Aiki is “Ki wo Gassuru”

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I was just re-reading Chris Li’s translation of Aiki no Bujutsu and had a little, but I think significant, epiphany. In that article there is this significant section:

Then, after a few days had passed I was having tea at Sensei’s house after morning practice and an Aikido demonstration was being broadcast.
After the demonstration was over Sensei said this – “They call it Aikido, but they aren’t using the slightest bit of Aiki!”. As one would expect, at that time I asked: “Sensei, what is Aiki?”.
When I did that Sensei stopped for a moment, took a deep breath, and said: “Aiki is…”. I held my breath and watched Sensei’s face. And then this is what he said next.
Sensei told me “Aiki is written Aiki, but the meaning is Ki wo gassuru, it is read Ki wo gassuru.”.
“Sensei! Aiki is Ki wo gassuru?”, I said without thinking. Sensei said, nodding, “Yes, that’s right.”. I said, “Thank you!” from the bottom of my heart.
I had read Chris Li’s translation of this article before and pondered the difference between the phrases “awaseru” (合わせる) and “gassuru” (合する). The second time reading the article and reconsidering those two phrases a whole lot of diverse information that had been floating around in my head came into focus.

In modern Aikido “Ki wo Awaseru” is commonly understood as bringing two ki’s into a complementary relationship. They “harmonize” with one another. In popular Aikido this is how “Aiki” is understood.

But it is very important to understand that this understanding is NOT the definition of an In/Yo relationship. In and In/Yo relationship one “Ki” gives rise to the other “Ki” and vice versa. In/Yo is a causal, codependent relationship not a “complementary” relationship. In harmonic chords, one note “compliments” another. They are complimentary yet can, and do, express independently. This is akin to “Ki wo Awaseru.” In In/yo relationships, Yo gives rise to and defines In, and In gives rise to and defines Yo. In/Yo relationship are co-dependent and co-arising. This is “Ki wo gassuru.”

It is in this sense that “Ki wo Gaasuru” defines Aiki, because “Gassuru” implies a unity. As Chris Li pointed out in his “Translator’s Note:”

Morihei Ueshiba also used this reading of the kanji for “Ai”, both in his 1933 technical manual Aikijujutsu Densho and his 1954 technical manual Aikido Maki-no-Ichi, but slightly more explicitly, as when he used the term “Inyo-gacchi” (陰陽合致) – “the unification of Yin and Yang”.

Chris Li then points out that,

“He later (1963, from a speech at a demonstration at the Hibiya Kokkaido) stressed that this process occurs within one’s own body when he stated that “In Aikido Izanagi no Mikoto Izanami no Mikoto enter and move through this old man’s body” (「合気道は、イザナギの尊 イザナミの尊が爺の体内に入り行っているのだ」) – Izanagi and Izanami standing in for Yin and Yang.”

When reading this the second time I noted that in the above analogy (quite a common one for Ueshiba) he says that Izanagi and Izanami no Mikoto enter his body. Having spirits enter one’s body was an Omoto practice. And while Izanagi and Izanami represent In/Yo, Ueshiba may literally have meant and believed what he said. In this passage, he used the term “karada” which means one’s anatomical body.

But Ueshiba’s understanding wasn’t restricted to Omoto possession practice and his physical body. As Chris li goes on to point out:

“He also presented this in his use of the phrase “Ten-chi-jin Aiki”, the classical Chinese model that “unifies the forces” (“Aiki”) of “heaven and earth” (“Yin and Yang”) in man (‘jin”).

“Aikido is the way and the principle of harmonizing Heaven, Earth, and Man
(Morihei Ueshiba – from “Takemusu Aiki”, edited by Hideo Takahashi).”

In these instances, the character “Jin” replaces “Karada.” Jin is the kanji for “human being”. Karada is the character for physical body.  Jin encompasses all of one’s “being.”

Now let’s re-read the last quote with the understanding of “gassuru,”

“Aikido is the way and principle of unifying Heaven, Earth, and Man.”

Remember Heaven/Earth are In/Yo represented as Ni Ki in the – Ichi Rei, Ni Ki, San Gen, Shi Kon, Hachi Riki formula. They are an expression of Ichi Rei- One Spirit as In/Yo – Ni/Ki. And, they are “Ki wo Gassuru” which is Aiki. Therefore, Aikido is the way and principle of unifying In/Yo and Jin (one’s person).

This also lends some elucidation to one of the core principles of Daito-ryu – Aiki-inyo-ho, the “Aiki Yin-Yang Method”, or in this light, a “method for unifying the forces of Yin and Yang”, the classical Chinese union of opposites also cited by Morihei Ueshiba above.

The One (Ichi Rei) manifests as two (Ni Ki), which manifests as human beings. Now there are San Gen (three sources – Heaven, Earth, Human-being)
Humans manifest themselves as four souls (Shi Kon) or four aspects of our being. The four further manifest as 8 powers (hachi riki).
Chris Li makes one last point:

Nishikido Sensei titled his book 合気の極み, “The Height of Aiki”. But the character used for “height”, 極み, is also the character used for “polarity” in Taiji – 太極 – “supreme polarity”, the union of the opposing forces of Yin and Yang. In the classical Chinese model, Wuji – “nothingness” (無極) becomes Taiji (太極), the manifestation of Yin and Yang. This process was also described by Morihei Ueshiba in terms of the Kototama.

