私は仏教徒なのかと問われると、どう答えるべきなんだろう。日本人のほとんどがそうなように、私は仏教徒ではない気もするし、仏教徒な気もする。親戚の葬式はお経を聞くし、何々宗何々派みたいな話もある。だから仏教徒なのかといわれると、クリスマスもあるし、最近は正月は詣るようになっている。しかし今日の話は、「私はどうやら仏教徒である」という話だ。
葬式が仏教式だからとかではなく、名前に寺がつくからとかではなく、年齢を重ね、自分について分析が進んでくると、やはり仏教の教えが、馴染んでいるんだと気づく。つまり仏教は私の育った環境の中に深く入り込んでいて、関わるのは葬式ぐらいだと思ったとしても、実は深く奥底で仏教徒の血が流れているような感覚があるということだ。私の世代の人間は、宗教と距離をとった世代だろう。科学が急激に進み、宗教はカルト宗教の印象が強くなり、宗教🟰危ないものという偏見をもって育った。一見宗教が必要なくなったように見えた時代の人間だということだろう。しかし科学技術の進化の蓋を開けてみれば、人間にとっての宗教の重要さではないだろうか。いまだに世界戦争は宗教戦争の側面を拭えない。
そして私も日本に根付いた仏教、神道、儒教などで育った文化の中で育ち、特に関わりのなくなったように感じていても仏教の話を聞いて頷ける部分が多く、その言葉に救われることもある。最近写経をする。写すのは般若心経だ。一番メジャーなお経だろう。そこに書いてあるのは、全ては心の中にあり、それは何もないということ。心しだい。なんともお金のかからない、日本らしい教えな気もするが、これがインドから中国を通って伝わってきているというのがまた面白い。
遊び稽古
１体操
２熊歩き、蜘蛛歩き
３杖になれる
４ ２５の杖
本稽古
１合気体操
２足捌き
３受け身
４小手返し二教ストレッチ
５正面打ち外回転投げ表ストレッチ
６正面打ち四教表裏
７正面打ち四方投げ表
８正面打ち外回転投げ裏
９肩取り二教表裏
１０肩取り面打ち小手返し
１１肩取り面打ち入り身投げ
根気強く二級の技にも挑戦して、本格的に合気道の難しさに挑んでいく。それは一度では登れない山かもしれないが、何度も挑戦し、段になっても考えて、どうしたらうまくいくのか考えて道を歩んでいく始まりのような級だ。二級は合気道の難しさをまとめたような級な気もする。しかしその道に挑んでいく価値がある。
If someone were to ask me whether I am a Buddhist, I wonder how I should answer.
Like most Japanese people, I feel that I am not a Buddhist, and yet at the same time, I feel that I am.
At relatives’ funerals, we listen to Buddhist sutras, and there are discussions about sects and schools. So in that sense, perhaps I am a Buddhist. But then again, we celebrate Christmas, and recently I’ve even started visiting shrines during the New Year.
However, what I want to talk about today is this: it seems that I am, after all, a Buddhist.
Not because funerals are conducted in a Buddhist way, nor because my name contains the character for “temple.” Rather, as I grow older and continue to analyze myself, I realize that Buddhist teachings feel deeply familiar to me.
In other words, Buddhism has permeated the environment in which I was raised. Even if I thought my only connection to it was through funerals, it feels as though, deep within me, something like the “blood” of a Buddhist still flows.
People of my generation likely grew up at a distance from religion.
As science advanced rapidly, religion came to be associated with cults, and we were raised with the bias that religion equals something dangerous. It was an era when religion seemed unnecessary.
And yet, when we look at the world today, perhaps what we are reminded of is precisely the importance of religion for humanity. Even now, global conflicts cannot entirely escape their religious dimensions.
I, too, was raised within a culture shaped by Buddhism, Shinto, and Confucianism, deeply rooted in Japan. Even if I feel I no longer have a direct relationship with them, when I hear Buddhist teachings, I often find myself nodding in agreement. Sometimes, those words even bring me a sense of relief.
Recently, I have begun copying sutras by hand.
The one I copy is the Heart Sutra, perhaps the most well-known of all.
What is written there is that everything exists within the mind—and at the same time, that everything is emptiness.
It all depends on the mind.
In a way, it feels like a very Japanese kind of teaching—one that requires no money at all. And yet, the fact that it was transmitted from India through China makes it all the more fascinating.
Light Practice
- Exercises
- Bear walk, spider walk
- Becoming familiar with the jo
- 25 jo kata
Main Practice
- Aiki exercises
- Footwork
- Ukemi
- Kote-gaeshi / nikyo stretch
- Shomen-uchi soto-kaiten-nage (omote) stretch
- Shomen-uchi yonkyo (omote & ura)
- Shomen-uchi shiho-nage (omote)
- Shomen-uchi soto-kaiten-nage (ura)
- Kata-dori nikyo (omote & ura)
- Kata-dori men-uchi kote-gaeshi
- Kata-dori men-uchi irimi-nage
With patience, we challenge ourselves with techniques of second kyu, stepping into the true difficulty of Aikido.
It may be a mountain that cannot be climbed in a single attempt, but by challenging it repeatedly, and continuing to reflect even after attaining dan ranks, we begin to walk this path in earnest.
Second kyu may well represent a condensation of Aikido’s difficulty.
And yet, it is a path worth taking.
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