Aikido and Cheng Hsin
Monday, May 16, 2011 at 2:48PM At Auckland Seishinkan we practice two internal martial arts, Aikido and Cheng Hsin. Aikido is very well known, while Cheng Hsin has much less public exposure, so it is very common for me to be asked, what is Cheng Hsin, how does it relate to Aikido, and how is it different? These are great questions and I’m always happy to answer them although there can be a bit to take in at one go, so I have decided to write a few short articles to talk about the harmony between the two arts and some of the unique qualities of Cheng Hsin and how it can accentuate our practice of Aikido.
In this first article I would like to use your knowledge of Aikido as a place to start understanding Cheng Hsin. I hope you’ll read along and maybe even ask some questions.
Ueshiba O-Sensei said that, “Aiki is the principle of non-resistance,” and “Aiki is without contention. A true warrior is invincible because he/she contends with nothing.” Peter Ralston, the founder of Cheng Hsin has said that, “one of the biggest breakthroughs occurred for me when I realised that there is no such thing as a fight, there never was and there never will be.”
What non-resistance means in Aikido has come to be explored and expressed in a myriad of ways as Ueshiba’s art has spread and diversified. Cheng Hsin treats this very literally, the sole form of neutralising force is to get out of the way, by yielding to it or dodging, and there are diverse exercises to develop this. There is absolutely no blocking and I would like to return to this aspect in a later article.
Both Aikido and Cheng Hsin are classified as internal martial arts. Although the definition is open to some debate, internal martial arts may be thought to be those which involve re-training the nervous system, mind and perception, changing how we move, relate and produce power. All these qualities are something which one cannot externally see or copy.
Ai (合) means join and joining is one of the foundational principles of Cheng Hsin, where it is described as “merging our activity with the opponent’s activity, blending the bodies together and “joining in” on the motion that he/she is creating, and so create a new one.”
Ki (気), although clearly integral to Aikido, remains a difficult, even controversial, term to define. Cheng Hsin does not concern itself with whether ki, in and of itself, is an objective reality or not, but it does pay great attention to perceiving, enhancing and manipulating feeling states to optimise awareness, movement, power and skill. This is another topic that I would like to address more fully in a later article.
Following on from, and sometimes conflated with, ki is the issue of power generation. In Aikido we speak of kokyu-ryoku (呼吸力), or breath power, another term with diverse definitions. From all accounts, Ueshiba O-Sensei was able to produce considerable power and yet remain relaxed, the power seemingly coming from nowhere. How he did this provides endless debate and considerable frustration. Many people practicing Aikido resign themselves to working hard with the hope that one day it will click in as a result. One of the major goals, the pursuit of which led Ralston to the development of Cheng Hsin, was the search for an Effortless Power. What he discovered, and how it is explained and trained in Cheng Hsin, should be of great interest to practitioners of Aikido and is worth an article of its own.
Competitive play is the exception rather than the rule in Aikido circles. When it does occur it is still limited in nature and certainly does not approach the degree of reciprocity inherent in Judo, BJJ or Boxing. In fact, most people engaged in practicing Aikido consider such activity heretical, citing Ueshiba O-Sensei as having proscribed it. Conversely, Cheng Hsin abounds with competitive exercises, games and play. These games allow students to test themselves in a wide variety of unscripted, improvisational situations where the purpose is developing skill rather than just winning. They are also a great deal of fun! The potential for, and benefits of, engaging in such competitive play deserve a future article of their own.
Despite it’s international expansion, Aikido is fundamentally a Japanese art. It carries a large cultural component of language, culture and history. Furthermore, much of the way in which Ueshiba O-Sensei described his art is heavily couched in his Oomoto-kyo background and is largely incomprehensible to Japanese, just as it is to Westerners. The pedagogy of Aikido has also arisen in a Japanese context of the teacher as a physical embodiment of the art, from whom understanding must be “stolen.” Ralston is a native English speaker (albeit a Californian) and his teaching has always been aimed primarily at Westerners. Realising early in his teaching career that discoveries that appeared simple to him were not so apparent nor easily communicable to his students, Ralston has worked earnestly on helping his students to make the required transformations in learning that would allow them not only to grasp Cheng Hsin but grow in all areas of their life. This is one of the great benefits of practicing Cheng Hsin.
