Aryana Libris

Author : Ueshiba Kisshomaru
Title : The spirit of Aikido
Year : 1984

Link download : Ueshiba_Kisshomaru_-_The_spirit_of_Aikido.zip

Foreword. Down through the centuries religions have espoused love and compassion and philosophies have taught reverence for life. But we are today faced with an escalating violence which seems to have its own momentum beyond any human control. The world is filled with irreconcilable divisions between friend and foe, good and evil, the oppressor and the oppressed. Violence is used to suppress, break, and eliminate the adversary. When that is accomplished, it searches for another opponent. When will the cycle of violence stop? How can the divisions that separate people be overcome? Where is the power to heal the wounds of pain and suffering ? It is of no small interest that we find in Japanese history a tradition of fighting arts (buge1), originally devised to inflict injury and death on the battlefield, transformed into the Way of martial arts (budo), dedicated to perfecting the human self by integrating mind, body and spirit. Starting in the early seventeenth century, the Way of the sword transformed the sword that kills into the sword that protects life. This Way of martial arts is consistent with the Way of the tea ceremony, Way of poetry, Way of calligraphy, Way of the Buddha, and innumerable other Ways which in their pure form have provided spiritual sustenance for the Japanese people. The training and discipline common to all the Ways, martial or cultural, consist of three levels of mastery: physical, psychological and spiritual. On the physical level mastery of form (kala) is the crux of training. The teacher provides a model form, the student observes carefully and repeats it countless times until he has completely internalized the form. Words are not spoken and explanations are not given; the burden of learning is on the student. In the ultimate mastery of form the student is released from adherence to form. ...