Steven Seagal - Articles

"I don't think I'm the movie star or sex symbol or enigma that people say I am; I'm thoroughly expecting to end up in the gutter, to no longer be the star that people think I am right now. And that's okay. You can take away the money and the fame. I don't look at myself as any of those things."

Seagal 4/94

In an interview with screenwriter Stanley Weiser, the martial arts expert and action film star Steven Seagal breaks his silence on his many years of Buddhist practice and addresses criticism of his recent recognition as an incarnate Tibetan lama.

This interview appeared in Shambala Sun....11/97

Stanley Weiser: First off, can you tell our readers a little bit about your background in the art of aikido�how long you trained, who your teachers were, when you attained the status of a master?

Steven Seagal: Well, the title of master�on paper�is something that I probably received in the early eighties. I still don�t believe that I have attained the level of being a master. Maybe some other people think I am a master, but in my mind I am certainly not. When did you start aikido training? In the mid-sixties I started training with Ishisaka Kiyoshi.

Were you introduced to Buddhism as an off-shoot of your martial arts discipline?

Well, to be honest with you I am not sure. I was born with a serious spiritual consciousness and for many years studied different paths. I went to Japan in the late sixties and began Zen sitting. I visited monasteries, studying Buddhism and receiving spiritual instruction. This was the beginning for me, the way I believed it should be�the development of a physical man through martial arts and polishing the spiritual side simultaneously.

You also studied acupuncture?

Right. That was the way I was originally introduced to Tibetan Buddhism. There was a handful of lamas who had come over from Tibet. They were sick and had been tortured. Because I was studying acupuncture, I was asked to try to look after a couple of them, even though I didn�t speak Tibetan. We were able to eventually communicate. I learned a little Tibetan and I became very close with them. Later on, I became involved in certain things that are not really the kind of things that I look back on with fondness. This was at a time when the Khampas were still fighting the Chinese and the CIA was helping them, and because of the severe repression of the Tibetan people, I wanted to get involved.

My involvement, though, was minimal. These were the years when my interest in Tibetan Buddhism flourished, but my involvement in any of the spiritual endeavors and training remained my personal business�not secret as some of the other things were, but just private. This was at a time when I very much wanted to be invisible in the dharma community, for a lot of reasons. Only in the last few months have I come out of the closet.

Can you say anything about your involvement with the Tibetan freedom fighters?

I think it is probably best if we don�t get into that. We are trying to live in a world where we can choose the middle path and seek harmony, and I don�t want to appear to be a dangerous revolutionary person, because I am really not. I am here on this Earth for one thing and that is to see if I can somehow serve humankind and ease the suffering of others.

Who was your root guru?

Basically, for me His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was the greatest, and now I have a very strong devotion to Minling Trichen and His Holiness Penor Rinpoche.

You are saying that for more than twenty years people have talked to you about possibly being a tulku?

There are people who had said to me that I am an incarnate lama, or tulku. Penor Rinpoche basically recognized me as Kyung-drak Dorje, who was the reincarnation of the translator Yudra Nyingpo. According to Jamgon Kongtrul�s Lives of the Tertons, Yudra Nyingpo was a disciple of the great translator Berotsana and became both an outstanding scholar and an accomplished meditation master. Many of his reincarnations, such as the Minling translator Lochen Dharma-shri, were able to contribute to Buddhism and it seems that he has taken rebirth as a number of tertons (treasure-revealers).

Do you have memories of past lifetimes?

From the time that I started going to India and meditating I did start getting memories that were fairly unclear. Just a few days ago, I was sitting with a lama and one of the things he said to me was that you have a very good imprint of many strong past lives, and therefore your realization will come more swiftly than some people�s.

What did he mean by that?

I can�t really explain it. But with something like ngondro, if you practice and practice and dissolve into the emptiness with the practice and you are concentrating on bodhicitta more than anything else, you will probably start to slowly dissolve the veil of who you think you are into your true nature, which is a combination of all your lives. We just have to remember them. This is where retreat is beneficial. Of course, as you practice longer, you will develop some different siddhis. But none of them really matters. What matters is what you do with your life.

