Hope everyone is well and enjoying your Shintaido in your daily life!!

The year of the 10th international gathering of Shntaido is coming....

I am very much excited by the theme chosen for this event, which reminded me of the old teaching of Japanese Samurai Lord who was the military advisor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi*.

It is my pleasure to introduce this teaching to you and let you taste, chew, and digest an old philosophy of Japanese Worrier!

The Seven Teachings of Water by Kanbei Kuroda**

- It is water that moves others by moving itself ...
- It is water that constantly moves, seeking a path ...
- It is water that, when blocked, finally breaks through with 100 times the force ...
- It is water that cleans itself, washes away the dirt from others, and can encompass both clean and dirty ...
- It is water that runs down to the sea, turns to steam, turns to cloud, turns to rain, turns to snow, turns to fog, freezes into a mirror of ice crystals, and never loses its own character ...
- It is water that cools the summer heat, refreshes thirst, heals dryness, and sustains all living things ...
- It is water that always tries to go lower, shapes itself to any container, creates terrible chaos when it is angry, and permits nothing

-Ito

p.s.

My special appreciation should go to Lee Seaman & Tomi Nagai-Rothe who helped me this translation!

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyotomi_Hideyoshi
** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuroda_Yoshitaka

Reflections on a Taimyo Class with Master Ito
By David Palmer
August 9, 2011

Once again I was very inspired by Ito’s class last night. Besides the new material (the new embodiment of bamboo and the breathing exercises), I wanted to share some thoughts that came to me in the opening discussion of Taimyo.

My observation has been that there are typically two times in most people's lives when the Gauguin questions (Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?) naturally arise. If, at one or the other of these moments, the internal structures are put in place to address these questions, then the individual shifts to a higher stage of consciousness that results in a more compassionate worldview towards not only themselves, but also the whole world. The point is not to answer the questions, but rather to create a framework that keeps the questions alive.

The first opportunity occurs sometime during adolescence or young adulthood, when the emotional and economic umbilical cords are broken with the parents. This "rebellious" period is when a person first differentiates himself or herself from that of the parents and family (and perhaps from the surrounding culture and institutions) and begins to find their own way in the world. The obvious question arises, "If I am no longer simply the parrot of my parents (or my religion or my culture), then who am I?"

If the separation does not occur at this point and the "big questions" are not confronted, then these tend to arise a second time in the form of a "midlife crisis."

This occurs approximately halfway through a person's adult life when the reality of the limited lifespan looms large and the "what have I really accomplished in my life" question arises. Often, these people look back and realize that much of what surrounds them, their careers, relationships and possessions, is a result of meeting external expectations rather than finding their internal path. Because they never struggled with the big questions of meaning, they feel their lives are now meaningless.

If this moment is embraced then their lives often shift dramatically. If not, well there is always Prozac.

In our discussion of the origins of the Taimyo practice out of the 9/11 tragedy, it occurred to me the whole world is at one of those existential crisis of meaning moments. While the government's response in 2001--let's everyone go shopping--was wholly inadequate to the psychological need of the moment, Ito’s response in creating Taimyo was timely and deeply appropriate.

Ito’s class is a structured opportunity to expand our consciousness into the soul of every cell of our bodies so that we can experience and embrace all of the pain and all of the potential that surrounds us without shattering. By allowing us to safely experience the sensation of our "panic" or "rock" modes, we are able to face the fears that underlie these stances and that disconnect us from the fullness of the moment. By contrasting Wakame and Bamboo modes, we can discern when each of these healthier alternative stances is the appropriate response.

In class we are able to truly embody and embrace both the pathological and the healthy options so that we can make truly conscious choices in our lives.

Thanks once again to Ito for his lifelong commitment to exploring structures that support our personal growth and cultural evolution

D'où venons-nous ? Que sommes-nous ? Où allons-nous ?

Two events early in the 21st Century have changed the way we view the world.

(1) The 9-11 attack showed that there is no safe place in the world, and government can't protect us. After the attack, Osama bin Laden continued his activities for over 10 years. The US spent billions of dollars to stop him, and inadvertently created more terrorists along the way.

