Aikido: martial art for defense not harm

(SportEye) Everyone underestimated the amazing art of aikido -- until one real fight turned brutal

He angered sleeping beast...who then harmed him - Show no mercy? He who destroys shall be?

Referee chokes violent pro fighter, disqualified

#Understanding #Mercy #Save #Respect #Humanity #Kindness #Hopecore #Defense #Nonviolence

(Jesse Enkamp) Real Aikido is terrifying

(Fighting wow) Aikido moves are no joke. They can be terrifying and very dangerous!

It's fake? Master vs. Sumo wrestlers

(Aikido Shinburenseijuku) "Aikido is fake?" Can an aikido master

really throw morbidly obese Sumo wrestlers around the dojo?

Self-defense move #martialarts #tsukiclosecombat - Technicalthree-stepthrow #martialarts #mma

Don't block kicks; do this instead #mma #muaythai - Capoeira, Krav Maga, Kung-fu: Which wins?

Headlock back of neck grab self-defense 😱🥋 - 🥋 Traditional kung fu conditioning — 4

Aikido stops knife attack, Berlin, 1924

Aikido (Shinjitai 合気道, Kyūjitai 合氣道, aikidō) is a modern Japanese martial art that is split into many different styles including Aikikai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, and Ki Aikido.

Aikido is now practiced in 140 countries [1]. It was originally developed by Master Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his martial studies, Eastern philosophy, and Shintoist religious beliefs.

 

Meaning: how not to hurt the opponent

Shihonage throwing opponent using his own for against him in aikido

Westerners Anatoly Kharlampiev and Alfred Karashchuk learn aikido jujitsu in 1957

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Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba

Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba's goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to defend themselves against attacks, while also protecting the attackers from injury [2, 3].

Aikido is often translated as "the way of unifying (with) life energy" [4] or as "the way of harmonious spirit" [5]. According to the founder's philosophy, the primary goal in the practice of aikido is to overcome oneself instead of cultivating violence or aggressiveness [6].

Aikido's founder used the phrase masakatsu agatsu katsuhayabi (正勝吾勝勝速日, "true victory, final victory over oneself, here and now") to refer to this principle [7].

How to put aggressor down without hurting him

Aikido's fundamental principles include: irimi [8] ("entering"), atemi ("strikes") [9, 10], kokyu-ho ("breathing control"), sankaku-ho ("triangular principle"), and tenkan ("turning") movements that redirect the opponent's own attack momentum.

Aikido's curriculum is comprised of various techniques, primarily throws and joint locks [11]. It includes a weapons system encompassing the bokken, tantō, and jō.

Jujitsu (and rifles) in an agricultural school

Aikido derives mainly from the martial art of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu (a form of jujitsu) but began to diverge from it in the late 1920s, partly due to Ueshiba's involvement with the new Shinto-based Ōmoto-kyō religion (Oomoto). Ueshiba's early students' documents bear the term aiki-jūjutsu [12].

You too can learn to fight (UK)

Aikido as practiced by Ueshiba's senior students take different approaches to the art, depending partly on when they studied with the master.

Aikido today is found all over the world in a number of styles, with broad ranges of interpretation and emphasis. However, they all share techniques formulated by Ueshiba and most have concern for the well-being of the attacker. More

• Jesse Enkamp (video); Editors, Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit UPDATED

The Seven (7) Levels of Buddhism

(Greg Knows All) The 7 levels of Buddhism in 27 minutes

This silly looking cartoon of a video is profound, so much so that we are included to call its maker, Greg Knows All, "Añña GREGḍañña" or "Greg who knows" (after the Buddha's very first enlightened disciple, Añña Konḍañña, "Kaundinya who knows, who see").

When the wandering ascetic Siddhartha first thought to teach and make known the Path to Enlightenment (Bodhi) and Liberation (Nirvana), what today the ancient Theravada tradition calls "Buddhism" or Buddha-Dhamma (The Doctrine of the Awakened One), he had no one to teach, no one at least whom he thought would understand. There were his wise albeit unenlightened teachers, but they were passed away and reborn in worlds where they could not be reached for a very long time. Some planes of existence are so long lasting, it's staggering. So he realized his five former companions on his spiritual quest might get it. When he taught them, one did. And that was Kondanna (Kaudinya)

He may be reading this from somewhere, possibly What the Buddha Taught or a scholarly rundown of the historical Buddha's path by Bhikkhu Bodhi or Ven. Professor Analayo. Wow, Greg.