In contrast to what that magazine had to say, whenever someone has asked me, are you a tulku, what I have consistently said is that I don�t believe it is very important who I was in my last lives, I think it is important who I am in this life. And what I do in this life is only important if I can ease the suffering of others, if I can somehow make the world a better place, if I somehow serve Buddha and mankind, if I can somehow plant the seed of bodhicitta in people�s hearts.

So contrary to the fact a lot of people think this recognition was some kind of sudden discovery, it has been developing over a long period of time.

Oh, I have been doing serious meditation in my own pitiful way for probably twenty-seven years.

That�s a long time. Are students supposed to call you any special title.

People call me all kinds of things, including four letter words. I respond to all of them. When I walk into a room some people see a dog, some people see a cow; I am all of what they see, it is their perception. But I do believe that buddha nature is in all of us, even in a mangy dog lying in the gutter with fleas. That dog is Buddha to me. People can call me anything they want, I respond to anything.

You gave a public talk in Santa Barbara recently. I have given teachings recently. Always on Buddha�s teachings. The Dalai Lama has said to me to concentrate on bodhicitta. This is what I feel that I would like to do. The Dalai Lama gave you personal instructions about teaching? I wouldn�t say he has given me personal instructions about teaching. But he has given me personal instruction and has invited me to come to other teachings of his. I would also hopefully study with Trichen Rinpoche and Penor Rinpoche�these are a few of the lamas that I think are quite sublime teachers and great masters, and I am lucky enough to receive some time with them. Hopefully by sitting with them I will absorb some knowledge or wisdom on how to transfer the little bit I have.

When you became a movie star, how did that affect your ego? Did it go out of control? The teachings must have been hard to come by, considering that you were being fawned over and/or reviled?

Even when I was in Japan, people tried to deify me, and the reason I left there was that deification is truly a death trap. That is a reason why I kept my spiritual practice to myself in America. I don�t think deification has been one of my biggest problems in life because I am lucky enough to have understood a long time ago what adoration and power really are about. I think the great obstacle was just a lack of understanding of the way.

There is a Buddhist slogan which says, "Work with the greatest defilements first." What would you say is the greatest defilement you have had to face in this life?

Not really understanding the difference between desire for spiritual perfection for the benefit of all sentient beings, and feeding myself. This is where I was confused in my youth: I thought that if I could spiritually feed myself to levels of great spiritual attainment then I could do greater things in the world and it would be good for me and therefore good for everyone else. I was just too ignorant and foolish to realize that the basis we have to come from is first and foremost the benefit of all sentient beings. This was a great obstacle for me and it caused me great suffering.

Do you think this recognition is a means to accelerating that process?

I hope so.

What meditation practices do you do?

I do ngondro, I do guru yoga, this is a great form of meditation for me. I do secret practices that I am empowered to do.

Do you do prostrations?

Prostrations are my favorite thing in the universe. Right now I am just trying to simplify all of the exalted practices that are probably over my head, all of the tantras I have tried to learn, and I am just trying to concentrate on bodhicitta.

Whenever I get too esoteric into the realms of tantric stuff, I get a little bit lost. Then I find the wisdom of my teachers when they say go back to the beginning and concentrate on bodhicitta. I am not a highly realized being, I am not a great lama, I don�t have any great practice. I am a very low person just trying to get to first base and the most basic practice of a bodhisattva. I am starting humble memorizations, meditations, and prayers.

How long do you practice for?

I don�t have a particular clock. I don�t keep track of exactly how long I�ve practiced, but I�d say it�s usually two hours in the morning and two hours at night. In the busy movie life of chaos and uncertain ego, where is your sense of equilibrium?

How are you able to hold your seat in that world?

I don�t really care what other people think of me or say about me. When you ask what gives me solace and eases samsara, it is Guru Rinpoche, the Lord Buddha and all the protectors, dakas and dakinis. I walk forward into this town and give the little bit that I am able to.

What other projects are you spending time on?

I want to be able to feed the children who are starving and sick in Tibet. I want to work on projects primarily for children who are hungry and sick. We are also trying recently to do something for people with eye problems in Tibet. Many of the monasteries are in need of help. When that magazine said these inaccurate things about my teachers, what they did not want to say is that I have traditionally donated large sums of money to many different religious organizations. I have done it in secret but it seems that what we call the press believes there is no profit in reporting good deeds. They prefer bad news even if they have to manufacture it.

