Nine levels of power

[Taomeow]

I'm told each of the three dantiens generates its own electromagnetic field or aura, and each of these in turn creates a specific frequency of "subtle" vibrational energy, to a total of nine "powers." These are:

 

1. Strength of mind and body -- chu;

2. Direction of energy -- shen;

3. Harmony with the universe -- tai;

4. Healing of self and others -- sha;

5. Premonition of danger -- kai;

6. Knowing the thoughts of others -- jen;

7. Mastery of time and space -- tung;

8. Control of forces of nature -- hua;

9. Enlightenment -- tao

 

Power is what strings together all nine levels.

 

Who's got the power?

Which levels are your forte?

[Spectrum]

ROFL

[h.uriahr]

Told by who? I agree that real enlightenment is the last "power", for lack of a better word

[Aetherous]

You can develop more powers after enlightenment, and achieve real enlightenment before getting any powers.

[Taomeow]

You can develop more powers after enlightenment, and achieve real enlightenment before getting any powers.

But it has to be predestined. If it is, the signs are there early on. The three magi show up at your doorstep when you're born, this kind of stuff. Biographies of taoist immortals are full of such signs.

 

If it isn't predestined, however, then what passes for enlightenment out of sequence, without power of all other levels having been actualized --

 

is, more often than not, a symptom of a mental disorder. Sometimes it's a mild delusion, sometimes it progresses to a full blown grandeur mania. The real thing is nowhere near as common as people tend to believe who happen to have had a glimpse of level 9 here and there (I'm sure many have... but with no discernible subsequent benefits for anyone anywhere --

which is how you can tell it wasn't it --

if no one benefited from your having experienced it, it wasn't it).

[Mal]

5 is semi functional but my other powers seem to be broken

[Taomeow]

Told by who? I agree that real enlightenment is the last "power", for lack of a better word

Ninja folklore.

[Aetherous]

If it isn't predestined, however, then what passes for enlightenment out of sequence, without power of all other levels having been actualized --

 

is, more often than not, a symptom of a mental disorder. Sometimes it's a mild delusion, sometimes it progresses to a full blown grandeur mania. The real thing is nowhere near as common as people tend to believe who happen to have had a glimpse of level 9 here and there (I'm sure many have... but with no discernible subsequent benefits for anyone anywhere --

which is how you can tell it wasn't it --

if no one benefited from your having experienced it, it wasn't it).

 

I've had a glimpse...no one was benefited directly. Why is that a requirement for it to be enlightenment?

[Taomeow]

I've had a glimpse...no one was benefited directly. Why is that a requirement for it to be enlightenment?

It's not a requirement, it's the nature of tao. Benefitting all beings is one of the "virtues of tao." "A sage comes like the spring, benefitting all beings." Someone who "ti tao," embodies tao, has the same effects as tao herself. It's not something one "does," it's something one "causes to happen" by his or her presence.

[Aetherous]

What if no one was around during the glimpse?

[h.uriahr]

Ninja folklore.

Not at all. Enlightenment is more than what most people think it is. You dont just read a book, or meditate, or major in philosophy and become enlightened.

[r.w.smith]

Ninja folklore.

 

 

I agree,The same Terminology like the Ninja Kuji Kuri (9 Cuts) I think its called ?

[h.uriahr]

Ninja folklore.

Disregard my last quote, I understand what you are saying now. whoops

[宁]

I never thought about the 9 Cuts as if they were a progression. I see it more in a circular manner. Like marbles. And the string that connects them is...

 

Master Masaaki Hatsumi teaches it. Is any of his students with us? Not likely, but it's worth a try.

[Unconditioned]

It's not a requirement, it's the nature of tao. Benefitting all beings is one of the "virtues of tao." "A sage comes like the spring, benefitting all beings." Someone who "ti tao," embodies tao, has the same effects as tao herself. It's not something one "does," it's something one "causes to happen" by his or her presence.

 

I agree!

 

Everything and everyone benefits when one becomes enlightened. Being in that person's presence is enough to give others that 'glimpse' which can start the process in another.

 

Everything else is 'extra'.

 

Just my 2c =)

[Sloppy Zhang]

I never thought about the 9 Cuts as if they were a progression. I see it more in a circular manner. Like marbles. And the string that connects them is...

 

Master Masaaki Hatsumi teaches it. Is any of his students with us? Not likely, but it's worth a try.

 

I'm not a student, but I've read a few of his books and he has mentioned the kuji-in/kuji-kiri a few times, and this is generally what he said about them:

 

Basically it comes down to human experience. People who know suffering know the kuji levels, and know whatever other mudras you might use. You can't really teach that.

 

How I interpreted it?

 

You can make the mudra for "strength of mind and body" and chant a phrase... but what good will that really do you? You can make a mudra and chant a phrase for how to calm your senses, or how to get along with nature, or how to "sync your thoughts with another person" so that you can both be on the "same page".... but will they really help you?

 

No.

