Warrior’s Path – Unafraid of Change

Unafraid of Change

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As many of you are aware, we have made some changes to our programs and curriculum here at the West Coast Hwa Rang Do Academy. For over 10 years, we have maintained the same programs, curriculums, pricing and methods of instruction.  It has worked well for us, but I felt that it was time for change. There is an interesting phenomenon that takes place in human behavior. By our nature, we seek out comfort and when we find it, we want to dig a large hole and immerse ourselves in that state of comfort forever. This is surely death.

Why? What is comfort? It is the sense of security and a peace of mind we gain knowing with certainty what we are going to do tomorrow. By limiting the uncertainties of our daily lives, we reduce the stress and anxiety derived from the unknown. This fear of the unknown is an incredible force that shapes and molds our decisions on a daily basis. So comfort is a good thing, but “too much comfort” is not so good. If it is such a good thing, then comfort should make us better, happier, and more productive, but it does none of these. Being too comfortable makes us complacent, lazy, careless, unhealthy, and the happiness we gain from comfort is only temporary at best. As warriors, this is unacceptable. We must always strive for betterment in all areas of our lives and constantly push our boundaries and limitations. A warrior must work constantly to maintain sharpness and focus, to always be prepared for the worst. When you get comfortable with your abilities, you become overconfident and careless, resulting in defeat. This is why we constantly drive home the idea, “Never underestimate your opponent.” This is not limited to your sparring partner, but applies to any task in life. Whether we have done something a thousand times, if we do it the thousandth-first time without being mindful, it will result in a mistake or failure. For a warrior that could mean death. It is this “warrior’s spirit,” that we are trying to teach and preserve – to always strive for excellence, to be unafraid of challenges in our lives, to persist when other’s have lost hope, to always seek for betterment, and to always do what is “right,” not for reward sake, but purely because it is the right thing to do.

This “Warrior’s Path” is eloquently portrayed in the recent movie “Batman Begins” when the father of the young Bruce Wayne asks his son, “Why do we fall Bruce?”

And Bruce replies, “So, we can get up.”

With Love

Grandmaster Taejoon Lee

Reprimanding the Soul

Reprimanding the Soul

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One of my favorite spiritual writings comes from the Lebanese poet, philosopher, and artist Kahlil Gibran. In his poem, “Seven Reprimands,” he teaches us of strong human virtues through self examination. This is congruent with our warrior’s path, since a warrior is defined as a strong human being who is unafraid of facing the struggles and the challenges of life, not just in battle. A warrior is not just a person who engages in warlike activities, but a warrior is a person who follows the path of strength, honor, integrity, loyalty and courage.

Let us, then, examine ourselves:

How many times have we taken the easy way out and then complimented ourselves by accepting the praise of others?

How many times have we played sick to avoid responsibility or work?

How many times have we opted to pick up the lightest box when helping our friends move?

How many times have we stayed quiet, refraining from the truth to avoid conflict?

How many times have we blamed others for our mistakes?

How many times have we quit when things got tougher and then consoled ourselves by pointing the finger at others?

How many times have we done something we were supposed to do and looked for praise?

How many times have we taken credit for something we did not do?

How many times have we strutted our fortune in front of those who are less fortunate?

How many times have we taken things for granted and deluded ourselves by saying we deserve better?

We have all done these things before and some of us still do. Life is not meant to be easy and most often, things of value require hard work. We often forget that nobody owes us anything and no one can make us do anything. We are the ones who make the decisions, which affect our lives, and we are the only ones who can change ourselves for the better. So, no matter what happens, the good, the bad, the ugly, we must learn to accept, knowing that no man/woman can pass judgment on our soul. And, it is the strength and vitality of our spirit, seeking and discovering the Truth that will determine our immortality.

 

Hwarang Forever with Love and God Bless,

Grandmaster Taejoon Lee

Seeking Truth

 

Seeking Truth

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“Keep the faith and be true to yourself,

never relying on others or chance to determine your life.

Choose and once you have decided, then stick to it to the end.

And, when you do – after you have ceased to exist, you will have created “Truth.””

As I was browsing through our Forum, “The Flowering Way,” I happened to come across some student quoting me.  So, I read through it again and it hit a nerve.  TRUTH, from the time we can speak we have always asked the question “Why?”  That is one question that you can ask and ask and ask and it can never be satisfied.  Don’t you remember your three or four year old asking you, why is the sky blue?

Because God made it that way?

Why?

Because he likes blue?

Why? Because, OK to tell you the truth, it is the combination of gaseous material which diffracts light into particular frequencies of electromagnetic radiation that is perceived by our retinas as the color blue?

Why? And on, and on, again.

This is what drives most parents crazy.  But let us think for a moment.  Isn’t that the fundamental question that we need to ask in order to find the truth?  Why do our retinas perceive it to be blue?  Why couldn’t it be something else?  And do all creatures see it as the blue we see or even other people and if they do not, then blue as we know it could not be the Truth.  And if that is so, then how can anything we perceive be the Truth.  Further, what is ‘blue’ anyways?  It is our truth as human beings or truth as it remains convenient, but not the ‘Truth.’

We can continue this epistemological debate and go even further into the philosophy of language and as in Physics, the deeper we go, more the questions we’ll find.  So, after couple of decades of questioning everything, I have come to the point where I know I cannot answer all of them and that I will never know the “Truth,” but only functional truths.  And, I am at peace with that.

I think that this is the most important realization that one can come to and it is not giving up, it is not being pessimistic, it is not compliance, and it most certainly is not ignorance.  It is a realization, a self-actualized knowledge.  Truth as in life is in doing, in living, in seeking, it is in the journey.  Whether we find the Truth or not is not what is important, but that we seek it.  However, somewhere between why is the sky blue and does God exist, if there is a Santa grant me a bike and why has God forsaken me, thinking you are Superman and got to go to graduate school to get a raise, we have lost the sense of wonderment, the fuel which drives our truth-seeking engine, the stuff which makes dreams come true.  We lost the belief in the possibility that the impossible can happen and not only happen, but made to happen.  In my opinion, Truth is what we make of it.  If you say you cannot, then you cannot; if you say you don’t like, you don’t like; if you say you quit, then you quit; if you say I don’t love anymore, then you don’t love anymore; if you say you are done, then you are dead.  And what more truth is greater than knowing that if you live there is life and if you die then it is death.  I choose to live.

Don’t misunderstand me, you cannot get to this point until you journey.  One must be critical. Not just be critical of others and external things, but just as or more so be critical of the ‘self.’  The business of seeking truth is a lonely job, paved with disappoints, disillusionments, heartbreaks, sometimes abandonment (letting go then regretting it by blaming the offender), hopelessness, and many other not so pleasant emotions as one’s foundation starts to shake, crumble and rebuilt.  Yes, rebuilt, many times.  The question is will you rebuild or will you accept it as is?  To me this is a matter of life and death of the soul.  Once your whole world view and the truths that you’ve built your paper empire on falls apart, what will you do?  And, if your foundation, your core has not turned to ash, then it has not been tested, tried, and criticized.  The journey of Truth lies in the rebuilding and this takes all the courage in the world.  Who is better off, the bum who wanders for food and lives moment to moment or the person who goes to work everyday to pay their debts?  For me truth lies in purpose and purpose rises from the rebuilding of Truth.  Each time you rebuild, there will be certain things which will remain and that to me that is Truth and it is up to me to make sure it stays true.

