Aiki Misogi

Aiki Misogi

THE SPIRITUAL PURIFICATION OF AIKIDO

C H AP TE R 1

Songs Of The Way

Daily spiritual purification, a daily washing of hands and feet is all that is needed to keep your mind free, your heart open and body soft. Jesus said; “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean".

Continuous training, daily Misogi, clears the cobwebs and we return to a normal state.

In Seiza we relax, we come home. The body fills up from within, happiness and joy overflows. We only need to enter the sanctuary, the dojo. Our oasis of peace, our place of practice. Aikido is our antidote to the dust and grime of daily encounters, to a challenging

life and inner turmoil. Aikido is a massage to our soul, sweet nectar to our spirit and a healthy upkeep and maintenance of our body. Unreserved we can engage without having to compete, without having to fight, and without having to play games. 1

O SENSEI DOKA

The Dojo

The Way of the Gods!

Give in to the life of the Universe of Heaven and Earth Thus draw nearer and nearer To a spirit who serves the Godhead

When you enter, you bow, paying respect. Being mindful of the space within and without.

When you sit, in Seiza, you find your center.

Breathe body and mind. One-pointed.

Raise your hands in gassho, prepare to begin. Bow to the One within.

Clap, wake up. Summon and harness. Let softness enter.

Concentrate, listen, and watch. No commentary. No question.

Abide, relate and begin. Acknowledge, bow and blend.

Strong yet supple, non-resistant, with a happy heart.

Dynamic, firm, elusive. Play within form.

Feet planted, centered and solid. Moving like water.

Angles, directions, openings. Intuition shows the way.

No rush. Patience. Forbearance. Calm, clear and precise.

Sweat, pulse, and heat. Misogi is working. Distance becomes space becomes body.

The place to practice the Way. 2

O SENSEI DOKA

Control or No Control

Enlightenment or delusion?

Who is to say which person has which Like the evening moon they appear and fade Not one knows exactly when.

In Aikido much emphases is laid at the point of contact. The moment we engage, the point where we blend. Whether we enact it from a kihon/basic static position, or from a moving awase/blend interaction, we want to infuse our ki/energy, merge our meeting, so to become one unit. Some now wants to take control. Excellent mastery demonstrates this beautifully. From point to point, from one movement to another throughout an execution of the technique, control is established immediately upon contact. Uke is never allowed to escape (unless through being projected or thrown). The school of Tissier Shihan teach very much in this way. Excellent control and beautiful dynamic technique. We can't fault the mastery of this approach. Yet I find myself wanting. I have come to term this kind of Aikido "execution Aikido". Many schools of Aikido follows this martial way. Tissier Sensei have spoken of the points of two diamonds meeting, as the pivot point, where balance and control is crucial. Centered, grounded, with good kokyu extension, hanmi stance and angles direct movement. All of which are faultless Aikido principles which we must all learn and establish in our own body/mind system through years of training. Yet I'm looking for something more..

There is a way of meeting when you allow in, allow the grip/attack to be as it is, where you do not contend with the force applied to you. We melt, we ac3

O SENSEI DOKA I stand in the mountain stream So pure! The splashing sound of water against the stone Yet where is the person Who with such purity can speak (of the Way).

commodate, we blend without establishing control as one over the other. We merge, we disappear, in the receiving of an attack or confrontation. Instead of having two sharp points of contact pivoting around each other, we give up the opposing reference. We want to move as one. Even long before the interaction comes close enough to touch we want to establish a unified field where we all move together as one. From this vantage point, from this perspective, we do not contend with an "other", we do not hold a dualistic viewpoint. Instead we see it as One Body, extending beyond my own personal self to include the other. This totally nullifies any aggression or contention. The "me" and "you" disappears and only our engagement remain. In this scenario there is no need to establish control, since there is no other to control. Now we blend beautifully into a wonderful ki-no-nagare, flowing back and forth, allowing joy and intuition to lead you. No more enemy to vanquish, no more striving to control. No more need to execute our opponent. So what do you prefer? Control or no control?

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O SENSEI DOKA

Creating Space

The rays of the rising sun flow in My mind is clear Going to the window, I run about the Heavens Shining like the dawn.

If we think of our practice of Aikido as a process we can begin to appreciate how we step by step are lead into a subtle change of perspectives. Beginning from what's at hand, in front of our eyes, the gross material seen world, to the inner feeling realm of sensation, and even deeper into the defining context of a widened perspective, or open view. This heart opening means getting in touch with our feelings, sensing deeper than usual, and listening to the contact connection we have with our partner. We move step by step in order to see the subtle differences and feel the different attitudes related to each level. As we expand our consciousness to include more information we leave a merely personal view point to broaden and deepen our experience, feeling into the other, becoming an integral part of a combined relationship that will be the forerunner of merging completely with our activity. We create space as we move into a subjective inter-personal relationship that best can be described as a oneness, a unity, and a shared mutual experience. This process goes from a divided world view to a holistic unitary perspective, enabling us to respond accurately, spontaneously and intuitively from a place that includes and transcends all participants. This process is one of greater and greater intimacy and therefore demands a lot of courage and integrity. We need to dare to come close to each other, to be near, and feel the other as ourselves. Love is a natural outpouring of coming together in this way. Joy and thrill replace 5

O SENSEI DOKA "You must realize this!

Aiki cannot be captured with the brush Nor can it be expressed with the mouth And so it is that one must proceed

fear and hesitation. Now we come to share a space that is all around us. We learn to recognize this space sooner and handle our relationships accordingly. Aikido takes you by the hand and leads you from a divided relationship to a unitary consciousness. This we can manage to do in an hour and a half in the dojo every night. Welcome to our space.

to realization"

Critical mass

The reason we do workshops, seminars and retreats is to accrue critical mass. There is a necessity for a certain amount of pressure. To ensure growth and development, to push ones own boundaries, we need an existential challenge. Spiritual breakthroughs often come after prolonged contemplation and inquiry. Insight follows times of difficulty.

Sometimes we call this "learning it the hard way" and we wonder if all that hardship and pain was necessary. Yet so many people come out of difficult and challenging times with a sense of renewal and often with a greater understanding. Being pushed in practice challenges our perception of what we already know. It asks of us to go beyond our present understanding. This causes friction within, sometimes to the point of hesitation and withdrawal. Recognize this psychological challenge as it occurs within your body/mind. Slow down, look at it, feel it, and ask yourself; what's going on?

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O SENSEI DOKA By means of the way Call out the misguided enemy Advance and persuade him with words of instruction Through the Sword of Love.

Overload? Danger? or just, Unknown? Pursue it and go beyond it. Not touching the serious, sincere and deep will keep you from coming to a larger understanding of who you are. Keeping it safe and superficial will ensure that no progress is being made. Skirting real issues will not grant you immunity to the hardships and trials of life. Instead do venture into a reflective mode of being, ponder the big questions, and seek final answers. This open investigation can happen all the time. By yourself, among others, in training and outside of training. Who am I? And what am I doing?

Where are we going, and where do we come from?

What is true and what is real?

This will surely increase the pressure, an evolutionary tension, that will generate insights and greater depth of understanding in your own life. Let's speak about it.

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O SENSEI DOKA

Maha Mudra - The Great Sign

It is sincerity!

First cultivate sincerity with all your heart So realize this truth The World of Reality and the World of Appearance are One.

In Aikido we use our hands a lot. We extend power through them. We spread the fingers wide and strong. We put our feeling into the palms, fingertips and sword-hand (tegatana); the blade of our shomen thrust. It is Aikido's signature mark. Our kokyu-extension is our expression of life. Many religions through their iconography or in their ceremonies and rituals use hand movements to express various qualities inherent in different states of mind and heart. Oriental art and dance lay much importance on intricate hand movements.

We point, direct and wave. We shake hands, open palm, hand on heart, hold and embrace. We appease and we surrender hands up. We caress and stroke, touch and feel. We reach and grasp. We measure the wind, gauge the temperature, and silence our audience, with a finger. With one finger we hold attention, reach a conclusion and remember. With open hands we receive, we hold and pray.

