003 ETHICS OF THE TECHNIQUES OF AIKIDO
Summarized from Issue No.20, p.4 - 9, The Newsletter of the Hong Kong Aikido Association
Date: October 2006
No doubt there has been a misconception about martial arts and many people seek thrills in victory or conquest over others, and form stereotype views of martial art training to be kicking, hitting and destroying other people. Thus, there is a need for every student of Aikido to understand the ethics of Aikido as a martial art and the principles emancipated by its Founder, Morihei Ueshiba (O'Sensei). Aikido was developed out of the traditional martial arts of "instant destruction" to become a martial art of "divine procreation". At the core of O'Sensei's philosophy were the abiding love for the traditional martial arts and a deep wish to revive the spiritual quality of budo. O'Sensei concluded that the true spirit of budo is not to be found in a competitive and combative atmosphere where brute strength dominates and victory over others is the paramount objective. He concluded that it is the quest for perfection as a human being, both in mind and body, through cumulative training and practice with kinder spirits that a true manifestation of budo can have a raison d'etre in the modern world; and when that quality exists, it lays beyond any particular culture or age. It was with this goal that O'Sensei transformed the traditional martial techniques of instant destruction into the modern techniques of Aikido.
The ethical imperatives of Aikido can be explained by the following scenarios adopted from the "Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere" written by A. Westbrook and O'Ratti.
Scenario A: A person, a warrior of martial profession,out of no reason attacks another person without any martial ability, strangles the person with bare hands. This is the lowest form of martial ethics, abusing one's learning in martial arts and using it to oppress others.
Scenario B: A person, without provocation and on one's own initiative, attacks and kills another person. Although the person being killed appears to be of the same martial profession, there is no reason to initiate an attack and defeat another person. Ethically, this is also at the lowest of the ethical levels - unprovoked aggression in the form of a direct attack to another individual.
Scenario C: A person has provoked another person to attack. The attacker is killed as a result of the response to the provocation. While the provoker is not guilty of launching the initial attack, he/she is responsible for inciting another person to attack. Ethically, there is not much difference between scenarios A, B and C.
Scenario D: A person neither attacks nor provokes another person to attack. But, when under attack, the person defends oneself in a subjective manner, taking care only of oneself but disregards whether the other person is killed or suffers serious injury from one's defensive actions. Ethically, this is the generally accepted scenario in today's typical thinking as the defender successfully protects oneself from possible harm and inflicts destruction to the attacker. However, the result is identical to the other scenarios - a person is killed or seriously injured.
Scenario E: This is the embodiment of the ethics of Aikido self-defence. Neither attacking nor provoking an attack, a person defends oneself in such a way, with such skill and control that the attacker is not killed. In this scenario, the attacker is not even seriously injured, but is left to repent over one's actions; and hopefully the attacker realizes the futility of hostile action in attacking another person and that unprovoked aggression is not warranted in modern society.
The above scenarios represent the ethical application of martial techniques. Scenario E is the ethical goal of all Aikido techniques of self-defence. The course of action requires a high level of technical skills, the result of intensive practice promulgated by the Founder of Aikido. But it requires more than technical proficiency, it requires an ethical intention or an ethical education. An aikido practitioner must sincerely desire to defend oneself without hurting others. The goal of everyday training must be toward the integration of mind and body, of physical means and ethical motives. Aikido then becomes a harmonious interaction between two or more people, fulfilling the Founder's intention that Aikido translates to the highest form of ethics in our society and the expression of the best conduct in our daily behavior. The highest level of martial ethics, however, lies beyond techniques and that is to defeat aggression without fighting, to pacify and resolve conflicts without confrontation.
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