual discipline which was supposed to be the underlying principle of the art.
I started to look to Zen training as a substitute for the Founder's teaching. As I see it, it was a positive turning point in my Aikido life. However, I can't deny that it was an escape from the Founder.
Chin-Kon Kishin (the meditation technique – not related to zazen at all), otodama and the study of the Kojiki are from Shinto – and not connected to Buddhism at all. Furthermore, Ueshiba never studied Zen: he did study Shinto and specifically Omotokyo. Zen takes long hard disciplined study: the connection between Zen and aikido is most often pointed out by western dabblers in one or the other, and as stated by Moriteru Ueshiba, the current Doshu and Ueshiba’s grandson, it is not something that Japanese aikidoka ever talk about or even acknowledge – those who haven’t read the western literature simply haven’t heard of the idea. They are all aware of it’s roots in Shinto.
Ueshiba would have been aware of Takuan’s work, ‘The Unfettered Mind’ which talks of Immovable Mind - very similar to some of Ueshiba’s teaching, but the language Ueshiba uses is all Shinto jargon.
While Japanese guidebooks etc often state correctly that there are Buddhist shrines in Shinto shrines and Shinto shrines in Buddhist temples, they are often incorrect in their summation that the two are interchangeable in any way. Sure, they share some characteristics, but a Buddhist priest and a Shinto priest (and I have spoken to many about these specific beliefs) cannot do the same job – they both have long years of very different training to do, and they will both tell you they are different.
Part of the problem is with the excellent book ‘Zen in the Martial Arts’ by Joe Hyams. He made a lot of very accurate observations, but it started a craze for subsequent unqualified observers to take the ‘everything is one’ idea of Zen (itself wrought with misconception) and apply it to, well… everything! So when the Omotokyo sect with a similar outlook of interconnectedness comes up it is easy to mistake the two.
So, back to aikido. The principles of aikido had already started to be defined by Ueshiba in the 1920s. One of the main distinctions philosophically was the emphasis on the term ‘aiki’ as meaning ‘the harmony of energy’ as in something to be strived for, as opposed to the traditional idea of it being ‘a stagnation/balance of energy’ as in an equal position and something to be destroyed. Initially, he called it ‘aikibudo’. Phil’s idea of the conception date of ‘aikido’ being 1942 is because that’s when the Japanese Budo Association recognized it as a distinct martial art. Ueshiba had already been teaching it since the 20s. His official split with Daito-ryu was 1937, so if Phil had been correct in assuming that the art itself only started in ’42 (as opposed to the name ‘aikido’) it would mean that Ueshiba had been teaching for 5 years without a name, or that this martial arts freak would have gone 5 years without teaching!
Incidentally, the totality of the split with daito-ryu was in 1945 when the occupying US forces banned many references to Japanese martial tradition. This also helped Ueshiba to develop his ideas of Aikido being a peaceful, non-martial art. Up till then, while he had emphasized the contradictions within a fighting art being used to promulgate peace, he was still teaching a lot of daito-ryu, yari and jukendo fighting techniques and core building techniques, which worked their way out of the curriculum in the post war period. Which is to say, his teaching of fighting techniques continued way after his love affair with Omotokyo had begun: he didn’t see the duality that most westerners do.
Perhaps I read inaccurate books on the subject. I believe the one I was drawing what I posted from was called "O Sensei" … Most books about Ueshiba by westerners are fantastic or misconceived at best.
Aikido is a perfect example of what happens when an old soldier weary of war embraces zen buddhism and tries to turn a trust building exercise into something resembling a martial art.
In other words: not-for-fighting...
Er, completely inaccurate. He defined aikido in 1924, and used it in fighting in wartime. And he embraced a shinto cult: nothing to do with Zen Buddhism. I'm not going to argue about the lack of efficacy in modern times though: but most of that comes from people copying what he did when he was already past it and nuts...
The term Aikido was first used in 1942. Shintoism and Buddhism are intertwined in Japanese culture so you're both right. I also agree with the old soldier statement made by SimonM. O'Sensei abandoned some of the fighting aspects of Daito - Ryu Aikijujutsu when he got spiritual.What I stated was that Ueshiba defined aikido in 1924. I didn't say that that then became the common expression for it, I was just making the point that he started teaching and preaching a martial art distinct from daito-ryu in 1924. (His debate with himself on the semantics of naming his art are well-documented, and aikido was way up there with aikibudo, aikjutsu, aikijujutsu etc from the start.) This was partly a response to his experiences in the war in Manchuria and partly to bring his religious beliefs into the art: daito-ryu was still essentially a battlefield art dedicated to killing people - Ueshiba's religion, the neo-Shinto sect Omotokyo preached one-ness and harmony and could not be reconciled with daito-ryu's principles as they stood. This was compounded by Ueshiba's first 'religious vision' in 1925, when he developed the courage of his convictions.
Although Omotokyo is a Shinto sect and therefore as Phil pointed out has distinct connections to Buddhism, Shinto and Buddhism are NOT the same at all. Omotokyo is a sect stressing peace and one-ness which could be said to have parallels in Buddhism and Zen. However, the language used by Ueshiba was undoubtedly and indisputably Shinto in nature.