We bring the palms together in gassho, greeting and summon the gods.

So many usages, so many expressions, and all for the benefit of mankind. To welcome, to greet, to embrace, to include, to connect.

The great sign of the many coming into one demonstrates a natural state impossible to defile. From emptiness into being, the one sign arises as a perfect action, as an appropriate response, to all things 8

O SENSEI DOKA In a forest of the enemy's spears Surrounded!

Then realize that those very spearheads Are your very shield.

facing it. One finger Zen is raised to point out the One in the moment.

Maha Mudra, the universal signature that reveals the mystery beyond our mind. It is love incarnate.

With no hesitation you smile.

Transparency

Being empty allows for transparency. Listening in, feeling your experience, going still and quiet inside, relaxed and attentive, we become aware of our being. Free from any form, from any signature or identity, void of any characteristics, you strip yourself naked.

Now from this ground of being, express genuineness. Not superficial or trivial but sincere and truthful. This takes practice but is well worth the time afforded it. In Aikido, you begin by feeling the body.

Feel every part of it, enter every space and experience it. Let the blood flow through and extend life into your limbs. Carefully move about as if avoiding detection. Let the movements be intentions rather than muscle, outlining rather than purpose-driven, intuitive rather than directed.

When you encounter something, some other, you must meet it. Feel it and establish a relationship, acknowledge and create a union. When you meet another you must tune in, find the common note, let 9

your transparency touch the other. Mutual recognition of each other enables a shared experience to take place. Move within this, now enlarged, sphere of transparency. In unison with the circumstances like a boat floating upon the waves of the ocean.

O SENSEI DOKA Rip away from your soul The shabby rags it wears Open the way to Heavens destiny So let it shine!

Empty yet full, your experience sense no limits, and action flows effortlessly in coherent patterns. How wonderful this engagement is, surprising and satisfying. Take time to contemplate this in your own body, mind and soul.

Selected Poems of Old

Within yourself no fixed positions Things as they are disclose themselves Still, be like a mirror Moving, be like water Respond like an echo Quiescent as though absent Empty as though transparent Hold on to any of them and you loose Never be ahead of others, always in the train of others.

Chuang Tsu "Inner Chapters"

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Our Way is like being in darkness.

Those in the light cannot see a

O SENSEI DOKA Reflecting through the Heavens

the great sea

single thing in the darkness, whereas those who are in darkness can see everything in the light.

Is filled with the voices of Joy.

All darkness is made light Descending, the vastness of

The True Scripture of Wenshi

The unaffected is hard to see; It is not easy to see Truth.

To know is to uncover craving; To see is to have done with owning.

The Buddha from the Pali Canon

Now you have a huge tree and worry that it is useless. Why don't you plant it in the vast plain of the homeland of Nothing Whatsoever, roaming in effortlessness by its side and sleeping in freedom beneath it?

The reason it does not fall to the axe, and no one injures it, is that it cannot be used.

So what's the trouble?

Chuang Tsu "Inner Chapters"

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O SENSEI DOKA

Coming, going, the waterbirds

Blend with (ki-musubi) the

don't leave a trace,

Universe of Heaven and Earth

don't follow a path.

(tenchi) Stand in the center (of all)

In your heart take up the

Dogen

stance

Of "The Way of the Mountain

Echo"

Midnight. No waves, no wind, the empty boat is flooded with moonlight.

Dogen

When it's cold and raining, You are more beautiful.

And the snow brings me even closer to Your Lips.

The Inner Secret, that which was never born, You are That Freshness, and I am with You now.

I can't explain the goings, or the comings. You enter suddenly, and I am nowhere again.

Inside the Majesty.

Rumi

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of the Cross-Shape +

The Mind-ground holds the seeds Which sprout when falls the all-pervading rain.

The wisdom-flower of instantaneous awakening Cannot fail to bear the Bodhi-fruit.

Harmony and Joy make up

the Floating Bridge

Hui-Neng

That binds this world

O SENSEI DOKA The spiritual essence of the Heavens and Earth Congealing becomes the Way

together.

When you understand, you belong to the family; When you do not understand, you are a stranger.

Those who do not understand belong to the family, And when they understand they are strangers.

Mumon "The Gateless Gate"

This mind-essence is devoid of ground and root Is the basis of all phenomena.

from the Guhyagarbha Tantra Mahamudra

Just as it was before, so it is afterward.

It is the changeless nature.

Uttara Tantra

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O SENSEI DOKA

Both of the Sword and of the

Covered by the web of disturbing emotions, One is then a "sentient being".

Freed from disturbing emotions, One is called "buddha".

Pen

Has brought realization in the

Nagarjuna

body and in the soul.

Since Ancient days The virtues of training in the Two Ways

I am filled with you.

Skin, blood, bone, brain, and soul.

There's no room for lack of trust, or trust.

Nothing in this existence but that existence.

Rumi

There is no Bodhi-tree Nor stand of a mirror bright.

Since all is void, Where can the dust alight?

Hui-Neng

I know no device, My thoughts are not suppressed: The objective world ever stirs the mind, And what is the use of maturing Enlightenment?

Hui-Neng

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O SENSEI DOKA The Pine, the Bamboo and

Without enlightening others there is no self enlightenment.

the Plum The make up of Ki that we are training to purify

Dogen

From where do they arise?

The Water and Fire of the change in the self.

The Double Edge Sword

In Buddhism there is the symbol of holding up a double edged sword, to cut asunder the ignorance standing in our way to liberation and spiritual freedom. In some communities this sword was seen as a weapon to be used at one another, to expose and to reveal the ego's hiding places and strongholds. It was meant to cut both ways. It was meant to be used at ones own ego as well as the others ego.

Many were taught to wield it equally on themselves as onto the other, on their spiritual brethren. But this could at times become a useful tool for the sophisticated and skilled ego to avoid ones own responsibility by levering it at ones brother. It is common and usual that we more often than not, see the others faults more clearly than our own. Jesus admonition springs to mind, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of

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O SENSEI DOKA Since ancient times Art and the Martial Way and the good, hard practice of both have made the Body-Mind wake up!!!

your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

There is another way of viewing the double edged sword. It is the symbolic cutting away of the two extremes, the two polar opposites, the dualistic mindset or world view. Buddhism is often called the Middle Way, the path between opposites. It refers to the danger of adopting a partial perspective, siding with a fixed set of beliefs or ideas. Dividing ones experience into you and me, into this and that, one thing contrary to the other, creates the duality that separates. In this scenario the sword is used to be vigilant to, and aware of, the habit of assuming a stance in regards to the other. The inclination to take sides, to be superior and separate, to impose and to dictate. The sword cuts away all sense of separation and keeps the inherent unity intact. This is the Middle Way, the razors edge.

Enlightenment through Communication

We pass on information, we convey meaning, we transmit knowledge. We infer logic, we inspire, we inject energy and we instill faith.

The Buddha Dharma was passed on by word of mouth, by revealing the teachings in a clear and precise manner. The light of truth is transferred from one candle to another. In the Christian tradition the transmission happens through the laying of hands, 16

O SENSEI DOKA Without slack, full of the Great Universe: a Magic Sword, with two-edged blade: Art and the Martial Arts for the Grand Design of the gods!!!

symbolically representing the passing of the Holy Spirit onto the believing aspirant and sincere follower. The ancient Hindu practice of initiation from a realized Guru to a devoted disciple follows the same necessity of human communication in the passing on of spiritual enlightenment and absolute knowledge. The spirit of God, though part and parcel of our human make-up, needs us to be vehicles of its transmission. Even though divine intervention does happen from time to time without human contact we most often benefit from a guiding hand and word during its transmission.

We understand by "standing under", receiving grace that flows over, from one cup into another. Yet we must stand underneath in order to receive the flow and pouring of the nectar of truth, of the Dharma.

This stance of humility and openness insures a receptivity necessary for letting something new in. Beginners mind is a concept aptly describing this attitude. Wanting to know and to understand, to feel and to experience, is the fundamental criteria for any seeker of truth.

Criteria for a Human Being

There is a basic blueprint or make-up inherent in being a Human Being. It is what makes us humane.