(2) The great earthquake/tsunami showed that there is no safe place from natural disasters, and technology can't protect us. Even Japan, which has the best anti-earthquake and anti-tsunami infrastructure in the world, was devastated. Many people in Japan are now opposed to nuclear energy.

Three environmental effects are also becoming clearer:

(1) Human activities are increasing climate change.
(2) Old sources of energy are getting expensive or shutting down, and new sources of energy are not as convenient or cheap as we are accustomed to.
(3) Fresh water is increasingly in short supply.

These events are having a profound effect on the way that people think about themselves and the world. For a long time, we assumed that our lives would continue to get better and better. And we defined "better and better" as "having more material goods and services.

We are now at a turning point. Do we try to keep going the same way, or do we choose a different path? What does modern civilization mean to us? How will we design our lives for the next 10 years? What action now will be best, not only for us but for "the children of the children of our children"?

The August workshop will use body wisdom to approach these issues, exploring Gauguin's questions of D'où venons nous? Que sommes-nous? Où allons-nous? (literally, Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?)

Things to think about in preparation:
• How do we sustain keiko (our practice) in a post-peak energy world (living light) ?
• How do we respond to an aging society (death without fear) ?
• How do we nurture the next generation (new perspectives on a good life) ?

-Ito
p.s. Thank you, Lee S. & Tomi N-R. for being my editors!

Dear Friends,
Here is a simple way to join in one mind for a healing. Perhaps better than watching the news, making a difference. A simple idea that can make a profound difference.

Hope you can join in. Please pass along to others who can send their healing energy. Thank you.
Blessings, Naomi

A letter from Dr Masaru Emoto... ( He is the Japanese scientist who has researched how water responds to consciousness)

==========
To All People Around the World,

Please send your prayers of love and gratitude to water at the nuclear
plants in Fukushima, Japan!

Day and Time:
March 31st, 2011 (Thursday)
12:00 noon in each time zone

Please say the following phrase:
"The water of Fukushima Nuclear Plant,
we are sorry to make you suffer.
Please forgive us. We thank you, and we love you."
...
By the massive earthquakes of Magnitude 9 and surreal massive tsunamis, more than 10,000 people are still missing.even now. It has been 16 days already since the disaster happened. What makes it worse is that water at the reactors of Fukushima Nuclear Plants started to leak, and it's contaminating　the ocean, air and water molecule of surrounding areas.

Human wisdom has not been able to do much to solve the problem, but we are　only trying to cool down the anger of radioactive materials in the reactors　by discharging water to them.

Is there really nothing else to do?

I think there is. During over twenty year research of hado measuring and　water crystal photographic technology, I have been witnessing that water can　turn positive when it receives pure vibration of human prayer no matter how far away it is.

Energy formula of Albert Einstein, E=MC2 really means that Energy = number of people and the square of people's consciousness.

Now is the time to understand the true meaning. Let us all join the prayer ceremony as fellow citizens of the planet earth. I would like to ask all people, not just in Japan, but all around the world to please help us to find a way out the crisis of this planet!!

The prayer procedure is as follows.

Please say the following phrase:
"The water of Fukushima Nuclear Plant,
we are sorry to make you suffer.
Please forgive us. We thank you, and we love you."

Please say it aloud or in your mind. Repeat it three times as you put your
hands together in a prayer position. Please offer your sincere prayer.

Thank you very much from my heart.

With love and gratitude,
Masaru Emoto
Messenger of Water

http://emotopeaceproject.blogspot.com/

Dear Members of the Taimyo Network around the world:
Greetings from SF CA!
I will be leading a series of Taimyo classes at the Day Street Dojo in SF starting this Monday!
Would you like to join me/us in meditation beyond time & space?

