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My wife once met Morihei Ueshiba, the man who founded aikido. After he did a demonstration where he left about seventeen big bruisers on the ground, she asked what his secret was for disarming his attackers without harming them. He giggled and told her: 'A long time ago, I realized that every person was just my sister, my brother, my cousin. All those guys lying on the floor are my brothers; you are my little sister! Everybody is just one family.' That's cool heroism.

......

We all have the potential to be killers; realizing that is the key. Years ago, some academics and I did a study of religious violence. We found that the people who are the most violent are those who are incapable of embracing their own potential for evil. By projecting their shadow, their evil, onto the other, they justify their violence. They thik thy're emphasizing their purity, or restoring their purity, by destroying someone else.

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The rest of the article presents an interestingly nuanced view of ways in which "surgical violence....is part of the bodhisattva ethic."

The rest of the issue has some compelling material as well, both on violence, emotion, and Buddhist ethics, (including some thoughtful remarks on Yasutani Roshi's support of Japanese aggression in WW II) and a series of articles on the relationship between traditional Buddhist practice and contemporary science, particularly with regard to scientific study of the specifics of brain function among advanced practitioners of meditation.

Fred Little

[ February 11, 2003: Message edited by: kokumo ]

Excerpts from a "New York Times" article entitled
MEDITATING ON WAR AND GUILT: ZEN SAYS IT'S SORRY
By ALLAN M. JALON

To many Americans, Zen Buddhists primarily devote themselves to discovering inner serenity and social peace. But Zen has had strong ties to militarism

Japan's 'new' religions are an interesting phenomenon in themselves, and their relevance to aikido lies only in the fact that Omoto-kyo was one such. Aum is a comparatively recent phenomenon and the members are bright, young Japanese, such as my own students here. I once asked my classes why Aum was so popular (there were groups on every university campus in Japan before the crack-down). Their answers usually mentioned the total bankruptcy of Japan's educational system as regards moral training, and the general abdication by parents of their own responsibility for the moral training of their children. The extent to which these tendencies are being countered by training in martial arts like aikido is a very interesting question.

I should also mention the 3-volume work called "Akuma no Hoshiki" (The Devil's Gluttony) written by Seiichi Morimura and, alas, not translated. The work is a personal record of investigations concerning the operations of Japanese Army Unit 731, who conducted horrific experiments on prisoners of war in China. Members of the unit were given immunity by the US in return for the data collected and there have been rumours that this was used in the Korean War. The leaders returned to lives of academic respectability in the medical faculties of Japan's universities and as pillars of the medical profession here. It was published as a 'novel' because at that time no one was willing to agree that Unit 731 ever existed, or that it did research other than water purification. It has taken over 50 years for some of the lower ranks of Unit 731 to find the courage to speak out and recount what they experienced

Thanks

Ron Tisdale

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Originally posted by Ron Tisdale:
On the topic of Martial Art providing some sort of moral center...Peter, I believe that I've seen you state that it doesn't seem to do that in japan in your experience...at least not in an organized fashion. How individuals interpret their budo experience may vary of course. Can you speak to this in some more detail?

Thanks

Ron Tisdale

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Hello Ron,

When you talk of aikido providing some sort of moral center, I assume you mean the moral aspects of the value system that underpins aikido. This is a complex question. For one thing, even if the value system has

One thing that I should add to my earlier post is that I am aware of the question whether there is a distinctive 'American' culture, in the sense that the country is so vast and has such a varied ethnic base that it makes no sense to talk of a distinctive 'American' culture. Only you guys can answer that one.

However, I am pretty convinced that we can talk of a distinctive Japanese culture. In fact, Japanese attempts to define and explain this culture constitute a whole field, known as 'Nihonjinron', and this also embodies a value system and moral base.

The question to what extent a nation requires its population to participate in a distinct 'culture' thought to represent 'national' values is worth at least one Ph.D thesis. Have you read Peter Boylan's MA thesis on the spiritual aspects of American Aikido? Very interesting. I think you can download it from Aikiweb.