All of us share this fundamental norm simply by being a person. We can't really opt out, neither can we 17

O SENSEI DOKA Aiki is the power of harmony between all things Polish it ceaselessly You people of the Way.

choose it. It's inherent, part of the gene code that makes us what we are. Each and every one of us equally share this norm and equally we all bear the burden to fulfill its function. And we must fulfill this function in order to be fully human, to be what it means to be a person. And you can see in the light of this how it is impossible to pass the responsibility to another. In order for us to simply be human we must know that we must shoulder this alone. To stand alone, victorious, to bear to be all that we are.

Then we stand truly together, part of the human race.

So here's the criteria: You have the sole responsibility for everything that has ever happened, everything that happens now, and everything that ever will happen in the future. If you do this, and remember this is your actual obligation simply by being a human being, you will redeem all the wrongs that have ever happened and save the dead as well as the living. This is a mystery but by taking on full responsibility for everything, all the time, you are actually just living up to the criteria inherent in our makeup. Can you taste it?

The Supreme Source

Make no mistake about it. There is an end to your questions, an end to the path. There is an understanding that is final. It is not beyond your grasp.

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O SENSEI DOKA In these teachings listen most To the rhythm of the strike and thrust To train in the basics (omote) Is to practice the very secrets of the art.

All religions point towards it. There is a place where you know who you are. Fundamentally, unequivocally, with all doubts dispelled. This source is who you are, always has been, and always will be. Your very own being is that which has no limits nor restrictions in terms of space and time. No effort is needed to realise your Self. No time is needed to find yourself, since who you are has always been.

Meditation is not a process. It is simply being at ease with what is. Natural freedom is Self evident.

The highest teachings in all spiritual traditions speak of the non-dual nature of our own very self.

This cannot be reached by adding little by little. No learning will ever accomplish the goal. The Supreme Source beyond time is what and who you are already. Its function is always active now.

Celebration and Joie de Vivre

With no pretense we celebrate life as it is. Simply joy unabashed. Looking back we find nothing but glory. Looking forward we see vast empty space, an empty canvas to be filled with all the colors of the rainbow. Being in the present moment, joy overflows with the passing of time. Gushing forth, a never-ending stream. Life is celebrating life itself.

Nature, a celebration, a joyous dance for itself, turns into Love. All-love pervading and penetrating all things, all nature, men and women. Truth is love 19

O SENSEI DOKA Blend the ki within the self (ki-musubi) Stand erect in the very center Polish the spirit mind (kokoro) "The Way of the Mountain Echo".

and love is truth. A vision, falling leaves from a dark night sky. Its beauty makes me look up - suddenly an explosion that rocks the very bottom of my being. I and the whole universe explodes and the firmament splits down the middle, revealing an immense new universe behind. Shock and gasp. Falling into emptiness.

Like a spring, ever afresh, nature –in celebration and in joy, explodes into infinite patterns. What a wonderful world we live in. Thank you all for taking part.

Gratitude

Being grateful for this life is an ongoing experience.

I remember several times where this stood out as extraordinary events. Sitting waiting for the evening satsang session to begin I looked at the people present feeling I knew all of them. I wondered why and suddenly I saw, they were all me. I was the only one in the room. This was so crazy, so funny I could almost not believe it. After the teachings were over we all sat very quiet taking in what Andrew had poured out on us. Again I was looking at everybody and felt a genuine love for everyone present and I felt a deep gratitude for being part of what was taking place. I had never felt such a love and gratitude in my whole life before. It was so beautiful.

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O SENSEI DOKA The precious techniques of Ki! They, the spirits (tama) does subdue and pacify IN these techniques of misogi purification Please direct us, Oh gods of Heaven and Earth!

When God visits you, when Life opens up, gratitude is the only response. At night in a dream, the telephone rings and my sister pick up. My body goes into convulsions, electrified I know who it is. I hear my sister answer “yes he is”. "It’s for you" she says and holds the phone out for me. It can’t be true, it can’t be happening I think. I can hardly hold myself together, my inside expanding to breaking point. As I put the phone to my ear, a voice says “hello”. Unable to compose myself I explode upon hearing it.

My whole being exploded and I woke up. For weeks I was walking on clouds, elated and full of joy. God had called me on the phone.

Even before I was one year old, sitting in the lap of my father in front of our fireplace, warmth coming from within and from without, I knew who I was. I was conscious of myself, knowing myself as the timeless awareness that I always am. Completely calm I enjoyed my present state as a baby, fully conscious of all things around me, knowing it all without fail.

A softness fell over me and I understood that "I have sole responsibility for the well-being of every single person, and that I have sole responsibility for the welfare of the whole planet". Suddenly I dissolved, me as a historic person vanished and instead I was filled with glorious white light. I regained my body and I regained my voice, my real body, and my real voice. Gratitude poured out and I started to praise and give thanks to all things, to my past, to my family, friends and others, my voice no longer impeded but full and unobstructed.

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O SENSEI DOKA The Way of the God! (kannagara) The well-practiced sword Must be made transparent and shining Through the grace of the Divine.

The sky, the rivers, the mountains, the fields. The earth, the forest, the clouds, the rain. The sea, the wind. The sun, the moon and the stars. All protects us and nourishes us. They provide and serve. This is a constant source of gratefulness. Life is extraordinary, a wonderful gift to us and to all. This is why we bow down in the beginning of our Aikido session. With gratitude.

No More Need

What do you need? More than just what you want?

Unsatisfactoriness, or suffering, according to the Buddhas teaching stem from ignorance, aggression and desire. if we eliminate these "fires" we can experience Nirvana, the subsiding of these passions, to experience the cool peace of an unfettered and liberated mind. Desire is the catch-word in Buddhism.

There lies the crux, the whole problem of human kind. How can we still the mind, free it from within, when what we want is paramount in our lives. Our livelihoods are shaped thereafter. It seems contradictory to evolution, to progress, to endeavor?

Maybe the wording "desire" and "wanting" are not the best way to describe the dilemma? I see it more to the point to call it a "need". I need this, and I need that. All the time, throughout the day. Try to sit still for two minutes and see the need inside yourself to move, to do something, anything. There is a 22

O SENSEI DOKA The multitudinous worlds of this existing universe All at once are opened.

Plum Blossoms!

The second opening of the Great Stone Door.

subtle need if you look close enough that runs like a thread through your entire life, always prompting you to do this, say that, and act in a certain way.

Go to the bottom of this self inquiry and see for yourself the restless need obscuring your vision. Once you can recognize it, and see it for what it does, you'll be able to assess its validity. You can finally come home when you have a first-hand experience of not needing anything. In your self, by yourself, you'll know you are complete just as you are, in no need of anything at all, fully satisfied in your own being.

No need to have, no need to be, and no need to know. Final freedom.

Benefit of Doubt

When we give each other the benefit of doubt it usually means we withhold judgement at the time being because we trust there is something worth valuing behind the apparent expression. When we give credit where credit is due we usually point to the better values in man, and we trust, as we trust ourselves, that those inner, more human, qualities will prevail and come to the forefront. When I meet another this is where my intention lie. I trust you from the start, from the word go. It is not always easy to come together, to get along, or see eye to eye. It's not necessary to agree or share the same convic23

O SENSEI DOKA Except for blending with the void There is no way to understand The Way of Aiki.

tions and opinions. We might very well use very different languages, rough, direct and course or gentle and thought-through, or a mixture of all sorts. Yet I listen with an forgiving ear as I know the other as I know myself, meaning that I recognize my own frailties, short-comings and habitual conditioned responses in the other as well as in myself. This allows for a meeting to happen beyond all opposites. It means I don't hold anything against you, I'm not dead-set opposed nor inclined to argue my point. Arguing itself is revealed to be the very force that will perpetuate and prolong any chance of coming together as human beings, as brothers or sisters of the same family. Hell-bent on making a point, to drive ones argument, from an unforgiving heart with selfrighteous belief will in the end lead to nothing more than complete separation and utter division. This in no way is making excuses for important issues that's needs resolving, but it is an excellent way to begin a healing and restoring process.Â

Purpose

Spiritual awakening, and coming of age within that awakening reveals that our lives got meaning. For the first time we will come to see that we have a purpose simply being who we are. Once the fundamental and existential questions have been solved for ourselves, we find that we can be of help to others.

