Quotes Page 1

".. form is the finger that points at the moon we never see. Even when we think we see the moon it is only the reflection of light from the sun reflecting off the moon."

-- Nobuo Iseri, 6th dan, Shihan, Chief Instructor, the Moving Center

"Don't think that you can repeat the same movement twice. There is no such thing as repetition, just as today is not a repetition of what yesterday was, and tomorrow will not be a repetition of what today has been."

-- T.K. Chiba, 8th dan, Shihan, San Diego Aikikai,
Chair USAF Western Region Teaching Committee

"In true budo there are no opponents, no enemies. In true budo we seek to be one with all things, to return to the heart of creation."

-- O-Sensei

"By experiencing, I mean that first movement when we receive life before the mind arises."

-- Charlotte Joko Beck, ZenCenter of San Diego

"The purpose of Aikido training is not to make you simply stronger or tougher than others; it is to make you a warrior for world peace. This is our mission in Aikido."

-- O-Sensei

"... the important thing is to practice and more practice, but with reflection and common sense. The rest is illusion."

-- Pablo Vazquez, 6th dan, Shihan, Aikido Institute of West Los Angeles

"Attention or awareness is the secret of life, and the heart of practice..."

-- Charlotte Joko Becki, ZenCenter of San Diego

When students asked to repeat movements of a technique, he replied

"Each and every technique is unique. If I do it again, it will naturally be a little different. Rather than trying to grasp how I move, pay attention to what this old fellow is saying to you - that will enable you to execute the techniques properly."

When students protested his talks were difficult to understand, he replied

"What I tell you may now seem to be way over your heads, but eventually there will be a time when it all becomes clear."

-- O-Sensei

Question: "How long will it take me to get a Black Belt?"

Answer: About 10 minutes. Because "... there's a martial arts store nearby and you can pick one up for about $6.00. On the other hand, if you want to learn Aikido ... "

-- George Simcox, Ki Society

"Daniel-san, Karate here," points to the head, "Karate here," points to the heart, "Karate never here." and motions to the belt.

-- Pat Morita as Mr Miyagi, in the Karate Kid

"Whenever I move, that's Aikido."

-- O-Sensei

"No, try not. Do, or do not. There is no try."

-- Yoda, in Starwars Episode V: the Empire Strikes Back

"With Aikido, you have to unlearn first. That is why it is so hard. You are learning something that is very, very sophisticated. It is something that Warriors after hundreds and hundreds of years of dedicated endeavors, of life and death situations, have finally figured out that there is a point of least resistance, and that there is something that works beyond strength...physical strength. It is 'Ki', its attitude and its adept movements that seem to go beyond force, and that a lot of times using strength is completely secondary to learning a way. A kind of moving without resistance, a non-resistant movement, a relaxed movement. So you have to unlearn in order to learn. It does take longer."

-- Steven Seagal, 7th dan, Shihan, Shinto priest

"If you don't demand a real situation, a real atmosphere in your dojo, where people are able to go hard, and they do go hard, then your practice becomes, in my opinion ineffective."

-- Steven Seagal, 7th dan, Shihan, Shinto priest

"Some people will learn certain things in six months, and other people will take six years. There's no way that this can be any other level other than an individual level. It is very personal."

-- Steven Seagal, 7th dan, Shihan, Shinto priest

"When you're able to practice it at a high enough level, you can't get into something that is more. No holds barred. In other words, you don't have to restrain yourself from going into the things that are more dangerous. It's real in the sense that no matter how much a beginner you are on the mats, if you do the wrong thing, you're going to get hurt."

-- Steven Seagal, 7th dan, Shihan, Shinto priest

"The benefits that one should reap in the martial arts have nothing to do with the color of a belt, they have to do with developing spiritual awareness, developing mental and emotional calm and strength and developing physical health and things like that."

-- Steven Seagal, 7th dan, Shihan, Shinto priest

"O-Sensei said that the basics should never change. O-Sensei founded Aikido, he invented Aikido. There are no styles of Aikido. There is only one Aikido. And that is O-Sensei's Aikido because he invented it."

