Thread: Cheap Aikido
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Old 09-13-2002, 12:01 PM   #3
Erik
Location: Bay Area
Join Date: Jun 2000
Posts: 1,200
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Re: Cheap Aikido

Quote:
() wrote:
But, do you think aikido, overall, has a feeling of it being TOO cheap?
Yes!
Quote:
If you take a look in other fields, people with comparable experience like 40 years receive a much larger compensation. Noted professors giving a one hour lecture receives how many tens of thousands of dollars? I'm sure people have also seen taiji seminars running hundreds of dollars for a weekend.
So do pro athletes who know nothing about nothing.
Quote:
Why does aikido have this cheap feeling to it? Why does it seem like the aikido cmuunity has this general feeling that it's wrong for aikido teachers to charge enough to make a living off or even a profit from teaching the art?
Because we are enlightened spiritual beings and we have transcended the need to degrade ourselves by accepting or giving money. We are really living in Star Trek time but the world has not caught up with us yet.

Also, I think this comes somewhat from Ueshiba himself. He didn't take money because it messed up his spiritual attunement or something like that. Of course, that meant his wife had to go around and collect the money/donations which to my understanding she did like a dutiful Japanese wife should.

Dry, sarcastic humor aside, Ueshiba was getting paid to my understanding. It just wasn't obvious to us outside of the culture and didn't necessarily show up in so obvious a way as monthly dues. I think a little bit of the problem here is attempting to merge different cultures without understanding both cultures.

Of course some people just want to share their art and that's also fine.
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