[Note: I am American, and I originally wrote this for an American audience in time for a July 4 celebration. For an American audience the Declaration of Independence and Thomas Jefferson and so on all have significance, especially on July 4. In respect of my friends who don't share this cultural background I’ve edited out many of those references. Maybe I could totally rewrite this to take out all references, but, I didn’t. It's because of the editing that the footnotes are not sequential. I didn't want to renumber them.] I see four assumptions undergirding aikido, as taught by its founder Morihei Ueshiba: 1) a belief in both natural law and divine law 2) a belief in human equality 3) an endorsement of self-government 4) an assertion of the legitimacy of reasonable force in self-defense I’ll take the first one here: Natural and Divine Law The law of nature is reason itself. It is the set of laws that can be grasped by human reason. There exists certain obligations prescribed for all humans by nature itself, for the very fact that all people share a common world and a common physical makeup. These obligations are natural law. Americans might understand it in terms of their Declaration of Independence. The Declaration begins with the assertion that it was necessary for the colonists "to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them." Asylum with the "powers of the earth" implies that there are powers of the earth to whom the colonists can appeal their case. But under what authority and under what set of laws could an infant nation appeal its case to a global power? An explicit answer is given in the Declaration: "the laws of nature." The Founding Fathers knew that every country on earth would recognize and honor natural law. As Thomas Jefferson, penman of the Declaration, said [1]: “Divine law” is that set of laws given by God, or the gods, in words, but divine law is not necessarily to be seen as something distinct from natural law. As James Wilson, signer of the Declaration, said, "The law of nature and the law of revelation are both Divine: they flow, though in different channels, from the same adorable source. It is indeed preposterous to separate them from each other. The object of both is to discover the will of God and both are necessary for the accomplishment of that end." [4] Ueshiba seemed to have shared this view. As Ueshiba explained [5]: Ueshiba obviously shared Wilson's view of natural law. At a more succinct moment he expressed this same belief by saying, "Aikido is the function of universal harmony expressed through the human body." [6] According to one scholar he also taught that his aikido was a means of propagating divine teachings [7]: More simply, Ueshiba's teaching was that an aikidoist should, "Defeat [his] adversaries spiritually by making them realize the folly of their actions." [8] His art form was firmly rooted upon divine law.. And just as George Washington believed that a lack of virtue brings down a nation (read his “Farewell Address”), so did Ueshiba believe that a lack of virtue brings down a person. "The Art of Peace [his name for aikido] is the principle of nonresistance," he said. "Because it is nonresistant, it is victorious from the beginning. Those with evil intentions or contentious thoughts are instantly vanquished. The Art of Peace is invincible because it contends with nothing." [9] And elsewhere he said, "There are no contests in the Art of Peace. A true warrior is invincible because he or she contests with nothing. `Defeat' means to defeat the mind of contention that we harbor within." [10] Ueshiba was saying that evil intentions and contentious thoughts are the downfall of humanity. Evil intentions lead only to self defeat. Therefore, according to Ueshiba, one must clear his heart of evil intentions if he is to lead a peaceful life. Political peace is often the primary concern of national leaders today, but social peace was the primary concern of Ueshiba. and he seems to have seen aikido a vehicle for infusing both religion and morality into human beings for the purpose of fostering peace. "The Art of Peace," Ueshiba said, "is medicine for a sick world. There is evil and disorder in the world because people have forgotten that all things emanate from one source. Return to that source and leave behind all self-centered thoughts, petty desires, and anger. Those who are possessed by nothing possess everything." [13] The stated purpose of aikido was to bring the practitioner into harmony with the One Source as a stepping stone to social harmony. "Essentially, it is the merging of an individual will with that of the universal spirit," explained William Gleason in his book on aikido. "The individual being is so closely united with the spirit of creation that every thought and feeling is like an echo, an immediate response to the will of God. ... As such it is `inori,' a moving form of prayer." [14] That is an obvious appeal to divine law and natural law. [Continues here with principle #2.] footnotes: [1] Thomas Jefferson, http://www.founding.com/library/lbody.cfm?id=171&parent=57, Letter to Major John Cartwright on June 5, 1824. [4] James Wilson, "The Works of the Honourable James Wilson," Bird Wilson, editor (Philadelphia: Lorenzo Press, 1804), Vol. 1, p. 137-138, "Of the Law of Nature." [5] William Gleason, "The Spiritual Foundations of Aikido," (Rochester, Vermont: Destiny Books, 1995), p. 19. [6] Gleason, p. 20. [7] John Stevens, "The Secrets of Aikido," (Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1995), p. 28-29. [8] Stevens, "The Secrets of Aikido," p. 28. [9] John Stevens, "The Art of Peace," (Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1992), p. 62 [10] Stevens, "The Art of Peace," pg. 63. [13] Stevens, "The Art of Peace," p. 16. [14] Gleason, p. 17.