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O SENSEI DOKA With a mighty roar The encompassing love of the lord Gives birth to the great Universe His holy works thus come into being.

Before when we were still struggling to know who we were and not knowing what to do with our lives, we were in the dark in regards to any sort of meaning or purpose Life itself might purport. We found it hard to make sense out of our lives and the world seemed like a chaotic race for survival. But once we glimpsed our true self and found love hidden within our own heart, we matured into a grown-up human being. Now for the first time we can scan the full horizon of life and make sense out of it. We realise that we are in a position to help. We have seen the light of day yet many are still finding it so difficult to come to terms with simply being alive. Finding our purpose coincides with finding God. Finding your own true self, finding a reality beyond our agelimited body and mind, means being at home with living with a deathless spirit, an ever present reality that showers love and care onto those in need. Once we come of age, we turn around and help those still struggling. Safely ashore on the other bank, we return to ferry others across. This is but a natural responsibility that the older generation have towards the younger. We tend our young as our elders tended to us. Lead them not only into life but into eternal life. What can be more meaningful than this?

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O SENSEI DOKA

Stand Alone

Fully knowing it to be A matter of life and death before us We may chose to withdraw But the enemy will not allow it.

File in, conform, or at least curtail your activity.

You're good at this but not at that. Say it like this not like that. People don't like you like this. You don't make sense... How tiresome to listen to peoples unrequested good advice. Standing alone invites all kinds of reactions. Suddenly all not so hidden superior motives are laid bare. If people have placed you below them this stand alone stance is a real threat. Suddenly you're not conforming nor keeping quiet. This unsettles the status unknowingly imposed upon you. Get back into line! Don't stir, don't unsettle. Let me tell you.. for your own good of course. Don't tell an artist how to paint, don't tell a poet how to write. Well yes but.. they never stop. An artist don't follow rules, a poet is not constricted by lines and rhymes. A sage cannot be told what to say. A free man follows no dictates.

Standing alone is a exercise in freedom. There is no confusion there. How seemingly difficult it is to grasp these subtle manifestations of fear and insecurity. Look look and look again. Laugh out loud when you see it.

Stand alone. Exercise the right to follow your own heart. God alone will impose upon you. Then stand as All One. One being all around.

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O SENSEI DOKA

In My Own Place

The vast Universe!

The Way of Aiki to become The light of all mankind Opening all the world.

There is so much confusion about where to be, how to relate, and what to do. Should I come or should I go? Where do we fit in? How can I live, what should I do? Shall I just fall in line, follow the rest? Those that came before me, are they showing me the way?

Or not? Will I take up the baton, join the program, copy and paste? What is my life? Should I do something meaningful? What is meaningful? Do I live someones else life? Or do I live my own life?

How am I to relate? Who do I trust? Where do I begin? Friendships and close relations. How do we navigate? You and me, let's start there. I am and you are. I trust you and I relate to you; partner, family and friend. It's a give and receive relationship.

Not a one-sided affair. At work or at leisure, with friends or colleagues, can we share? Even in the natural hierarchy among generations, is there a common ground where we meet as equals in terms of love given and love received? Are you being respected in your own place?

Guest and host defines rules of behavior. Father and son outlines family structure. Boss and hired hand know their assigned roles. Context and situation sets the parameters. Friends don't come easy. Relationships are difficult. Marriage is a commitment.

Wherever we are, we relate with others. We are, whether we like it or not, in a constant relationship with other people. Our spiritual life is equally one of being in a relationship. Man and God. Me and my 27

O SENSEI DOKA Takemusu comes to be Through Aiki with fire and Water of the Holy Parent The workings of this union are The superlative beauty of the works of God.

absolute self. Life itself is fundamentally a relationship. You and your spouse, you and your family, you and your friends, you and your truth. You and nature, you and mankind, you and this Earth. We all relate, all the time, knowingly or unknowingly. With this in mind, can I find my place? My place and my time, here on this Earth, in this generation, using everything I got. If you come home, back to your self, ponder and think about what you want to do. Can you, will you, do you want to, find your own place in this very confusing and overwhelming world? What would be the criteria? What would make this possible? What would I need to embrace?

Love one another. If you have the integrity to love one other just for the sake of love itself, you will have the strength to stand alone. If you come to the realization that to care and help another, in whatever way, is itself the very meaning of life you've been searching for, you will have found your own place. And from there you will never have to move.Â

In the Footsteps of The Buddha

We recently visited Amaravati, the deathless realm.

We had to go through the Dharma Chakra roundabout to get there. Of course we chose the right way and ended up in Nirvana. Joke aside, the Theravada Buddhist monastery lies in beautiful countryside just outside of Hemel Hempstead north of London.

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O SENSEI DOKA Though we may honor it We can never praise enough The godly technique of the Way of Aiki The godly technique of the small gate.

Though only spending a weekend we managed to relax and found the peace and stillness of the place just what we needed. Hectic London does take its toll in stress and tension so detoxing with friends came as a welcome break from the routine.

Establishing Sati, or mindfulness, is what the Theravada practice is all about. In meditation we focus our attention on our breath, at the tip of the nose, securing a plumb-line to one-pointedness. Simple and effective, this ancient practice of Samatha and Vipassana (tranquility and insight) helps one in a very short period of time to rest the body, still the breath and silence the mind. Not necessarily easy for a busy mind to accept but with a little right effort and right intention we all managed to taste a bit of the discipline. Partaking in the daily monastic routine and chores we received a small insight into a twothousand year old tradition dating back to the earliest community of the Buddha himself. The natural environment supports the practice and abstaining from the normal daily vices like television, computers, mobile phones, alcohol, idle chatter and the like, really helps and gives the body and mind a welcome break, and restores the body's natural healthy vigor. Having the morning bell ring at 4 am turned out not to be such a dreaded event and the early rising sun made it so much easier. Participating in the monastic routine included seeing the whole social and cultural context of the Sri Lankan and Thai community supporting their monks and nuns with food donations. Respect and gratitude goes both ways

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O SENSEI DOKA To the Technique of Tsurugi Neither brush nor word of mouth can render due service Saying nothing you must go fourth And so must you know (satori).

and as a religion serves as an important social function for so many people.

Seeing the whole picture, caring for the whole context, the Buddhas teaching encompasses genuine insight and wisdom, as well as human understanding with social responsibility for the greater good.

Truth, goodness and wisdom, saturates the Buddhas teaching and as such is a vast field of practice, including all spheres and realms of human interaction, from the smallest to the greatest, from the minute to the extensive.

We walked but a few steps with him this last weekend in Hemel Hempstead but it was on a well trodden path that many before us have walked and many more will continue to traverse. As we walk in life we come across many paths, some we follow and some we share, some interlace and some do part.

Follow your spirit and let it lead you into that deathless realm your heart desires.Â

Maha Purusha - The Supreme Person

"There exist only one Person. I saw him stretch across the Universe. One Being with legs and arms just like us. He is the only Person. We are but the reflections of Him just as innumerable scattered pieces of broken glass all reflect the same object."

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O SENSEI DOKA Let us bind together Heaven and Earth, God and Man So we may guard and protect This age of ours.

More than just the being the personality of Godhead this describes our ultimate reality as a supreme being, echoing the sentiment in the Bible where we are made in His image. It's a profound mystery and as such not easy to be revealed. Hence some try to dismiss the notion of God being a person. But doctrine states that God is a trinity, three persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Yet not divided nor separated.

These are realities that can be experienced, and more than being simply a figment of our imagination, they point to a transcendence of time and space, beyond human nature and corporeal existence. Maha Purusha, is the Hindu name for God as Person, and is not a mere abstract impersonal absolute mystery. A being reflected in our faces if you look close enough.