A Hwarang is a truth seeker and a Truth keeper.  And, this means to be unafraid – unafraid of being wrong.

Hwarang Forever,

Grandmaster Taejoon Lee

Warrior’s Path – Walking with Death

The Warrior’s Path

Walking with Death

“I guess it comes down to a simple choice really – get busy living or get busy dying.”

The Shawshank Redemption

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Grandmaster Taejoon Lee faces off against Jokyo Simon Lee

I had a student come to me and ask for a private lesson to show him how to execute a jump spin kick. Of course I feel that it’s long overdue and he should have asked me many months ago when he was first introduced to it as a Tae Soo Do (TSD) Brown Belt. Nearing his TSD Black Belt graduation where he must complete the final part of his Black Belt Testing Requirements by successfully breaking five boards with kick combinations, finishing with a jump spin/low spin kick break, he felt the need to get some extra help to ensure his success. It’s a good thing he was proactive in trying to control the future outcome by increasing his preparation, but what really motivated him? We’ll come back to this. As we continued his private session, he was having a terrible time fixing his old habits. Finally I blurted, “What are you afraid of, what?!”

He answered, “I am afraid of falling.”

I replied, “You have been here almost three years, learned how to fall properly, you are standing on two inch thick mats, and yet you are still afraid of falling? Well, that’s it then. You must become unafraid and accept the worst outcome before you can move forward or perish (not in so many words).”

Human beings are motivated strongly by fears; mainly fear of injury, pain, hardship, embarrassment, and of the unknown. We try to balance our fears by creating comfort zones of predictable patterns to limit our uncertainty, deluding ourselves to think that we have some grasp on our lives.

We try to balance our fears by creating comfort zones of predictable patterns to limit our uncertainty, deluding ourselves to think that we have some grasp on our lives.

As we are taught in Hwa Rang Do to never retreat in the face of the enemy, we must first clearly define and understand this enemy of ours, essentially that is our fears. Let’s think for a moment what that is. Fear is an anticipation of negative results from a particular event, action, or set of conditions that has been learned from past similar events. The important thing to understand is that fear is not real. It is imaginary. It did not happen, and might never happen; it’s only our imagination, our mind which creates images with emotional and psychological attachments that become so real that we create our lives, our responses, and our choices based on fear – our imagination.

There are two types of fear discussed here: let’s describe them as good fear and bad fear. Good fear causes motivation for action and bad fear creates reasons for inaction. Good fear prompts proactive behavior while bad fear immobilizes our minds, causing either no response or complete abandonment – quitting. The good fear prompted the student to take action to prevent the negative result that he was anticipating with planning and preparation by deciding to take a private lesson. The bad fear prevented him from creating the necessary changes for betterment and advancing. He took refuge (as many do) in the comfort of what’s most familiar. Whether that’s good or bad, negative or positive, self destructive or self enriching has no bearing on the decision. Just as a hermit crab hides in their shell, so do we also hide in what’s most familiar. The student was not willing to give up what’s familiar and clung to it like a safety blanket (however old, filthy, or smelly it may be), fixating only on the potential negative result rather than focusing on the possibility for growth and change for the better.

Once I helped the student think through the worst that can happen to him – a broken leg, perhaps, maybe even death (highly unlikely but let’s give our imagination the benefit of the doubt) the student was willing to move into unknown territory. Where before he kept doing the same wrong movement, once he accepted the worst-case scenario, he began to try different ways. Finally after almost an hour of what was to be a thirty-minute session, he made some progress. However, something very interesting occurred. He made some advancement, but quickly regressed to his old ways when he felt he was losing control, uncomfortable with the new body positioning. I think he even fell once. Well, that confirmed it. His fears were right – he did fall. Fear is not logical, it’s not just mental or emotional, it’s all consuming, and it’s powerful. Fear cannot be underestimated, and the demon that has taken a lifetime to take root and grow cannot be defeated in a single brief encounter.

Fear is not logical, it’s not just mental or emotional, it’s all consuming, and it’s powerful. Fear cannot be underestimated, and the demon that has taken a lifetime to take root and grow cannot be defeated in a single brief encounter.

Furthermore, fear cannot be eliminated and should not be. Everything serves a purpose and so does fear. However, like all things, we must learn to control it, using it as fuel for action and exercising caution in making decisions. Being able to do this requires strength, which in turn increases our self-confidence, and enhances our self-image. These are all necessary weapons when facing the demon of fear.

Primarily, we need the strength to accept the worst-case scenario. If one cannot, then they must quit their task and hide from fear, as many people try to hide from death. The problem is that death will come and we have absolutely no control over when or how. The only thing we have control over is life. Hiding is only a temporary solution. Also, have you noticed that when we quit things, or give up on dreams, that in our minds it’s perfectly justified and we have all the right reasons to do so? Of course we do! How could we live with ourselves if it weren’t the case? This is how our mind works for self-preservation. Letting go of these justifications and delusions by being true and honest to oneself is the first step in battling our fears. As warriors then, by definition, we must train ourselves to be unafraid of confrontation and engage our enemy. We must accept and embrace death as a guest, a friend that walks next to you with life on the other side. Only by embracing death, by truly accepting it, can we begin to appreciate and respect life. Not to abuse our life and live recklessly, which would be disrespecting death, but by honoring life so that our deaths become more meaningful.

As warriors then, by definition, we must train ourselves to be unafraid of confrontation and engage our enemy. We must accept and embrace death as a guest, a friend that walks next to you with life on the other side.

This is the beauty and the power of Hwa Rang Do. We exercise dealing with fear on a daily basis as we take on physical, mental, and emotional challenges set by the art, fellow students, and me (the teacher) in a controlled safe environment. Hence, realizing our limitations, weaknesses, and the truth about ourselves, we can practice taming our personal demons and making them our friends that we may call upon for help – sources of motivation. As the protagonist, Andy, in the acclaimed film, “The Shawshank Redemption,” was forced to make a decision when all hope was lost, so do we – either to get busy living or get busy dying. After losing all hope, when facts were revealed that could prove Andy’s innocence were brutally suppressed by the prison warden, Andy was forced to contemplate the meaning of life. Hopefully, we do not need to be in such extreme conditions to realize that the choice is ours – to live or to die, to be living or to be dying.

Hopefully, we do not need to be in such extreme conditions to realize that the choice is ours – to live or to die, to be living or to be dying.

Death is inevitable and tomorrow may never come. To live life by allowing fear to force our hopes and dreams into hiding, never realizing our full potential, is slavery epitomized. We must look deep within and bring to the surface our innermost fears, confronting them face to face as we do our opponents, sparring until imminent victory. The fear you suppress most that lurks in the dark crevices of your mind is what enslaves you and it’s that enemy that we must overcome in order to truly live life with freedom. I hope to continue gettin’ busy living with all of you for many more years to come.

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With gratitude to death in making our lives more fulfilling,

Taejoon Lee

Grandmaster/WHRDA President

Giving Thanks

This is the inventory of thanksgiving which I chose for the message I delivered to my students on Thanksgiving of 2008.