Very well written Mac, nice piece of work. I think you'll probably guess that I don't altogether share your opinion in respect of "Divine Law" and Aikido I'll try to explain my position on this point. O-Sensei was a remarkable man, there's no doubting his ability and deep philosophical thinking connecting his Budo and ideology as a single entity however; I do not feel the study of the principles behind "AIKI" have anything directly to do with religion, [ANY RELIGION] God, or any aspect of religious practice. It is a sad reflection upon religion (moreover its believers) that wherever you find religious practice you will find conflict with other religious groups. *If* what you wrote is true, and I can see logic in what you've written; then Aiki"do" is not and never has been a fighting art, a martial discipline or indeed a form of Budo, I see Aikido in those terms, as a moving, physical form of generic religious belief, a gendai source of unification for the world and nothing more. As Gleason said... "... As such it is `inori,' a moving form of prayer" This, in its self will be a subjective topic, I'm sure religious leaders throughout the world (including Japan) would vehemently argue the need for such a practice as each of their own respective religions will set out their specific devine laws. Indeed to quote from your post Religious (Devine Study) practice has always governed belief, morals, and physical activity through a given set of rules, commandments or any other such "laws" found in their respective documents and holey teachings, if what the founder said is true, then unless we subscribe specifically to his set of ideological beliefs we cannot understand what underpins Aikido as a discipline. I do not find that to be the case at all. Indeed I see the opportunities for people to entirely misrepresent the founder's own beliefs through perverse interpretation. And we've already seen what extremitism in religion can do. It is my own opinion that the ideology and philosophies of the founder may attract a particular type of person to the discipline, these people are specifically "looking" for something and the, so called, spiritual nature (whatever that is) of the art seems to capture their imagination. I see no problem with that as a motive for study however; I do see a serious issue when it comes to the eventual transmission of skills learned by those people to others. The issue I'm referring to is that of motive. First and foremost I see Aikido as a martial discipline, this discipline carries a specific ideology (which I don't altogether disagree with) of conflict resolution without violence and, a unification of man, the problem of course is that there is no single accepted methodology in the philosophies held by the founder, they were never specifically taught to the majority of his students who, were not required to follow the founder's footsteps in the Omoto-kyo religion simply to understand Aikido. People who place too much emphasis on philosophical aspects of the art will, in my opinion detract from the physical aspects of the discipline, eventually what should be a martial study will become nothing more than a series of purely co-operative forms simply to give reason for a group of people to 'practice' their ideological beliefs, indeed their "moving prayers" together. As an individual expressing his own opinion, if that is what Aikido really is or is likely to become, then I would quit without hesitation. But the exercising of ideological aspects held by the founder doesn't require the specific practice of Aikido. Love, Compassion, Humility, Ai, Ki (and Kokyu) existed long before the founder ever walked the earth and, they exist in every form of religious practice. I don't see the need to directly or overtly associate religion or any set of "Divine Laws" with the practice of Aikido as a martial art. I do however see the very real need for family value and the worth of tuition in moral value and substance from within the family circle, something which is sadly missing in a large cross section of the community, especially young adults of today who don't value themselves let alone value anyone else or any thing in particular. Within my own dojo I have Christian, Catholic, Muslim and Hindu faiths; I strongly feel it would be entirely inappropriate and unwise to insist that each student follows the specific ideological, philosophical or religious belief in order that they may eventually understand what underpins Aikido. They should be free to infuse their own values in to their study, if they echo what the founder held, great ! If we discuss resolving conflict without resorting to excessive violence or, unification of man through the practice of the art then yes, I agree and support and express those important universally true values through the teaching of Aikido however, I do not see a need to excessively include any aspect of religious influence. Kind and seasonal regards
Nice job aikiMac. I particularly like that you included the quote about manifest, hidden, and divine. This is the same line of thought that I use with the tip of the iceberg anology. Manifest is the tip of the iceberg (or the visible part of an iceberg above water), hidden is the part of the iceberg that is under the water. Divine is in the creation of it all. But I digress. Back on topic... to look at the writings of Ueshiba, I believe people tend to put too much emphasis on the path than the end result. IMHO, what Ueshiba writes is more about end result, the goal. However, the path to get there is never perfect nor is it predictable or the same in all. When one starts with the manifest, a technique may work because of biomechanics. Pressure points may only work some of the time, or even if most of the time, it isn't true that they work all the time. However, proper biomechanics will aways work given they are setup properly and the technique executed correctly and not countered. From the view point of the hidden, biomechanics do not always work. Hidden factors such as timing and energy can disrupt the flow and complicate matters thought to be simple truths in the manifest world. So something can be true in the manifest world but not true in the hidden world, and conversely, to add to this, I will say something can be true in the hidden world but false in the manifest world. For instance, you may be physically weaker than the other and should lose in the manifest world, but you might be stronger internally and win through force of will. These conflicting points of view can lead to internal conflicts. Internal conflicts, lack of purpose, affects you ability to function in both the manifest and in the hidden worlds. Internal conflicts affect all. IMHO, Ueshiba's writings were to help a person to develop the tools needed to reach the end. However, a don't believe his writings were those tools. I don't agree that Ueshiba's writings were intended to be the path and the only path. Like I said, the path is never perfect or the same, but the end result could be a shared view.
I too would disagree that his writings, or more properly the specific teachings therein, are the only path. I strongly disagree with many of his religious beliefs, but I have been able to translate his beliefs into the language of my own religion, and thereby incorporate his teachings into my own life. Different path, yes, but I like to think that someday I'll "share his view."