• Buddhaghosa's The Path of Purification
• Guide Through the Path of Purification
• Introducing [Theravada] Buddhist Abhidhamma
• Sila is virtue, morality, ahimsa (nonharming)
• Kasinas (discs) as Kammaṭṭhāna (one's Field of Effort in Meditation)
• Monastic Disciplinary Rules (Patimokkha, the "Path to Moksha" for Buddhist nuns and monks)
• The Buddha's Gradual Path of Progress does not drop off suddenly but deepens like the ocean shelf, producing its result. 1) Virtue is established to bring about peace of mind and serenity of spirit free of misgivings and worry. 2) Atop that foundation of peace and blamelessness, stillness (samadhi), profound peace of mind, is placed. 3) The crowning of this pyramid is what establishes it and makes it permanent, insight (the gnostic experience of wisdom for oneself and depending on no one's authority, direct knowing-and-seeing, personal realization)

Wise sayings for better living: Simple Life

(Flowing Void) Lao Tzu: The Ancient Philosophy of a Simple Life (Taoism's POV: wu wei)

The Art of Not Forcing

Wisdom Quarterly

Why even carry a sword? The art of kyudo

What is wu wei? It is the art of not forcing things, non-interference, effortless action, non-doing, non-resistance, the path of least resistance, going with the flow, the way of water, acting in harmony with the way life actually moves.

Once upon a time two great martial arts masters traveled the land, unbeaten, taking on all challengers and triumphing in each case. Then one day, by chance, they met at the creek. And one said to the other, "So we finally meet? Today shall be the day we see who the greater sage is, the warrior to vanquish all warriors, the Undefeated."

"Indeed, just as you say."

Then the first drew his sword with a resonant schwing and stabbed it into the water. It stood glimmering. Then he took out a piece of paper and placed it onto the water above the sword. The water carried the paper down, and his sharp sword sliced it in half down the middle just as it flowed by. At this, the first warrior shouted: "Behold!"

The second warrior drew his sword and stabbed the creek with his longer, stronger sword, shimmering more brightly on the surface of the water.

The first warrior trembled in anticipation, his confidence beginning to slip.

The Art of War

The Art of War for everyday life | Sun Tzu's wisdom explained

The second warrior took out a piece of paper, placed it above the sword on the surface of the water. And the current carried it down to the blade, going around the sword just as it passed.

The first fell to his knees, defeated, understanding too late, of course, that it is always wiser to avoid conflict and not fight. He cried out, "Indeed, master, we have settled it. And let it be known from this day forward, I am the inferior."

The other gently smiled and turned away.

Did it happen? Who knows. Could it have happened? Indeed! The Tao flows, wu wei, unobtrusive, doing nothing but leaving nothing undone. Forcing nothing but accomplishing everything. Behold, what we call Mother Nature!

Ancient Chinese philosophers' life lessons

(Quotes) Ancient Chinese philosopher's life lessons we learn too late in life: Eastern philosophy

Western Way: struggle, fight, push, lose

 

(Evan Bnormal) A monk of 28 years reveals why he abandoned society... [then gave up and left, to again live in the world, praying and meditating, but now being able to "pop out for a pint," as he explains]

Raw wisdom from growing up in Dublin, Ireland, and moving to London

When Buddhists Attack (Zen of martial arts)

Theravada Buddhist Muay Thai champion versus Shaolin Kung Fu master from Far East

Buddhist Wisdom (Tuttle Publishing)

Uncover the historical truth about Buddhist warrior monks with this informative and enlightening book.

Exploring the origins of Buddhism and the ethos of the Japanese samurai, martial arts practitioner Professor Jeffrey Mann traces the close connection between the Buddhist way of compassion (karuna) and the way of the warrior.

This Zen book serves as a basic introduction to the history, philosophy, and current practice of Zen as it relates to the Japanese martial arts.

Maybe they'll be ghosts (kami)

It examines the elements of Zen that have found a place in budo (bujutsu or bugei)—the "Martial Way"—such as zazen, mushin, zanshin, and fudoshin, then goes on to discuss the ethics and practice of budo as a modern sport.

