Читать книгу Advanced Aikido онлайн

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Dedication is not just to one's own training. That would be relatively selfish. Selfishness is not the ultimate goal of aikido. Dedication is what aikido stands for in its concepts, application, and model for human interaction. Eventually, with consistent and persistent training, the students become dedicated to their training and to the training of all those they train with. They are dedicated and proud of their direct lineage traceable back to the founder, O'Sensei Morihei Ueshiba.

Giri is a word that literally means right reason. It is a sense of obligation, duty, and debt. Eventually, with consistent and persistent training, students must always ask themselves if they are doing what they are doing for the right reason. Does it serve the higher good of all and does it honor those who have given their time, patience, and expertise? Is what they are doing or saying, paying back the debt they personally owe for what was given to them? This is a very different concept than the one seen in westernized society. Today, most people take up martial arts as a hobby to fill leisure time. Since they pay their monthly dues, they believe that whatever they are given belongs to them. They can do whatever they want with it. This is very shortsighted and not only goes against aikido's philosophy but also goes against traditional martial arts practice as well. Using the right reasoning in how the gift is honored and perpetuated pays the debt. The sensei was given, and honors, his or her own personal lineage. With consistent and persistent training, students come to know that they are only a temporary point in the passing on of knowledge. Like momentum in the application of aikido techniques, the inertia from the past generates the wisdom of the future.