Aikido’s techniques are visually and kinesthetically pleasurable. They are fluid with expansive, spiralling, dance-like movements. There is surely a large aesthetic component to many people’s love of aikido. Many Cheng Hsin techniques were inspired by Aikido. Cheng Hsin also includes uprooting techniques like those of Tai Chi and throws using the body as a fulcrum and sweeping techniques like those of Judo. Footwork and maneuverability are a mainstay of Cheng Hsin influenced by Ralston’s study of Pa Kua Chang. Ralston designed his art to be able to meet any situation and there are also Cheng Hsin boxing, groundwork and sword arts. All are designed to support one another, being based on the same principles, reminiscent of Ueshiba O-Sensei’s concept of riai (理合), or integrated principles.
An aspect of study that I believe is addressed more systematically in Cheng Hsin than in Aikido is the specific retraining of the body, nervous system, mind and senses, a practice that as a whole is termed Body-being. In Aikido most of this development occurs through the practice and receiving of techniques, and aikido students undeniably change over time as they practice. Cheng Hsin has a huge resource of exercises and visualisation techniques to support and guide the transformation of the Body-being towards being relaxed, centered, whole, grounded and calm. Once again, more about this later.
Both Aikido and Cheng Hsin are the products of the single minded determination of founders who were deeply committed to coming to grips with the nature of reality, and who boldly investigated possibilities outside the mainstream of martial arts. In the forty years since his death, Ueshiba O-Sensei has become a figure of mythic stature and the students who had intimate access to him are now very rare. Peter Ralston is still very active and engaged in teaching his art which, while still cutting edge, is contemporary and accessible for anyone with the passion to explore it. Best selling author Dan Millman made the comment that, “true innovators are, by definition, ahead of their time. Therefore, they remain largely unrecognized, except by a few. How many of us wished we had met Bruce Lee, sat in a session with Carl Jung, or walked around Walden pond with Thoreau? Too late for that, but not too late to take notice of Peter Ralston.
Aikido and Cheng Hsin are kindred spirits. Cheng Hsin has been enriched by it’s contact with Aikido and I think that students of Aikido would benefit profoundly from exposure to Cheng Hsin. I hope you will read the articles to come discussing some of these aspects in greater detail and I welcome your feedback and questions.
Reader Comments (6)
Very nice Alan, I'm looking forward reading more of it later. I'd also love to hear more of the foundation theory behind Ueshiba's and Ralston's arts as they claim it to be fundamentally a spiritual path and an ontological one.
Thanks Alan, very interesting. I will keep reading your articles.I started to train 21 years ago. I am fascinated with mind/body/spirit. I can say that the practice of Aikido has changed and developed me on many levels.The art of non resistance and being in ones center, relaxed and calm apply to daily living.. The great thing is that I keep learning, growing on that internal level at the same time my body becomes stronger my mind more relaxed.
Brenda
Bjorn, thank you very much for your interest and input.
Much has been said about Ueshiba O-Sensei's spiritual insights, and I feel that it there is little I can contribute other than my opinion at this time. It is perhaps interesting to note that the majority of the records we have of his teachings deal with spiritual, philosophical, mythic and cosmological matters. It seems that, in the main, he left his physical expression of Aikido to speak for itself.
Peter's entry into contemplative work seems to have grown naturally from looking intensely into the matter of developing physical skill. He was encouraged into zen-inspired contemplation as an adjunct to that. Early breakthroughs changed the balance of Peter's practice to being one of investigating the nature of being and applying and testing these insights within the practice of martial arts.
Ontology is the study of being. While this work can be deeply transformational, it is primarily about being profoundly curious about the nature of reality and not strictly a spiritual practice. In fact, what spirit is could well a subject of inquiry. What is the truth of the matter, free of hearsay, opinion or belief? Contemplation is a tool for investigating this.
Of course, this is a very interesting subject, I just don't feel grounded enough to say very much about it. I think I will look at gathering some material together in the near future that may be of interest. Have a look at my later articles and let me know what thoughts come up for you.
Brenda, I'm always delighted to hear from you and you inspire me with your continued passion! If this work doesn't show up in our daily lives what good is it? I think you do a wonderful job of demonstrating its value!
A very good article Alan. You are one of the very few aikido teachers whom I have encountered in my short aikido career who has the ability to speak clearly, eloquently and logically about the art. Your explanations are not steeped in mysticism or the supernatural. Your pragmatic approach and continuing search for the "objective truth" is inspirational, at least to me.
I look forward to your future articles.
Cheers,
-tomek
Hi Alan,
I do appreciate the objective nature of investigation and as such delving into the more subtle areas of being it draws alongside spiritual contemplation and meditation just as Peter very much describes in his work. So spirit can simply be seen as an investigation of core values and truths in the deepest-most part of our selves, underlying and permeating all of our experience including the physical.
Bjorn