Bearing Testimony

What is it that makes a testimony powerful? In court, as a witness to an act, you bear testimony to the facts of the case. You swear to speak the truth of the matter. This truthful recount of events, from your point of view, is in no way an opinion but a recollection of what has occurred. Many witnesses are needed to get an overall picture of the scene. They will differ slightly naturally as they cover different areas. Together they paint a coherent scenario retelling an event.

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O SENSEI DOKA Sharply sparkling The spirit mind of the person of the Way (do-jin) Penetrates through to reveal The evil devil that lurks inside the self.

In spiritual life we need to be truthful to what we have seen. We need to bear witness to the deepest spiritual events in our life. We need to acknowledge and bear testimony for their veracity. This will in fact empower the inherent truths contained in your spiritual revelations and insights. By stating them, expressing them, you'll open a conduit for the truth to be made manifest yet again. Speaking the truth many times will enliven and supercharge you. The more to the point you are, the more exact in your account, the greater will the power be that flows through you. It is as if you relive an experience, feeling it as you tell the truth of it.

Truth has a mysterious quality of wanting to be known, of wanting to be told. For its own sake and for the sake of being revealed as important. Once you side with the truth, bearing witness to it will empower you. This truth is a secret, not your everyday little squabbles about this and that, but a profound deep-lying truth of the existence of being itself.

Once we take the lid of our own self and dare to bear witness to it, immense power will issue. This creative surge will issue from the depth of your being, freed to flow unhindered.

Because we stand as witness and not as the owner of the event, we are free in relationship to it. There is nothing to protect nor nothing to justify. We have nothing to loose. Independent we stand for the truth of the matter. And if you acknowledge the owner of the act, he will in return acknowledge you.

If you bear witness to the truth, truth itself will acknowledge your trust and fill you with his assurance 32

of the veracity of it. Power will flow through you every time you state the truth.

O SENSEI DOKA The time is now!

Make straight the bonds that link Heaven, Fire, Water and Earth Let me stand as your guide.

Spiritual Aloness

When you take leave of your family and of your nation and side with God You enter inside a deeply mysterious alone.

When there is no place to call home become used to being treated as a guest.

No longer a Jew, Muslim or Christian no more fear, vanity and pride to hide behind and I will still worship the only One.

If you side with me lay aside your partial view.

Meet me in that aloneness 33

that I so dearly call your very Self.

O SENSEI DOKA The sun, the moon and the earth

All have become Aiki

Do you want to know

Standing on this bridge The great expanse of the sea is The Way of the Mountain Echo.

this self of yours?

Start by giving up all hope of ever remaining the same.

Discard everything you've ever known Let go of your greatest possession By not clinging you will walk free.

A Touch of Faith

At New Delhi airport we met this young lady travelling to Kathmandu, on the same flight as us. She had just come from the Brahma Kumaris center. We were instantly drawn to her presence and peaceful demeanor. Getting to know each other, we told her that we've just come from a retreat with our spiritual teacher in Rishikesh and now were heading to Nepal for another week of satsang with him.

I sat in the row behind her on the plane and we kept speaking throughout the journey. At one point I made a poor attempt at a joke or smart remark, and 34

O SENSEI DOKA Stand on the bridge that was built Through the Aiki of fire and the water In the great expanse of the void There is the Mountain Echo.

I apologized for the insensitivity I felt was out of line. This was a common practice for me, to be aware of how I came across, of how I landed, with another. Yet this time, her response was as simple as it was astonishing. She said, "don't worry, I hold no bar up that you must meet". This was nothing peculiar really, nor out of the ordinary, but for me it struck a cord. It said to me, "nothing can hurt me".

Nothing you say or do is an offense to me. I see you so fully, so completely as a human being, that trust is natural. The deep love that was the very core of her being made her very attractive to be with. Not attractive in the sexual sense but in the genuineness of her appearance. We spoke at length and with an ease that is rare to come across. As I remember this encounter that have stayed with me so many years, I'm again reminded of the flow that total acceptance gives, and more, how utterly liberating its effect is.

This acceptance was not contrived nor managed. It was a natural consequence of living the peace within your own heart. It could not but touch anyone who encountered it. And so, it transmitted this peace and freedom onto us who were in her presence. We felt more at home, more real and alive. I realize now more than before, how we often keep each other apart by holding up a filter of judgement, of critique and a proud superior notion of measurement. Always measuring, judging, critiquing. An inner standard that we hold everyone to account for.

What I am realizing is how great this room of the heart is. It's large enough to be able to contain all things, both beautiful and ugly. It has space for you 35

O SENSEI DOKA The purification techniques (misogi-waza) I have learned from God and Revelation Aiki is built by the god(s).

and me, just as we are. It lays it all on the table, nothing is hidden nor condemned. Naturalness returns. This inner love and devotion repels and attracts in equal measure. For some it is hard to encounter, for others it is balm to their soul.Â

What made me Me?

Have you ever wondered about why you react in the way you do? Besides carrying on the traits of our parents, can we recognize some often recurring patterns and habitual responses? Why we become intimidated by our own self image? How we are fighting off old wounds, traumas in our body? How fear and insecurity condition our basic outlook on life?

Is there a way do talk about them? Without feeling victimized? Can we face our worst memories and held beliefs? Do we dare to come to terms with our past? Do we even want to?

I believe there is way to reconcile our life today with our history. Not by denying or pushing away, but by looking them squarely in the eye. Are we ready to learn about human development through crises? It may feel emotionally overwhelming but if you persist there will be a saving grace by facing your worst fears. Talk about them, bring them into the light.

Men and women share life together and much must be faced together. There is much that concerns women's conditioning, different but not separate 36

O SENSEI DOKA Masakatsu and Agatsu

By Aiki with the spirit of the Godly Parent Save and invigorate You own body and soul.

from men's conditioning. Realize you are not alone in this inner world that sometimes rules your emotional life. Seeing the impersonal and general nature of our human conditioning helps to create some distance to it, helps us face it. Men equally share in the responsibility to address these very personal issues. In order to get along, to live a life together, we want to break down barriers that hold us away from greater intimacy and closer trust.

Love is the remedy supreme, but sometimes we need to add introspection and thought in order to untangle the web of confusing past held convictions and fears. I am all of this. It is enormous and challenging but well worth the risk. Together we can look at it. Face and come to terms with it. Transform and transcend it.

Are you game?

Mountains and Valleys

My interior landscape is no flatland. It consists of deep valleys and lofty peaks. Hills and fields filled with lilies and running streams. Grasslands and deserts, seas and islands, crags and ravines. I traverse, I scale. I plumb and I fall. I climb and I fly. I ascend and I descend.

I settle and live where the mist covers the path to my house. Bitterly cold and freezing wet, I'm soaked 37

O SENSEI DOKA Inviting him in he approaches A wind in made to blow

to the bone. The wind and the rain will surely lead me home.

Cut it o, retain it and perfect it Through the Aiki (love-ki) of God.

Real Time

Time never stops. But we never reflect upon the constant passing of time. We don't feel we're moving anywhere. Even though each instance is gone before we know it. Time flies yet we seem to be blind to it.

But if you look closely you'll see how fast it is. It is supremely fast. You can't catch it. We're riding on the forefront of times expansion, ever new, ever new. Always now, but this now is never static nor fixed. We're moving forward in time but also expanding as we hurl towards the future. Yes, we're expanding, since Einstein proved that time and space is actually one entity; spacetime, and astronomers have shown how this universe, space itself, expands or stretches. The Big Bang being the great explosion, this universe coming into being, and the source behind this momentum. Since day one time has never stopped, it has even begun to accelerate exponentially. We're moving faster and faster. So fast we're going speed blind. This time is hinted at in scriptures but is still a secret for most. In spiritual traditions we speak of the unknown, the unborn, the un-begotten God or time-less Absolute.

We often hold out the mystery of God to be unknowable, beyond space and time. Yet all traditions speak 38

O SENSEI DOKA For the sake of my heart There appeared a perfect void On the floating bridge.

