Dangerous Art Forms

True budo has no enemies...
True budo is the manifestation of love. Love never kills. Love nourishes. Love brings all things to fruition. Love is the guardian angel of all beings. If there is no love, nothing can be accomplished. Aikido is the embodiment of love.

Morehei Ueshiba
Secret Teachings of AIKIDO

Here you see a composite image of a work of art. This is a simple piece of bamboo from a local garden supply store.

First is that the mysterious forces of Nature grew this piece of bamboo this is of itself a work of art. Next is how we humans use this bamboo as a tool in our daily lives.

The large sticks of bamboo can be used to stake out and support plants .. vegetables .. food growing in the garden. The same bamboo can be used to create a Shakuhachi flute.

I burn the finger holes using a general purpose soldering iron. At the same time I have technical skills and I can safely use a soldering iron [a simple but potentially dangerous tool if you do not have the skills to use that tool].

However, this composite image is the stages of creating a bamboo Tai Chi Bang (stick) .. a dangerous art form. The Tai chi stick can be used as a gentle training form or it can be used as a weapon of defense. A bamboo flute can be used to play and create tones / music or the bamboo flute can be used as a weapon of defense.

Art can be both beautiful and dangerous!

I can draw a UFO using color pens onto a piece of photo paper .. and to certain areas of society this drawing or image is a THREAT... One can carry a hand to elbow sized piece of bamboo .. refine it .. sand it down .. oil it and in some cases use this tool as a form of defense!

Dangerous Art Forms
I carefully cut the pieces of bamboo into Tia Chi size exercise sticks. I do this as a form of art. Sometimes one side of the hollow bamboo has an open hollow side .. while the other side is closed. It all depends how you cut the bamboo.

If I have a hole .. this is not such a problem as the energetic balance of the tool transfers the flow of Qi no matter what! I have tested closed bamboo Zen Qi sticks and open bamboo Zen Qi sticks and they all seem to work equally. The hollow inside is the key / Qi!

I carefully sand down the whole bamboo to smooth using medium and then extra fine sand paper. Both ends of the bamboo chi stick have to be balanced and smooth .. like the bones inside the body. The bamboo is then covered with olive oil .. and general care of the bamboo is maintained using olive oil that slowly soaks into the structure of the bamboo over time.

The ultimate danger of bamboo is AWARENESS.

The art of Nature grows and creates bamboo .. the human being uses bamboo as a tool. The Master of Qi uses bamboo stick as a discipline. Shaolin use the bamboo stick as a form of self-defense. The body-mind connects with the synergy of bamboo to balance and heal. All of these are dangerous art forms.

The penetrating use of the mind [awareness] is a threat to mundane society.
The masterful use of the Tai Chi stick is an artistic threat to brute force society.

Artists create art forms to protect the higher mind...
The higher mind creates art forms to protect the ARTISTs ...