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Things I am thankful for – Thanksgiving as an Umyangian:

I thank God for giving me ‘this’ life with all of it’s twists and turns, ebb and flow, joys and sorrows.
I thank my father for giving me the opportunity to carry such a worthy legacy.
I thank my mother for all her unconditional love and support in time of good and especially in times of bad.
I thank my lost brother for giving me the sorrow of losing a brother.
I thank my brother-in-law for loving and caring for my sister.
I thank my nephews for helping me to once again feel the excitement of learning the Hwarang Way.
I thank my Black Sashes for giving me hope that amongst the many quitters that there are a few that feel, cherish, and submit to the strength and power of the Hwarang Spirit.
I thank my spiritual friend for helping me to discover my spirit and inspiring me to follow it.
I thank my friends for helping me to practice our Third Hwarang Code – Kyo Oo e Shin (Trust and Brotherhood Among Friends).
I thank my enemies for always keeping me sharp and on my toes.
I thank the students who’ve quit who’ve taught me the feeling of loss and reaffirm the fact that the Hwarang Way is not for everyone.
I thank my cousins for helping me to realize the price of discipline.
I thank my Korean brothers for helping me to understand the hardships of being a big brother.
I thank all my hardships, sorrows, and sufferings for forging my character and entire being with such strength and conviction.
I thank my ex-fiancé for preventing me from making a life-long mistake and helping me to realize the true value of marriage.
I thank Americans for striving towards racial harmony.
I thank money for helping me to control greed and to realize that it’s only a means of achieving my dreams.
I thank my innocence to combat my corruption to understand the true value of life and for keeping my dreams alive.
I thank my love for always reminding me of the extreme pleasure and extreme pain of love.
And, lastly I thank strife for allowing love to exist and helping me to realize that love is the greatest power of all.

No Excuses!

Please do not disregard.  No matter what, please bear it and read to the end.

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Supreme Grandmaster Dr. Joo Bang Lee delivering a flying spin kick from squatting position over 10ft. in the air (1965 Seoul, Korea)

When I first opened our school in 1994, we gave the choice of choosing Tae Soo Do or Hwa Rang Do to the students.  Of course they all chose, Hwa Rang Do even after they were told that it was more expensive and it was harder. And, most of them never achieved Hwa Rang Do Black Sash.  I think there was only a couple.

Before Tae Soo Do, the 60s through the 80s, a 5 year old student had to start as a Hwa Rang Do white sash and had to learn 8 basics, a long form, 30 three-step sparring techniques, 2 kicking tests, and had to memorize the entire Hwa Rang Do Mengsae which included the Nine Doctrines.  They did all this for their Orange Sash test in 4 to 6 months.  Compared to now, a 5 year old student only learns 4 basics, only one of the Hwa Rang Do Mengsae and it takes them on the average 3 to 4 months.

We now have two programs: Basic Training where one learns only striking techniques with no weaponry and grappling and Warrior’s Path which includes everything – striking, weaponry, grappling.  We have no students in Basic Training.

Before our school, we used to have only two classes – one for juniors and one for adults, 6 days a week. The students came as many days as they can, averaging at least 3 to 4 days per week.  Now, even with a mandatory attendance of 2 days per week, less than 50% of our student body meets the 8 classes per month requirement.

What has changed?  Did people get dumber?  Is global warming frying our brains?  Did people get more lazy?  Did time speed up and so we have less time?

Are there too many distractions? Absolutely…

I have been observing people and their pattern of living for the last 30 years.  What I have learned about human behavior is through my students and the lessons are many.  The countless excuses and explanations of why they can’t do this or do that from literally thousands of students for the last 30 years have made me sort of an expert on the subject.

And this is what I have learned about excuses:

  • Everyone has one and they all stink. (There’s a military version of this.)
  • They all think theirs is original.
  • They all think the other person doesn’t understand.
  • They all say, “I don’t want sympathy, but …”
  • They don’t realize that they are wasting the other person’s time.
  • It’s a waste of time to listen to other people’s excuses because there’s nothing of value.
  • One shouldn’t hang around with people full of excuses, because it’s contagious.
  • There is no such thing as a valid excuse because in the end the validation is not given by the listener, but must be validated by the self, which of course no self in their right mind would validate; hence the need for the listener.
  • Making an excuse to avoid consequences or trying to make yourself out to look good is not the same as explanation.  Explanations are given to inform and to improve in the hopes of changing one’s situation as to not repeat the same offence.
  • Giving an excuse is not an apology.  An apology starts with I am sorry. An excuse starts with, but or because.
  • An excuse does not waive one’s responsibilities.  Because you missed a class does not waive your responsibility to know what was taught in that class.
  • Time does not repeat, so if you missed something, you must make it up in a timely manner.
  • In the end, the people with the most excuses only hurt themselves and have lost the most valuable commodity in the universe, TIME.

Yes this might seem a little harsh, but why think of it any other way.  If at the end of reading the bullet points, if you were able to refute or think that there’s something to refute because surely there are good excuses, then you’re not in the right frame of mind.  Of course there are always exceptions, but why waste time thinking about them, especially when it’s not going help you in a positive light.

Oh and what about medical excuse.  Surely that’s a valid excuse.  If you think this, then your mind is still in high school.  How many times did you make yourself feel sick to convince your mom so that you can stay home, which didn’t help you in the long run?  You are your own judge and you must self-regulate.  You know when you are too sick or too injured to perform and restrain yourself from training because you are so eager to get on the mat, right?  Doctors are not gods.  They are not always right and they have to be concerned about malpractice suits.  Sure, with a broken arm in a cast you can’t do things with your one arm, but you still got one good arm and two legs.  Yes, I have been injured.  I was bed ridden for a week after a 50 foot fall onto my neighbor’s concrete driveway and three weeks later, I made my first film.  There was no way that I was not going to do it.  What I did was nothing; be like Prof. Randy Pausch or Lance Armstrong.

Point being, yes there are medical situations that limits us, but we can always find a way if we really want it.  That’s the key – how much do we want it!  That’s always been the key, the secret, or whatever other fanciful word you want to use.  The key to unlocking life’s treasure chest is first, knowing what you want and more importantly, never relenting in its pursuit.

Please realize that time is finite for us, human beings, as we will all certainly die.  The only question is when and how.  We have no control of ‘when’ without being damned and/or cowardly, so definitely not a choice as a warrior.  However, we can control ‘how’ by focusing on how we will be remembered.

This is my mission, my passion to help others reach their full potential and get the most out of life.

And, even if you disagree with everything thus far (which I don’t see how, but I am sure one can find a way), you must agree that nothing is accomplished by thinking about it.  It’s only through action that anything is achieved.  Not just action, but 100% commitment to the action without reservation.  One foot in and one foot out will get you exactly that, one shoe or a pair of mismatching shoes.

There is so much I want to say and soon I shall, in the way of a book on life as a warrior is the 21st century.  But for now, I want to get back to what I originally wanted to tell you.

Everyone has an ego and that ego always tells them that they can do more, be more, and just more of everything.  So, they come to us to do more, to do everything, to participate in one of the most demanding martial art programs in the world to be comprehensive, all around, balanced, complete.  However, soon after they start training, they realize that its hard work and the romantic superhero created by the mind soon diminish as doubt sets in. Often it’s not even doubt, but one regresses to infancy and just plainly says to the self, “I don’t like it.  I don’t know what it is, but I don’t like it.”  How can they even know that they like or dislike when they have nothing to compare it to?  And, wasn’t it trying out something new the motivation for starting in the first place? When doubt sets in, it’s all over.  The mind’s imagination takes over and gives credence to the doubt and sugarcoats the idea of quitting.