Part of this, I think, is their inability to reconcile the image of you on screen with that of you as a spiritual man. Acting is an art. It is supposed to be an art. One of my teachers said that art is the mother of religion; by becoming one with ourselves and nature, one becomes one with god. I am not saying that I am a great artist; I am probably a poor artist. But the point is I was able through this vehicle to spread the dharma and help other religious institutions around the world, from Jewish to Catholic to Hindu.

What do you do with all the unchecked anger that comes with working in this back-stabbing business. As a Buddhist, how do you deal with it?

I�m human: when cut I bleed like everybody else. When this happens it is best to bring your problems into your practice. By overcoming anger, hurt and attachment we become stronger; you bring these before the Buddhas, before the protectors, and purify yourself.

Your screen persona is that of the noble tough guy protecting the innocent and downtrodden from gangsters, drug dealers and terrorists. In the characters you are playing, you are forced to meet violence with violence. When you watch yourself on screen, how do you reconcile the carnage with the lifestyle of a man practicing the teachings of compassion and non-violence? Well, I don�t think one has anything to do with the other. I think that art imitates life and its function should be a perfect and accurate interpretation of the way life really is, in all of its emanations. I am an artist trying to perfect his craft, but at the same time I do have feelings about violence. I was under a contract with Warner Brothers I could not get out of, and what they wanted me for was the male action films. I was offered extraordinary sums of money by other studios to do different types of movies and Warner Brothers would not let me. Now that I�m out of that situation, this will enable me to do the kinds of films I would really like to do, which certainly are spiritual in nature and which will lead people into contemplation and offer them joy.

Okay, last question. Acknowledging the inseparability of samsara and nirvana, what would you say the best thing about being Steven Seagal is and what is the worst thing about being Steven Seagal?

You know, I was sort of raised in Zen and I don�t really look at my life in terms of best or worst.

I was asking from a relative point of view.

The thing I am most grateful for is teachers who have allowed me to have the little bit of knowledge and wisdom that is now keeping me breathing.

I am grateful for the ability that I have on the screen to bring people happiness and joy and the ability that I will have in the future to hopefully bring people into the path of contemplation. In terms of worst things, I consider my worst enemies and my worst sufferings to be my greatest teachers, so there is always another side to these negative forces.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Students interview with his Sensei

Please come close, cross your legs and make yourselves comfortable so I don't have to scream, my voice is not that great.

Q: Sensei, I've been interested in Kotodama, could you explain it for us?

Well, that's like trying to explain Buddhism or Christianity or any other mystical art. Kotodama would take me a couple of weeks to talk about, to where I felt comfortable. Kotodama is really the power of sound; holy sound and unholy sound. If I may use your sensei for a second, as he comes to punch me (Wada Sensei punches and Master Seagal lets go a "kiai") I do that. That is not a word, it is a sound he felt. He felt it in here (pointing to his heart) and in here (pointing to his head). Some of you felt it and some of you didn't. The power of sound can be used in a lot of different ways, but kotodama encompasses holy words and unholy words in sounds. Kotodama can be used for healing or killing, it is like any other magic, it can be used in both ways.

Q: Could you describe your focusing process on- someone when you are getting prepared for techniques? It seems like you're going through a very specific focusing process.

It's a cycle. When I'm instructing, it's just their body position and my body position. When you really throw, you  have to collect yourself and start to culminate energy. You'll set them up, grab their "ki", you grab them from way out and you bring them to you. When they come to you, you do what you want to do, it's like lightning. Onisaburo, who, as you know, was 0sensei's spiritual teacher, wrote the Kanji ku kaminari which means" Budo is lightning." The culmination of electricity and power between heaven and earth, that's really what bugei (the martial arts) is.

Q: How should the uke be setting up for this?

The uke should not be thinking about taking anything nor thinking at) out doing his ukemi. He should only be thinking about attack. In the advance stages you don't even think about attack, you just attack.

Q: Could you give me your interpretation of Musubi?

Sensei: Something meets to become one, its very simple.

Q: Like the relationship between uke and nage?

Sensei: It can be, I can say Musubi in 15 million ways-it's like taking the word marriage in English. Musu means to become one to bring together.

Q: Would you elaborate on how you breath?