 

It comes down to human experience and learning. That's the "secret" of the kuji. If you have had a hard life and have had to deal with suffering, then you are able to deal with suffering through strength of willpower. If you have been in a hectic situation in which multiple outcomes were hanging by a thread according to your decision and you panicked, then when you are in a similar situation you know how it feels and how to do it. If you have been in a dangerous outdoor situation but were able to find peace with the nature surrounding you and were able to survive in a still relatively healthy condition, or if you have been around people for years and have learned how to tell their mood by body posture, language, and have learned what to say/what not to say so that it comes naturally, then you can do it whenever you want. Even sudden insight into a situation, an understanding, however brief, how one thing fits into the totality of the universe, even if it is fleeting.

 

That is kuji.

 

Kuji are the representations of those things, maybe a mantra is a saying for those things... but the hand signal and the chantings are NOT the ACTUAL things themselves. Those things come from within. Come from experience. You can make the kuji and be reminded of some kind of archetypal image or some memory and it can bring you the strength needed to handle a situation. Or you can be able to summon the strength for a situation without ever needing kuji.

Edited October 22, 2008 by Sloppy Zhang

[Spectrum]

umbrella is a good one

[hagar]

I'm told each of the three dantiens generates its own electromagnetic field or aura, and each of these in turn creates a specific frequency of "subtle" vibrational energy, to a total of nine "powers." These are:

 

1. Strength of mind and body -- chu;

2. Direction of energy -- shen;

3. Harmony with the universe -- tai;

4. Healing of self and others -- sha;

5. Premonition of danger -- kai;

6. Knowing the thoughts of others -- jen;

7. Mastery of time and space -- tung;

8. Control of forces of nature -- hua;

9. Enlightenment -- tao

 

Power is what strings together all nine levels.

 

Who's got the power?

Which levels are your forte?

 

 

I'd have to say 3 and 8 immediately after evacuating my bowels.

 

h

[宁]

I'm not a student, but I've read a few of his books and he has mentioned the kuji-in/kuji-kiri a few times, and this is generally what he said about them:

 

Basically it comes down to human experience. People who know suffering know the kuji levels, and know whatever other mudras you might use. You can't really teach that.

 

How I interpreted it?

 

You can make the mudra for "strength of mind and body" and chant a phrase... but what good will that really do you? You can make a mudra and chant a phrase for how to calm your senses, or how to get along with nature, or how to "sync your thoughts with another person" so that you can both be on the "same page".... but will they really help you?

 

No.

 

It comes down to human experience and learning. That's the "secret" of the kuji. If you have had a hard life and have had to deal with suffering, then you are able to deal with suffering through strength of willpower. If you have been in a hectic situation in which multiple outcomes were hanging by a thread according to your decision and you panicked, then when you are in a similar situation you know how it feels and how to do it. If you have been in a dangerous outdoor situation but were able to find peace with the nature surrounding you and were able to survive in a still relatively healthy condition, or if you have been around people for years and have learned how to tell their mood by body posture, language, and have learned what to say/what not to say so that it comes naturally, then you can do it whenever you want. Even sudden insight into a situation, an understanding, however brief, how one thing fits into the totality of the universe, even if it is fleeting.

 

That is kuji.

 

Kuji are the representations of those things, maybe a mantra is a saying for those things... but the hand signal and the chantings are NOT the ACTUAL things themselves. Those things come from within. Come from experience. You can make the kuji and be reminded of some kind of archetypal image or some memory and it can bring you the strength needed to handle a situation. Or you can be able to summon the strength for a situation without ever needing kuji.

 

 

bravo, nice article, i fully agree and have simmilar experience, that i know life offers thru it's hardships, wear and tear, and so on, and it's priceless.

 

yet, i would like to hear a master like Hatsumi talk about it, in regard to the 9 Cuts

i have a feeling he had all of that and worse

 

 

*dreamy emoticon here*

 

AND, by the way, it's ninja LORE

[Upfromtheashes]

bravo, nice article, i fully agree and have simmilar experience, that i know life offers thru it's hardships, wear and tear, and so on, and it's priceless.

 

yet, i would like to hear a master like Hatsumi talk about it, in regard to the 9 Cuts

i have a feeling he had all of that and worse

*dreamy emoticon here*

 

AND, by the way, it's ninja LORE

 

Glenn Morris said something to the affect of "endurance under the stick"

Interesting -

[寒月 Hanyue]

There is a reason the mudras are taught only to higher levels. Hatsumi says taijutsu comes first for a reason, mudras are shorthand. Kuji is concerned with fear which is why it is associated with fudo myo, hence the heart under the blade 'nin'. There is a reason Hatsumi sensei's most quoted saying is 'gambatte' 'keep going'. Though i would say there are different kinds of endurance, some come with patience like moving water wearing away rock.

 

The 'kuji' powers come through training, hence any decent martial artist will develop them. The kuji ritual was used to highlight and focus upon those aspects later. Can't do that if they aren't there. As Sloppy Zhang says, it is about experience. Experience comes either through life (natural training) or through training.