“No, it’s not quitting” and with that, the gun fires and excuses start racing to see which excuse appeases the ego most.  Please understand that I know this best from self-reflection.  We are all in it together and together we must support what is true and strong and fight against what is delusional and weak.

This last Saturday’s New Year’s Bootcamp is a perfect example.  Less than 50% of our students participated in what was a mandatory event.  I am sure many who were present were anxious and frightful of what was to come as I and the Instructors have fed their imagination throughout the entire week.

“Oh you’re all gonna die,” I said with a smile.  “Hope you guys can make it through without getting sick.” “I am jump start you for the entire year!” etc., etc.

With that we started the class.  The class of about 50 students went through everything I could muster.  It was reminiscent of my college years when we conducted a week long hell week, which was later renamed T&T week for Trials & Tribulations.

This is what they had to do:

  • 100 punches/shuffling
  • 100 punches/shuffling with 100 climbs in push up position
  • 1000 punches, 200 blocks, 100 punch/block combo all in horse stance
  • Approximately 1000 kicks all together
  • Punching, parrying, trapping 1000 times
  • 20 duck/under pickups on each side
  • 400 sped kicks
  • Partner training: leg presses, multiple one leg kicking, speed knees and jumps, ducking, side falls
  • 20 forward hip movement drill, forward hip slide several time across the mat, rear hip slides
  • And, 100 group sit-ups… (this is all I can remember at the moment)

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We did all this is 2 hours.  Although there were about half dozen people who had to frequent the restroom, everybody made it through.  Come on, when in your wildest dreams did you ever think that you can do all that?  You can absolutely do more, just like your ego says, but instead of just thinking it, I am here to help you achieve it and when you finally do, there will be no need for the ego.

So, this is my challenge to you for the New Year and evermore.  Don’t think you’re strong – be strong, don’t think you’re intelligent – be intelligent, don’t think you’re not lazy – get busy, don’t think you’re doing enough – do more, don’t get humiliated – be humble, think less and do more.  Remember the more you do the more you want to do; the less you do the less you want to do.

We have all the classes you need, to be what you wanted to be when you first started.  So, let’s get busy.

Fighting Fit: Tu & Th 8:15pm ~ 9pm  – This class is open to everyone, juniors and adults, and to the general public.  So, you can drag your spouse, your mom or dad, your friends anytime without joining the full program. This is a great addition to your training to gain greater knowledge in striking full contact, build greater stamina and strength.

Gumtoogi:  Sat 11:30am ~ 1pm – This class is a must for all Hwa Rang Do Students and Tae Soo Do Brown Belts.  However, any student can participate with permission.  Also, this class is open to the general public.  In this class you will learn all sorts of weapon fighting with the foundation of Hwarang sword fencing.  Important Note: I must reiterate that this is mandatory for all HRD students.  If you have not yet done so, start now.  The HRD students who do not participate will force me to take action of negative consequences.

Friday Fight Night – All of you should be practicing at home, but for additional training with supervision you can’t pass up Fight Night.  First of all, it’s a great way to form friendships with your student body as it is an informal setting where everyone is helping out each other.  And, it’s the closest thing you’ll get to a private lesson without paying for it as it is supervised by Senior Instructors.

So, if you’re up to the challenge and follow my advice, you will achieve great things in 2009, but most importantly you will be better.

That’s the best gift I can give you.

With love, Hwarang Forever!

Grandmaster Taejoon Lee

Inside the Black Sash Conference 2009

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…

End-Dependancy (Five Stones)

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Each month the Teuk Gong Team (TGT), our instructors and assistant instructors, gather for dinner to share ideas and develop greater bonds. In February, Antonio Goodwin hosted the dinner at his home in Ladera Heights. The adults were in the living room, conversing about our school and students, while the juniors ranging from 7years old to 11 were in Dominic’s room, Antonio’s son.

After a short while I decided to go check on the children and what I saw was truly the sign of our times. There were five kids in total and each was doing their own thing: reading a book, playing on a Gameboy, watching a movie on a portable DVD player, playing with an iphone, etc. None of them were speaking, playing, or engaged with each other.

I could not believe what I saw. I had to do something. I said, “What are you guys doing? Put that stuff down and follow me.” I proceeded to walk outside as the kids followed, puzzled and somewhat reluctant. I walked over to a small patch of dirt field (which was not easy to find) and went hunting for rocks. I found one that was the size of a marble and raised it up, “I want you guys to find rocks about this size.” The kids were even more puzzled, but soon they were laughing and excited to find a rock that fit the profile.

“Master Lee, like this one? Is this it?” Each one of them came over to show me what they’d found. After collecting a handful of rocks, I picked the best ones and we all went inside. I had them all sit in a circle and I taught them Korean jacks, “Gong-gi.” It’s similar to American Jacks, but a bit more difficult, requiring greater hand/eye coordination. After I demonstrated what needed to be done and how to keep score, I had each of them try. It took some effort, but soon they were getting the hang of it. They were having a blast, laughing, talking – engaged in each other’s performance. I belted, “This is playing. Keep it up and if you have any questions, come get me.” With that, I went back into the living room.

In the living room, I found some of the adults on their laptops, surfing the web, checking email, etc.
The laughter and the excitement continued to escalate in Dominic’s room and it soon overwhelmed the chatter in the living room. Some of them came back out to notify me that they passed another level with intense excitement in their voices. I was very delighted, yet perplexed what our children are becoming and where our society is heading.

Technology is supposed to make our lives easier and better by providing faster and more efficient means of doing our work, giving us more time for the real valuable things in our lives like family, relationships, and self-development, right? I mean that is what’s promised to us: faster, easier, better.

Then, if they have so much more time to do other things, why can’t my students maintain regular attendance of only twice per week? 20 years ago, students attended a minimum of three Hwa Rang Do classes (there was no Tae Soo Do) per week and most came every day. We had classes daily for both children and adults. Ah, but now they are doing things that are more meaningful – like what I ask you? Do they have more enriching relationships? Do they maintain greater familial bonds? Have they acquired higher consciousness?

In Korea there is a contest to see how fast people can text messages. There’s also an epidemic of children not knowing how to spell words properly because everything is shortened and abbreviated. I think that’s the same here. I have students working in corporate America who spend most of their time at work online – chatting, social networking, surfing the web – that has nothing to do with their work, but they still get paid the same or more. They are finishing their tasks sooner due to technology, so they have more time, but is that time being used for something meaningful? They spend it being distracted, because thanks to the same technology, being distracted is now that much easier and that much more interesting. Instead of twiddling their thumbs or spinning their pens, they spend their spare time on YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. We must reconsider, rethink, and reorganize how we manage our workforce, and how we are spending our lives.

A while back Yahoo Magazine did a comparison between using the Internet or the Yellowpages for finding items for purchase. Almost at every instance the Yellowpages was faster, but now the Yellowpages has become a dinosaur. When you are searching online, there are so many other distractions that you might have intended on buying some table settings and come out having bought a car.

With all of our advancements in technology we cannot seem to create anything that lasts. The History Channel recently aired a documentary answering the question of what the world would be like after human beings. One of the things that stood out for me is that the world’s ecosystem would be fine without any human beings and that in a matter of 500 to 1,000 years, all records of our existence would have been erased completely from the face of the earth, except for some ancient monuments like the Pyramids of Egypt or the Stonehenge.