-- Steven Seagal, 7th dan, Shihan, Shinto priest

"Learn to feel what's real."

-- Steven Seagal, 7th dan, Shihan, Shinto priest

"It is all your level of ability."

-- Steven Seagal, 7th dan, Shihan, Shinto priest

"The most important thing to beginning Aikido study is developing spiritual awareness, the perfecting of the physical man, the developing and nurturing of the emotional and mental and psychological state of man, the nurturing and developing and helping the physical state of man, the medical state of man, a lot of people have been cured by this so it helps you become a healthy person physically. It helps you become healthy and well-balanced mentally, psychologically, emotionally and it helps you develop and perfect your spiritual awareness."

-- Steven Seagal, 7th dan, Shihan, Shinto priest

"Once somebody is a Sensei, it is proper protocol to refer to them as Sensei, whether it is on the mats or off the mats, they are always Sensei. However, protocol also says that if you do not respect that person as Sensei, never call him Sensei, not once not ever. "

-- Steven Seagal, 7th dan, Shihan, Shinto priest

"O-Sensei was known to always have said, "Ai te no chikara awasu", and what this means, loosely translated, is that you have to practice at the ability of your partner, and it always has to be the stronger and more adept person that has to adjust to the less adept, for obvious reasons."

-- Steven Seagal, 7th dan, Shihan, Shinto priest

"When I go from dojo to dojo, sometimes for example; I see people attacking each other and then I see the uke falling before he's even been thrown, falling before he's even touched. How could this possibly have anything to do with Aikido?"

"O-Sensei always said "Aikido wa budo de aru". And what I felt he really meant was, "This is a martial art and if it doesn't work, take up aerobics, take up dance, or take up a gun! But don't call it the Martial Arts. Aikido is a Martial Art."

-- Steven Seagal, 7th dan, Shihan, Shinto priest

"Budo means to stop war. Stop arms, stop war. So Budoka is a heihoka, a warrior is really a warrior of peace, or a man of peace. You have to be powerful enough to stop war, because if you're weak you can't stop war. And Budo has that yin and yang, it has that Tate to yoko no ito, izu no mitama to mizu no mitama. There are all Shinto terms. Yoko no ito means moon, feminine, water, love, the power of forgiveness, the power of love. Tate no ito means sun, we talk about masculine, we talk about fire, we talk about the power of decision. That is the time when you don't forgive, that is the power to cut."

-- Steven Seagal, 7th dan, Shihan, Shinto priest

"In Aikido it doesn't matter who is better. It doesn't matter who's right and who's wrong, or who has how many students or whose dad is bigger than whose. Who cares? None of it matters, it has nothing to do with Aikido. What matters is that we all try to help each other to improve ourselves as human beings. Whatever styles come to us are welcome, nobody is better than anybody. Concentrate on the philosophical and the spiritual aspects of Aikido rather than who's affiliated with who."

-- Steven Seagal, 7th dan, Shihan, Shinto priest

"O-Sensei said that the basics should never change. O-Sensei always talked about shinken shobu, or fighting to the death, or at least with that feeling. So that if somebody lives, fine, and if somebody dies, that's too bad, either way. It's that seriousness of life or death that's lacking with many people and they end up making it a play. Aikido is not a play. I used to hear stories of O-Sensei. People were trying to kill him constantly. Many times he was faced with death. Many times people tried to kill him. They didn't try to punch him, they didn't try to throw dirt in his face, they tried to kill him. You know there's a difference. And that's why O-Sensei's Aikido worked."

-- Steven Seagal, 7th dan, Shihan, Shinto priest

"Aikido is based on Love, yes it is based on Harmony, yes it is based on Oneness, and yes it is based on not having an enemy. Even if somebody comes to try to cut my throat right now, in my opinion, they're not necessary my enemy, because I have what we call mushin. When somebody attacks me I don't think about, I'm going to get him, I'm going to do this. It's just a state of mind, a heart without emotion, a mind without emotion that I have, and the only thing I'd do is react to terminating the situation to the best of my ability."

-- Steven Seagal, 7th dan, Shihan, Shinto priest