 

Dr Morris said that kuji is useless without juice, and that most meditative practices and qigong develops these things if done correctly (correctly being the operative word). Kuji is grossly misunderstood and is only ever one small part of the traditions that contain it, it is usually concerned with keeping the practitioner safe and was used for travelling among other things. There are versions in Mikkyo Buddhism, Shugendo, Shinto, and Onmyodo in Japan, Daoism, and Buddhism in China, Buddhism in Tibet, and other practices in India. All with their own flavours and uses. There are also similar practices in Judaism, and Catholic priests use a form of cutting kuji as well. Archangel Michael is the Christian version of Fudo myo.

 

The ritual uses sanmitsu, but that is the ritual. Hatsumi has called it 'going out into the world'. It is quite simply about the internal and external forms being aligned and controlling one's intentions to create or manifest action in the world. This can be viewed in two ways, bringing together all of one's 'strengths' and removing the things that prevent those 'strengths', this makes it easier to act, this also implies a sensitivity to acting in accordance and not against the world. The descriptions of 'xing-yi' as a concept also fits this concept as does Orlando Cani's talk of 'corporeal expression' (maybe that is why Rickson was always so good in MMA?). The nine are parts of a whole, not separate things.

 

Most everything i have seen published on kuji is mis-leading.

 

Hatsumi sensei has published very little on kuji, nearly everything attributed to Hatsumi in writing was translated and published by Hayes, this i think is worth noting. Technically training in 'kuji' starts from day one if taught taijutsu correctly, but then again correctly is the operative word ha ha.

 

The Japanese teach meditation (shengong) at the higher levels for refinement, after you are well accomplished in the combat side, they hide the neigong in the training and not everyone is made aware of it or trained correctly in it.

Edited October 24, 2008 by snowmonki

[宁]

There is a reason the mudras are taught only to higher levels. Hatsumi says taijutsu comes first for a reason, mudras are shorthand. Kuji is concerned with fear which is why it is associated with fudo myo, hence the heart under the blade 'nin'. There is a reason Hatsumi sensei's most quoted saying is 'gambatte' 'keep going'. Though i would say there are different kinds of endurance, some come with patience like moving water wearing away rock.

 

The 'kuji' powers come through training, hence any decent martial artist will develop them. The kuji ritual was used to highlight and focus upon those aspects later. Can't do that if they aren't there. As Sloppy Zhang says, it is about experience. Experience comes either through life (natural training) or through training.

 

Dr Morris said that kuji is useless without juice, and that most meditative practices and qigong develops these things if done correctly (correctly being the operative word). Kuji is grossly misunderstood and is only ever one small part of the traditions that contain it, it is usually concerned with keeping the practitioner safe and was used for travelling among other things. There are versions in Mikkyo Buddhism, Shugendo, Shinto, and Onmyodo in Japan, Daoism, and Buddhism in China, Buddhism in Tibet, and other practices in India. All with their own flavours and uses. There are also similar practices in Judaism, and Catholic priests use a form of cutting kuji as well. Archangel Michael is the Christian version of Fudo myo.

 

The ritual uses sanmitsu, but that is the ritual. Hatsumi has called it 'going out into the world'. It is quite simply about the internal and external forms being aligned and controlling one's intentions to create or manifest action in the world. This can be viewed in two ways, bringing together all of one's 'strengths' and removing the things that prevent those 'strengths', this makes it easier to act, this also implies a sensitivity to acting in accordance and not against the world. The descriptions of 'xing-yi' as a concept also fits this concept as does Orlando Cani's talk of 'corporeal expression' (maybe that is why Rickson was always so good in MMA?). The nine are parts of a whole, not separate things.

 

Most everything i have seen published on kuji is mis-leading.

 

Hatsumi sensei has published very little on kuji, nearly everything attributed to Hatsumi in writing was translated and published by Hayes, this i think is worth noting. Technically training in 'kuji' starts from day one if taught taijutsu correctly, but then again correctly is the operative word ha ha.

 

The Japanese teach meditation (shengong) at the higher levels for refinement, after you are well accomplished in the combat side, they hide the neigong in the training and not everyone is made aware of it or trained correctly in it.

 

 

thanx for that, it sounds interesting... Gambatte! dozo

[Spectrum]

under my arm forever

[hervoyel]

I'm told each of the three dantiens generates its own electromagnetic field or aura, and each of these in turn creates a specific frequency of "subtle" vibrational energy, to a total of nine "powers." These are:

 

1. Strength of mind and body -- chu;

2. Direction of energy -- shen;

3. Harmony with the universe -- tai;

4. Healing of self and others -- sha;

5. Premonition of danger -- kai;

6. Knowing the thoughts of others -- jen;

7. Mastery of time and space -- tung;

8. Control of forces of nature -- hua;

9. Enlightenment -- tao

 

Power is what strings together all nine levels.

 

Who's got the power?

Which levels are your forte?

 

On that 1 to 9 scale I am definitely at level -3...