Do you not think that with our technology we cannot come up with anything that lasts more than a few years or find a cure for cancer, AIDS? Even if we could, do you think we would?

Everything is fast and quick and replaceable with upgrades – new and improved is the motto. Just recently I lost a phone charger and went to Best Buy, the all-in-one electronic store which is shutting down all its competition. They had all kinds of chargers but nothing worked for my phone. Finally, the salesman after digging through stacks of boxes found one that would work. I belted, “Why couldn’t they just have one adaptor that fits all?” Of course I knew the answer, but I needed to vent.

The salesman replied, “They couldn’t make money that way.” It irritates me that the newly released movies come out on dvd format first, a few days before the Blue-Ray. A couple of times I was suckered into it and bought the dvd because I could not find the Blue-Ray. I do not watch TV, and only see films of my choice. After I purchased the dvd, the next week I went in, and behold, I saw it on Blue-Ray. Now I own the VHS tape, the dvd, the high HD version, the Blue-Ray disc, and let’s not forget the extended version, the unrated version, and the director’s cut. I wonder what other versions they’re going to come out with next? Recycling the same content over and over again in different formats, newer, improved, faster, smaller, and I am just as guilty as any other consumer, but of course nothing lasts. One of my students who is in marketing told me that there is actually a term for this. It’s called “Chaos Marketing.”

Back in the 80s when the pager was the thing, I remember how I hated seeing these guys in suits with two and three pagers on their belts, accompanied by a key chain that would out do any janitor (definitely overcompensation for some other deficit). Then it moved to hand phones and now the same is true.

I really don’t get too many calls on my hand phone. Just from my immediate family and in case of emergencies. Recently, I was very ill and couldn’t think straight and lost my phone for the first time. I am the guy that had the first cell phone (not hand phone because there’s no way to fit it in one hand) that was the size of a small brief case. For about three days I was completely lost and all day in the back of my mind, I was thinking about my phone. It consumed me. Finally, I found my phone in my bathrobe pocket. I checked what messages and texts I missed and there were only a few and nothing that was earth shattering. I felt so relieved, whole again. I had to sit back and think about this for a bit.

How insane is that?

It’s getting out of control. This type of thinking has infiltrated every part of our lives where each individual thinks of only their own pleasure, their own personal gain, regardless of others. Or if they do care about others and global social events, then they’re too busy, too occupied with following someone else’s life or spending time enhancing their profile and sharing their party pictures with the rest of the world that they have no time for their loved ones, their self development, real social issues, and their spirit. The distractions have become their lives; being constantly connected to the media 24/7 like an umbilical cord connected directly to corporate America, the 1% has constant access to your mind and pockets. It is the Matrix.

I had a student, a graduate of Harvard Law School, who loved gadgetry and technology. He once said that if the world lost power and we had to revert to manual mechanisms that he would come to my dojang. I pride on myself that I am self-reliant and resilient. That is the foundation of Hwa Rang Do’s training, but lately I also have been caught up in this dependency on technology; a physiological, emotional, and psychological dependency that affects my self-being, our society, our humanity. Unbelievable.

So, when I saw those children in a room together, all attached to their own gadgetry and not socializing with each other and playing like kids should, it affected me to my core. And, imagine – only five rocks that cost me nothing brought the greatest joy and unity to these children.

All things, good and bad, are necessary and can be useful. As Hwarang and warrior/scholars we must learn self-control and utilize those things around us as well as all aspects of our ‘self’ to maximize our lives and the lives of others. However, we cannot become dependent. We must be our own masters. At this rate, if the world did run out of power, the Amish would reign and we would once again be dependent on something, someone other than ourselves.

Let’s think for moment: Who does this dependency serve? Who does this advancement in technology really serve? Does it serve us, the people, the common folk? Or, does it serve the wealthy and the powerful? The disbursement of wealth across the globe is getting worse each day as the percentage of the people possessing the majority of the wealth is getting smaller day by day. Big conglomerates, big corporations, multi-billionaires, governments don’t care about common misfortune caused by disasters, war, or other tragedies. To them, every situation is an opportunity for greater economic/territorial gains, and ultimately a means of greater control.

Look at the absurdity of our existence. Water is a natural resource, but they put it in a bottle and sell it and we buy it: For what? The cleanliness and purity? So that we can live longer and healthier? Water is almost 8 times more expensive than gasoline. We pay over $1 for a 16oz bottle of water and there are 128 oz in a gallon and at most we only pay $3 for a gallon of gasoline. Why don’t we just drink tap water? Because we have a collective notion that the water is somehow impure or contaminated. This is not Mexico, and yes I know because I have experienced Montezuma’s revenge. And who created the pollution that contaminated the drinking source in the first place? Of course, it’s the big companies in the pursuit of increasing dividends and governments all in the name of saving tax-payers money. Do you get the picture? They cannot lose. They will continue to make money and take advantage of every opportunity to make more money by continuing to create dependencies and creating new markets, new frontiers to exploit. The real world is not enough so now we have the world wide web and virtual worlds to exploit. What will they do next after they pollute the air to the point where it’s not safe to breathe? They will sell us bottles of filtered air or oxygen of course (this is happening already).

When has faster, quicker, easier been better? The pyramids of Egypt have lasted for 5000 years and will continue for thousands more. In the past, if it did not last and was not durable, then it was not valuable. The martial arts industry has also been impacted by this type of thinking. You cannot build a fortress out of marshmallows. Strength in training, self-discipline and self-reliance are what create strength of mind, body and spirit. There are martial art organizations that market gun and knife disarmament as their primary method of attracting the public for self-defense. And it seems to be working. One of the main keywords in Google search is now ‘Krav Maga,’ – not martial arts, karate, kungfu or even MMA. Yes, they are doing a great job marketing their product. However, what they are selling is something that bears consideration. Even the most experienced martial artists who have consistently trained for decades are reluctant to disarm a weapon in a real scenario. More important than the physical techniques is their ability to maintain calm and think clearly to create opportunity for escape. But, even then it’s risky and only should be attempted as a last resort. A case in point: I was invited to Fort Benning, Ranger School to meet and instruct some of the most elite law enforcement and military personnel from Mexico, Central, and South America. There I had the privilege of having a discussion over dinner with the people in charge of creating and instructing the Army combative for the entire US Army Corp.

They told me a story. The Rangers were performing a military exercise within the small town near the Fort. At the time some of the Rangers were learning a special hand-to-hand combative system created by some Hapkido master. One of the Rangers in the exercise was approached by the town policeman, who at gun-point told the Ranger to drop his weapon, which the Ranger did. Thinking that this was part of the exercise, the Ranger sought this opportunity to practice his handgun disarmament technique on the police officer. Unbeknownst to him, the policeman was not part of the exercise and as the Ranger attempted to disarm, the policeman shot and killed the Ranger. Sure, weapon disarmament is a viable option and there are proper techniques to increase the odds of success. However, learn it easy and quick in a few months or in a seminar, and chances are as the military men say, “you learn just enough to get yourself killed.”