Sensei: I don't breathe. (Picking someone for ukemi). I'm not going to throw him, I'm not going to do any technique. He's going too attack. (He attacks). Can you see where I stopped and started breathing? You probably can't see it. I never breath during one confrontation. When I do multiple attack with 3,4, or 5 people attacking me at the same time, I'm breathing very, very slightly between each one. This is the way I do it. I'm not saying that your sensei would do it that way.

Q: Why do you do that?

Sensei: Because with me ;the epitome of my power is in a position where I am flexing and bringing everything together. Its more of an exhale: you inhale when you want to bring somebody in or grab them and once you get them you can't inhale because they can penetrate you.

Q: Sensei, I've been reading a little about the Mushin and the proper state of mind to have when fighting-not to draw back, not to draw forward, to wait to have the open mind. Are there any exercises to develop that? Sensei: I think meditation. Understanding that when you become one with all things, you develop a sphere, like a mirror, that is a perfect and accurate reflection of all that is. When somebody attacks with great evil, you reflect that and their greatness will come back at them. You are not God ,but you become one with God and you allow God to be the judge of how that technique will come back at them. In other words, if somebody attacks me out on the street, I don't think to myself, "I'm going to get this guy and I'm going to kill him." I don't think at all, I just react to his specific energy and I do what I have to do. In accordance with what I've said earlier; whether I take a life or save a life, ultimately there is no difference. I would rather save a life. But if, for example, I was standing in the middle of the street and saw the "night stalker" slit someone' s throat and then he turned to kill me; my action might be to terminate him. I would feel bad about taking human life, but I don't feel it would be my decision. It would be an act of my training. Action and reaction in terms of force and levels of negativity. Does that make sense to you? I would rather be nice as I said earlier, but if I have to not be nice, I'm very prepared to do that.

Q: So what you're saying is not a question of you being nice or not nice, but of you're reflecting what is in the mirror? Sensei: That's exactly what I was trying to say. Q:I'd like to know if you have a similar attitude in relation to healing, for people who need help? Sensei: Well, it's very different ... but similar in the sense that I don't treat too many people anymore and the only people I do treat are people I feel want to be better and have a, kind of karma with life that I can appreciate. In other words if somebody comes to me who has a bad heroin habit and thinks he wants to get better but I know he's not going to, I'm not going to treat him. if somebody in this dojo came to me' today and said, "I'm having a problem with I my ovaries and if I felt this person really wanted to get better, I would treat her. Do you see what I am saving? I look at the individual and see what I can see from them and try to work with that.

 

Q: And your experience with 0-sensei? Sensei: I have very little experience with 0-sensei. I was able to see him several times. I've seen him speak. I was very close to his spiritual teachers and I still am. I think I was the only white person to ever go exactly in the footsteps of 0-sensei in terms' of his mystical training. I became a priest in O'moto Kyo and went to all the aesthetic training with the priest that 0-sensei was raised with. I never really knew him. I never got to butt heads with him on the mat or was thrown around by him or anything else. Q: I read in an article that kenjutsu is a part of your life? Sensei: Well, to me Aikido and kenjutsu are the same thing. If you've seen my technique, I'm always cutting. Today we just did a couple of stabs at this and that, but when you watch me a lot you'll see I'm always cutting with the feet and the hand; tesabaki, ashisabaki. The hand and feet angles are all kenjutsu.

Q:It seems today that your Aikido was very pragmatic; a street oriented type rather than other Aikido styles which are not as pragmatic as your style. I was wondering if you at any point explored any others avenues of Aikido?

Sensei: The physical technique of Aikido at the level I'm teaching has nothing to do with the mystical applications in the way that you're referring to, i.e., there is Go-ju-Ryu (hard, soft and flowing). Now 0-sensei always said, "Bugei wa Bugei desu." The martial arts are the martial arts. And, "Aiki wa odorijanai." He always said that Aikido is not dance. If you ever took 0-sensei's Aikido, or watched him, you'd be scared to attack him because he didn't play. As soft as he was, if you weren't there, you'd get hurt. Aikido is serious and it has to work. That is what the founder said and he was right. Aikido has to work. All I'm doing is teaching you how to make your Aikido work because it doesn't work for a lot of you. I try to teach you how to make it real. There is nothing unspiritual about that at all. In fact it's more spiritual. It's real, it's not an illusion, it's not a cartoon. You have to feel it to understand it. 0-sensei was a great mystic but his Aikido worked. There are lots of people who tried to get him on many different occasions, from before he started Aikido to long after.

