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valjean · 10-19-2011, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Alberto Italiano wrote:

well said - as a matter of fact, though you proposed it somewhat humorously, it is so well said that it should be taken utterly seriously.

I have no idea how aiki could be. But I have some background with philosophy (which to me has always been something dramatically practical, and not speculative): the day we get "aiki", and if we get it, it will be unmistakable.

I am unsure whether it has to do with meditation or pranayama - I'd cast my two cents on the latter, for a bet.

We call it aiki, in fact: but it is not something that belongs to aikido or that aikido invented, but only something that aikido renamed. Actually, it is immemorial, existed already for Patanjali, and has been called the Tao, the Atman, the Illumination and in many other ways - perhaps we should remind that sentence by Eugen Herrigel (I quote by heart) «Since immemorial times, at the door of the dojos where the sword was practiced, was shown this sign: "Place of the Enlightenment"».

You can arrive at "aiki" with the sword, or with aikido, or as a monks with prayers & meditation or with ascetic exercises. It is afforded to very few.

If you find it, you won't need any training anymore. Techniques would flow out of your hands tapping directly from that mental storehouse where they have been residing since ever, as the obvious and most proper reactions to any type of incoming action.

If you get aiki, you will be tumbling tigers with a buff. All your nadis will be responsive, Ida and Pingala both fully cleared, and throughout your body will flow such an enormous and terrifying amount of energy, thet you will only need to move a finger in order to get the strongest physical effects. Which, by the way, is what I argue and suppose was truly meant when it was said: you need to use only a minimal amount of Force.

Of Force. Not of force. Of the latter, you always need much.

If I think of that, it makes me crazy. As Plato would say, we already know the true effective aikido - only, we have forgotten it.

And, of course, when you have aiki, you will not speak of it anymore - which is why I do so much lol.

I'm not sure that any of those earlier references (Plato, Herrigel, etc.) really capture what "aiki" is supposed to be. Different folks have different opinions, I guess. Ledyard Sensei has written some posts on this that seem pretty good to me. For what it's worth, my sense is that "aiki" has a different meaning than "enlightenment," or than the generic, zen-based mastery of mind/body fusion that masters of many martial arts achieve. I studied briefly over the years with karate and kung fu teachers who clearly were very skilled in their arts, seemed like enlightened people, and also seemed to me to have well developed "ki" (whatever that means). But I still don't think that's the same thing as "aiki."

My loose sense is that aiki isn't just about spirituality, or zen-mastery, or high-level practice of a martial art. Rather, aiki somehow combines the whole zen-mastery thing with physical blending, and with being able to respond to an aggressive attack without force-on-force deflection, but in a way that amplifies and reshapes attacker's motion and momentum into a profound loss of balance. I certainly don't have this kind of "aiki," and probably never will (although I still feel physically that I move more gracefully through my activities of daily life when I train).

But does "aiki" exist? I've seen a few people who embody it (to some degree), and who can respond to real world attacks in ways that I can't. It's not magic or "the Force." It probably does involve a level of skill equivalent to what a concert pianist does with his or her musical instrument. Does "aiki" work in actual combat? Like virtually anything else, the answer almost certainly is, sometimes. It depends. Moreso for some than for others.