Koichi Tohei - People Quotes

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When your techniques are rough it means you are forcing against the principles; proof that you are still immature. You will not be able to stand up to a stronger opponent — you must try to follow the principles. Your character comes out in your techniques. So do the habits of your mind. By correcting the techniques, you can correct the bad habits of your mind. If you constantly collide with others in your practice, your mind will develop a habit of clashing with other people.

Koichi Tohei
Things appear very complex but underneath they are quite simple. People complicate things by super-imposing their own viewpoints and advantages. If you remove all that is superfluous, most problems have very simple solutions.

Koichi Tohei
When learning something new, you must never be critical at the beginning. Always do your thinking after trial and error. Most people make up their mind one way or the other before they even get started. The most important step is to remove your coloured glasses and get a clear view.

Koichi Tohei
You must not think of what you learned as belonging to you. Your learning was only possible because of the people who taught you. If you forget this, before you know it you fall under the illusion that you are the only one who can do it, or the only one who understands. This is called being full of yourself. It is wrong to think, 'I am strong', because this strength is nothing but weakness turned inside out. You must think how to act within universal principles.

Koichi Tohei
Countless people have attempted to define the absolute power of the world of nature. Some praise it as God, some call it the Buddha, others call it truth. Still others convert nature into a philosophy by which they attempt to sound its deepest truth. Such attempts to define the power of nature are no more than striving to escape its effects.
All of the forces of science have been unable to conquer nature because it is too mystic, too vast, too mighty. It intensely pervades everything around us. Like the fish that, though in the water, is unaware of the water, we are so thoroughly engulfed in the blessings of nature that we tend to forget its very existence.

Koichi Tohei
When you teach people it is useless to try to change their character. Correct their bad habits first, then their true character can come through. Teachers must have a positive mind. If their attitude is negative, it infects their students. Students cannot learn from bad examples until they develop their own powers of judgement.

Koichi Tohei
Until you can clearly make up your mind, you are better off not doing something. Make a habit of being decisive in your daily affairs. Some people can be heard to say, "what will I do if I get killed?!" If you die, there is nothing you can do. Whatever you have to do, do it now, while you are still living. You must practice to be able to return to essential principles at any moment.

Koichi Tohei
Some people are quick to find reasons and excuses why they cannot do things. This cuts their Ki and in times stifles their motivation altogether. Motivation is extending Ki, not receiving it. People today are more concerned with what they can get, than what they can give or do for others. That is why they cannot extend Ki.

Koichi Tohei
Selfish people have never understood and travelled the way of the universe in the past. Therefore when we realise the principles and the way of the universe, the universe gives us the responsibility to spread them to the world. Do not think that you cannot help another person. What you learn today, you can teach another the next day. The world is full of people who have lost the way of the universe and suffer illness. Let us do our best to explain the correct principles of the universe to them.

Koichi Tohei
We have learned coordination of mind and body and the "ki breathing methods". Therefore we can bring the ki of the universe into our bodies at anytime. When a water pump is dried out, no water can flow from the well up through the pump. To start this flow again we must put some water back into the pump. In the same way, ki does not flow strongly in a person suffering from illness or misfortune. Let us practice "kiatsuho" to put back into these people, stimulate their own flow of ki, and give them a fresh start to happiness.

Koichi Tohei