Monday, January 24
Monday, January 31
Monday, February 7
Monday, February 14
Time:
7 -8:30pm
Location:
426 Day Street
RSVP
bordensheets@aol.com

The following is a message of encouragement that I received from A-sensei 10 years ago...
Really started appreciating it recently!
It is my pleasure to share it with you this time.....
-Ito

Shintaido works in our lives at so many different levels.
At first the Keiko opens our minds and hearts, and lets us experience a kind of freedom that we have never known before.
Then, if we go completely through that process, we begin to see the Keiko as a way to direct and shape our lives.
But if we keep going until our Keiko expresses the great flow of life-force from the beginning of time, then our lives will go beyond our expectations and our Keiko will be made complete.

From a new year’s message Ito received from Hiroyuki Aoki, on January 1, 2000

--

Le Shintaido opère dans nos vies à tant de différents niveaux.
Au début le Keiko ouvre nos esprits et nos coeurs, et nous permet d’expérimenter une sorte de liberté que nous n’avions jamais connue avant.
Puis, si nous traversons complètement ce processus, nous commençons à percevoir le Keiko comme un moyen de diriger et façonner nos vies.
Mais si nous continuons jusqu’à ce que notre Keiko exprime l’immense flux de force vitale depuis l’origine du temps, alors nos vies iront au-delà de nos attentes et notre Keiko sera achevé.

D’un message de Nouvel An reçu par Ito de la part d’Hiroyuki Aoki, le 1er Janvier 2000

Comment from the workshop held in Washington D.C. on Dec 2009
Martial arts for piece

Dear Friends & Taimyo Practitioners:

Greeting from Maslives, France!

911 has come again.....

What is your plan for praying "World Peace" today?

I would like to share the responses to my question I received from some of you this time!

Hope it will help you deepen your meditation!

-Ito


What is peace, to you?

Just wanted to share another Kansha (gratitude) experience with you. We just got back from a week camping near Yosemite where I had the chance to climb Half Dome. What an experience! it is truly a grueling, spectacular hike. I started at 7AM and finished by 5PM — an all day 18 mile round-trip hike with an elevation gain of 4800 feet. Probably the toughest hike I have ever done. When you get to the base of Half Dome, you finish by climbing 400 feet of cable. It really takes full body/mind focus and determination to make it to the top. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in such a beautiful and amazing hike (and to have made it to the top!). This was my 50th birthday present to myself and I am grateful to be genki (vital) enough to undertake such challenges.

I experienced many wonderful things on this hike, but the most meaningful was observing people relate to one another. Because we were all facing an extreme situation – a very difficult hike coupled with a challenging, scary climb – we recognized we were "all in the same boat." When humans realize this it tends to bring out the best in the human character, i.e. cooperation, mutual concern, kindness, helpfulness, encouragement, inspiration, etc. This is what I found all along the trail – people genuinely helpful, caring and encouraging to one another – especially during the really difficult parts. It reminded me of what happens after natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes, where people recognize they are "all in the same boat" and need to row together to survive. This ties in perfectly with Peace. In my opinion, for Peace to be possible, we must experience the interconnection of being "all in the same boat." Without interconnectedness, we fall prey to division and separateness, and then we can justify war, and evil in general.

My wish for all of us is that we regularly touch the experience of all being in this together, "all in the same boat." This is the foundation for Love and Peace.

Brian Johnson
Massage Practiyioner
San Francisco, California USA

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

This a question that often goes straight into war. . . ! Especially if I try to give MY POINT OF VIEW . . . . For me, this is not my first wish. My first wish is to be inhabited by love. And LOVE, when it arrives, makes it possible for peace to come with others . . . and in me . . . .

Francoise Leclercq,
Retired Teacher/Meditant
Eragny s/ Oise, Paris, France

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I am currently putting together the next edition of Taimyo, the British Shintaido newsletter, in which I asked Masashi Minagawa a similar question:

BSN: What do you think the connection is between Shintaido and world peace?

