Doka and thoughts on Love
Here is the doka:
愛 [あい: AI] love, affection. の 喜び [よろこび: YOROKOBI] joy, delight, rapture, pleasure, gratification, rejoicing, congratulations, felicitations. の 道 [どう: DOU] (1) (abbr) road, (2) way, (3) Buddhist teachings, (4) Taoism, (5) modern administrative region of Japan (Hokkaido), (6) historical administrative region of Japan (Tokaido, Tosando, etc.), (7) province (Tang-era administrative region of China), (8) province (modern administrative region of Korea) 顯 (頁) ケン, あきらか, あらわ.れる manifest, display, evident, clear 靈 (雨) レイ, リョウ, たま soul, spirit 神 [かみ: KAMI] god, deity, divinity, spirit, kami. It reads: Ai (Love) no Ki (Joy) no Do (Way) Gen (Manifest), Rei (Spirit), Shin (God) It is a Doka written by O-sensei and also one of two Doka written for me by Shirata Rinjiro sensei on the first day I met him. I often contemplate the two Doka (the other being, Masa Katsu A Katsu, Aikido) because I feel that, not knowing that we would have a 7 year relationship, Shirata sensei wrote down the essence of what he knew about Aikido so that I might have it "up front." This is in keeping with the pedagogical structure I learned form him which was: Give them everything immediately and then lead them to discover all that they have been given. With the above in mind, please allow me to share the following . . . I enjoy reading, "Listening to Your LIfe, Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner" Today's entry seems relevant: "Love * September 10 The First Stage is to believe that there is only one kind of love. The middle stage is to believe that there are many kinds of love and that the Greeks had a different word for each of them. the last stage is to believe that there is only one kind of love. The unabashed eros of lovers, the sympathetic phila of friends, agape giving itself away freely no less for the murderer than for his victim (the King James version translates it as charity) - these are all varied manifestations of a single reality. To lose yourself in another's arms, or in another's company or in suffering for all men who suffer, including the ones who inflict suffering upon you - to lose yourself in such ways is to find yourself. Is what it's all about. Is what love is. Of all powers, love is the most powerful and the most powerless. It is the most powerful because it alone can conquer the final and most impregnable stronghold which is the human heart. It is the most powerless because it can do nothing except by consent. To say that love is God is romantic idealism. To say that God is love is either the last straw or the ultimate truth. In the Christian sense, love is not primarily and emotion but and act of the will. When Jesus tells us to love our neighbors, he is not telling us to love them in the sense of responding to them with a cozy emotional feeling. You can as well produce a cozy emotional feeling on demand as you can a yawn or a sneeze. On the contrary, he is telling us to love our neighbors in the sense of being willing to work for their well-being even if it means sacrificing our own well-being to that end, even if it means sometimes just leaving them alone. Thus in Jesus' terms we can love our neighbors without necessarily liking them. In fact liking them may stand in the way of loving them by making us overprotective sentimentalists instead of reasonably honest friends. When Jesus talked to the Pharisees, he didn't say, "There, there. Everything's going to be all right." He said, "You brood of vipers! How can you speak good when you are evil!" (Matthew 12:34). And he said that to them because he loved them. This does not mean that liking may not be a part of loving, only that it doesn't have to be. Sometimes liking follows on the heels of loving. It is hard to work for somebody's well-being very long without coming in the end to rather like him too." With Love and Joy from a fellow traveler, Allen |
Re: Doka and thoughts on Love
Hello Allen,
Some questions: Did you know Shirata Sensei well enough to discuss Omoto with him? It is stated somewhere that Shirata Sensei's family were Omoto 'believers', but I do not fully understand the force of the term 'believer' here. Did he himself have any kind of Omoto creed? So, to what extent was the doka an expression of 'Omoto' doctrine? Did Shirata Sensei ever discuss the meaning of the Masa katsu phrase? As you know, the phrase is the first part of a deity's name, the deity created during his oath-swearing operation between Take Haya Susa no O no mikoto and Ama terasu O mikami. As such the name is quite straightforward, but the most common English translation reduces the meaning to controlling oneself. Is there any specific Omoto usage of this name? Did Shirata Sensei ever use kotodama-gaku (of the sort that appears in Takemusu Aiki) to interpret the name? Best wishes, PAG |