The companies hit a jackpot when we all logged on. In the computer age, it has become a given, an accepted standard, the norm, for things to become out-dated in a matter of six months to a year. Everything must be upgraded. How fantastic is that? It’s a never-ending market of continual consumption – a created dependency and continual supply of new and improved products that will offer greater performance and enjoyment. Sound familiar? This is how drug dealers push the newest drug on the market. Get you hooked and then offer better highs.

And schools are becoming pushers for the pharmaceutical companies. This is another topic for another time, healthcare in the United States. However, I did want to bring attention about what the schools are doing to our children. I laughed when nursery schools were banning musical chairs because it was too competitive. “Why should only one kid win and 20 others lose?” Last time I checked we were a capitalist society and the nature of capitalism is competition. Now, they are not even keeping score playing regular sports like baseball, soccer, basketball, and football. That’s just plain silly and I am not laughing anymore.

The nature of children is attention deficit and hyperactive. They are full of energy and have very little attention span. It is not a disorder, but the norm. Jim Thorpe, a Native American, who was named the greatest athlete of the first half of the twentieth century by the Associated Press and a gold medalist in the pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, was challenged to mimic everything that a two year old child did physically for an entire day. The 2 year old won and laid Jim Thorpe out, exhausted. This 2 year old was your average child, not one with a hyperactive disorder. Of course, some kids may need more attention than others, but by no means do children in their formative years have a disorder – they’re just being kids, curious about the world and eager to participate.

So, since technology has helped us to do work in less time, then parents should have more time to spend with their children, their family, hence improving focus, channeling energy and aggression, and enhance both their intrapersonal and interpersonal development, right? Wrong, very wrong. We have become a society of people who feel entitled to everything good life has to offer, without any sense of accountability and self-sacrifice. We blame everything wrong on others and take credit for everything good, however trite and ridiculous it may be.

The schools, the classrooms are overcrowded as government continues to cut funding toward our educational system, which is a short-sightedness that I predict will have dire consequences in the future. But, who cares right, as long as I am living well now, what does it matter? It matters a lot if you feel you are part of humanity, which we all are whether you like it or not, but I guess that’s one of the problems: we are more connected than ever with each other, but we feel less humane. Our sense of community has been diminishing city by city, town by town. In the 3rd and 4th grade, one of my favorite parts of the day was walking over to my friend’s house and walking to school together. Not in a small midwestern town, but in the heart of Los Angeles County – Downey, CA. There’s something awfully wrong when we can’t allow our kids to play in the streets, walk to school, or be out of a parent’s sight and ears for any length of time.

When a child in school has problem focusing on his work, not paying attention, talks too much with others, and forgets what he/she was told to do (all things that all kids do, some more/some less), the teacher sends the potential problem child to get an evaluation. Once the evaluation is complete then the parents are brought in to discuss options and this is how it’s said to the parents, “If your child has problem seeing, would you not get your child glasses to see better?”

“Sure,” the parent replies.

“Well, then by medicating your child, he/she will be better focused, which will increase his/her grades and enhance his/her chances to get into a good college for a better life,” school counselor. What parent would not want to help their child by increasing their chances of doing better in school so that they can get ahead in life? However, this isn’t a pair of glasses. It’s chemicals which are altering the child’s mind from normal development in the most rapidly growing stage of the child’s life. I am not a scientist or an MD so I will not attempt to get into the negative physiological affects of medicating children with mind-altering drugs in their formative years, but what I will address is something that is even more sinister.

I had a female student who has been medicated since elementary school. She is now in her late 30s and she cannot function without the drugs. When posed by me with the hard decision of giving up the drugs and rediscovering herself through hard self-examination and martial discipline, she chose to quit training and continue to take the drugs. This was after 3 grueling years of Tae Soo Do training, and embarking on the Hwa Rang Do way for the rest of her life. What’s more disturbing, she is also medicating her child who’s only 8 years old.

Ah, you say, that she doesn’t fit the timeline. She started taking the drugs in the early 80s. I think that just goes to show how long this has been practiced and how much more rampant it is today. I just had an 18 year old come up to me at my last seminar in Minneapolis in March of this year, saying, “I have been on all types of medication since I was 5 years old and after joining Tae Soo Do, I decided to quit taking the drugs to find out who I really am and see what’s really wrong with me.

Well, it’s been two years now and I have never felt better in my entire life and I am beginning to truly get to know who I am.” All we are doing is creating a pattern of dependency for the rest of lives and once again, who does that really serve?

How can we blame our kids for not being able to learn? That’s all they do, is learn from the world around them and by following, mimicking the actions of others. If a child does not learn or did not learn, then we have failed as parents, as teachers, as a society. I thought that cats were un-teachable. I was proven wrong. Recently, in a variety show, I saw a man who had cats doing what trick dogs do; jumping through hoops, walking on wire, going across parallel bars, all on command. I was blown away. I don’t know if you have ever tried to teach your cat to sit or come on command, but I have. I had both dogs and cats as pets and believe me dogs are far easier to teach than cats. I have never successfully taught a cat to do anything on command, but just let them do what they want, including petting them. So, when I saw this man having all these cats obey him and follow his every command, I realized that it was me and not the cats. So, if he can teach cats, then we can teach our children; don’t you think?

I don’t mean to demean our children or even humanity by comparing them to our pets, but only to illustrate how absurd it is for us to give up on our children and resort to drugging them to be more compliant. These cats were only getting tasty bits of food for reward and no drugs to induce compliance. I remind my students that our greatest weapon, greatest tool is our mind, which is undeniably unique only to the human race and it is this that we must cultivate. Furthermore, the greatest advancements in our culture, society, sciences, arts, and everything in between have been accomplished by people who thought outside the norm, the status-quo, and challenged conventional thinking.

It is not enough that my country of birth, South Korea, has risen from the ashes of war and poverty to one of the economic powerhouses in the world in less than 50 years, which now enjoys the luxury of giving their children plastic surgery as a high school graduation gift, making girls look very similar to each other. You marry a girl because they look so fine and end up having a child that looks nothing like the mother. Of course, I am being facetious, but it’s not far from the truth. Now, in my homeland, the United States of America, we drug our children for compliance; appease the children by removing competitive spirit; appease the masses by submersion in distractions; drug the elderly to keep them around a little longer to medicate them a little longer; and drug the rest of us for being sad or depressed at times, which of course is not acceptable; and lets not forget being “Politically Correct” which in effect is a gag order, preventing anyone from speaking their mind; oh and did I mention that we are a military state where the government can arrest and detain any civilian indefinitely?

I don’t know if the rest of the world is blind or just silent, maybe appeased and drugged already by the media and technology, but the few who are in power and possess the wealth are blocking entry into the club and continue to expand their market at exponential rates, thanks to technology and globalization. Is this a new phenomenon in our human history? Of course not! It has always been here as we continually struggle for power, territory, control and influence. However, the difference now is that due to our technologies, it is easier and faster to globalize and expand for companies and for nations. I am not interested in blaming the people in power or organizations of power for doing what they’re meant to do – survive, thrive, and conquer. I’d be doing the same thing I have been advocating not to do. But, hopefully they will act responsibly and wisely, which I know is a lot to ask.