They found out it's no joke. And if you can't do that; if you can't walk out into that street and let a couple of gang bangers come at you with baseball bats, and know that you' re going to do the right thing, you don't know Aikido. It has to be real; otherwise take up aerobics or something. I go into some dojos and see somebody attacking and the guy falls and nobody touches anybody. Is there anybody in here who can throw anybody without touching them? You've got to make it work. I'm serious.

Q: Are you saving that some Aikido dojo's are too passive? Sensei: There are dojo's that teach that way (throwing without touching); and I think that in order to teach that way you first have to learn the basics and within the basics you have to be able to make them work. Once you've learned the basics and made them work you can get into the magical stuff that takes 20-30-40-50 years to get the feel for. Q: How would one pursue the mystical aspects of Aikido after achieving the basics? Sensei: It would be available with me, or any other person who has that kind of mystical background. When you get close enough to your teacher, he decides if he wants to teach you. Q: Can another religion or spirituality be just as valuable as Omoto Kyo has been to your Aikido? Sensei: I would imagine so, it certainly could be. One thing about Omoto kyo, and even 0-sensei said, that every religion says, "We are the path, any other path is wrong and you will go to hell." There is no religion that I know that doesn't say that except Omoto-kyo. We're all going up the same mountain, there might be different paths but we're all trying to get to God. Everybody has their own way to get there.

Q: What part of Aikido came from swordsmanship?

Sensei: All parts, when I do nikyo, I cut. When I do irimi, I cut, shihonage, it's all kenjutsu.

Q: Many years ago, when I saw "The Challenge," I saw your name in the credits. I was wondering how you got in to do the choreography?

Sensei: This is an interesting story. I was in Kyoto and there was a sword master by the name of Onoha Ittoryu,very very good at the inside stuff .Mifune, the Japanese actor, was to do "The Challenge." The guy who choreographed all the famous director Kurosawa's stuff, "Red Beard", "Seven Samurai" and all that had just died.

He was a great kenjutsu master and Onoha Sensei would not teach these people and believed I was a good swordsman. They came to me and hired me to choreograph the fighting and the sword and Mifune said, "Who is this white guy?" Mifune said to call up this Onoha guy and tell him to get down here. Onoha comes down in a Hakama and Kimono, the next day. He walks over to Mifune and says, "I came down here to tell you that this guy over here can teach sword as good, if not better than anybody I know." He bowed and left.

Q: How old were you when you opened your dojo?

Sensei: About 22.

Q: How did you do that?

Sensei: It was a situation that would take a long time to explain, but ... There was a person that I married who had a lot of land and a big dojo on it. She had become the victim of a confidence game. Land in this area was very valuable. There were buildings and offices and this piece of property was worth 15-20 million dollars at the time, in Japan that's not a lot of money but of course here it is a lot. There was a dojo there and a teacher, supposedly a Shihan, who got involved with the Yakuza, the Japanese Mob, a big money, scam and so on. Just like in any power' game, in any religion there is good and there is bad. And this guy was a bad Aikidoist and a bad representative. He was dealing with the Yakuza doing funny things with the money. The land and the property got taken over by the Yakuza and my wife at the time was being strangled and my life was being threatened by the Yakuza over this whole thing.

I went up against the Yakuza and the individual who thought he was the dojo-cho of this dojo. He made a corporation of all the land and encompassing offices and buildings and I took care of him and got rid of the Yakuza and at that point Hombu asked me to take over the dojo. I lied about my age, said, "Hey, I'm 50, you know, come and get some, and if you can beat me up you take it over." I faked it for all those years and' got away with it.

Q: Why did you start Omoto Kyo?

Sensei:: Wanting to understand the mystical essence of Aiki.

Q: Would you say that before you can get to deal with the mystical level your technique should be at a certain level?

Sensei: It would be best, but not necessary. Thank you all very much.

Information from Ten Shin Bugei Gakuen.  Thanks goto J.Lucas

Q: What is Aikido?