A benefaction of the Lord.

of how His manifestation is this very Earth and our total Kosmos. That the manifest universe is the expressed essence of the formless Godhead. Now, the highest teachings coming out of many spiritual traditions make bold claims, that the formless and the formed are one and the same. That we can't separate them. God and His Creation are non-dual. One thing. Meaning that spacetime is itself the very expression of the timeless Absolute. So now we can see the danger of believing in Heaven or in the Dharmakaya as beyond us or as a static dimension hidden from us. Once we realize that time itself, actual time, the actual speed of time, that I call Real Time, is itself the fathomless mystery we call God or the Absolute, that we see in front of us all the time. We are constantly riding this beam of light into the future. Evolution seen from this vantage point becomes the very essence of who we are. When time is taken into account we'll find that our encounters mean something, we're moving so fast we can't but pay attention to every little detail. Time itself will see to it that we evolve. Real time is a wake up call!

Investigate time and you'll find your reality blown to pieces. Now instead of believing in a still and immovable spiritual realm, absolute or relative, we're finding ourselves travelling back and forth through all time, from the big bang to now. Time itself becomes the window through which you can experience all creation; past, present and future.

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O SENSEI DOKA

When Universal Becomes Personal

"Build up the world" This command he did grasp Received from the honored mother of the nation Thus stands Katsuhayabi On the Floating Bridge of the Heavens.

Some people believe that by defining spirituality in impersonal terms they avoid the Ego. Afraid of being too personal, even emotional, about objective reality. There is a way of viewing Life, including the inner life of man, from an objective stance, like a scientist would approach his field of study. The reason for the spiritual aspirant to do so is a way to stand back and avoid making general and universal features of our Psyche, our inner world, seem too personal, too individualized. It gives us room to detach, see it objectively and handle it with a level head. A very much a mans approach. The idea is that we would be able too see and catch patterns of behavior in ourselves, and change if deemed necessary. It would alleviate the very personal emotional attachment we do have to our selves and make us more able to handle Life's challenging situations. Enabling us to grow up, mature beyond conditioned responses, habitual thought patterns and fear-driven reactions. We would become, in fact, masters of ourselves.

In India, much emphases is laid on this kind of approach through the teachings of Vedanta. The ultimate highest religious doctrine of no-self, of Brahman, the impersonal Absolute Reality we in the West sometimes call God. Absolute God-head, devoid of any personal features, an overall objective Truth running through and behind, all things, all time and all space. Integral and non-separate, this 40

O SENSEI DOKA Though only one enemy calls you out Be on your nest guard To deal with one adversary in the spirit of facing ten thousands Is the Way if the Warrior.

reality stands alone as a silent witness to all of our acts. Revealing everything as plainly as it is. A clear mirror exposing all things reflected in it. This is a very satisfying perspective. It circumnavigates our Ego, our emotional involvement. This perspective is highlighted in the teachings of Advaita, the nondual teachings of "Neti Neti" - not this, not this.

Taken in isolation this teaching lends itself to an arrogant self-stance. Human relations and cause and effect are done away with. Since nothing is personal, who cares? Many Western neo-advaita teachers or self styled spiritual gurus advocate this approach as the ultimate, highest, teaching available. Loosing themselves in a blind-spot of arrogance and self importance. Using it to push their own agenda, claiming its inherent foolproof "truth" to be unquestionable.

What people often miss, or are not aware of, is that Indian religious philosophy contain much more than only Vedanta. Bhakti, or Devotion is said to be the natural outcome, the natural response, of a realized vedantic perspective. Krishna, or God in human form, manifests as all things, and as all things human. He brings the Impersonal Reality into a Personal Relationship through Love. This is very much what Jesus Christ in Christianity brings to the table.

A communion that is human in its heart. In it all arrogance and fear falls away. We become who we are, no self-righteous impersonal male idiots, but real blood and flesh human bodies that laughs and cries together without fear of being ridiculed.

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O SENSEI DOKA Aikido With links and ties too numberless to be known Is found in the body and souls of the people They who will enlighten the world.

Be not afraid then, to be personal, to be individual, to care and to worry about things, about life and about death. Trusting God, or if you prefer, an absolute transcendent reality, you're free to be who you are. Not with eyes shut but with eyes wide open, heart wide open and with a mind open free. This is when the impersonal merges into the very personal self you are. You become both yet not different and you're left with.. devotion and love in your heart.Â

Feeling Everything

I was reminded yesterday how all things; everything, nature, places and people, hold a record of its own history. We all come from generations of accumulated experience. We are not simply just us; we contain all past knowledge, all past deeds, good and bad, stored up and expressed accumulated as us.

Also nature holds its own history in the very fibers that grow today. Memories are part of all things.

That's why we can feel different things at different places. We can know its history. So it is with us as well. Each of us carry around a historical account of mankind passed down since times immemorial. It's a spiritual inheritance, a legacy part of our being.

Jung called it the collective unconscious part of us.

If and when we wake up, we begin to feel our spirit, open up to its subtle feelings, clear our blockages in our body and mind, and begin to sense, see and feel 42

O SENSEI DOKA Even through surrounded by a great number of enemy View them as one person And so fight on!

all things. All nature, all man, and all things, will show us, reveal to us, speak to us, of their inherent nature, of the pain and of the good fortune that has befallen us over time. We come to see we are nondifferent, non-separate, and really part of one unified whole. We all, individually expresses this oneness when we are free. I am no different than you; in fact, I am you and you are me. We come to see how all things are inter-connected, bound together through natural relationships, that are created and dissolved every time we meet. Holding on to pain, anger and confusion holds us apart. Keeping yourself at arms-length endorses the separation. Opening your heart allows the other to be himself. Opening up you will feel more. You will feel peoples pain, their joy and their sufferings. You will experience nature like its a living organism, with its own accumulated life story. The universe will open itself up to be a vibrant living-room with many distinct and spectacular events. Opening up you will gain access to the inherent feelings of nature, spirit and self, in all its variety. Freeing up your own vessel, your body and mind, letting the spirit move freely, you'll experience greater freedom, deeper connection, and more profound compassion. We are but non different from space itself, all containing everything inside itself.

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O SENSEI DOKA

Natural Kriyﾄ《

Though you may train In this sword work or in that What will it mean Unless you do your utmost

Abundant energy needs an outflow. This is where natural and spontaneous movement comes in. Letting your body move and stretch in all directions, by a will of its own. Releasing tension, opening up channels. Blood flow and ki flow, feeling the body, sensing the spirit. Break patterns of conformity, let your breath become free, deep and full. In Aikido we must not let our structured training hinder us from freely expressing our body and mind. Make it part of your warm up; contacting your center, opening up your body, letting natural movement take you into a dance-like and trance-like intuitive expression. Waking up, clearing your mind, attuning and purifying. Allow a cleansing of dark hidden areas, dispel ignorance and sloth. O Sensei would perform his Misogi-no-jo, his purification of the dojo with sweeping, round moves with his staff, moving his body in tune. A natural expression of the body that wants to cast off limitation and stagnation, as well as an act of cleaning the spiritual atmosphere and inducing a purer vibration. Our body have a natural ability to cleanse itself. But you have to give it the freedom to perform it. Let the dojo be a safe place for you to experiment with what the body wants. Liberating free dance is functioning in the same way.

Equally let your mind go, let it fly, and free it from mere thinking. You can also release your speech and language. Christians do this when speaking in tongues, allowing a free expression not monitored by thought. Musicians let go when they improvise 44

and let their harmonies combine. It can be gross or subtle or anything in between, just allow yourself to feel your self completely. See with your heart, feel with your gut and sense with your spirit. Energy released can be electrifying and strong, or soft and gentle. No need to impose nor to fear. Aikido is misogi, spiritual purification, expressed through natural kriyﾄ《 or movements. Welcome onto the mat.

O SENSEI DOKA Shining and echoing is the kotodama An honored form of the Holy Parent That single, spiritual origin (of all that is).

