Morihei Ueshiba Quotations

Around 2am as I was performing misogi, I suddenly forgot all the martial techniques I had ever learned. The techniques of my teachers appeared completely new. Now they were vehicles for the cultivation of life, knowledge, and virtue, not devices to throw people with.

In your training, do not be in a hurry, for it takes a minimum of ten years to master the basics and advance to the first rung. Never think of yourself as an all-knowing, perfected master; you must continue to train daily with your friends and students and progress together in the Art of Peace.

PRACTICE THE Art of Peace sincerely, and evil thoughts and deeds will naturally disappear. The only desire that should remain is the thirst for more and more training in the Way.

The penetrating brilliance of swords, wielded by followers of the Way, strikes at the evil enemy, lurking deep within, their own souls and bodies.

The best strategy relies upon an unlimited set of responses.

ALWAYS PRACTICE the Art of Peace in a vibrant and joyful manner.

IF YOUR OPPONENT strikes with fire, counter with water, becoming completely fluid and free-flowing. Water, by its nature, never collides with or breaks against anything. On the contrary, it swallows up any attack harmlessly.

THE BODY SHOULD be triangular, the mind circular. The triangle represents the generation of energy and is the most stable physical posture. The circle symbolizes serenity and perfection, the source of unlimited techniques. The square stands for solidity, the basis of applied control.

THE TECHNIQUES OF the Art of Peace are neither fast nor slow, nor are they inside or outside.. They transcend time and space.

If you have not linked yourself to true emptiness, you will never understand the art of peace.