“Peace is very important to many Shintaido practitioners. In 2000 I went to Northern Ireland for a ‘Way of Peace’ conference with the Dalai Lama; I did a small demonstration there. A Christian priest asked the Dalai Lama what we could do to promote peace, and his response inspired me . . . He said he personally believed that if we keep the light inside us first and then give it to the person next to us to brighten them, our community will become bigger and brighter. That is the way to make peace. The important point is nonviolence . . . So I showed Tenshingoso and thought ‘I must keep the light of Tenshingoso and Shintaido in my heart and not let it go out.’ Whenever, wherever you are, you can always do a performance of Shintaido and share something. Even with a far-away conflict, our small community can make a contribution to world peace. I am trying to find partners with whom I can do this and I think that also connects with making world peace. I don’t try to do anything big, just small things: that’s a Buddhist idea too. I read this a long time ago, but only recently have I really come to understand it.”
– Masashi Minagawa

As you may know, I am a Quaker, and Quakers talk a lot about peace. The founder of the Quakers, George Fox, once said “Some people say ‘Paul said this’ and ‘Jesus said that,’ but I ask you: What canst THOU say?” In Shintaido terms that translates as, “Some people like to quote what Aoki Sensei wrote, or what Minagawa Sensei said in an interview, but I am far more interested in what you think yourself.” So I had better answer this question for myself too!

To me, the first condition of peace is absence of violence — not absence of conflict. We can never achieve that nor would we want to. But conflict can result in violence – i.e. destructive behaviour of any sort – unless it is resolved in a way such that all parties have the opportunity for growth. So peace is making, and taking, the opportunity for growth (Tsuki kumite – karate partner engagement).

But that’s abstract and theoretical. Peace can obviously be described in terms of sensations: sights, sounds, actions and feelings, and that’s what you have asked us to do. The media fills us with a lot of clichés: children laughing, sunsets over mountaintops, people from different backgrounds hugging, incense in churches and temples. For me, it’s about being with people I used to be wary of – people who feel different, dangerous – then discovering they are human like me, finding how much we share, listening with humility and respect, and being heard, too. It’s about encounter, surprise, a sudden expansion of my world combined with the awesome sense that I might have helped expand their world too. So my answer is – peace is about feeling surprise, excitement, hope.

Peter Furtado
Historian
Oxford, England, UK

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

To me, peace equals harmony. Whether one speaks of or experiences world peace, inner peace or peace of mind, one is talking about harmony: a social agreement, amicability, cooperation, consensus, good will, sympathy, tranquility, unity, understanding, oneness, togetherness, balance, accord, fitness, and in musical terms, consonance, concert, melodiousness, etc. Peace is not the absence of conflict but the right mixture of apposing elements, collaborating to create a better resulting element: harmony. peace. When we manage to achieve it, the results can be a mixture of contentment, sadness and fulfillment.

As a Libra, harmony is the balance I strive for constantly, if not successfully.

Mario Uribe
Artist
Santa Rosa, California, USA

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Inner Peace means something that can give power to me for controlling anger, envy or a wicked heart. If individuals could have such power, it would lead to World Peace.

Akira Watari,
Weekend Shintaido Practitioner
Fuchu, Tokyon, Japan

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Peace is very much related to freedom. There is no possibility for peace without freedom. So, what is freedom? I have lyrics from a song in my mind:
“The only true freedom is freedom from our heart’s desires . . . .”
The moments in my life I felt in peace were the moments I wanted nothing.
Nothing to say, nothing to think about, nothing to do. Quietness.

Kirsten Reinders
Shop Manager/Mother
Cologne, Germany

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Peace for me is to look to the world without an emotional prism, even when there are troubles around us. The emotional prism comes with ego and fear. Without it, the world is bigger and we have a better relationship with ourselves and others. It’s like having no fight with the present.

Julio Dain
Musician
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

For me, peace isn't quiet and it isn't calm. It's very active. Its smell changes constantly, ranging from smells I recognize and love, to others I don't really care to smell. I guess it's fair to say that peace for me isn't especially peaceful as some people might define the word.

I'm most at peace when I'm doing something I love and believe in. Those are the times I feel like I'm closest to getting it right. The times when I feel I'm fully appreciating my time here. Sometimes peace can be quiet and meditative, but the peace I cherish most is active. It's the peace I find when I'm working on something important to me or when I travel to new places. It's the peace that comes from learning and having fun while learning that rings my bell.

I never really thought about it in these terms before, but maybe this is what world peace looks and smells like too.

