Welcome to AikiWeb Aikido Information
AikiWeb: The Source for Aikido Information
AikiWeb's principal purpose is to serve the Internet community as a repository and dissemination point for aikido information.

Sections
home
aikido articles
columns

Discussions
forums
aikiblogs

Databases
dojo search
seminars
image gallery
supplies
links directory

Reviews
book reviews
video reviews
dvd reviews
equip. reviews

News
submit
archive

Miscellaneous
newsletter
rss feeds
polls
about

Follow us on



Home > AikiWeb Aikido Forums
Go Back   AikiWeb Aikido Forums > General

Hello and thank you for visiting AikiWeb, the world's most active online Aikido community! This site is home to over 22,000 aikido practitioners from around the world and covers a wide range of aikido topics including techniques, philosophy, history, humor, beginner issues, the marketplace, and more.

If you wish to join in the discussions or use the other advanced features available, you will need to register first. Registration is absolutely free and takes only a few minutes to complete so sign up today!

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 11-21-2000, 01:04 PM   #1
chrisinbrasil
Dojo: Lenwakan
Location: Sao Paulo, Brasil
Join Date: Aug 2000
Posts: 44
Offline
I was struck with a terrible bout of insomnia last night, and began pondering the meaning and relevance of the term coined to define this most amazing art which the majority of us practice.

I wonder... Which of these terms is the most important in our spiritual development?
Does love generate an understanding and willingness to learn which in turn helps us reach the way to enlightenment?

Or does knowledge create the building blocks of self-confidence and skill necessary to project security and love onto others which in turn opens the path for ourselves and others to follow?

Or do we need to recognize, first, that many paths are possible and that we must choose one which we find pure and good, thus cultivating love and wisdom in following it?

Or should we consider that all occur at once and we shouldn´t lose sleep over such things as I have done now and again?

Maybe one of these is the "correct" option for the wrong reason, or I didn´t give an option you liked... I would be interested in your points of view...
Is one or the other more or less important, or should one be sought before the rest?

What do y´all think?
Forgive my ramblings but do tell...

At your service,
Christopher Wilson
Hito no tachiba wo kanga eru.
  Reply With Quote
Old 12-07-2000, 03:31 PM   #2
tarik
 
tarik's Avatar
Dojo: Iwae Dojo
Location: Boulder Creek, CA
Join Date: Jun 2000
Posts: 568
United_States
Offline
Quote:
chrisinbrasil wrote:
I wonder... Which of these terms is the most important in our spiritual development?
You mean the individual characters that make up the single term Aikido?

I would venture to suggest that, almost like our own alphabet, you cannot easily separate them and their meaning from the entire word.

Yes, you can get some meaning out of the elements.

Ai has several meanings and that can vary even more depending on which character you use to write it (and the Founder used more than one character on occasion to write it also, but that changed the meaning).

You say "love", for instance, but that is an alternate character than the one we normally use which means something closer to "harmony".

Aiki has implications and meanings that are not so simple to separate. Changing the order changes the meaning.

There is a lot that can be studied about this, but it takes a study of the Japanese language, culture, and the sub-culture of budo in Japan to get great insight.

Not being such a scholar, I've only been able to scratch the surface through the writings of people like Abbe Sensei, the Skoss', Wayne Muramoto, Dan Furuya, Draeger, Pranin, etc...

Quote:
Or should we consider that all occur at once and we shouldn´t lose sleep over such things as I have done now and again?
Heck, losing sleep over these things is one way that we learn. I do think that it is a mistake to really separate the characters as anything more than an academic study.

Quote:
Is one or the other more or less important, or should one be sought before the rest?
The "way of harmonizing energy"?

Or the "path of study in which we learn to harmonize with someone else's energy"?

Or "Ai = harmony or love, Ki = energy (flow?), Do = path, way (of enlightenment?), method"?

Do you see the difficulty in breaking them apart? They are related to what Aikido is, but I don't think that you can easily break them apart except to understand the terms better.

Tarik Ghbeish
Jiyūshin-ryū AikiBudō - Iwae Dojo

MASAKATSU AGATSU -- "The true victory of self-mastery."
  Reply With Quote
Old 12-08-2000, 02:31 AM   #3
Simone
Dojo: Augsburg/Haunstetten
Location: Germany
Join Date: Jul 2000
Posts: 69
Germany
Offline
Hi Chris!

Sorry, my time is very short, because I'm (at least trying to) organize our this weekends Aikido course. Quite a big one for me.

Is the sequence of the letters that form Aikido really so important to you? Not for me. It's important how it feels, how I train, which attitude I have and, I think, who's training with me and such things. I don't care how you call it, if it essentially feels like what I kow as "Aikido".

Shure, that's my opinion.

Simone
  Reply With Quote
Old 12-08-2000, 03:31 PM   #4
chrisinbrasil
Dojo: Lenwakan
Location: Sao Paulo, Brasil
Join Date: Aug 2000
Posts: 44
Offline
Wink Japanese

Hi,
nihongo o yoku benkyoshimasu. keredomo, sukoshi wakarimasu. Thanks for your replies, it was just food for thought, and a measly helping at best. I really didn´t expect such technical answers, if any. I know the character change alters meaning and that sometimes old or new characters are used as well, I suppose it was kind of a badly stated question. I just wanted to know which element of the training you(pl.) value most. No, the order and meaning never have surpassed and never will surpass the importance of the training itself, at least not to me. Thanks for being kind about a stupid post.

At your service,
Christopher Wilson
Hito no tachiba wo kanga eru.
  Reply With Quote
Old 12-08-2000, 04:16 PM   #5
Aikilove
Dojo: Lunds Aikidoklubb
Location: Lund, Sweden
Join Date: Dec 2000
Posts: 273
Sweden
Offline
Wink

Quote:
chrisinbrasil wrote:
I was struck with a terrible bout of insomnia last night
Hi chrisinbrasil.
My thought on this one is that, there comes a day for us all when we really dig into that kind of question, as you did. And for me it is enough to know that that day will come (for me as well) if I just train long enough. What I mean is It's no meaning to demand of yourself that the question (or answers) has to be raised (or answered) for the sake of it... In time they will come anyway.

Wow that was deep... Hope you got something out of that mist!

Jakob B

Jakob Blomquist
  Reply With Quote
Old 12-08-2000, 08:46 PM   #6
shadow
Dojo: Aiki Kun Ren (Iwama style)
Location: Sydney
Join Date: Aug 2000
Posts: 166
Offline
Quote:
chrisinbrasil wrote:
... I would be interested in your points of view...
Is one or the other more or less important, or should one be sought before the rest?

What do y´all think?
Forgive my ramblings but do tell...
the way of harmony with the universe..... this is my interpretation

I think that everything is the same....the universe, life, etc....it's all the one thing, the only thing distinguishing one thing from another is our own minds, when we figure out or realise that we are the same as the rest of it, that is enlightenment.....

just thoughts I'm pondering

but for me aikido is one way of discovering things such as this due to it's amazing movements and centralisation....also a cool way to keep fit, be confident and enjoy life oh yeah and as a side for me....self defense hehe


happiness. harmony. compassion.
--damien--
  Reply With Quote

Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 12:52 AM.



vBulletin Copyright © 2000-2024 Jelsoft Enterprises Limited
----------
Copyright 1997-2024 AikiWeb and its Authors, All Rights Reserved.
----------
For questions and comments about this website:
Send E-mail
plainlaid-picaresque outchasing-protistan explicantia-altarage seaford-stellionate