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I am unaware of Shirata Sensei maintaining Omoto organizational connections as an adult. I had the impression that Shirata Sensei as like a kid raised in a fundamentalist household. Due to his upbringing he was well aware of nature/functions of the "Fundamentalist Church," had much of the "Fundamentalist Church Doctrine" indelibly imprinted on his memory, and while maintaining beliefs that have some relationship with his childhood, as an adult he was no longer a member of the "Fundamentalist Church." I know for a fact that Shirata Sensei visited Hagurozan regularly and practiced, and taught Yamabushi no Gyo. This was the only overt religious teaching that I witnessed Shirata sensei passing on, and he did so in a characteristically crystal clear fashion. BTW, post Meiji Era the Yamabushi on Hagurozan were forced to divide into Buddist and Shinto factions. The methodology that Shirata sensei taught was of the Shinto variety. I had the pleasure of having a conversation over tea with the head of that lineage after Shirata sensei's death. I believe that Shirata sensei was was given a Tendai funeral and burial, so there might be a familial Yamadera connection as well. So, it was my impression that Shirata sensei was characteristically eclectic. I do know that Shirata sensei considered O-sensei to be a Kami incarnate. It was clear that he felt this at a strong emotional level. However, it would be a mistake for some to interpret this as Shirata sensei believing that, "God was made flesh and dwelt among us as Ueshiba Morihei." He may very well have believed this to some degree, but I strongly suspect that he had a uniquely Japanese way of understanding this. Clearly he recognized O-sensei as a human being, but I think he also recognized "the divine" through O-sensei and therefore O-sensei was "divine" or participated "in the divine" to some degree. I suspect that this understanding was highly personal for Shirata Sensei. I also suspect that my understanding is limited by my Judeo/Christian upbringing and Buddhist education/immersion. Quote:
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I do not recall ever "doing" Kotodama with Shirata sensei (outside of the aforementioned Hagurozan Yamabushi no Gyo.) I was rather surprised to see the ‘practice of Kotodama' being promoted when I had never participated in such practice with Shirata sensei. [That isn't to say it couldn't have happened. I wasn't around a good deal of the time! I just don't recall it in 7 years.] Consequently I do not make that part of practice, rather choosing to continue what I was taught directly and participated in practicing in common with others of sensei's students. Of course, as I indicated earlier, during the time I knew Shirata sensei I was restricted by my lack of language ability and time. There are others for which language (and dialect) posed no problem and who had time and access. I suppose the only limitation then would be self-imposed . . . either cultural, preconception, or lack of interest. Quote:
There is one thing though . . . I was told that Shirata sensei kept extensive notes organizing his understandings of Aikido. Wouldn't THAT be interesting to take a look at??????!!!!! Kind Regards, Allen |
Re: Doka and thoughts on Love
Oh, one more thing . . .
The Doka which was the subject of my original post was written in the Kanji that I posted. So I'm not doing any fancy Kotodama-gaku transformation. If Kotodama-gaku was used, it was used by either Shirata sensei or Ueshiba sensei. Obviously word play is being used which is a characteristic of Kotodama-gaku. Just for for the sake of clarity. Cheers, Allen |
Re: Doka and thoughts on Love
Good morning Allen,
Many thanks for your detailed and thoughtful responses to my questions. Which were reassuring, in the sense that they have not changed my own ideas about O Sensei and Omoto. I would add that I do not believe that the kanji used was kotodama gaku. If it was, then it follows that any kind of typical Japanese wordplay is also kotodama-gaku. I thinks this strains credulity more than the usual kotodama-gaku theories, such as you can kind in Deguchi's writings. Best wishes, PAG PS. Have you ever come across the writings of Anders Nygren (I think that is how you spell it) and Denis de Rougement.? |
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Best wishes and words, Allen |
Re: Doka and thoughts on Love
Hello Allen,
The books fit in with the title of the thread. Nygren wrote a massive text on Eros and Agape and de Rougement wrote a book called Love in the West (I think). When I was an SJ, I worked through a work by one of my senior colleagues, a book called The Mind and Heart of Love, by Martin C D'Arcy. Best wishes, PAG |
Re: Doka and thoughts on Love
Beebe sensei,
Thanks for sharing this good post! Ting |
Re: Doka and thoughts on Love
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Thank you for the kind response. (BTW, no need for honorifics on my behalf.) Sincerely, Allen |
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Just to put my original post into context, I had just read the Frederick Buechner "meditation" for the day (September 10th) as I have for several months now. It brought to mind the Doka I referred to in my original post. Serendipitously it being the eve before the 10th anniversary of "9/11," the convergence of thought streams seemed somehow "relevant" and I thought others might also enjoy contemplating both the Doka and the Buechner quote. That was my motivation for posting, nothing more. Will you be soon further elucidating your views on O-sensei and Omoto? You've spoiled me you know. Kind regards, Allen |
Re: Doka and thoughts on Love
Hello Allen,
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PAG |
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