Quote:
|
John Matsushima wrote:
Hello Erick, Happy Holidays! I noticed that you made a few references here and there regarding the role of the character "ju". Could you please tell me where these references come from? Where did you hear that Ueshiba once called his art "jujido". I never heard of these things before. I would appreciate it as well if you could point me in the right direction as to where I could find information regarding Ueshiba's thoughts on Christianity. Thanks!
|
I hope you had a Merry Christmas and good New Year, as well!
The quotes above regarding "ju" and "jujido" on the "cross of aiki" and "way of the cross" of aiki come from Seiseki Abe Shihan's edition of the Doka contained in the 1936 edition of Budo Renshu, available online here:
http://www.aikidofaq.com/doka.html;
also here in Pranin's AJ version, but some different Doka were included and others not :
http://www.aikidojournal.com/article.php?articleID=603.
In the Aikido Journal version they are numbered. The Doka quoted first was No. 49 in that set . No. 2 in the AJ set also makes reference to the "Cross of Aiki," but that one is different from the second one I quoted from Aikido FAQ.
Another Doka in the Aikido FAQ set references what Christians would understand as the nature of the Divine Word (kotodama) in terms that are similarly cognate with our theology:
Quote:
|
Shining and echoing is the kotodama
An honored form of the Holy Parent
That single, spiritual origin (of all that is)
|
The Nicene Creed also explains that Christ, "the Divine Word" is "one in being with the Father." As quoted earlier (See
http://www.aikidojournal.com/article.php?articleID=2) O Sensei ascribed SU to the Divine Logos of the Gospel of John. The Dobun of O Sensei reported by Takaoka Shihan (
http://www.aikidofaq.com/dobun.html )also speaks specifically of the root kotodama ("word spirit") "SU" as being "born" rather than made. That is a key element of the Nicene Creed "begotten not made."
The Dobun also says that in the course of creation, that the "work" of the root kotodama "SU" "is the origin of spirit as well as substance." The Creed says of Christ that "through him all things were made," and speaks of the maker of "all that is, seen and unseen."
One other parallel from the Dobun is of interest in this regard:
Quote:
|
O Sensei wrote:
Takamagahara (high planes of heaven) represents the universe. It teaches us what the law and order of the universe 'hould be and how the gods reside within it. Everyone's family represents Takamagahara and each individual has Takamagahara within him\herself.
|
Jesus said: "The Kingdom of Heaven is within/among you." The ambiguity of the Greek preposition
entos -- "within/among" has been variously translated both ways in interpretations of the Gospel.
O Sensei uses both senses to say the same essential thing.
Trinitarian elements of Creation cognate to those of Christian teaching are present in O Sensei's discussion of the Musubi ("creation") trinity of Ame no Minakanushi no Kami, Takami Musubi no Kami and Kami Musubi no Kami.
Quote:
|
O Sensei Taemusu Aiki Lectures wrote:
Aikido is also the working of the five voices—A-O-U-E-I. This is closely related to the combination of nigen (two origins), water and fire. In Shinto, they are the two deities, Takami Musubi and Kami Musubi. The world was built through the actions of the flow of these two deities.
|
See
http://www.aikidojournal.com/article.php?articleID=638
And also
http://www.aikidojournal.com/article.php?articleID=636
And again from the Doka:
Quote:
|
O Sensei wrote:
The Pine, the Bamboo, and the Plum
The make up of Ki that we are training to purify
From where do they arise?
The Water and Fire of the change in the self.
|
John the Baptist, in Matthew (3:11) said that ""I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."
These parallels are not merely Western speculations, but the same observations of Shinto have been made natively in Japan. Hirata Atsutane's work in the revival of Shinto in the Kokugaku, has long been suspected of being influenced by some Christian ideas, especially in his exposition of the Kojiki, and focussing on Ame no Minakanushi no Kami.
http://www2.kokugakuin.ac.jp/ijcc/wp...mi/sasaki.html
Motoori Norinaga, another Kokugaku scholar, (and arguing the other side of things, it should be said) has objected to the kami of Shinto being given rank in order of appearance vice relation to the governing Imperial family. Basically, this was because "then the possibility exists that all kami might converge into monotheism." See citation above. Since the express purpose of the Kokugaku scholarship in reviving Shinto was to bolster the presumed status of the Emperor, the question may fairly be raised as to which possible ranking of the kami is the more balanced from the original standpoint of the writers of the Kojiki as opposed to the expressly political purposes of the Kokugaku.
There is great deal of commonality in the Japanese sources for the ideas of spiritualtiy expressed by O Sensei both in relation to Aikido (and in a larger context) with Western religious teaching that is extremely fruitful to consider, on both sides.