In self-defense one of the most important things is awareness. To be focused on what’s immediately in front, but being completely aware of your surroundings. That also applies here. I am pleading to the world, to our community, to my students to be informed and aware. Furthermore, in our training we learn that we cannot control anything outside of the self and the only thing we have control over is the self. We learn that we are only as strong as our weakest self. Therefore, we learn to be extremely self-critical, seek out our weaknesses and fears to overcome them, increasing our self-control, then and only then can we help others. As I have said earlier, we are all affected, including me. In the same way we can live life or be victims of life, we also have a choice here. We can choose to self-regulate ourselves and control our addictive nature or we can choose to fall victim to our own ignorance.

I am not advocating complete abstinence. I have never advocated abstinence in anything as I feel that is not the solution – going to one extreme has the tendency to build repressed potential energy to swing to the other extreme. To me, as in Hwa Rang Do and as an umyangian, the answer lies in balance and self-control: being in sync with the rhythm of the internal self and the external world, with the material and the immaterial, with the microcosm and the macrocosm. Then, hopefully we can be in harmony with nature and the universe.

A few months ago, my family purchased a cabin in Big Bear, as one of my passions is snowboarding. Our family, Hwarangdo family, and my nephews spent the weekend for the first time at the cabin. Being a skateboarder during the founding years when skateboarding took off with the invention of polyurethane wheels some thirty plus years ago, I enjoy playing ‘Skate’. One of my instructors, Joey Klein, one visiting black sash, Brett Spoehr, my 9 year old nephew Jeffrey Kim and I played PlayStation3 together until 4am (would have gone longer if I wasn’t going boarding in the morning) and had the best time ever. The game brought together and bonded a group ranging in age from 9 to 40+. How great is that? As a matter of fact, Joey and Brett could not contain themselves and broke out into a contagious laughing fit. Soon, we were all laughing so much our bellies ached the next day and managed to keep our Hwa Rang Do Founder, Dr. Joo Bang Lee, up all night. Even he did not come down and shut us up, as he knew how special it was to have his martial sons and grandchild enjoying each other’s company.

I believe there’s a time and place for everything. It is up to us to utilize all the things life has to offer, all our faculties, all our God given gifts to get the most out of life by doing and experiencing all that we can live a full life.

This is one of the best eras in all of history. We have so much information, knowledge, and technology to unify and join all races, nations, and people of all ethnic backgrounds, offering the means of living a better life than ever before. It is my hope that corporations, conglomerates, and nations utilize their powers to bring greater unity and racial harmony so that we can move forward by expanding our individual and collective consciousness to really live life focused on the important, valuable things – our relationships, humanity, and our relationship with the infinite. Not continually treating the human race as infantile children, controlling us with repressive fear tactics and increasing dependencies, but rather liberating ourselves from the confines and limitations of material goods, base emotions and greed.

This discourse started with my wanting to talk about kids being attached to technological gadgetry rather than being attached to each other, and ended up with me spilling my frustrations with our current society. I am not done and I have much more to say. I hope one day to follow it up with a book. However, I hope this has at least sparked some thought and will motivate you to take action.

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With love and compassion and the belief that we can change the world – one person at a time,

Hwarang Forever,
Grandmaster Taejoon Lee
A Humble Servant to Humanity
www.hwarangdo.net

Danbong – Short Stick (Black Belt Magazine – March 2003)

Danbong – Short Stick
Descended from an Ancient Musical Device,
It is Now a Signature Weapon of Hwa Rang Do
(Black Belt Magazine – March, 2003)

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At first glance, the short stick appears to be one of the most innocuous parts of the hwa rang do arsenal. Measuring only about a foot long, it carries none of the visual shock value that a baseball bat or even a carpenter’s hammer would have in a dark alley. It’s not made of any exotic materials, and it’s not wielded with any kind of flashy movements. However, when it’s used right, the short stick is rudely effective. Perhaps that’s why I figures so prominently on the crest of Joo Bang Lee’s World Hwa Rang Do Association, the group responsible for bringing the comprehensive Korean self-defense art to America and the world.

History

The dan bong, as it’s called in Korean, descended from the drumsticks that Buddhist monks used-and still use-to beat the large drums that sit in every temple in the nation. In olden days, the priests would pound the instruments for prayer services and during emergencies when an alarm needed to be sounded in the monastery.

Use of the drumstick for self-defense became popular in the secular world during Korea’s Koryo dynasty, which lasted from 935 to 1392. “Policemen who were weaker and couldn’t rely on sheer physical force to overcome criminals used it as a tool to subdue their opponents,” Lee says.

The effectiveness of the weapon enabled those early law-enforcement officers to neutralize any advantages the hoodlums had without inflicting mortal injuries. And its small size meant it could be easily concealed or stowed when necessary.

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Construction

Then and now, the typical dan bong was a cylindrical piece of wood approximately 1 inch in diameter and 10 to 12 inches in length. A hole was bored in one end to allow the attachment of a tether, which could be wrapped around the martial artist’s hand and thumb to ensure a more secure grip.

Lee’s elder son, Taejoon Lee, himself a seventh-degree black sash in hwa rang do, extrapolates on the short stick’s structural practicality: “Most of the uninitiated view the dan bong as a joke. They squint and see this small wooden thing barely jutting out of the palm of your hand, and they laugh.”

Indeed, the dan bong in nondescript and can be partially concealed in the palm, but that only helps the bearer swing it into action with the element of surprise on his side. And as hwa rang do practitioners love to demonstrate, the simplest item or movement can have the greatest potential in combat.

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Application

According to Taejoon Lee, the simple structure of the dan bong conceals five major fighting tools: the edge, the forward tip, the shaft, the pommel and the tether. In battle, those features can be applied in a number of devastating ways-which is in accord with hwa rang do’s concept of applied combat versatility, meaning that the maximum number of effective applications must be derived from every weapon and body part.

The edge of the stick, especially when not smoothed or rounded, provides an angular surface that is not dissimilar to the blade of a knife. It can be used to gouge, cut into or scrape off an adversary’s skin. Further versatility comes from the fact that one edge lies at each end of the weapon. If an opponent deflects a dan bong head strike, a simple twist of the wrist can enable you to redirect the edge so it makes contact with his face, injuring him and leaving him open to a follow-up strike.

The forward tip of the short stick is employed much like the tip of a hammer-using thrusting, stabbing and hacking motions. Additionally, the sides of the forward tip can be used with a flicking action of the wrist. Taejoon Lee explains: “You hold the dan bong loosely between your thumb and forefinger, and power it with the rolling action of your fingers. That allows rapid alternation between pronating and supinating your wrist, making the forward tip much like a heavy whip.”

When it comes crashing down on a joint or other hard body part, the bone underneath will shatter. That kind of whipping motion is clearly seen in hwa rang do’s dan bong blocks and strikes, making defense potentially as painful as offense. Indeed, Joo Bang Lee is fond of demonstrating the myriad of uses to which the short stick can be put by answering an opponent’s kick with a flicking tap to the shin. The adversary’s face inevitably turns white with pain after the seemingly effortless strike makes contact.

The dan bong’s shaft exemplifies versatility. While most arts teach students to use the body of an impact weapon only for blocking and striking, hwa rang do does not encumber its practitioners n any way. “The shaft of the dan bong can be used as an additional appendage,” says Joo Bang Lee. To demonstrate his point, he blocks a punch to the face, then deftly flips the shaft over his opponent’s wrist and grabs the tip with his free hand. The slightest downward force drops the opponent in a screaming heap. Lee then points out that joint manipulations are an essential part of combat and that the short stick’s rigidity makes it the perfect tool for creating additional force on the targeted joint or pressure point. Additionally, he says, the shaft serves to stabilize the fingers in a fist, much like a roll of quarters that is held wile a punch is thrown.