Lee Phillips
Software Enginieer
Richmond, California, USA

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

For me, Peace is a vast ocean totally being lulled (凪の大海), probably in the midnight with a full moon at the top of the sky, without any perturbations. But if there are any perturbations, they are merged in the big stillness of the ocean.

Shin-Ichi Matsuyama
Practitioner in Accupancture & Moxibustion
Oosaka, Japan

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Peace for me . . . .
A calm, quiet, aware connection to Source, which brings me into the oneness of the All - being one with Source. When I am able to carry this peace in/with me I am able share it - send it out to All. For me the look, sound, feel, smell and taste of Peace is that of the beauty of nature.

Joanne Watson
Home Maker/Caregiver
San Francisco, California, USA

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I saw a 1964 film clip on TV of Duke Ellington playing "Mood Indigo" and I heard Peace all around me; the trio of clarinet, trombone, saxophone breathed mellow wind notes that were whole, round, complete. The musicians' effort came by way of their practice, expertise, effort and their love. There were long exhalations of smoothly flowing air and close harmonies that went to their very edge. As I watched them play, it seemed each of them was truly present to each part of the sound. The sound is exquisite and the pleasure complete. So the sound is one of balance and completeness and moving beyond to another song, another place or another time. The effort is one of individual effort and discipline and love performing in concert with others who have similar backgrounds and focus.

At the Ocean Beach workshop, when you were demonstrating a move with Shin Aoki, you cautioned, "Don't get involved." We laughed because it seemed as though we weren't to get involved with Shin. But the larger instruction, it seemed to me, is to not get involved in my partner's response, and continue my movement in concert with my partner's movement. Now, I'm thinking of it again, having read Tom Brown, Jr. and his report of Grandfather's lesson: Vary your vision. Now, I think these two instructions are about peaceful action on my part: focus, deliberate attention and full commitment to the personal task and, AT THE SAME TIME, awareness of all that surrounds the two of you in this moment. In other words, stay alert in both worlds -- the personal and the outer.

Up to now, I guess I have assumed Peace is a static equilibrium, comfortable for everyone. Right now, I'm wondering if Peace is moving, always moving with energy and full presence and all the resources I've gained so far with others, who are also sending our their 'whole selves' through their action.

Barbara Barnard
Pacific Shintaido
San Francisco, California, USA

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

My mum is asking me to translate the following quote from Oscar Wilde:

"Il ne faut jamais rencontrer les gens que l'on déteste parce qu'on finit par les aimer"
– Oscar Wilde
Et alors tout commence . . . .

"We should never meet the people we hate, lest we end up loving them"
She then adds:
And then everything begins...

Patrick Bouchaud
Shintaido Instructor
Zurich, Switzerland

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

a state of constantly changing/transformative equilibrium, where no information or energy is lost

Henry Kaiser
Scientific Diver
Oakland, California USA
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I think that a dynamic, or living, peace is well defined by the traditional Buddhist precepts, or guidelines, for living:

1. Do not kill, but cherish all life.
2. Do not steal, but respect the things of others.
3. Do not cause harm with one's sexual actions, but help to preserve harmony in all relationships.
4. Do not lie, but tell the truth.
5. Do not intoxicate body and mind, but be clear in one's thought and actions.

Mushim Ikeda-Nash
Buddhist Meditation Teacher of Retreat for People of Color and Social Justice Activists
Oakland, California, USA

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Hello from San Francisco!

I returned to the Bay Area on July 20, and will be doing workshops and giving private lessons here until early September.

This includes a six-week program in Taimyo meditation that I will be leading every Monday night at the Day Street Dojo in San Francisco. Please join us if you can!

For reference, I recommend the following book:
Instinct for Freedom, by Alan Clements, New World Library
(You might be interested to know that the title of this book in Japanese is "Dharma Life".)

Hope to practice with you this coming Monday night – July 27!

-Fugaku Ito

P.S. Please forward this note to anyone else who may be interested in attending.