Here is Chiba Shihan (uchi-deshi) on the subject:
To begin with, I would like to describe how I began Zen training which, in a passive way, was due to my teacher, Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido. What I mean by a "passive way" is that he taught me the importance of spiritual discipline along with martial discipline. However, the system of spiritual discipline he followed was based on *****ON-KISHIN (method of pacifying the soul and regaining or recovering the spirit) derived from ancient Shintoism and its extension - the study of Kototama doctrine (the miraculous power of language inherent within the Japanese alphabet)...
Although I was an uchideshi at the time, I found it extremely difficult to follow and I was unable to understand most of the words O-Sensei was using in his teaching. Shintoism was the spiritual backbone of his Aikido, and in order to understand his teachings, one had to understand the KOJIKl, which required extensive study. Unfortunately, I belonged to the generation whose education was strongly affected by the post-war policy carried out by G.H.Q. (General Headquarters of the Occupation Army), established in October of 1945 (1 entered Junior school in April, 1946), the central premise of which was the systematic denial of the Japanese culture, tradition and history. Thus, the myth and the world view represented by the KOJIKI was, for a time, denied as unscientific, an absurd superstition. This view was even widely supported by the post-war Japanese academic world. As for myself, being brought up and educated this way, I found the Founder's teachings not only difficult to follow, but also apparently nonsensical.
Nevertheless, the Founder always emphasized the importance of spiritual discipline ("religious faith", in his exact words) and the practice of farming along with martial discipline, if one wished to achieve one's goals. I had no problem with following the practice of farming and martial discipline (I still do both even up to today). However, I could not avoid the increasingly strong internal resistance that, as time went on, built up within me toward the Founder's spiritual discipline. I suffered from an internal split and feared the loss of unity between the physical art and spiritual discipline which was supposed to be the underlying principle of the art.
I started to look to Zen training as a substitute for the Founder's teaching. As I see it, it was a positive turning point in my Aikido life. However, I can't deny that it was an escape from the Founder.
Chin-Kon Kishin (the meditation technique – not related to zazen at all), otodama and the study of the Kojiki are from Shinto – and not connected to Buddhism at all. Furthermore, Ueshiba never studied Zen: he did study Shinto and specifically Omotokyo. Zen takes long hard disciplined study: the connection between Zen and aikido is most often pointed out by western dabblers in one or the other, and as stated by Moriteru Ueshiba, the current Doshu and Ueshiba’s grandson, it is not something that Japanese aikidoka ever talk about or even acknowledge – those who haven’t read the western literature simply haven’t heard of the idea. They are all aware of it’s roots in Shinto.
Ueshiba would have been aware of Takuan’s work, ‘The Unfettered Mind’ which talks of Immovable Mind - very similar to some of Ueshiba’s teaching, but the language Ueshiba uses is all Shinto jargon.
While Japanese guidebooks etc often state correctly that there are Buddhist shrines in Shinto shrines and Shinto shrines in Buddhist temples, they are often incorrect in their summation that the two are interchangeable in any way. Sure, they share some characteristics, but a Buddhist priest and a Shinto priest (and I have spoken to many about these specific beliefs) cannot do the same job – they both have long years of very different training to do, and they will both tell you they are different.
Part of the problem is with the excellent book ‘Zen in the Martial Arts’ by Joe Hyams. He made a lot of very accurate observations, but it started a craze for subsequent unqualified observers to take the ‘everything is one’ idea of Zen (itself wrought with misconception) and apply it to, well… everything! So when the Omotokyo sect with a similar outlook of interconnectedness comes up it is easy to mistake the two.
So, back to aikido. The principles of aikido had already started to be defined by Ueshiba in the 1920s. One of the main distinctions philosophically was the emphasis on the term ‘aiki’ as meaning ‘the harmony of energy’ as in something to be strived for, as opposed to the traditional idea of it being ‘a stagnation/balance of energy’ as in an equal position and something to be destroyed. Initially, he called it ‘aikibudo’. Phil’s idea of the conception date of ‘aikido’ being 1942 is because that’s when the Japanese Budo Association recognized it as a distinct martial art. Ueshiba had already been teaching it since the 20s. His official split with Daito-ryu was 1937, so if Phil had been correct in assuming that the art itself only started in ’42 (as opposed to the name ‘aikido’) it would mean that Ueshiba had been teaching for 5 years without a name, or that this martial arts freak would have gone 5 years without teaching!
Incidentally, the totality of the split with daito-ryu was in 1945 when the occupying US forces banned many references to Japanese martial tradition. This also helped Ueshiba to develop his ideas of Aikido being a peaceful, non-martial art. Up till then, while he had emphasized the contradictions within a fighting art being used to promulgate peace, he was still teaching a lot of daito-ryu, yari and jukendo fighting techniques and core building techniques, which worked their way out of the curriculum in the post war period. Which is to say, his teaching of fighting techniques continued way after his love affair with Omotokyo had begun: he didn’t see the duality that most westerners do.
Perhaps I read inaccurate books on the subject. I believe the one I was drawing what I posted from was called "O Sensei" … Most books about Ueshiba by westerners are fantastic or misconceived at best.