Sensei: Got a couple of years? Aikido in the advanced stages becomes much more complicated. It's theoretically based on harmony rather than blocking, kicking and punching. We allow the other person to attack and use his own attack against him by becoming one with his movement and utilizing anatomical weak points, joint blocks and throws, etc. In a life and death situation the harder the technique becomes. Often times, the attacker creates the life and death situation, because the harder they come the harder they fall. These techniques will work on anybody but you really have to learn them. Aikido is not a quick art to learn.

Q: Why did you study Aikido instead of karate?

Sensei: I started in karate and was in search of a teacher who could teach me the mystical aspects of the martial arts. The people I studied with in karate didn't give that to me. I found Aikido and read some of O-Sensei's speeches and saw him. Q: What master(s) did you study under? Sensei: I was in and out of Japan as a youth and saw Ceo Sensei on a few occasions and Tohei Sensei when he was still with Humbo Dojo. I studied with numerous teachers who you don't know and never heard of; from Isoyama Sensei to Abe Sensei. Just a bunch of people most of who are dead.

Q: Was there ever a critical point in your training career where you made a dramatic change?

Sensei: Yes, for six years I practiced about eight hours a day, that's a lot, in Japan. I was beating my head against the wall and I was making no progress. I wanted to transcend the physical aspects of Aikido. I was trying to do some of the things 0-Sensei was doing but I was getting nowhere because I was trying,. Finally one day, I went out into Kameoka in Ayabe province and started training with some of 0-Sensei's mystical teachers and started spending more time on the mystical aspects of Aikido. I experienced tremendous and dramatic changes in my technique in the first six months.

Q: Why didn't more of 0-Sensei's students find the mystical aspects of the technique interesting or important? Sensei: .0-Sensei had a real old dialect named Tanabe. There's this place way up in the mountains, its a country area with a dialect, that's really hard to understand. I would talk to the other guys and I'd ask them what he was saying. They would say, "ah, he's talking about God and religion and that crap, forget about that and learn how to fight." That was the attitude. Yet, when I went up and studied with some of the same priests that taught 0Sensei, I began to understand Aikido for the first time in my life. Because Aikido is more than waza.

Q: Is there a correct position to start?

Sensei: When somebody comes up and they're going to do something, you stand how ever is comfortable and you do what you have to do. The idea is if I am in left honmi and somebody comes at me, he probably won't come at me in right honmi because his face is going to be in your fist. However, you never know, the idea in the street is to empty yourself and let it come.

Q: Is a technique based upon someone fully advancing and fully committing their body weight to you? Sensei: Yes. In basic, beginning Aikido. But in advanced Aikido it doesn't matter. Q: Not even with a punch like a boxer would punch? Sensei: Not at all. It doesn't matter if they stay, if they run from me, if they stand there and do jumping jacks If I think I have to terminate a situation or neutralize a situation, I'm going to go after you. That is advanced Aikido. I don't need you to move. You can punch at me, you can do whatever you want.

Q: Then Aikido can be aggressive?

Sensei: Let me tell you a secret, those who practiced with 0-Sensei, whenever they attacked him, they were afraid they'd were going to die. Ask my advanced black belts if they find it a piece of cake when they attack me. It is not a cake walk. For example, I'm in a restaurant and somebody pulls a gun and holds a bunch of people hostage. If I don't have a gun, I'm not going to wait for him to try and pistol whip me. I have to do something then, I have to know techniques where I can go to him, and that is what "irimi" is all about.

Covering space from here to there as quick as I can with irimi. That is any one of a number of techniques. If you do them quick enough and your opponent doesn't move with it, they become strikes. Because they're going to hit and they're going to hit hard. if your opponent doesn't understand how to move with them, they're going to get hit in the real world.

Q: How can a disabled student get involved in the martial arts? Sensei: It would depend on how disabled they are and which way they are disabled. If you have the use of your hands and your arms, then you can do Aikido almost the same as I can. The concept is that somebody must come to you. Once they come to you, the hand movements, the movements of the torso, and everything else are the same. In a lot of ways you can become a very good Aikidoist. I know that during the times I got hurt very badly I learned my technique properly was because I couldn't move. Q: Can people that are 55 or 65 practice Aikido? Sensei: I've had people in their 70's train in Japan and in their 60's and 70's train here. Q: Could you explain zanshin and mushin?