 

Offering insights into how qualities integral to the true martial artist are interwoven with this ancient religious philosophy, this book on Buddhism helps practitioners reconnect to an authentic spiritual discipline of martial arts.

Southeast Asian Silat, most dangerous martial art?

Film, television, and popular fiction have long exploited the image of the serene Buddhist monk who is master of the deadly craft of hand-to-hand combat.

While these media overly romanticize the relationship between a philosophy of non-violence and the art of fighting, When Buddhists Attack: The Curious Relationship Between Zen and the Martial Arts shows this link to be nevertheless real, even natural.

• BOOK: When Buddhists Attack (Tuttle Publishing)

Prof. Jeffrey Mann, Dept. of Religious Studies

ABOUT: The author Jeffrey K. Mann is a professor and the chair of the Religious Studies Department at [the Protestant Evangelical Lutheran] Susquehanna University (susqu.edu) in Pennsylvania. He earned his doctorate in religious studies from Vanderbilt University and has also served as a visiting professor of religion at Senshu University in Ikuta, Japan. A longtime student of Japanese martial arts, he has trained and competed in karate tournaments throughout North America, Japan, Okinawa, and the Philippines. He is an instructor of the Susquehanna Goju-ryu Karate-do Club, a school affiliated with the International Okinawan Goju-ryu Karate-do Federation.

• Warrior Wisdom (Tuttle Publishing)
• Hojoki: A Buddhist Reflection on Solitude
• Yurei Attack! The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide
• Buddhist Wisdom: Daily Reflections
• Jeffrey Mann; Pfc. Sandoval, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

New Year's Eve Celestial Ball (12/31)

WHAT HAPPENED?

Where did these DJs learn to move us?

Through the gloom of clouds and mist, muddy streets and threats of "rain," we made our way to big house in Shadow Hills in the Foothills of the Valley. It was warm and bright inside, pulsing with lights and DJs. In a room to the right were throw pillows, tapestries, chocolates of all kinds and the massage area. On the ceiling was a map of the night sky in colorful lights or a psychedelic representation of it anyway. We gathered in a giant circle that spanned three rooms and the dancefloor, spilling into a fourth, for introductions. Pick a word that represents the year we are leaving. Introduce yourself to the person on your left, mimic their every move, share deeply. Raw vegan foods and cheesecake by Rawsheed were cooling, and warm curries were bubbling. Hibiscus tea filled a punch bowl with stevia and lemon essence.

Kinship Yoga 108 Sun Salutations

There was socializing all around in every room and a long primary dinner table set to serve two dozen people as others retreated to an adjoining room to eat, talk, and plan their karaoke, dancing, and singalong routines. The massage room became a healing chamber with too many signing up too late as hours rushed until the ecstatic moment of the countdown: 10, 9, 8...2026 was on its way. Is this happening simultaneously in New York, or did it happen three hours before? It's already tomorrow in Oceania and Australia. Dancing, screaming, hoots and howls to welcome in the new year, it's something Gatsby might have overseen from West Egg. Where's Daisy? She's dancing somewhere.

Ecstatic Dance with Sita Das Ji

Others are developing mindfulness and meditating, healing and letting go, and the drizzle has stopped down below in the Basin and Valley that is Los Angeles. People settled into corners for deep talks about the environment, human potential, psychology, saving the world, lamenting the Levant, and strategizing for paths to health and greater prosperity.

This is a good crowd with Vanessa and Annie outdoing themselves. Not since this past summer's pool party in Beverly Hills and book release has a compassionate celebration been so celebratory. Everyone was full, and it was approaching 2:00 am as we cleaned up, hugged, and meandered back down to the City of Angels.

Annie Vandenheuvel | Meetup

This 2025/2026 New Year's Eve is a Silver and Gold Celestial Ball hosted by Annie Vandenheuvel (Fruitful) and Vanessa Marsot (vegansofla.com) in Los Angeles.

Enter the glittering world of Arcana and find your Tarot Dreams. Once you arrive, find a host of figures to illuminate your chosen path. Draw in ultraviolet colors on the walls of your inner landscape.