Dear Taimyo Practitioners and Friends:

We are coming to the end of our 6-week Taimyo Meditation series at the Day Street Dojo in San Francisco – doing weekly practices together and daily practices on our own, as well as reading Instinct for Freedom by Alan Clements. I am grateful that so many of you were able to participate in this workshop series, either in person or from a distance. Did you notice some changes in yourself or the people around you?

Below is an e-mail I received from Shin-ichi Matsuyama in Osaka, Japan. I would like to share it with all of you as an example of how I'd hoped everyone would use the practice and reading to expand their awareness.

-Ito

**************************************************
Dear Ito-Sensei,

I've just finished reading Instinct for Freedom (in Japanese, "The Dharma Life."). Thank you for introducing me to such an important book – it really reminded me of your "White Magic" approach to Shintaido. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

"My relationship is me."
Page 199 (paperback version)


"When I am in doubt, I ask myself if I am avoiding relationship or engaging it."
Page 200 (paperback version)

"We must be both relaxed and attentive, able to rest and play at the same time!"
Page 190 (paperback version)

Clearly, we must learn to live with cosmic ambiguity while struggling to grasp greater truths. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin informs us of both the struggle and its resolution: "When every certainty is shaken and utterance fails, when every principle seems doubtful, then there is one ultimate belief that can guide our inner life: the belief in an absolute direction of growth to which our duty and our happiness demands we should confirm." Page 188 (paperback version)

Reading this book, I realized that Buddha himself lived in the middle of worldly affairs. His country had given him a princely inheritance of wealth and privilege and he founded a path of meditation to develop inner peace. He had the blessing of life with which to bring that message to others. The book, however, also reminds me that The Buddha – had he chosen that path – could have led his country in a peaceful way, yet it ended up participating in the slaughter of the weak and powerless by neighbor countries. He must have seen how terrible that was. What message has the Buddha left for us about situations like that? (We don't know his opinions on this matter.)

I also remembered a diary that I read some time ago by Shurei Sasai (Bhadant-G Arya Nagarjuna Shurei Sasai, a Japanese-born Buddhist monk who has lived in India since 1966 and is now an Indian citizen). Sasai's meditation training took him to fearsome places – to fight against the darkness of his own selfishness and karma and to work heart and soul for a principled world order. Sasai and Alan are very different types of people, but they hold these values in common.

I looked on YouTube and found Alan Clements' lectures. In seeking out his work I found threads to Ken Wilber, Ram Dass and Thich Nhat Hanh. I like Alan's YouTube pieces even more than his writing! YouTube is pretty amazing.

By the way, I saw the Shintaido video produced at The Massachusetts Shintaido Farm. It's really great.

http://www.shintaido.org/video/Shintaido_Means_New_Body_Way.mov

This sums up the reflections I wanted to share with you.

– Shin-Ichi Matsuyama Osaka, Japan August 7, 2009

Dear Taimyo Practitioners:

Happy New Year to you!

At the end of the last year, I had a chance to read "The Vision" written by Tom Brown, Jr......
I would like to share a part of this book with you and ask you to think about it when you practice Taimyo next time!!

Looking forward to our next encounter!!!

-Fugaku Ito

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

from: Chapter III Trail p-65~66
The Vision, by Tom Brown, Jr. ISBN: 0-425-10703-5

Not many days after the deer hunt I was sitting quietly in the bushes watching some men in a pickup truck dumping garbage along one of the larger sand trails. Tears filled my eyes, and I found I hated them to the core, wishing that I were bigger so I could beat them senseless. Grandfather’s silent approach went unnoticed until he sat down beside me and gazed toward the two men and the truck. Without looking at me he said, “Thinking and emotions take pathways too and can become ruts just as deadly as physical ruts.” Just as silently as he had come, he slipped away, leaving me with my thoughts, my anger, and my mental ruts. As I watched the men unloading the truck, I thought for a long time, desperately trying to work throught the anger and find a different way of seeing and understanding things.

