During our annual Hwa Rang do Black Sash Conference (held this year from July 24 through August 1st, 2009), Black Sashes (1st Dan & Above) from across the globe, gather at the West Coast Headquarters in Los Angeles, CA USA for rigorous training of the mind, body and spirit, led by founder Dr. Joo Bang Lee and his eldest son, Grandmaster Taejoon Lee.
Throughout the conference a great deal of knowledge is passed down to these Hwarang Knights from the more than 4,000 techniques available through Hwa Rang Do. In addition to the physical, a great deal of time is devoted to the personal growth of our Black Sashes and that of their own students, in their respective home states and countries.
The pictures in this slide show were taken during these 10 days of private training with the founder, Dr. Joo Bang Lee and Grandmaster Taejoon Lee. The quotations were quietly recorded in a notebook by one of the Black Sashes attending from Italy, during the conference and later shared with all other Black Sashes, as a philosophical summary of her experience.
We would now like to share these quotes from Dr. Joo Bang Lee and Grandmaster Taejoon Lee with you…
Grandmaster Taejoon Lee
I have been in the martial arts for 37 years now and have been teaching the students who were turned away from other schools because they could not pay. I was once one of those students and my instructors Grandmaster Sun Cheung, Grandmaster Liam Kil Choi and Grandmaster Yeun the founders of the Jung Sim Do Korean Karate System saw something in me and gave me a chance to learn of the philosphy teach and instilled in me a gift to give all but one of my original instructors are still here and you bring back a breath of fresh air to his teachings to remind us that we are all charged with unifying the arts.
I was promoted to the second highest ranking student in my system and placed in line to become the next leader of the Jung Sim Do Korean Karate Federation. My promotion was the second greatest day of martial arts career. Both my parents died when I was 6 years old and Grandmaster Sun Cheung taught me like I was his son and for this I am truly grateful for all that he has done for the arts and all that you are about to for the world of martial arts.
Thank You and keep sending me your emails they lift me and remind me of what I am to do with what has been bestowed upon me.
Garry Holman
felicidades y beniciones Grand master en los artes hawaiianos el tigre representa la fuerza y sabiduria y usted representa para quienes hemos tenido el honor de conocerle eso fuerza y sabiduria gracias por compartir con nosotros su sabiduria bendiciones siempre…
The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge.