The recent post by izumizu on this thread was made before he was warned by CosmicFish. So we'll consider it dealt with. Pay less attention to it and it will go away.
-- Yes, ki does exist in every human, it also exists in trees and animals as well. Yes, the concept of ki exist in many societies / cultures. For instance in Hawaii it is called mana. Other words for it include prana, orgone...but specifically relating to aikido, it is a vital energy that is cultivated through training. I don't know about you, but I prefer to talk martial arts when I am not training in them and instead find myself sitting in front of the keyboard. For me I find it a continuation of my training, and an enriching experience.
which means that you can really manipulate ki to KO opponents by cutting the ki flow into their brain, preventing them from absorbing ki, or expelling your own into their nose really fast, respectively :evil:
I'll tell you a thing or two about ki. - Half the worlds population have the ability to exert ki. - It it is an unbelievable force of energy, the kind that almost makes you black out. - it can be exerted on will but not spontaneously, it must be worked, the more packing the stronger. It does not come from one place, like the hara, the mind or the heart, but all of them. It starts in the mind, continues through the heart, drives through the hara and ends in force out between your legs.
I consider ki as good fighting spirit. Anyone with good fighting spirit has good ki. Often when we were exhausted during training we would be told "ki up" and made to continue.
Nahh, the ninjas and their black tights showing of equipment. Everyone know that the black suited distorted fellas have teeni-weeni ki's. What I talk about is the masculine ki that the women likes.
I know this is probably completly wrong, but I always thought of ki as "Flow" as in, the result of a body working the right way. An example would be a karate punch, a punch without ki would just be a punch by extending the arm, but a punch with a rotation of the torso, pulling back of the otehr hand quickly to add momentum to it, throwing the weight forward behind the punch with your legs and staightening the back leg as a buttress so the recoil of the force goes down the arm, then the leg and into the ground so your body doesnt feel it as much....would be a punch with ki, because the movement or flow of the body is incorparated into the technique. thats how i thought tai chi worked fighting wise, by useing body mechanics knowledge and physics to produce powerfull blows and attack weakness in the same mechanics in others. Also I like the quote from angry white pajamas where the guy asks what ki is and the guy goes to the locker, takes out a key and hands it to him and says "this is ki, here have some ki, it is good ki"
Nah, the arm punch would just be an example of an expresion of crappy ch'i.A punch w/proper mechanics/structure would be an example of a good expression of ch'i,punchingwise.Oh,you wasted ch'i by bothering to pull the non punching arm back rather than just letting it turn w/the body's rotation.Despite all the "tearing silk" anaologies which really only apply if you're pulling someone into the strike. Does any system not use proper mechanics-(according to the dictates of the system)- and applied physics?TC is no different than anything else in that regard. Nice to see at least one author is aware of the ki of the locksmith,an ancient tradition pre-dating all existing martial systems.
Here are a couple of O sensei quotes relating to ki. These have been taken from his talks/poems, and can be found by doing a search on the internet, or in his book "The Art of Peace," translated by John Stevens. I place these on here as a reference, and also to ask for others interpretations of what O sensie is saying (or how it might be same/different from how we describe it), and how it might apply to aikido as we practice it. Thanks in advance for your replys: In our techniques we enter completely into, blend totally with, and control firmly an attack. Strength resides where one's ki is concentrated and stable; confusion and maliciousness arise when ki stagnates. There are two type of ki: ordinary ki and true ki. Ordinary ki is coarse and heavy; true ki is light and versatile. In order to perform well, you have to liberate yourself from ordinary ki and permeate your organs with true ki. That is the basis of powerful technique.
Anyone who was involved in studying Aikido will know that Ueshiba and most of the original aikido masters ALL wrote against what John Stevens wrote about aikido. I trained with him once and he was a poet NOT a martial artist.Posing around in utterly ineffective poses. Read any of Goto Shioda or Saito shihan,s books. I cannot believe that anyone who trains in aikido as a martial art should find his books to be of any value at all.
Actually izumizu, how do you interpret the above statements? As for John Stevens, my Aikido instructor had trained under Stevens Sensei at some point. I hold him in high regard... however, I have been told by some authorities that his translations were not always correct in context. Perhaps that is meaning, that a translation sometimes is only as good as knowing the context in which the original statements were made. I would imagine that many quotes were made outside of Aikido class as during class the talking was probably minimal. Maybe some good talking over tea or sake. I don't know.
Actually many of the original aikido shihans camplained to Mr Steven for his religious taking of aikido and complained of his use of it in his books. Demanding that he stopped making statements about O Sensei without first speaking to the Ueshiba family. He also wrote a book about O Sensei's life again to receive serious complaints from the Ueshiba family. The seminar I attended with him in Ediburgh..I had to take over many of the students and teach them techniques while he rambled on about spiritual principles. Second class I had most of the students and he was happy to speak to a handfull.
It's not wrong. It's entirely correct. That is to say it's an entirely acceptable use of the word ki. And in fact this is likely one of the most common ways the word ki is used in martial arts. And that is the problem with terms like ki. They are very ambiguous and open to interpretation. The exact meaning depends entirely on the context. Which in turn leaves westerners with limited exposure to the Japanese language vulnerable to being duped.
I have a copy of "Abundant Peace". It's a terrible read. It sets O Sensei up as some sort of mystical cult leader. It includes such jems as the infamous ninja teleportation story. Frankly you'd be better off reading "Angry White Pyjamas". Avoid anything written by John Stevens.
i like the "art of peace" from purely a pep-talk perspective...and i'm paraphrasing of course... "hey you can do it, just make sure to integrate yourself with heaven and earth" or better yet "get a good stance and jack 'em in the head" "some crikey badass is coming for you? don't worry, merely bath yourself in the warm glow of energy" or better yet "run like hell" so i think that stuff is kind of an interesting read, you know, metaphors on how to handle yourself. but once he gets into the "bathing in light" and "heaven" stuff, then my eyes roll over a bit.
