Steven Seagal Speaks

An interview with screenwriter Stanley Weiser
 
In an interview with screenwriter Stanley Weiser, the martial arts expert and action film star Steven Seagal breaks his silence on his many years of Buddhist practice and addresses criticism of his recent recognition as an incarnate Tibetan lama.

Stanley Weiser: First off, can you tell our readers a little bit about your background in the art of aikido—how long you trained, who your teachers were, when you attained the status of a master?

Steven Seagal: Well, the title of master—on paper—is something that I probably received in the early eighties. I still don’t believe that I have attained the level of being a master. Maybe some other people think I am a master, but in my mind I am certainly not.

Stanley Weiser: When did you start aikido training?

Steven Seagal: In the mid-sixties I started training with Ishisaka Kiyoshi.

Stanley Weiser: What tradition of aikido was that?

Steven Seagal: There is only one tradition. I say that because people who were connected with Ueshiba Morihei, the founder, feel that if someone is doing another style, they shouldn’t call it aikido. For me, his is aikido because he invented it.

Stanley Weiser: Did you have a spiritual-friend relationship with him as your teacher?

Steven Seagal: I did not get to study with him by taking his hand or anything like that. The most I ever got to do was hear him teach.

Stanley Weiser: Were you introduced to Buddhism as an off-shoot of your martial arts discipline?

Steven Seagal: Well, to be honest with you I am not sure. I was born with a serious spiritual consciousness and for many years studied different paths. I went to Japan in the late sixties and began Zen sitting. I visited monasteries, studying Buddhism and receiving spiritual instruction. This was the beginning for me, the way I believed it should be—the development of a physical man through martial arts and polishing the spiritual side simultaneously.

Stanley Weiser: You also studied acupuncture?

Steven Seagal: Right. That was the way I was originally introduced to Tibetan Buddhism. There was a handful of lamas who had come over from Tibet. They were sick and had been tortured. Because I was studying acupuncture, I was asked to try to look after a couple of them, even though I didn’t speak Tibetan. We were able to eventually communicate. I learned a little Tibetan and I became very close with them.

Later on, I became involved in certain things that are not really the kind of things that I look back on with fondness. This was at a time when the Khampas were still fighting the Chinese and the CIA was helping them, and because of the severe repression of the Tibetan people, I wanted to get involved. My involvement, though, was minimal.

These were the years when my interest in Tibetan Buddhism flourished, but my involvement in any of the spiritual endeavors and training remained my personal business—not secret as some of the other things were, but just private. This was at a time when I very much wanted to be invisible in the dharma community, for a lot of reasons. Only in the last few months have I come out of the closet.

Stanley Weiser: Can you say anything about your involvement with the Tibetan freedom fighters?

Steven Seagal: I think it is probably best if we don’t get into that. We are trying to live in a world where we can choose the middle path and seek harmony, and I don’t want to appear to be a dangerous revolutionary person, because I am really not. I am here on this Earth for one thing and that is to see if I can somehow serve humankind and ease the suffering of others.

Stanley Weiser: Who was your root guru?

Steven Seagal: Basically, for me His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was the greatest, and now I have a very strong devotion to Minling Trichen and His Holiness Penor Rinpoche.