-- 
"The Way of the Mountain Echo" - A mountain echo repeats back to the
caller the same thing that was originally shouted. In O-Sensei's
"Way of the Mountain Echo" the images seem to be something akin to
the concept of AIKI, in the sense of responding to or adapting to
whatever it may be that your partner delivers and dealing with each
encounter as if it were a completly new and fresh event. Associated with
this may be the image of emptiness of the echo before anyone calls out
to it, the fact that an echo makes no distinction between different
callers and recognizes no difference in languages, or content of the
message. It may also involve the idea of purposefulness of the echo's
calling back although it never fails to do so whenever called upon and
to do so with all it's effort. Another possible interpretation or nuance
could be the fact that the echo's answering call always brings pleasure
to the caller.
- From aiki news, March 15, 1982 by Seiseki Abe.