The Way (Draft)

I think it is important from the very beginnings of any practice or discipline is for one to understand the subtle and distinct differences between "The Way" and "The Discipline". Quite simply, The Way is not The Discipline. As well intentioned we may be, it should be understood right at the very go that this is the case and is always the case. One simply should not continue discipline for the sake of discipline, which often becomes the result of this mistaken view which has the potential to escalate into a form of "Spiritual Materialism".

Good examples of this are communicated within several religious teachings and as a biased Dhamma practitioner, I feel that the best way for me to convey the ideas is through some teachings teachers have passed down over the course of many generations in Dhamma. In addition, as a self-studying scholar of Taoism and the Eastern Orthodox Church by way of the Philokalia, I feel that their practices too highlight the subtleties quite nicely. What I aim to present during talks on The Way highlight these subtleties.

Lao Tzu, at the opening of The Tao Te Ching had written, "The Path Pathed is not the Path"; a translation given to me from a fellow friend, The Old Woman. I'd like to take a moment to communicate here what that may potentially mean and how it sets the stage, as a Primer, for the entire book and for all spiritual endeavors. Without this critical understanding, the rest of the teachings have the potential for rash misinterpretation and potentially catastrophic undertakings.

Two Viewpoints

When walking, we can take one of two viewpoints. We can look at the road and think of this as the way; we even have words for this, roads, paths, streets, avenues etc. This is merely the path of convention, as it is the one most beings talk about on a daily basis and the one which consumes transportation, news, planning, political and social parades.

On the flipside and taken from a position of "negative-space" in art, one can see the activity of walking itself as the path rather than what is walked on. Essentially the path instead of something tangible, physical, instead of a noun, becomes more of a chain of events, verbs if you will. How exciting, for it opens up a whole world where walking off the conventional street, one can still be on a path, but I'm not taking about personal ways or highways, I'm talking about The Way.

Temporally speaking, if you could imagine yourself leaving a trace behind you as you walk, speak or talk, that is the path here. Imagine a trace of intentions far back as the eye could see, that also a kind of path much like the road walked on. Regarding spiritual endeavor, the Path here is not the tracks, it is not the "Path Pathed". The Path, the Way, is something different - it is something which transcends common conventional view.

If a practitioner can take out conceptions of the path and focus on the very realities which support all of this, this wold, this is where the practitioner of Aikido can discover without the artificial fabrications of perception - Take Musu Aiki. 

Aikido Is All I Am

O-Sensei has been quoted as once saying "Aikido is All I Am". How true this is, how true it is for the body of man! The coming together of cause and condition, the fruits of karma indeed! After time accumulated pondering this, nearly every evening in the dojo, I had a realization on the veranda that we are just this. Another gentlemen and great spiritual teacher, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche once said, "All I know, I know from karma." We are, our bodies, are born of the precious fruits of causes, come into being by way of appropriate conditions. It is no small wonder that Ai - Ki is the joining, the coming together of ki, that which is the motive force, the life, of all things. We are one family indeed.

Wisdom however is nothing, if not applied in the reality we live in, therefore it is a daily practice to remain mindful of the activities we engage in and apply the wisdom we receive. Sometimes there is falling back, but overall may the journey, the way, continue forward on the march toward entering he stream to a stage of no more falling back.

a fickle flame dances,
below the logs glow bright red

cold feet, colder
from a window's draft.

the pine tree,
below  -
warms my heart.