Another styles, another arts, another things to be open towards

As mentioned in one of the previous posts, I had learned about the concept that through some movements, even some very simple ones, it is believed that enlightment can be achieved. I have been focusing harder on body movement, state of mind, connection and openness for about a month or so, and I think I realised some interesting points.

One that comes to mind immediately is the ever present 'conflict' between aikido styles. Some people say their style is better, superior, more authentic, etc. I agree with them. I agree, because people who find their own style better have probably come some way on that Path, they know it better, so they are closer to the so called enlightment through that Path. If you are closer and you have come so far on that Path, it seems to be logical to think that the Path you are walking on is superior to others. Or is it not? Perhaps. I think it takes a certain amount of expertise and openness to find out if one style is superior or not. It needs some expertise because first you need to know enough about your Way, and some things about the Other Ways to have at least some sort of basis for the comparison. Just saying that yours is better because it's yours is simply not enough. It might be a better feeling to know something more than something else you are not involved with at all but this is quite misleading. Secondly, you need openness because of the reason mentioned in the previous sentence. If you are not open to new experiences, if you are not able to try to see the world from the "others'" point of view, how could you possibly compare them? I've been training in one style for some years now, and I took one single class of another style. Can I compare them? Of course it would be quite biased! I know my styles, what works. I don't know what the weaknesses are because they are not obvious and I don't have any point of comparison. Then I go to a training of another style and I find it's very different. What can I do? Up until a couple of years ago I would have said "It's rubbish. There's no way this can work, especially in the street. This and that movement don't make any sense at all". Thanks God I went to this another training a couple of weeks ago, and I'm also grateful that I could have several discussions about styles, origins, and aims with the leader of that dojo (as he is my colleague). I noticed that they were not practicing things the way we did, they even did exercises that didn't seem to remind me of anything I had been practicing. Even the names of techniques were completely different. But I tried to stay open to the new experience. As a result, I found that some of the exercises they were doing were completely logical, we just didn't do them because they were individual exercises (simple steps) and we always practice at least in pairs in our dojo. Then there was this strange technique. It turned out (as the sensei explained it to me) that it wasn't really a technique but an exercise that teaches basic posture and hip movement, and I could see it made sense. On top of this, he was kind enough to show me how this basic exercise and parts of it can be transformed into a technique we know as iriminage. It made perfect sense. It was really unusual, I couldn't do the exercise properly at all, but it made sense. I wouldn't have known this if I didn't want this new experience and I didn't want to be open to it. It's another way, they walk a different path, but it's still aikido, originates from the same Founder, and I believe it can lead to the same enlightened state of being. It also teaches the same essential principles as our way, and it's good to see that the essence and the aims are the same. It's just another way to the top of the mountain.

Then there is another level to body/mind/connection/openness. A couple came to view our flat a couple of days ago and the guy noticed my bokken (wooden sword). 'Do you do fencing? Can I have a look at it?' I said yes. Then he tried to draw the sword out of the wooden case. Although it was funny, I just smiled and explained that it's made of wood altogether, there is no steel hidden in the wood. It took me some self control to leave it like that and not to start lecturing about 'fencing' and the difference between a katana and a bokken. I tried to see how open he was, and to what extent he was interested in martial arts. So we left it like that and he seemed to be satisfied with my short explanation for the moment, and I was satisfied, too, having practiced a bit of self control and some sort of connection. He had one more question before we moved on to view the garden in the back: "So what sort of fighting sport do you do?" This required even more self control. I would have loved to say "It's not fighting and it's not a sport!", but what difference would that make? So I said "Aikido". He seemed to be satisfied, and I don't think explaining what fighting sports and martial arts are would have made any difference to what he wanted to know. I had times when I entered into 5 minute lectures about the essence of the martial art I was doing but most of the people were not really interested in what aikido was about, they just wanted to know the name of the 'fighting sport' so they could put me into the category of 'he does some sort of sport that involves wrestling or punching'. Explaining that aikido is different might have had some effect but most of the time I would still be in the same category after we talked. But this is alright. His Path is different to mine. He might even walk in a different forest, field or on a different mountain. His goals are different, he seeks enlightment (if he does) another way. Our ways cross at some point, but he won't want to come my way unless he is ready and interested, in which case some more questions would follow and I could tell him more. It might even happen that his way offers something interesting to me so I shouldn't turn the conversation into a single sided lecture of how great my Way of Harmony is.

A path to the top of a mountain

On this note, I had been watching a group of people recently in the park. They were doing a sport that didn't make any sense to me. For a long time, I had been saying how rubbish this sport was. A bunch of people (I still don't know how many) go to the park even for a full day, sometimes more, they are all wearing some white uniforms, most of the time they seem to be just standing there, far enough from their neighbours to start some interesting conversations to beat their boredom (at least in my eyes). There is one who always throws the ball in a quite unusual way, and I think he tries to hit some sticks that the other seems to defend with a thing that looks like a baseball bat that went under a road roller. When this person hits the ball, there is some running around and some of the people seem to be happier than the others. When the person standing behind the sticks gets the ball some people seem to be happy. I don't even know if they belong to the same team or not, all are in white. As you can guess, this is my description of cricket. Cricket is another Way that is not really close to mine. It sometimes gets closer to my Path when I see these people playing but so far it didn't come close enough so the paths could cross. For the moment I like it that way. But I can notice the focused expressions of people practicing cricket, the happiness they seem to feel when they achieve something, the well worked out movement the one who throws the ball has, and just last week it occurred to me that through mastering the essence of their game they can probably achieve their goals, you can call it enlightment, just as I am aiming at achieving my goals my way.

So I really feel that openness and understanding are keys to achieve our long term goals, happiness, enlightment if you wish. I do this by going to Aikido trainings, trying to practice Aikido principles in every minute of my life, and by seeking opportunities in which I can gain every kinds of knowledge I'm currently interested in, and in which I can transfer my knowledge to others. They Way is sometimes hard, rough, and steep and sometimes I seem to be going backwards but I believe that if I keep going I will get what I am aiming for.

*I actually wanted to write about something completely different but I will follow that line of thought another time.