This reminds us that Aiki isn’t two things, it is one thing that manifests two different aspects. This is an important distinction. The Aiki body isn’t limited to the corporeal body that “is Aiki.” It is one’s person (Jin) manifesting as Aiki. This understanding “Aiki body” or one’s self as “Aiki” is again pointed to when one considers “Shi Kon” or the four souls that constitute a human’s being. Not too surprisingly the four souls are composed of two in/yo pairs that are different manifestations of one’s being.

This is why Jin (human being) is such an appropriate term to use. People have a sense of being. The corporeal body is a transient part of what constitutes a human being, but it certainly isn’t the totality of a person. When one understands this one can understand one’s self as a Ten Chi Jin, a Ten Chi Being.

With this understanding, other even more esoteric verbiage associated with Aiki (such as Aiki O Kami) become much easier to comprehend. But before we delve into the meaning of Aiki O Kami let’s take a little aside.

Consider the following: Most translate the term Kami 神 as divinity or god. But when they do so there is a strong tendency for readers apply a Judeo/Christian conception of the term divinity, or god, or even a neo-Plato understanding. This being the case, those that do this are often stupefied when they see trees, rocks, mountains, etc. worshiped as kami in Japan. The assumption made is that the people that recognize trees, rocks, mountains, etc. as kami must conceive of these thing’s divinity in the same way that Judao/Christian/Platonists do.

Now, certainly, there may well be some people that do this. People do a lot of different things.  But, they may not.  They might recognize the being of these things in the same manner that most recognize a human’s “being. ”We usually recognize each other’s being as all that which makes each person who and what we consider them to be. So, similarly, a rock being is that which makes a rock a rock. A tree’s being is that which makes a tree a tree. And a mountain’s  being is that which makes a mountain a mountain. Every rock, tree, mountain, etc. have their unique essential quality of being which make them what they are. These specific tree’s, rock’s, mountain’s, etc.’s ways of being are a part of, and a manifestation of, a less specific and universal understanding of tree, rock, mountain, etc. Being. Both the individual being and the universal Being can be understood as Kami in this way. Moreover, there are some rocks, trees, and mountains, etc. that can inspire one to stop and think, “Now THAT is a (rock, tree, mountain)! It is these “exemplar” trees, rock, mountains, etc. that usually get recognized as being unique. This too is how humans can be conceived of as kami. Each human is a being (or kami) constituted of different aspects. And, like some exemplary rocks, trees, and mountains, etc., some human being cause other humans to stop and think, “Wow! Now THAT is a human being!”

With this frame of reference, one can understand, Aiki O Kami is the being of Aiki in its larger universal sense.

When understood in this way, many seemingly “wacky” Aiki things begin to seem less wacky. One can be a Ten Chi Jin if one’s is Ten Chi. In the same vein, one can be an Aiki Jin, if one’s being is Aiki. Furthermore, since a Ten Chi Jin or an Aiki Jin would be Aiki, one could say, “I am Aiki.” In the same way that one might say, “I am funny” because they are being funny!  An Aiki Jin would necessarily be a part of “the greater being of Aiki” and therefore a part of Aiki O Kami.

Stringing this meditation out a bit further (and admittedly getting a bit wacky), one can pronounce Aiki O Kami as Aiki Dai Jin. So, with a little wordplay, one can see the relationship between Aiki Dai Jin and Aiki Jin (if one was in to that sort of thing).

To wrap up, let me recognize that this could simply be an exercise in philosophical pontification. But it doesn’t have to be. These understandings (the non-wacky ones) have direct and immediate implications for one purporting to study the Way of Aiki or Aikido. Aiki was, and is, real in the same way that gravity was and is real, whether one recognizes it, or not. Like gravity, if one recognizes what Aiki is, one can increasingly study, understand, and begin to use Aiki to one’s own ends. If in this process, one begins to manifest Aiki in one’s own mind/body, one will likely begin to develop an Aiki body. And, if this continues on long enough, it could be said one is (or at least has) an Aiki being. When one is an Aiki being, by definition, they are a part of and participate in Aiki O Kami.

Get it?  Ki wo Gassuru is Aiki and Aiki is Ki wo Gassuru.  The Way of Aiki is the Way of Ki wo Gassuru, and the Way of Ki wo Gassuru is the Way of Aiki.  This is the original understanding of the term Aikido, which is why Aikido was a term used both by those of Daito Ryu lineages and those that practiced Daito Ryu and called it Aikido.  The realization and manifestation of any of these requires Shugyo.  But not just any shugyo, only shugyo that leads to Aiki and therefore involves ki wo gassuru.

Well, there you go.  That gives you a glimps of what keeps me up at night.  – Allen

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