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Ruth McWilliam wrote:
I do not agree that Aikido is violent, as the intent is to NOT injure or damage the attacker.
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Variation on a theme: Self-defense in aikido is the enemy's self. The purpose is to prevent the opponent from soiling his KARMA (Saotome, The Lotus Sutra, McFarlane (below). If you have to break his arm, indeed his neck, to do this, it is still within the aikido ethic:
"Some texts use ethical or karmic dilemmas to illustrate the notion of skillful means and its ethical adaptability. The Ta ch'eng fang pien hui k;583@@ (Skillful means in the Maha- yana) in the Chinese Maharatnakata collection describes how the Buddha, in a previous life, kills a bandit with a spear to save five hundred traders, and to save the man from the consequences of his intended actions (T 310, 11.604~; see CHANG 1983, pp. 456-57). The same text uses the vivid image of concealed sword mastery (used to protect a caravan of traders) as an illustration of the bodhi- sattva's use of skillful means and the "sword of wisdom" (T 310, 11.597b; see CHANG 1983, pp. 435-36).2 The Mahayana Maha- parinirvd?za-satra offers some even more extreme cases. The Buddha in a previous life kills some Brahmins who defame the Dharma, to save them from a worse fate in hell. Earlier, the same stitra approves the principle of taking up arms in defense of the Dharma (T 374, 12.459a460b & 383b-384a; see also DEMIEVILLE 1973, pp. 292-98).
From Mushin, Morals, and Martial Arts- A Discussion of Keenan's YogZicara Critique -
Stewart MCFARLANE, p. 13,
http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/.../jjrs/jjrs.htm)