Misogi and the wonder of beer

Hope the title has caught your attention. Not sure whether this should be in the Humor or in the Spiritual sections

The Beer Talk is a group of professionals comprise lawyers, marketing consultants, accountant, teacher and yes, of course, and instructor/writer wannabes. We range in age from 40s through 60s, we are kyu ranked and yudansha and from various parts of Malaysia and styles of aikido. What we have in common is a love for budo and beer that keeps it an integral part of our busy lives, both curiosities about and a commonsense approach to life and aikido. The group travels extensively across South-east Asia tasting the various brands of aikido and beers. The Beer Talk is anything and everything about aikido after class…

The following dialog (in the Malaysianized English accent) never took place ...well, not exactly

Diyaba (handing-over a magazine to Jiru): Dey Jiru, before you start on the beer, I want you to read the article written by your former sensei in his dojo's annual magazine. Jiru: Where and how did you get this? You are not a member of the dojo. Diyaba: You won't believe this. You know that shodoin from Hombu dojo whom we befriended at the last IAF seminar in Tokyo; that fellow from the International Department. He sent it to me. This is Doshu's copy. Jiru: Come on, man! You are pulling my legs. Diyaba: You guys are always complaining that I'm too serious. Have I ever pulled your legs before? Lingam: The only guy doing the legs pulling is me. But this time they took me seriously-lah and put me before the Royal Inquiry (Malaysia's version of a Grand Jury). Bernie: That's because you thought you were a great marketing guru and try to sell our judicially. Jiru: Never mind. Let Diyaba continues. Diyaba: I emailed that shidoin to ask him why he had sent the magazine to me. He replied that upon being told about the origin of the magazine, Doshu didn't even want to see it and instructed that it be sent back to the sender. The fellow thought that it would be hustle explaining the return and decided to send it to me instead. Apparently, this was not the only copy sent to Hombu. A few other dojo in Japan also received copies. Jiru: So, apparently Doshu still remembers the article that Rama wrote years ago. Bernie: The article that infuriated Doshu and got shihan into trouble with Hombu? Diyaba: Yup! This time, again another controversial article… Jiru: This one - "HELLO!, are you an aikido teacher?" Bernie (grapping the magazine from Jiru): Let me read that. Lingam: Let's drink first while he reads-lah. Cheer mates. Minutes later... Bernie (passing the magazine back to Jiru): This fellow, Rama, is an arrogant SOB and an a**hole. Lingam: Dey! What's he talking about? Bernie: In his article, he has characterized and criticized almost every instructor in the country except himself of course. Diyaba: I do not know Rama and I have never trained with him before but I have trained with all his contemporaries and past teachers and I can put a name or two behind every character he described in his article. I am sure I am not the only one who will be able to do that. Bernie: Well, the "Video teacher" refers to both Lingam's and Jiru's current sensei and we don't have to double guess the primary person he targeted in his article. Diyaba: Hey Jiru. This is your ex-sensei and good friend. You know him well. So, what motivates him to write all these stuffs? He has grievances with his fellow instructors at the Y dojo. But all these guys have since resigned from the Y and that left him solely as the dojo-cho. Why is he still holding grudges against them? Everyone looked at Jiru who was now in deep thought after reading the article. Iswaran, who had been quiet all this while, then took the magazine from Jiru's hand. Bernie: Ya, what's with him? Why is he posting all these negativities about shihan in his website? He did the same about the ex-instructors at the Y dojo. Doshu was infuriated by his last article and Hombu made shihan responsible for the published article. Shihan tried to help him out but... Diyaba: All you guys here should understand him better… he is your fellow lawyer. Bernie: Dey! Don't insult us lawyers-lah. Diyaba: I meant you are guys are intellects. You should have better judgment about your conduct in public… knowing what to say or write and what not to. The exception here is Lingam of course. Everyone laughed out loud. Jiru (breaking his silence): Actually, Rama is a pretty good teacher. I am serious, he is indeed. He is not like anyone he'd described in his article. Bernie: That was precisely what I said-lah. Diyaba: I have never seen with him trained. Tell me, how good is he? Jiru: Technically, he is good. Perhaps because he has the height and built like Steven Seagal. Your M sensei is tall but Rama is even taller. He is not a performer teacher; he actually takes the trouble to show us what a right technique is and what a wrong technique is. He is concerned about our learning process. Diyaba: If that's the case, why did you left the Y? Your current sensei, as Rama noted and everyone here knows, is the best video performer but a lousy teacher. Lingam: That's your personal opinion. Not every ones. Okay? Jiru: I guess after a while I became bored with the same techniques. I can never be bored with T sensei. Man, he is awesome. Lingam: Dey Diyaba. Keep your opinion to yourself. Don't ever criticize our sensei in our faces again. Diyaba: Hey bro. Relax-lah. This is the beer talking. I will criticize him in your back next time (LOL) Iswaran: Back to this fellow, Rama. I don't think he is a good teacher as Jiru said he is. Like Diyaba, I have never trained with him too. The criteria of a good teacher as far as I'm concerned should be the same both on the mats and off the mats. After all, O sensei said Aikido is misogi. Lingam: What is misogi? Iswaran: Misogi is the process of self-purification. Lingam: WHAT? This is too deep for me. Diyaba: Reflect on ones action and to seek perfection of ones character. Stupid!! Jiru: Hey, hey!! No names calling among brothers. Diyaba: Sorry, sorry, sorry!! Beer-lah not me doing the calling (LOL) we have finished one crate of beers so far… And, after more beers.. Iswaran: Dey Jiru! I think the real reason you left the Y dojo was because Rama denied you access to his "harem". Lingam: You meant Rama's exclusive Ladies Class. No men allowed except himself… Blah..blah…blad…into the early hours of the morning. Jiru: Dey!! How do we explain to our wives why the aikido class again took so long to finish? By the way, Rama might have been drunk when he wrote the article. Lingam: That's sound like me…ha ha aha aha