Kinetic Energy

When I was travelling in Indonesia some years back I visited Mount Bromo, a still smoldering volcano in Java. As we took the bus returning from our excursion, I saw something very odd. There was a funeral procession leaving a village and coming down the mountain on foot. They were running and jumping, maybe even dancing. The four men carrying the coffin on their shoulders were more erratic than the rest, they ran in circles, back up the path and down again. Very strange indeed. I asked my local friend sitting next to me on the bus and he said it was the custom to confuse the diseased one so his spirit would not find his way back to his home village. Ah, that made perfect sense! 窶ｨ It made me think, as I have later seen similar events involving dance, music and movement. I know from 45

O SENSEI DOKA At the beginning of the world There came from the Heavens The Curved Stone, the Mirror and the Sword To build up a nation.

my Aikido practice that usually I always feel better after a training session than I did before it. Yes, it is the physical exercise, but there is more to it. It's the non-violent, non-combative element in the movement that liberates and frees my soul. In retrospect I now see how we can combat, or counter depression, gloom and despair caused by grief, by the help of kinetic energy, of body movement, singing and dancing. It has an inherent healing power in itself.

It is the spiritual purification of our emotions. It is the expression of kriyﾄ《; a natural releasing of tension building up.

So then, when we are down, lift yourself up. Dance and sing and train to your hearts delight.

Embodiment

Animated, expressive and enlivened. Qualities that we associate with a fulness of being, a wholeness of character. Virtues or vices personified. In the spiritual field we call these manifestations embodied qualities, authentic individual expressions of being.

As spiritual beings we train to mold our body and mind to align with, and metamorphose, the genuine underlying nature of truth and love. We want to express what's in our heart directly. We neither want to dress up nor down our experience, but genuinely be our selves completely. Speak it clearly from the source with no alteration. This means we have to de46

O SENSEI DOKA Aiki The root of the power of love A love that must grow ever broader.

tect what is not genuine and what is superficial. We have to make the effort to be sincere and full of care, and we must be patient to let genuineness come in its own time, to allow it space to assess the situation. It doesn't mean that anything goes. We need to be vigilant. To care where we might not. To question where we usually do not. To leave room where we ordinarily would not, to go out of our way to feel what's going on. When the Word becomes Flesh, or incarnate, it becomes who we are. What we say and do will resonate deeply with ourselves and with others. We will feel authentic, real and finally grown up. Our words will carry weight and wisdom is knowing who you are. You'll find your own voice and be able to carry so much more. Your real self is not afraid of responsibility. No more divided within yourself, you show a united front. One being, one voice.

When Two Are Not Enough

When I'm alone, all by my self, I'm at peace. When I'm with you and feel the separation I'm in turmoil.

I need you and I to be one. Being two is not enough.

Only a hands reach away yet it could be miles. A quick check-in is all that is needed. A sweeping survey to assess. Can you feel it? It goes deep. Deeper than soul ties. Spirit bonding some call it.
 We all can join in at any time. As more joins it 47

O SENSEI DOKA Aiki A way so difficult to analyse (But one needs only to) follow The natural rotations of the Heavens.

grows. The mass total sum equals one. One being with one body. When two feels like a chasm there is a chance. When division is felt instantly we learn there is a way. Unity is health. Like mercury, we flow into situations and merge. Two upon touch becomes one. How simple this truth is.

The Rock upon which I Stand

Moses struck the rock with his staff and water came out. Living water that gives life. This rock is not me, but is that which I stand upon. It is solid and firm.

It never moves or tumbles. It is a source of strength and with it I have no fear. Bear witness to it and it will protect you, like a band of elder brothers will have your back. It's the source code, the cornerstone that many miss. Give up everything to win it. The less you have the more it will support you.

Christ is Born

What does it mean? Remembrance of a babe born in a manger? Or is it more of a premonition of things to come? Who is this Jesus? Why was it a big deal? How can an event cause such a stir? That a mere sight of can save? Is it a new chapter being in48

O SENSEI DOKA Heaven and earth look so serene and beautiful. This universe has revealed itself as a family created by the omnipresent God.

troduced in human evolution? Is it a breaking in, a new dawn, a brand new opportunity? A new age commencing. Think it through, make an effort to fathom it. Why? How? What does your spirit tell you? Can we even understand it? Yes I believe so.

We can come to a profound grasp of this extraordinary event that still reverberates 2000 years later on. We have to go beyond logic, passed known reference points, and dig deep into our soul and being.

It's a little like being promised the keys to a brand new car. Once in your possession, you'll be able to drive a new vehicle, a new model, with all the new mod coms. Top of the range, this super car will break existing speed records, set new standards of safety and performance. Long lasting, it will outlive previous generations, appeal to a younger audience.

Good economy and cheap price-tag will appeal to the masses, a true folks wagon. Though the deluxe model might cost you your life savings.

Joke aside, there is a deep mystery inherent in the birth of Jesus. It transcends a mere human birth. It is but one phase of a revelation that spans many lifetimes, many generations. It is part of the history that shapes our world, our thinking and values. It holds the collective memory of the saga of spiritual liberation and freedom. It is the unconscious part of our collective soul that is being awakened within.

Our spirit is being moved by a promise from long ago. What does it herald? What does it mean, for you?

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O SENSEI DOKA

Aikido Alive's Dojo Vision

Budo is a divine path that leads to truth, goodness and beauty; it is a spiritual path reflecting the unlimited, absolute nature of the universe and the ultimate grand design of creation

My vision and hope for Aikido Alive London, our dojo, our community and our future.

The visual image is one of Mercury. Imagine many separate units of liquid mercury. When they come close to each other and touch, they merge into a larger whole. As the mercury collects more and more of itself, it grows. What I mean and point to is that individually we exist as whole complete beings, and when we come into contact with another we naturally flow into each other, becoming a larger entity yet with the same essence and unitary quality.

Oneness pervades our being together.

If we learn to pay attention to the context we participate in at any given time, we'll be able to flow harmoniously from one situation to another effortlessly, and at the same time keeping the biggest possible perspective over the changing circumstances.

It will enable us to harmonize with all parties equally in any set condition. For example, when we enter the dojo, our awareness expands to take in the whole room, noting all present. Maybe we'll chat with one another before practice and converge in twos or threes, but when it's time to begin we open our conscious heart to include all students in the room. We collect ourselves, concentrate, relax and expand our mind. Laying our focus on the other or on the situation in front of us will allow us a freedom to adjust and change with the movement of the whole. Beware of remaining small, of staying singu50

O SENSEI DOKA You must enter the opponent, get inside him, and then draw him into you.

lar and individual, in a larger context. It will separate yourself from the flow of the moment, making it more difficult to blend and to harmonize with the group. Putting the focus and attention outside of yourself will immediately bring you into close proximity to the spirit of the way. Join in, but don't loose yourself. Loose your self only in regards to the larger, more encompassing, vision. One in which you are an integral part of, one in which you are needed to be part of in order for it to be complete. You yourself are all already perfect and complete as a human being in your essence, in your spirit and being. Use this innate dormant sense of being when you engage with others. You'll be surprised how well we all can blend once the defense mechanisms are down. Therefore we need to create a safe haven, a trust, a field of care and compassion, within the dojo. We all need to be aware of what it is that we want to create; a unified whole, a body that we all partake in. A living breathing entity larger than any individual member. So I ask of this from you, that at all times when you enter the dojo, be an example for others, show them that you care, that you pay attention, and that you take the first step. We will find a love that encompasses the four walls of the dojo and that will embrace all of us inside. Hopefully it will, and it can, spread and touch people even outside on the street. Remember, when we meet, we merge like quicksilver. Then the ego is defeated and we'll all act as one.

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O SENSEI DOKA

The Tension of Not Knowing

Irimi is Ichi-no-Tachi, swords passing each other. Leap forward as the opponent inhales; apply technique with your exhalation.

The uncomfortable feeling of being under pressure often lead one to escape. When we feel we don't understand or when a situation becomes awkward, we often resort to joking or to a sense of irritation. Joking and becoming the clown can ease a tense situation making it more bearable, while irritation and frustration often lead to anger and to separation.