• New Year's Eve Vegan Celestial Ball
• Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, 8PM-1AM
• Sunland-Tujunga, Shadow Hills, L.A.

Fashion inspiration from famous vegan (plant-based) men | Watson & Wolfe

Start 2026 by watching the 14th Dalai Lama's NYE message of peace #Buddhism #love #fypシ

What the f*ck do DJs actually do-do-do-do?

24 Hours With: Charlotte de Witte at Tomorrowland EDM Rave in Belgium, Europe, 2025

Kindness [to the environment and all its animals and human-animals] makes us stronger

• FREE TO RSVP: (Disclosure Project) New Year's Eve Celebration, Los Angeles, Wed, Dec 31, 2025, 8:00 PM | Meetup
• (Nature Center) New Year's Eve Vegan Celebration, Los Angeles (SF Valley), Wed, Dec 31, 2025, 8:00 PM | Meetup
• (PasaDharma) New Year's Eve Vegan Celebration and Ball, Los Angeles (Valley), Wed, Dec 31, 2025, 8:00 PM | Meetup

World-class vegan influencer Vanessa Marsot

Purchase a vegan food ticket ($40) to receive Alchemical creations by Chef Rawsheed (Facebook) and special elixirs. Appetizer, a main course, and dessert are all included. Or just come to party ($15).

Everyone in attendance will be provided an elixir of sparkling cider for the midnight toast. A DJ will be playing for our dancing pleasure at this ball between open mic and karaoke sets. Bring instruments!

To practice METTA, I became vegan. 😁

Tip jar massage will be available. Come dressed like a celestial Devi in silver or gold outfit for the ball. Or dress however you feel inspired with comfort as the goal.

Strut down a glittering catwalk in vegan ball attire for everyone to admire. (Please consider ahimsa, "non-harming," and avoid wool, silk, fur, leather, and feathers stolen from tormented animals).

• RSVP TO ATTEND:
• Meetup.com/vegansofla...
• Vegans of Los Angeles
• Vegan Spirituality | Meetup
• Celebration of Fruit Group | Meetup
• Retreats | Ellora Wellness

Will somebody kiss me right at midnight?

DETAILS

Massage is mind-body healing.

Payment for the food ticket due by Dec. 29th. Address of location given upon RSVP by Dec. 30th. Venmo: @Vanessa-Marsot Zelle: 818-383-5998 PayPal: vmarsot@gmail.com. Questions? Contact Vanessa at (818) 383-5998 or Annie at (310) 892-9617.

This event is advertised on multiple sites, so the Meetup numbers do not reflect the total number attending?

DISCLAIMER: Event organizers assume no liability; all participants do so at their own risk. By attending, you agree that neither you nor any third party will hold any of the group's leaders liable for any injury, loss, or damage to your own person or any members of your family, friends, acquaintances, children, pets, or property, arising directly or as a consequence from a group activity.

No cooking tonight. We have a vegan chef!

(BOSH!) Here are nine vegan party recipes (perfect for New Year's Eve or Day) 🎉

Patrik Baboumian celebrates first vegan decade | PETA

• Vegan Foodbank Volunteer Day (Sorting Day), Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 10:45 AM | Meetup
• Vegan New Years Potluck, Sat, Jan 17, 2026, 12:00 PM | Meetup
• Charlotte de Witte at Tomorrowland Belgium 2025 (main stage closing)

Vegans of LA (vegansofla.com)

• Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Jen B., Dhr. Seven, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Dalai Lama to convert Mother Teresa nuns?

(Dalai Lama) His Holiness Tibetan "Pope" Tenzin Gyatso visits Mother Teresa community in India

Why doesn't Buddhism push itself on people and nudge and nag them to convert?

(Tsering Dorji) How the Buddha helps us be better Christians: Richard Rohr (complementary)

Buddhist goes Catholic (for love)

(Sips with Serra) Buddhist goes to Catholic mass for first time: @Lebelauved

(Adeline Johanna) Why my Mum left Buddhism to become Catholic

Leaving Catholicism even if it has sweet Mary, magic, and miracles

Kwan Yin (Guanyin) Buddhist Goddess of Compassion

Madonna and Child: Siddhartha

In Buddhism we enjoy a "Mother Mary" figure one might call "Virg Yin" (Kwan Yin, Guanyin), the Goddess of Compassion, a bodhisattva. So the best part of the Catholic faith is present. And if a Buddhist wants to love Mary (Miriam) or any other Goddess or her son, that's fine. We do not answer to the Vatican. How great the world would be if everyone were free to pick a spirituality, wisdom, faith, or path-of-practice. We can practice all of them, and that's fine with the Buddha. Good luck on your spiritual journey. We have all been cycling through samsara in search of real "salvation" (liberation, vimutti, moksha). May we all find it.