The anger was so entrenched that it was hard to let it go, but slowly the anger faded. I was no longer angry to these men but rather pitied them for their ignorance. So many times I heard Grandfather say, “There is always some other answer rather than anger,” and for the first time I knew what he meant. The pity led to an action that I had never thought I would make. I walked silently up to the truck and begged the men to stop throwing their garbage in one of my favorite areas. Money was hard to come by in those days, but I had a quarter and I offered it to them for gas to drive to the dump, which was free, and asked if they would want me to unload the truck for them there. They were so surprised by my offer and intensity that they stood as if shocked. I guess that they were not only shocked by my silent appearance but also by they pleading of a small boy.

They began to apologize profusely and sincerely as they packed up the truck. They promised to take the load the few extra miles to the dump. I helped them pack the truck and explained to them that there had been a lot of the same type of dumping farther up the sand road. Without hesitation they asked me where and I let them to a pile of rubble larger than the one they had intended to leave. As I left them, I glanced back and watched them loading the other pile of garbage on their truck, collecting even the scraps of paper that had blown into the trees.

Grandfather had been watching me all the time, and as I got back to my sitting area, he sat beside me. “Anger would not have solved this problem,” said. “Pity and teaching were the only answers. These men would have learned nothing if you had approached them with anger in your heart. Instead you thought of a different way and found the answers. Now your thinking and emotions of sorrow are transformed into growth, all because you strayed from the trail and thought and felt in a new way.” I carry the lesssons of the men in the truck to this day. I now know, because of what happened so many years ago, that ignorance is one of the primary causes of the destruction of the earth. Re-education and getting man’s feet back in the soil are some of the answers to the saving of the earth.

E-mail from Ito to Shigeru Watanabe, 2008-04-02

Here are some ideas I have been thinking about recently:
Tai Chi contains wisdom passed down through 5000 years of Chinese culture.
Tai Chi itself has a history going back at least 400 years.
Shintaido is the fruit of 400 years of Japanese fighting techniques and martial arts.
I was VERY fortunate to be able to play a central role in the very early development of Shintaido. [Full text]

Messages from Ito before and after the conference

-Taimyo insight
For a long time, in doing Part I of Taimyo, I have held the image of myself as a commander.....Click here

-Nanjing report
In May of 2002, I began studying Wu style Tai Chi under the direction of.... Click here

The following is a "Cry" of Belinda French who is a Taimyo member in Bristol, England.
-Ito

I have woken early in this morning crying for those people from near Mosul in Iraq who have just experienced a massive bombing...
Click here to continue.

Dear Taimyo Practitioners:
The time has come for August meditation!
I would like to propose that we focus our attention on the "Ocean" !!
The following is a site I would like you to visit, then reflect upon how we need to change our behavior.

Click here
(If you are not able to open this page, google- Our oceans are turning into plastic. It should be the first article that pops up.)

This coming weekend, I will be in Whidbey Island (near Seattle), WA to lead a Taimyo meditation workshop with Paula Kerby, Lee Seaman, and Nicole Beauvois.
Please join me in person or via email correspondence by practicing wherever you are!
-Ito

To see the interview to Ito Sensei and Dick Olton by Elli Nagai-Rothe.
click here

Click below to see Messages from Omaha Beach!
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Click here too see event information

On the 70th anniversary of the Nanjing Tragedy
November 22 - 25, 2007
This conference is for people from China, Japan, and other parts of the world, who have had different war experience and education in war. Its purpose is to open their hearts and listen deeply to one another.

Report by K. Tanahashi
Click here

Comments on this event:
from Peter
from Roshi Joan
from Heinz-Jürgen Metzger - Looking back to Nanjing

Detail of the event is here.

Tanahashi

Greetings from Japan!
Akemashite Omedeto~! Happy New Year!! Bonne Année!!!

The following is a poem I came across recently. It is really encouraging because it very much describes what I have been studying through Taimyo Kata:
Full text of the greeting

The Taimyo Network for World Peace uses the meditation form Taimyo Kata as a form of prayer. Taimyo means "Great Mystery" and kata means "form." Taimyo is a distillation of the creative experience of Shintaido founder Hiroyuki Aoki. We use the kata to practice and pray together, and to express our caring for the Earth and for one another... Full text