Topic: Ki Aikido

[daphne]

"The point of our training here, what I'm getting to, is to get real, to stop faking it. Because in a life and death situation, you don't have any time for fakery. You don't have any time for an illusion about who you are, or what's happening, or who they are, or what's happening with them. There's no amount of self-mastery, no amount of technical perfection will get you by, and save your life, or save the life of a loved one. I don't care if you spend your whole lifetime learning how to do different martial arts, and how to become adept in every one of them, it won't be worth squat, if, in the moment of life and death, you're confused about who you are. Your reaction, or your actions in all situations, are exactly as limited as your conception of who you are. Because you act from who you are, not who you imagine yourself to be. To be authentic, to be real, you must be free flowing, like water. If you want to have a mind that flows like water it can't very well be fixed in some place. It can't be definable."

I like this, what he says..  I am trying so very hard to 'unfix' my mind and yet at the same time not to lose it! (though I have been told that probably the best thing for me would be to lose it!)

My thoughts and actions would come from "who I am". Well.. now.. they not really coming from anywhere!

I been reading your Aikido posts on and off.. they are rather long.. heh.. but I do get round to them eventually.. though not always in the order you have posted them. Every now and then, some little gem pops out at me, and then I go to read what I missed!

All roads lead to Rome (so they say - hi Rudi!)
You quite passionate about your aikido, eh Zam? Nice that is!

[Zamurito]

Hey Zamurito,

I'm interested in the word 'ki'. Is it the same as the ki which can also be spelled 'chi' or 'qi'? Or is it something different altogether?   

Ki is made up of two separate characters, and each has its own meaning. For the first character, on the top and to the right, we can say “clouds and rain”, which would be coming down from the heavens. Or at the same time it can mean “steam”, which would be rising up. And the symbol in the center here, the second one, is the symbol for “rice”. If this above is clouds and rain, then the rice is considered to be growing. If the first symbol is seen as steam, then the rice is cooking. In both cases it is exploding outward. It is important to understand why they made these symbols to signify ki of the universe. We will get into what ki means in this context in a moment, but obviously to the ancient Chinese, what the word ki represented was very significant for them. Because if the rain didn’t come and rice crop didn’t come in, they didn’t live. They couldn’t go to the grocery store and buy some more rice. If the crop didn’t come in that year, there was a famine. Everyone suffered. So having the rains come, having the rice crop be successful, and having the rice to eat as food; for the ancient Chinese, this meant life itself. So they used this combination of two symbols to represent ki - life itself. Life. For the ones who invented this word, ki equals life itself. And with these symbols we are pointing to harmony with this ki of the universe, which can indeed be seen as a kind of energy; more on that a bit later.

Ki = Life. Many people think Ki, Chi, Prana, Mana, etc. are some form of energy. Yes, yes, not wrong. But people conceive of energy as a kind of a force. As in; I can extend my Ki to you. Waaa!

But let’s look a little further. Our bodies are made of organs, our organs are made of cells, our cells are made of molecules, our molecules are made of atoms, atoms made of subatomic particles, quarks, and so forth on down to the infinitely small. This is easy to see, to a point. The problem begins when the things get smaller and smaller and smaller and “things” turn out to be not necessarily things. We think of a thing as an object, something substantial; matter. However, when it gets small enough, like an electron, how you look for it dictates what it is when you find it. If you look at it a certain way, then it appears as matter; a particle. If you look at it in another way, then it appears as energy; a wave. That turns out to be what the physical structure of this universe is made of. What? Well, one or the other. You get a kind of Yogi Berra answer there. “When you come to a fork in a road, take it.” If we ask, “Is it that or is it this?”, the answer is “yes”. It’s not the same as saying it’s both. The answer to the question is “yes”. So we find that the “essence” of this universal structure is not so easy to pin down and define, particularly when we can look very closely at it.

Tohei Sensei says very simply, when we look closer and closer, that tiniest, infinitely small fundamental building block of life, is ki! Ki is the fundamental structure of what we call life. Whether it goes together to make a boulder, a moving stream, a flying bird, or human being, it doesn’t matter. You can take an atom out of a lizard’s tale and stick it in your brain and your brain won’t know the difference. It doesn’t matter, on that fundamental level. Once it gets manifested and organized more, then of course it begins to make a difference. You can’t take an organ out of a lizard and put it in your body. Of course, it doesn’t work that way.

So… at a certain, fundamental level, all life is one; undifferentiated. Not one “thing”, now…we can’t say one “thing”. We aren’t able to say this is a “thing” or an “energy”. We can say that it is one, meaning a universal, in that it is completely interchangeable. And we can also say that it exists now, because it can only be perceived in the present, and so, for us, only exists here and now. It’s what this is right here. So in this sense we can say the Life (Ki) is universal (everywhere the same) and present (always only now). So…Ki equals Universal Presence.

The Meaning of Aikido
HKF Fall 2006 Seminar – Oahu
C. Curtis

[Zamurito]

You quite passionate about your aikido, eh Zam? Nice that is!

Yes.  When I feel passion I always remember these words...

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

I truly enjoy the mind/body coordination.  It's not sitting in meditation for hours, or physical martial arts for hours...for me, at this time, it's what it is in this Here, this Now.

Actually, the entire quote:

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

To do for yourself the best that you have it in you to do -- to grit your teeth and clench your fists in order to survive the world at its harshest and worst -- is, by that very act, to be unable to let something be done for you and in you that is more wonderful still. The trouble with steeling yourself against the harshness of reality is that the same steel that secures your life against being destroyed secures your life also against being opened up and transformed.

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. 'He that will lose his life, the same shall save it', is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes. It is a piece of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers. It might be printed in an Alpine guide or a drill book. The paradox is the whole principle of courage; even of quite earthly or quite brutal courage.... A soldier surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying. He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in the spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water, and yet drink death like wine."

WILD AT HEART by John Eldredge

"Only shooting stars break the mold..."  (From some band I can't remember the name of at the moment.)

Zam

[Angela]

"Only shooting stars break the mold..."  (From some band I can't remember the name of at the moment.)

Smash Mouth, honey... "you'll never shine if you don't glow"...hey, I think there are some Aikido moves in this video, see if you can find them
All Star

Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me
I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed
She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb
In the shape of an "L" on her forehead

Well the years start coming and they don't stop coming
Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running
Didn't make sense not to live for fun
Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb

So much to do so much to see
So what's wrong with taking the back streets
You'll never know if you don't go
You'll never shine if you don't glow

[Chorus:]
Hey now you're an All Star get your game on, go play
Hey now you're a Rock Star get the show on get paid
And all that glitters is gold
Only shooting stars break the mold

It's a cool place and they say it gets colder
You're bundled up now but wait 'til you get older
But the meteor men beg to differ
Judging by the hole in the satellite picture

The ice we skate is getting pretty thin
The waters getting warm so you might as well swim
My world's on fire how about yours
That's the way I like it and I never get bored

[Repeat Chorus 2x]

Somebody once asked could I spare some change for gas
I need to get myself away from this place
I said yep what a concept
I could use a little fuel myself
And we could all use a little change
Well the years start coming and they don't stop coming
Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running
Didn't make sense not to live for fun
Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb
So much to do so much to see
So what's wrong with taking the back streets
You'll never know if you don't go
You'll never shine if you don't glow

[Repeat Chorus]

[tangerine dream]

Thanks!
And one more question to add then.  Is juju like mojo?
 

[tangerine dream]

Ki is made up of “clouds and rain”, “steam”, which would be rising up. And the symbol in the center here, the second one, is the symbol for “rice”. If this above is clouds and rain, then the rice is considered to be growing. If the first symbol is seen as steam, then the rice is cooking. In both cases it is exploding outward.

Ki = Life.
Ki, Chi, Prana, Mana, etc. are some form of energy. Yes, yes, not wrong. 


Ki is the fundamental structure of what we call life.
 So…Ki equals Universal Presence.

Cool, Zam

Thank you for this. 
 

[Zamurito]

Smash Mouth, honey... "you'll never shine if you don't glow"...hey, I think there are some Aikido moves in this video, see if you can find them

Thanks.

Could only make it a bit thru the video.....it sucked so bad.  There's no Aikido there, nor anything worthwhile viewing, imho.

Sorry sorry, love me love me    Hey, I'm just fine with my judgemental moments.

If anyone's interested do a search for Ki Aikido for your area, and go visit the dojo. Watch, talk, and possibly participate if that's kewl with the Sensei.  This is something to experience, not to intelectualize. 

If worse comes to worse, read a book or watch a video.  (Shudders.  At least get an idea for it.)

If all else fails, go rent some Steven Seagal movies....(Above the Law, or Out for Justice.)  These movements show some techniques and serious ways to hurt others.  This is NOT what we are about.

I've had the good fortune to train with Seagal Sensei twiice.  Good technique, very high and tight.

On a personal note, this is not what I'm after.  I've hurt and killed enough humans in this lifetime of mine.  There's no reason to mimic it in training anymore.  What's offered is often not what's picked up.  What's most picked up on is how to hurt someone.  As I'm sure we all know, hurting is easy. 

If anyone has read anything I've written or what I've copied they will understand.

"I was looking kind of dumb with my finger and my thumb inn the shape of an "L" on my forehead..."

This...this is 'me.'

I've emptied my cup to the best of my ability at this moment, and am having a ball space truckin' thru the Infinite.

fwiw,

z

[Zamurito]

Thanks!
And one more question to add then.  Is juju like mojo?
 

As I've had a few pints at the pub I will keep all my smartass replies to myself 

At the present moment I'm basking in the glow of The Work, and some great interaction with those I know.

Ang, you will be happy to know I've made quite a breakthrough with Vegas; some truly marvelous communication.

I'm all smiles right now...

z

PS As for juju and mojo...those are just my simple words, and we all interpret as..........................?

[tangerine dream]

PS As for juju and mojo...those are just my simple words,

 
I thought mojo was one of my simple words.
 

[Angela]

Thanks.

Could only make it a bit thru the video.....it sucked so bad.  There's no Aikido there, nor anything worthwhile viewing, imho.

Sorry sorry, love me love me    Hey, I'm just fine with my judgemental moments.

It was a joke ...have another pint.  Drinking and posting ....  hmmm ...  judge away

[Zamurito]

It was a joke ...have another pint.  Drinking and posting ....  hmmm ...  judge away

 

[Zamurito]

Here's a snip from a lecture that I found interesting.

Eastern Ki Federation
Shugyo Tassei Gigan Shiki Seminar
Question & Answer Session
Jan. 18, 19, 20, 2008 - Merrifield Dojo, Virginia
C. Curtis

I said when I first came here that I had no idea what to teach.  And I asked you to imagine how you would feel, if you had come all the way from Hawaii, and all these people were depending upon you to teach something truly meaningful, and you had no idea what to teach.  Might you be concerned just a little bit?  Perhaps you might be.  But in this case I am not so concerned, because I don't mind.  I don't mind that I don't know because I am not here to impress you.  Even though I have a purpose here, I have no goal.  If I were to mind that I don't know, then I would be occupied with trying to quickly figure out something brilliant to teach you.  Do you do this sometimes in your own life?  You do?  How's that been working for you so far?

Yes.  Not so well.  I think we should perhaps discuss the difference between purpose and goal.

Last night my host, where I am staying, was preparing our breakfast for this morning.  She was making the meal for us ahead of time.  Her purpose was so that she would have time to make it right and so we would have something delicious to eat in the morning.  That was her purpose.  However, if she made the meal with the goal of serving it proudly in the morning, and then for some reason we didn’t show up for breakfast, it might disturb her.  But if she was intent only on the purpose, then it wouldn’t bother her one way or the other, because she had simply done what she needed to do.  Her purpose was to make the meal and have it ready if and when we showed up to eat it.  If we didn’t come, then we didn’t come.  But, if her goal was to impress us in some way, to make her self and her life more meaningful through her actions, then she would have missed her purpose in the moment of preparing the meal.  You see this?  This is often what we do, isn’t it? 

We are very much goal-oriented people.  And even though it never really works, we still keep doing it over and over again, trying to figure out various schemes to be more effective in our planning, trying to be more clever, and we always get the same results.  Oh we do get some results. Perhaps we might even get praised for our efforts in this way.  But is this true value that we receive?  It’s not that we should do something different to get more value. It’s not that we are not being effective or skillful enough in our effort.  It is that our effort is misplaced.  We find ourselves living in the future, when there is only now, this moment.  And the purpose has to be here and now, to be real. This is what we call “one with the Universe” or “no separation.”  Okay?