(But what if a Catholic doesn't like Catholicism, the Patriarchy, and the Church but loves Jesus Christ? - That's great. Investigate what Jesus really taught in the banned Gnostic texts the Church never wants you to know exist.)

• List of converts to Buddhism

Happy National Panda Day (3/16)

Don't harass me, Big Panda. I do NOT consent. No means no, not maybe, so back off.

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China loves mythological figures like pandas

Although pandas, a kind of creature like the tiny sun bear but subsisting almost exclusively on nutritious bamboo shoots (as served in good Chinese restaurants), are best known for their opposition to sexual harassment, it wasn't always that way. They were an utter myth, like Sasquatch, until someone trudged out into the woods, killed a specimen, and conclusively proved they really exist in more than just the locals' lore.

No, Panda, you're getting too excited! (Ali Ex)

Now, numerous Sasquatch have been gunned down, and it didn't "prove" anything because the U.S. government already knows without a doubt that these hominids exist in every state but are keeping the secret anyway, even if some USFS material says otherwise. Unlike the charismatic megafauna of U.S. forests, these creatures, which come in many varieties around the world, can be dangerous, monstrous, all too human, and best kept under wraps since they are entering and exiting this dimension by various means (portals, prison planet ships, and their own preternatural super abilities).

Petey the Sexual Harassment Panda debuts on South Park, mm'kay?

• China loves mythological figures who are bigger than life: Cosmic Buddhas like Amitabha and Vairocana, Indian missionary Bodhidharma, Goddess Kwan Yin, Ksitigarbha in Hell, Yeren (Wild Man in the woods), and big pandas.

National Panda Day: March 16

Baby panda boy on Pinterest

Every year on March 16th, we celebrate the fluffiest, bamboo-munching bears that are a source of national pride for China.

There are two subspecies of panda, the Giant, black-and-white panda, and the golden ‘Qinling panda’ – a much smaller, brown subspecies of panda, discovered in 1985 in the mountain ranges of the southern Shaanxi Province in China.

In the wilderness, giant pandas live only in the remote, mountainous regions of China [like some kind of hiding Smallfoot no one used to seriously believe in].

As of 2019, due to rapidly growing population numbers, the status of pandas was upgraded from “endangered” species to “vulnerable” species. Still, it is reported that there are fewer than 2,000 pandas left in the wild, due to habitat loss, farming, fur hunting, and other factors [like trying to teach them kung fu and getting them killed by Hollywood in the process, with drug and alcohol abuse for the ones who find fame ;,)].

Thrilling fight between two real Zoo Kung Fu Pandas | iPanda

The Dragon Warrior Tournament | Kung Fu Panda (2008) | Family Flicks

Pandas only live about 15 to 20 years in the wild, but those in captivity may live even longer. Panda bears play an important part in the ecosystem of China’s bamboo forests, by spreading seeds, and therefore, growing new vegetation, which serves humans, animals, and humanimals (like the Yeren), and animals.

That’s why it is important to protect the panda and its environment, aside from their intrinsic right to live and exist on the animal plane, which is shared with humans and the human plane in Buddhism.

• Animals in Buddhism
• 12 adorable and unbelievable facts about panda bears we never knew

Extinction events are possible as in the past

One factor contributing to their endangered status is the low birth rate for pandas. Considering that female pandas are only fertile two or three days of the year, it makes sense that reproduction in the wild is more difficult for this species.

There are about 27 zoos worldwide that imprison or indefinitely detain protect giant pandas and foster artificial environments to encourage reproduction.

The most important factor for preserving wild pandas is to protect their environment, especially bamboo forests, their main source of nutrition. More

• National Today, March 16, 2025; South Park (Comedy Central); CC Liu, Crystal Q., Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly