Northern Wind

One of the things I was taught from day one, and have heard over and over since then, is "maintain eye contact." The reasons why one should maintain eye contact usually came from a strategic standpoint. If I'm looking at uke's eyes, I can see what rest of him is doing out my visual periphery. So if I'm looking at uke's hand because I'm trying, for example, to do kote gaeshi , I'm vulnerable to his other hand smacking me upside the head. But when it came to judo, we find that if I'm looking at uke's eyes, I can see what his upper body is up to, but his feet tend to fall out my field of vision. Therefor we were often told to look about chest level, and huzzah! Now I can see all of him, the sneaky bastard! Then I ran across this quote from O-Sensei, Morihei Ueshiba: Do not stare into the eyes of your opponent: he may mesmerize you. Do not fix your gaze on his sword: he may intimidate you. Do not focus on your opponent at all: he may...

Seishiro Endo, 8th dan Aikikai "There is no such thing as a freedom just like that. It is an aim to become free. Freedom is often referred to as being free of something. But that kind of freedom, to be free, for example, of a duty or a person, is not real freedom. "So what is? That is an important question. It certainly is nothing you get just like that. There is no easy-going freedom. I think in order to become free you must restrict yourself at first to a very unfree form. By practicing within that form you will learn to be free, step by step. You practice within a restriction. "But in the course of the repetitions, within that restriction, it may happen that the restriction rids you off itself. And then the whole practice suddenly becomes egoless, light—and free. Practicing a form thoroughly will, at some point, rid you of the form. To reach that state in a practice means to have acquired freedom."

Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido "Love gives birth to harmony. Harmony brings forth joy. Joy is the greatest treasure."

“In Aikido we control the opponent’s mind before we face him. That is how we draw him into ourselves. We go forward in life with this attraction of our spirit, and attempt to command a whole view of the world. We ceaselessly pray that fights do not occur. For this reason we strictly prohibit matches in Aikido. Aikido’s spirit is that of loving attack and that of peaceful reconciliation. In this aim we bing and unite the opponents with the will power of love. By love we are able to purify others.”

" Instructors can impart only a fraction of the teaching. It is through your own devoted practice that the mysteries of Aikido are brought to life. " —Morihei Ueshiba

"All a person has to do is give up being right; step aside, be empty, be selfless—or at least try to approach that state. As soon as the resistance is gone, both persons are free to grow and mature. Instead, we're constantly struggling, hanging onto our own positions and ideas, preventing not only ourselves from growing, but others as well." — Genpo Roshi

It is a disease to be possessed by ideas of victory or of technique. It is also a disease to be possessed by the idea of showing the results of your training. It is a disease to be determined to attack first or, conversely, to wait for the opponent's move. It is a disease even to be possessed by the idea of removing all such diseases. The disease is a state of mind that is rigid and fixed, in whatever situation. All such diseases stem from your state of mind. It is important to control the mind. —From Hei-Ho-Kaden-Sho by Yagyu Tajimanokami Munenori

"If you take up this practice, do not agitate your mind; let it be like a mountain. Let your mind be like a clear and empty space and continue to reflect on enlightening Dharma like the moon reflects the sun. Whether others think that you are right or wrong is not your concern. Do not judge or criticize others. Just be at ease and go on mindlessly like a simpleton or a fool; or, be like one who is struck deaf and dumb. Spend your life as if you cannot hear a thing, or like an infant. Then, sooner or later, all the delusion will disappear." —Excerpt, The Great Matter of Life and Death by Kyong Ho (courtesy of Nick Lowry Sensei ) (I don't pretend to understand these sorts of discourses, but as I read certain things, they strike me, or resonate like the string of a guitar plucked by an unseen hand. Then, I feel the need to share them!)