But by escaping, either by defusing the tension with a silly remark or by pushing it away in fear, will not deal with the root cause. In Aikido we always encounter tension or conflict. We learn to blend, to merge with it, not fleeing away nor putting up a strong resistance. We accept that tension is part of a relationship, part of any encounter. Instead of the gut reaction to either fight or flight, we must stand our ground, face whatever makes us uncomfortable, bear it and see it through with patience and humility. This is of utmost importance if we are going to be able to evolve and learn something from the meeting. Life itself will always present us with an evolutionary tension in order for us to grow. For us to mature we need to be able to stay with the tension of not knowing, allowing it to produce its own results. This tension of not knowing or not understanding is the greatest help. It will, through its internal pressure, create a possibility to go deeper, to insight and to realization. Silence and listening are the only tools we need to endure it. Humility and awareness goes a long way to accept this way of being. It is, and must be, a subjugation of our willful 52

O SENSEI DOKA Enter without hesitating, without a single thought, and your movement will become whatever [the flow of] ki wants it to be, with no conscious intention on your part.

ego, our self-centered focus. By allowing the unease in your self, by not trying to escape every time you feel a little pressure, you will come to see how extraordinarily revolutionary it can be. The tension itself is the pressure-cooker that boils the rice, that cooks the food, prepares it for human consumption.

Of course, different situations calls for different responses. Sometimes joking and laughing is a perfect antidote for pent up feelings and tense situations.

But if you are interested to go deeper, to explore the underlying reasons and conditions, we must dare to bear our own internal pressure gauge. It is a spiritual endeavor to learn about the dynamics on and off the dojo mat. Since confrontation and tension is part of life we must grow comfortable with it and learn to deal with it, without escaping with a childish grin. This is especially important when coming together with several others, when being in a group.

In order not to fall to the lowest common denominator, which so often can happen almost automatically, we need to be vigilant to the tension inside and not fall away from it. It means taking responsibility for a mature outlook, for standing tall, in order not to drag others down and away from their own internal pressure. If we manage to hang out in this uncomfortable zone and cultivate a liking to it, we will discover that it is the fertile ground for any genuine discovery and unprecedented coming together. It is, in fact, the only ground where anything new can happen. All escapism is old, ancient patterns of avoidance, habitual reluctance to change, and a marked stopper for anything evolutionary.

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O SENSEI DOKA Enter without hesitating, “ki” knows what it must do. Let it enter the house of your heart and act in your place.

ing is not easy. Let's not assume just because we are of age it means we know life. We can always go further, learn more, and develop as individuals and as collective beings in a unified field of oneness.

Je Suis Charlie

Come together in mourning with France and with the courageous journalists and police officers families. To be under death-threat simply by drawing cartoons is harrowing. To continue working under such conditions requires determination and courage. These cartoonists are our real martyrs, our real heroes, and so are the police officers that stood in the killers way and paid with their lives.

The killers cowardice and skewed ideology is beyond human understanding. Their beliefs are rooted in ignorance and in hatred. Violence is the only language that have. They mock the God they propose to worship. They shout his name and kill in the same breath. Where are the fathers to these misguided brothers? Where are the human proponents of their family? Where is their heart? Who are their brothers keeper?

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O SENSEI DOKA

My Brothers Keeper

Aiki is about being present in the “now”. If you want to make progress it is essential to free your thoughts from your objective “I”.

Cain was caught out by God when asked of Abel's whereabouts. Cain had just slain his brother in the field and the ground cried out in pain. God heard the sound of the Earth and confronted Cain about it.

"Where is your brother?"

Clearly Cain was on the back-foot. He struggled to come up with a swift reply and so dismissed Gods inquiry by simply brushing it off, "Am I my brothers keeper?" Fearfully arrogant he wanted to get away from Gods face asap. God knew. He challenged Cain to come clean with his crime but Cain was too surprised as to the speed of how events had changed.

Suddenly he was running for his life, turning his back on God and being cursed for doing so. A curse of vengeance for seven generations.

We feel this cycle of violence to this very day. Original sin, pain inflicted on our brothers and sisters, on our planet.

Will you be your brothers keeper?

Time to Reflect

There is a possibility to travel back in time so to speak. To look back. To reflect on the flaring up of religious tension yet again. People don't seem ready 55

O SENSEI DOKA I am one with the [natural] universe – and I am nothing else.

to abandon the road of violence that has scarred our history. Strength in numbers seem to be the only criteria needed to rally people together for a cause.

Shout louder and you might even believe in your own righteousness. Be invisible in the crowd, hide in the mob. Set armies marching. Violent forces unleashed. Make war on an unknown enemy, fight a figment of your own imagination. Like men asleep fighting nightmares, their enemy within. There is an other way to reflect as well. A much more personal return. Reflect back on who we are.

"Je suis" became the central response to the horrible terror crimes committed in Paris last week. "I am" in English. Who are you? Without adding the last word to signify your allegiance, can we simply look at ourselves? To the core of our being? Without necessarily being this or that? Reflect, becomes a word with great literal meaning. Look back at your self. Look into your self. Turn your eyes around, look within and not without. Turn your gaze inward.

What do you see? Simply being, unadorned, without gender, race, age nor creed. Simply you. Now where is the need coming from to identify this core being with something? How about leaving it as it is, with no name attached. Simply "I AM". It gives you a neutral outlook, not tainted by opinion or belief. Yet at the same time it allows you a more objective view on your own predicament, your own set of circumstances. It will give you the all-important distance to yourself that you'll need to be able to distinguish one thing from another. We know that by "being

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O SENSEI DOKA You must open your body to the breath of the kami.

caught up in something" makes it harder to see things clearly, to see things in a larger context. Meditation is a kind of reflection. We fall back, into ourselves, and rest. We find peace and clarity. We have turned around. We travel back in time. To a place where we have come from. To a place where everything begins from. This quality is always there.

You only need to reflect and time will stop, giving you a minute to breathe and know that I AM.

Symphony

When I was in Vienna with my opera singing friend, she took me to see the training of young conductors in the auditorium. There was a full student symphony orchestra assembled, all there to accompany the conductor in his work of teaching conducting.

My very gifted friend sang the opera parts to the music piece and I stood by the wall taking it all in. Very overwhelming in its sheer volume. The room was filled with music, instruments, noise, students tuning, texting, talking. Very vibrant and alive young energy. The conductor himself a large man, imposing and with an air of years of accrued self confidence based on knowledge, experience and expertise. A man fully in charge and in control of the chaotic situation. I had been allowed a rare outsiders insight into a thereto unknown world to me. I was in for a lesson.

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O SENSEI DOKA Take a mental stance with the ki of love as your primary mindset. Â This is also training in the mindset of takemusu.

With the tap of his baton all came to a still. Students aligning, getting ready. As the music filled the room, I watched the conductor exerting his influence over the assembly, moving from one side to the other, encouraging, touching, connecting the different parts of the orchestra. He would stop from time to time and give pointers and teachings to the young future conductors as well as reprimanding the different sections of the band of unruly budding philharmonics.

It was like watching a school class in progress, completely fluid and unpredictable. The master conductor would reach out as if stirring pots of food being prepared on a stove, like a chef managing many dishes at once making sure none boil over or left unattended. Stirring, tasting, dishing out. He would move as water from one area to the next without interruption. Fluid and soft he'd wave his conductors baton in perfect harmony, having the whole room in his hand. So attentive, so engaged. I was blown away. So beautiful yet all so precarious. As we came to a close the chaos returned, as if the school bell had rung and all the students scrambled for the door, their chairs pulled out, starting chatting, dissembling their instruments, packing up, off to the next class or whatever.

This had been a revelation to me and I related it to my practice of Aikido, or rather, to me teaching Aikido. Bringing people together to make music. All the individuals having their particular instrument and skill, most of which I personally have no experience with nor knowledge about. Yet the conductors job was to harmonize all present, to blend and to 58

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heighten their abilities. It was a wonder to behold as he felt the music and formed it through his ability to listen, to hear what was needed and aiding it, helping it along, directing and guiding the students through this monumental classical piece of music. Teaching others how not to drop the ball, how to keep all the pots on the fire cooking, simultaneously and in harmony. What a master class. Together we can create a wonderful symphony in the dojo.

Bjorn Saw 2015

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