The moral of the above dialog is that Misogi and Beer do not make good companions. I wonder whether there are similar dialogs in other parts of the (aikido) world.

Cheers

David Y

David,
Had to reply to this one. SMILE
I love good beer - mostly Belgians and IPAs lately, and brew my own as well.

That's all, Eric

Hi there!

Not for sure to the Humor roum... See... Begining "with...the

Emptiness..."! to the filtering of your soul, then to

the "lets fill our stacks again with clean Beer!!

It is the Misogi going for the Añejo or it is the ego going for Misogi... a refination matter

not Good companion...? please man dont say that again, because the world of Aikido as shown is so big and little at the same time

Cheers,

for the misogi of couse

Praetorian
Aragua, Venezuela

For some we think linga works better on misogi when sobber
From the book "Sure decantation

Eric Saemann wrote: David, Had to reply to this one. SMILE I love good beer - mostly Belgians and IPAs lately, and brew my own as well. That's all, Eric

Hi Eric,

Can I have your beer recipes? It is illegal to do home brew in my country but what the heck?

Thanks in anticipation.

David Y

Manuel Ch. Anderson wrote: ...It is the Misogi going for the Añejo or it is the ego going for Misogi... a refination matter not Good companion...? please man dont say that again, because the world of Aikido as shown is so big and little at the same time Cheers, for the misogi of couse

CHEERS to you too, mate.

David Y

"Misogi and Beer do not make good companions" I disagreed. Misogi involved standing in moving water such as river, waterfall, shower, and so on to cleanse the soul. Drinking beer involved moving mineral laden water through our internal to cleanse the spirit. Both practices are the same, just different forms, and achieve the same results. Both waters will eventually return to the same source.

David,
Illegal ... Ouch!! Which country? Oh yeah, you said Malaysia. I think I'd get the heck out. Are guns banned too?

Right now, I'm just following recipes in books. Check out Amazon.com and search under "homebrewing".
If you can't get the books, for whatever reason, tell me what kind of beer you like (IPA (double, triple?), stout, Belgian) and I'll see what I can do.

Eric

Eric Saemann wrote: David, Illegal ... Ouch!! Which country? Oh yeah, you said Malaysia. I think I'd get the heck out. Are guns banned too? Right now, I'm just following recipes in books. Check out Amazon.com and search under "homebrewing". If you can't get the books, for whatever reason, tell me what kind of beer you like (IPA (double, triple?), stout, Belgian) and I'll see what I can do. Eric

Hi Eric,

Yes, guns are banned. Public demos are banned. Body snatching is not.

I love Bavaria beers. Similar to Belgian?

Cheers

David

Phi Truong wrote: ... Both practices are the same, just different forms, and achieve the same results..

Same results? Driving under the influence of alcohol - same?

Well, after misogi, some might indulge to excessive beer

David Y

David Yap wrote: Same results? Driving under the influence of alcohol - same? Well, after misogi, some might indulge to excessive beer David Y

Same results as in moving water, i.e. passing water , not driving!

Of course, if you are practicing drunken monkey kungfu, then excessive beer before, during, and after would definitely help.

although, my sensei told me to relax harder, so I wonder if misogi in beer would help the relaxing aspect. hmmmm

Phi Truong wrote: ...although, my sensei told me to relax harder, so I wonder if misogi in beer would help the relaxing aspect. hmmmm

Hi Truong,

I think the beer has affected your hearing, I bet you that your sensei told you to try harder to relax.

Of course, beer will help the relaxing aspect if your dojo permits you to drink beer before the class. Bet you too that you can do the no-touch throws. Do you know, saki was K Tohei's main source of Ki power?

David Y

what? you mix beer with orange juice in a practice of joy cause youre in a barbecue... but you u should dont want to go to the dojo

drinking because for not to distort in any maner the Misogi process that happens there.

yea, homebrewing and pasing water describes the thing for the aging man, cause we need here some 60+ for to say something interesting in this matters, in any country theres many people that say that can drink 2 or 3 - 24 pck with some friends and have the thing.

Royal Inquiry (Malaysia's version of a Grand Jury). they both know the same as the Royal Brewing Jury, dont you think??

David ,
'Could it be Misogi and the wonder of cold Vodka?

Boyana Stone Levy wrote: David , 'Could it be Misogi and the wonder of cold Vodka?

As Phi Truong said, as long as you pass water any spirit will do