Sensei: In the martial arts there are many concepts. I could write a book, I could spend the next several hours on these subjects. They are not something I would even attempt to talk about in 5 minutes, but I will take a second to talk about "mushin" because I mentioned it earlier. Mushin means empty heart, empty mind. Its very, very important in the martial arts. When Yagyu Tajimano Kami and different great mushin masters talk about this concept, they talk about the perfect and accurate reflection of all that is.

I've taught courses on this. Its a very long story. One analogy is: the reflection of the moon on a placid Lake. When the moon breaks through the clouds, when the wind blows, the lake gets ripples in it the image of the moon gets distorted. Likening this to your mind and your heart. When you have thoughts in your mind and your heart, everything is distorted. In order to become one so that you can understand everything and sense everything the way it really is... you have to be completely-empty; completely calm. That is mushin.

Q: What is the relationship between Budo and Aikido?

Sensei: They are the same.

Q: There's some confusion because there's a wide range of attitudes towards Aikido, from a very soft martial art to a killing martial art.

Sensei: I think those are just silly aberrations. I think Bugei, if you look, Budo, if you look at the original Chinese calligraphy and you break it down, it means to stop war. Stop arms, stop war. So Budoka is a heihoka ,a warrior is really a warrior for peace, or a man of peace. You have to be powerful enough to stop war, you see what I am saying, because if you're weak you can't stop war, you get warred upon. You understand? And Budo has that yin and yang, it has that Tate to yoko no ito, izu no mitama to mizu no mitama.These are all Shinto terms. Yoko no ito means moon, feminine, water, love, the power of forgiveness, the power of love. Tate no ito means sun, we talk about masculine, we talk about fire, we talk about the power of decision. That is the time when you don't forgive, that is the power to cut.

Those two elements have to live our within you in perfect harmony or you're out of balance, and that is the to murder your essence of Budo too. You have to have the ability and capability to decide to make decisions, to cut, to kill, and at the same time, you have to have the ability to love, to forgive, to be understanding. And those have to work together, but Budo is all of those things and Aikido is one of the millions of martial arts under the vast umbrella of Budo, you understand?

Q: What can we as Aikido students do to improve the political situation of Aikido?

Sensei: Unfortunately a lot of the teachers of Aikido are more concerned with who's better than who and who has more students. Am I wrong? In Aikido it doesn't matter who is better. It doesn't matter who's right and who's wrong, or who has how many students or whose dad is bigger than whose. Who cares? None of this matters. it has nothing to do with Aikido. What matters is that we all try to help each other to improve ourselves as human beings. Whatever styles come to us are welcome, nobody is better than anybody. Concentrate on the philosophical and the spiritual aspects of Aikido rather than who's affiliated with who.

Information from Ten Shin Bugei Gakuen. Thanks goto J.Lucas

"We're always striving to know ourselves, to become better human beings, to help others more. I believe in the immortality of human consciousness-that, even when we die, we go into the spirit world, where we'll still be learning the lessons we're supposed to learn, even there perfecting ourselves. Once begun, it never ends."

Seagal 4/94

Please do not get me wrong....studying standard forms or taking classes is great and can be a  rewarding experience. but do not fool yourself into thinking that because someone holds a blue,black,gold..etc,belt ;that it means that person could actually fair any better in a street fight than someone who does not hold any kind of belt. Martial arts in partial is discovery of one's "true" self....seek it honesty and earnestly...and you will find it...though remember that it is an ever growing and learning process. there is no completion to it. I  am positive the serious student would agree with this train of thought.

A Steven Seagal Seminar Review

by John Mello, Northeast Aikikai Student

I recently met with Steven Seagal Sensei at his Seminar for Peace in Santa Barbara at the Santa Barbara Zoological Gardens. Nestled deep in the mountain valleys of California, it was an ideal spot for training. The dojo was on top of tranquil grassy hill in the gardens. To one side was the Pacific Ocean and on the other, the downshadows of mountain peaks. The kamiza was beautifully decorated with exotic flowers and surrounded by palm trees. Even O-Sensei seemed grateful to be basking in the Californian sun.

