The Spiritual Foundations of Aikido

Morihei Ueshiba, who founded Aikido early in this century, intended that his martial art would give form to profound spiritual truth, and lead to a unification of the world's peoples. He saw Aikido not as a fighting method or as a competitive sport but rather as a means of becoming one with the laws of universal order--ki, or life energy. Unfortunately, the subtleties of Ueshiba's teachings, veiled in the esoteric terminology of Shinto, can be puzzling for even the most advanced practitione...