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The Aikido Koans [1]

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Date: 2023-12-17

We tend to associate Buddhist awakening with non-violence and not taking part in conflicts. It turns out that one can do this from the heart of martial arts, as Morihei Ueshiba did during several wars. Let’s see how he described his own experiences, in a mixture of Buddhist and Shinto terms.

Morihei Ueshiba's three divine visions & the philosophy of Aikido 植芝 盛平

In 1925, Ueshiba, while unarmed, defeated a Naval officer armed with a wooden sword without hurting the officer. He went back to his garden and said

I felt the Universe suddenly quake and a golden spirit sprang up from the ground, veiled my body, and changed my mind into a golden one.

He continued

At the same time, my body became light, I was able to understand the whispering of the birds, and was clearly aware of the mind of God, the creator of the Universe. At that moment, I was enlightened. The sword of Budo, the martial way, is God’s love, the spirit of loving protection for all beings. Budo is not felling of an opponent by force, nor is it a tool to lead the world to destruction with arms. True Budo is to accept the spirit of the Universe, keep the peace of the world, correctly produce, protect, and cultivate all beings in nature. Then after a sparring session he realized that it is to protect and leave everyone unharmed, just as we say that the best fight is to neutralize everything and go back, parting ways, both unharmed and becoming better people. So, this is essentially what this vision was about, and he took it in a more religious sense that that’s what God’s love is, to protect you and also to protect all beings and enlighten them, and just make peace with the world.

The second one came 15 years later, in 1940, when engaged in a Shinto purification ritual called misogi [prayer and meditation under a waterfall]. So, he said

Around 2 a.m. I suddenly forgot all the martial techniques I had ever learned. The techniques of my teachers appeared completely new. Now they were vehicles for the cultivation of life, knowledge, and virtue, not devices to throw people with. So here you can see that he is starting to look at martial arts differently than the normal way of thinking. For example, we try to say add kuzushi to aikido, and it will be functional, or add karate and finish with aikido and it will be functional, add aikido to BJJ, you know, everyone has his own way of adding things in order to make it functional, but he is telling you that he is starting to see them as vehicles of cultivation of life knowledge, and not devices to throw people with. So that phrase alone says a lot. Keep in mind that he was born in 1883, so he was starting to become an old man at this point, and he had his fair share of life’s battles. His third experience was in 1942. It was during the worst fighting during World War II, and there Ueshiba had a vision of the great spirit of peace. He said The way of the warrior has been misunderstood. It is not a means to kill and destroy others. Those who seek to compete and better one another are making a terrible mistake. To smash, injure, or destroy is the worst thing a human can do. The real way of a warrior is to prevent such slaughter. It is the art of peace, the power of love.

Ueshiba did not write books. Everything he wanted to teach was right there in the training. But we do have Morihei Ueshiba, The Art of Peace, Shambala Publications, readable for free at the Internet Archive.

This is a book of a few dozen aphorisms, not a textbook. The first is

The Art of Peace begins with you. Work on yourself and your appointed task in the Art of Peace. Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow. You are here for no other purpose than to realize your inner divinity and manifest your innate enlightenment. Foster peace in your own life and then apply the Art to all that you encounter.

He explained aikido once as

When pushed, pull. When pulled, push.

What if we applied this in all of the stupid wars in the world? How about politics? Human rights?

For example, what if the Allies had not thrown all of their available men and firepower at the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge, but had allowed their tank formations through, and closed up behind them, cutting off all access to fuel?

What if Israel had not funded Hamas, and then did not respond to war crimes with war crimes?

What if the US had not funded the Taliban for decades, and then made war against them for decades?

What if Germany had not sent Lenin back to Russia to undo the budding democratic transition under the Kerensky government?

What if Putin had realized that the best way to strengthen Russia was to abandon autocracy?

What if uncounted armies and “security” agencies had not tortured prisoners of war or captured terrorists, but had befriended them?

I am not going to belabor this, but we know the answers. It often works.

See The Double Cross (XX) System, which turned every German spy in the UK during WW II.

See the documentary Accidental Courtesy, about befriending KKK members, and getting hundreds to quit.

See the Tank Man in Tienanmen Square.

Note that this image is not accessible in China

Third Kenshos and Zen Diseases

Rev. Master Jiyu Kennett wrote a book about her third kensho experiences, How to Grow a Lotus Blossom: How a Zen Buddhist Prepares for Death.

Hakuin Zenji also described his illness and cure at some length in Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin, translated by Norman Waddell, Shambhala Publications.

From our point of view the Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible describes such a Zen disease, ending with a kensho that the writer could not well describe.

We can take these up some time.

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