I trained for ten hours a day with a few breaks in between to grab lunch and hang up my grass stained gi for a while. Every morning we were greeted by Sensei Larry Reynosa 4th Dan who was the seminar director and a direct student of Seagal Sensei for eleven years. He had a pony-tail too. Training began with a 30 to 40 minute warm-up and stretching session under the direction of Matsuoka Sensei 4th Dan who was Seagal Sensei's personal uke and head of the Steven Seagal School of Aikido in Santa Monica, California.

I liked his teaching because he was from the hard traditional style. His ukemi was at times unbelievable. This guy took iriminages that would have sent an ordinary man into a coma. His awareness was exceptional and the way that he remained open to all the techniques being performed on him was something to strive for. Nothing seemed to catch him off guard and his response was immediate, almost indecisive just responsive. After the beginning exercises Seagal Sensei would enter and teach approximately 4 hours throughout the day. The first day he bowed in wearing traditional gi and hakama but from then on, it was silk and sunglasses for him; sometimes changing once or twice. His presence was felt immediately on the mat (grass) and I found that the mystique which he carries on the silver screen is not just an act. He seems very much like he is in the movies (only a whole lot faster). Sometimes he moved so fast when demonstrating the technique that everyone would kind of look at one another, shrug and say, "what did he just do?"

I found Seagal Sensei very soft spoken, and the extent of his spirituality surprised me a bit but was assuring. He truly has the presence of a great teacher and my urges to keep referring to him as'Gino' quickly dissipated. His technique was phenomenal, almost magical and his teaching style was direct and in your face. He didn't B.S.his way around with words to try and adapt his teachings to everyone's beliefs. He told it how it was whether you were ready or not. He teaches hard traditional Aikido and students of softer styles found themselves cornered. He taught according to O Sensei's teachings and many of his reminders were, "If you can't control their minds...control their fingers."

He was always readily accessible for those who were persistent and thereto train rather than to get autographs. He was present many times to watch my technique and to tell me what I should be doing better and what I was doing well. He had the time to sit with me everyday and answer my questions and I am grateful for that. It did require sometimes a bit of chasing but hey, there were a lot of people there (250) and I was getting my money's worth.

The seminar was called Seminar for Peace because a portion of the proceeds went to benefit the Tibetan cause. In between the training sessions we would have directed meditations and lectures from a few Tibetan monks that Seagal Sensei had flown in. They included Khempo Chotsad Rinpoche, Lama Ngawang and Ringu Tulku who was student under the Dali Lama. The chanting was powerful and the meditations rejuvenates the mind and body and prepared them for the next session of training.

Seagal Sensei taught me a lot the short time I was there and I was surprised at how much one can learn in so little time under the correct instruction. There were styles there from all over the world and they were all beautiful. Some of Seagal Sensei's teachings were new to me and I thank him for that for they opened new doors for me. Some were not and I also thank him for that for that means he reassured me in what I have learned both on my own and through the guided teachings of Sensei Perriello who is my mentor.

 

I believe the most important teaching of Seagal Sensei's that whole seminar dealt with something that I have been dealing with for some time and that I have been on the way of attaining in my practice. That would be his teaching of In Shimyata which translates to something like 'The Great Void' or 'Dissolving into Nothingness'. To me it means attaining your 'Original Emptiness.' When you stand before an attacker and give him nothing, then he has nothing to take. Only when you stand free of all intention and clear of mind, body and spirit can you even begin to control his mind and his spirit. But at the end of the seminar I couldn't wait to get back to my home dojo and back to the teachings of Sensei Perriello. Training with all the different dojos made me appreciate what I had back home a true style of Aikido connected by the roots. Our dojo owes that to Sensei Perriello, a real student of Aikido. I also couldn't wait to get back to the East coast..... too many hugs out there in the West for my taste.- John Mello

Special thanks to Steven Seagal Sensei and the Tibetan monks for the burning ritual that closed the seminar and which was intended to bless and protect us. God bless.

"I was lucky in the sense that I was introduced to Zen thought in my early childhood and was taught that bigger is not necessarily better, louder is not necessarily better. From an early age, I really started to learn about mysticism,religion,philosophy,medicine.I had a very good teacher at the dojo,an old Japanese man. I was taught to value endeavoring, to develop the physical self and to perfect the spiritual self. I was looking for something-a different, better path."

Seagal 4/94

04/10/01