Best,

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In fact, the relative lack of a moral centre appropriate for aikido here, in a country with no tradition of monotheism, or of a moral system based on universal norms applicable no matter what the situation is, makes the search for one in aikido outside Japan all the more interesting.

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It seems to me that, generally speaking, Confusian thought and Buddhism have long served as the moral center in the East, while Roman Law and Christianity formed the moral center in the West, with, of course Judaism and Islam in the Middle East.

This is not to say that any of these paths, or those that follow them, are without flaw.

I don't think that it would be appropriate for a person to come to aikido, looking for a "moral center." In fact, I would say that if a person came to a dojo without at least some sense of a moral center, he should not be admitted into the program.

That is not to say that aikido is not a morally sound martial art.

(Am I right here, or did I miss the point?)

[ February 22, 2003: Message edited by: madman ]

Peter,

Wow, thank you very much. I've been doing a lot of thinking along some of these lines lately. The posts about what is budo, whether aikido teaches morality through physical technique, what our time spent in the dojo really means...these are questions that have kept me up at night lately. And the reading that I've done (the Skoss's series, Ellis Amdur's books, revisiting Stanley's works) recently has frequently just provided more questions. Excellent questions, and often the proper frame work to ask them, but still, mostly just questions.

I have some more questions from reading an essay translated by Dr. Karl Friday in Keiko Shokon. I'll start a new thread for that one, maybe tonight.

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Their answers usually mentioned the total bankruptcy of Japan's educational system as regards moral training, and the general abdication by parents of their own responsibility for the moral training of their children. The extent to which these tendencies are being countered by training in martial arts like aikido is a very interesting question.

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And your answer seems to be that they are coming to aikido with some sort of moral base. Where does it come from if school and family are lacking? And before I go any further...

Your specific phrase was:

"I assume you mean the moral aspects of the value system that underpins aikido."

Does this value system apply to aikido everywhere? Is it defined by things like "protecting your attacker"? Or is that a "moral aspect" of the value system?

Can we clarify our use of "moral aspects"? I think I need to reread your answers at home...can't focus enough here at work.

A note for some context...aikido/martial training is often bandied about as a solution for troubled teens, people in crisis, etc. If there is no moral center/value system implicit or explicit, what exactly would be the value? I'm not taking a position on this, just going through the thought process.

Thanks Again,

Ron (hmm, maybe MY morals are slipping)Tisdale

[ February 24, 2003: Message edited by: Ron Tisdale ]

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A note for some context...aikido/martial training is often bandied about as a solution for troubled teens, people in crisis, etc. If there is no moral center/value system implicit or explicit, what exactly would be the value?

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I think that a lot of it has to do with intent. If, for example, a person is looking for a way to get their life back on track, MA training could be helpful in that it can bring a sense of self-discipline and positive routine into their life, among other benefits.

But MA training for someone with severe problems, such as a juvenile delinquent, would clearly be a secondary course of action in conjunction with counselling from a trained professional such as a social worker. The instructor would also have to receive some assurances from the child.

MA instructors are generally not trained in social work, but they can serve as positve role models, helping to facilitate character development and growth beyond counselling sessions.

[ February 25, 2003: Message edited by: madman ]

As madman has suggested in his post, if you do not have a moral centre or if it is warped, I doubt whether you would have got past the Founder in the old days. Morihei Ueshiba made some rules for training, and the relevant rule here is No. 6. The Founder states that the purpose of aikido is to make people who are

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Originally posted by P Goldsbury:
The Founder states that the purpose of aikido is to make people who are

So now, an even harder question. Lacking that stress on group in many other cultures, do we do ourselves a dis-service by tacking on our moral or ethical preconceptions to our practise of aikido outside of japan?

I know christians who teach aikido from a christian perspective, atheists who teach from a humanistic perspective, relativists who teach from their perspective, liberals who teach from their perspective...etc. It seems we just tack on our own world view, and teach aikido as if the founder meant all of these things himself. Its almost as if we (mis?)-appropriate his words and his art for our own personal causes. How would your aikido colleagues in japan look on that practise? How would you?

Thanks again,

Ron Tisdale