The short stick’s pommel can function as an excellent striking implement. When the forward tip is blocked, the pommel can whip around and hammer home a punishing strike-to the collarbone for instance. In close-range fighting, the pommel is often used as a shorter tool for augmenting the power of a joint manipulation. “Many times, someone will grab your weapon arm,” says Joo Bang Lee. “If that occurs, you don’t have to forgo a joint-manipulation technique simply because one of your hands is occupied with a weapon.” In such a situation, the pommel of the stick can easily circle the opponent’s wrist to effect a lock, and the lock can be more painful than an empty-hand lock because it uses the wooden surface to simultaneously pinch down on the pressure points in the wrist.

The dan bong’s tether is actually an important offensive tool, despite the fact that most observers see it as merely an apparatus to keep the stick from flying out of your hand. It can also be used to assist you in restraining an opponent’s wrist during a lock or in choking him afterward. Additional utility comes from being able to use the tether to create a flexible weapon: You grasp it while you strategically fling the dan bong into your opponent’s face, then yank it back into your palm. The skilled practitioner also knows how to link two short sticks together to create a makeshift nunchaku.

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Extrapolation

Martial artists tend to think of wooden weapons primarily as impact devices, but the hwa rang do short stick is obviously different because it enables you to strike, cut, lock and throw. “That gives you the full gamut of fighting techniques so you’re not limited to just beating wildly on someone like a child with a stick,” Taejoon Lee says. “The problem for many people lies in failing to achieve an adequate understanding of basic empty-hand combat, which can make bearing a weapon a detriment.”

If you decide to train in the use of the short stick-or any other hwa rang do short-range weapon-you must learn how to use both hands in a coordinated fashion, blocking and striking in a figure-8 or circular pattern, Taejoon Lee says. “Maximum damage is the goal of both empty-hand and weapons [techniques], so a solid understanding of pressure-point striking is also necessary.”
When it comes to self-defense, the most important thing to remember is that dan bong techniques can be done with a plethora of household items. Whatever is handy-be it a coke bottle, wrench, cell phone, flashlight or TV remote control-can be wielded with the same authority.

“As long as it is semi-cylindrical and fits in your hand, it will have most of the [features] mentioned above and can be applied with dan bong principles,” Taejoon Lee explains. “While hwa rang do teaches the use of some ancient Korean weapons, it is all applicable to modern life and modern conflict.”

Aerial Kicking (Martial Arts Combat Sports – May 2002)

Extreme Hwa Rang Do®
This Korean Art’s Aerial Kicks Push the Human Body to Find The Maximum Range of Physical Expression Part 1 by Hyung-Min Jung.

In the past few years, the hwa rang do system has stayed out of the spotlight. But that dormancy has come to pass, and hwa rang do is coming out of its cave like a hungry tiger with an appetite for conquest. At the forefront of that charge is Taejoon “Henry” Lee, the elder son of hwa rang do’s founder, Dr. Joo Bang Lee.
Taejoon Lee is one of the most colorful figures of Korean martial arts, and his insights into the system founded by his father are no less exciting than the man himself.

“Hwa rang do is a compilation of my fathers martial expertise that came on the scene in the 1960s in Korea,” explains Lee. “Many people look at some of the techniques that Korean martial arts are known for, and they credit them to styles like taekwondo and hapkido, but the reality is that many of those techniques showed up in other systems after my father started teaching publicly in Seoul. From Seoul, the instructors that trained under my father spread out to influence other systems and schools.”

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KOREAN FOOT-FEST
One such branch of techniques is the amazing aerial kicking that the Korean martial arts are well known for, and hwa rang do kicking in particular may be indeed at the vanguard of the Korean foot-fest.

“If people just talked to anyone who trained with my father back in the 1950s and 1960s, they’ll know that hwa rang do practitioners were doing some of the 540 and 720 spin and combination kicks that some tournament forms competitors started doing only in recent years,” says Lee. “When I was a little kid back in Korea, there used to be footprints on the ceiling of my fathers Dojang (martial arts school) from the jumping dora chagi (spinning kicks) that his students used to practice.”

“Hwa rang do’s radical flying foot attacks fall under the heading of tuk soo jok sul or special kicking methods. Within tuk soo jok sul, there are a wide variety of kick attacks. Including in this category are jumping kicks, spinning jump kicks, flip kicks, flying kicks and kicks to multiple targets while airborne. This kind of extreme kicking is in keeping with hwa rang do’s philosophy of pushing the human body to find the maximum range of physical expression.

Careful consideration is required before “jumping” into this kind of training. According to Taejoon Lee, “people have to realize that this kind of training isn’t for everyone. The Hwarang warriors were the elite soldiers in ancient Korea, so they trained and developed skills that nobody else could do. Part of the reason that these Hwarang warriors were so feared is that during the time when Silla people fighting to unite Korea, their Hwarang knights would leap into the air and kick the mounted enemy soldiers off their horses. One of the most famous warriors in Korean history was named Kwan Chang. During the war with the Baekche tribe, Kwan Change leapt into the air and killed a mounted Baekche cavalry commander with a kick!”

SERIOUS INJURIES
But as a result of attaining such height, there is also a long drop back to the ground. This is where a great deal of injuries can occur with martial artists. There are countless incidents where aspiring martial arts students are sidelined by serious knee of ankle injuries sustained while practicing jumping kicks. Yet Lee has a quick answer for this situation.

“Injuries are a mark of something missing in the training, whether it be an issue of technical explanation, proper demonstration or safety precautions,” he says. “In many cases, it’s a situation in which the student isn’t taught the proper method for jumping and landing. Anyone can jump up high with a little practice, but are they prepared for the landing?”

RIGOROUS TRAINING
To prepare his students, Lee has a rigorous training regimen that builds muscular strength to attain height for the jump and power for the kick, while also building ligament and tendon strength to be able to absorb the impact from the landing. He begins from the most simple duck-walk drills to build leg strength and progress to practicing the components of the most complicated of hwa rang do’s kicks.

Following are some tips that are really important to remember when you’re jumping and landing, explains Lee.

You have to land “like a cat, not like a sack of bricks,” he says.

Your feet should touch the ground toe first, then follow with the heel.

Some people land heel first after jumping kick, and the shock of those landing goes straight up their legs to their kneed. If you land with your forefoot first, the ankle and knee together will absorb a lot more shock and give your body more time to decelerate. That prevents the kind of jarring injuries sustained most of the time with jumping kicks.

Also, it is important to tighten your dan jun or lower abdomen when you’re performing these jump kicks. When you tighten your lower abdomen, it’s like you’re making you body more compact, lighter, so that when you jump and spin, your center of mass isn’t spread out all over the place. When your center of mass is smaller, it’s easier for you to maintain your proper posture and positioning in the air, much like it is when you see a professional figure skater do a jumping spin and land on the ice.

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JUMPING, FLYING KICKS
Once the basic jumping and landing skills have been mastered, the next step for a hwa rang do student is to progress through a series of jumping and flying kicks, starting from the simple standing jump kicks, to the flying single kicks (usually for breaking), and then aerial combinations kicks. Lee was one of the first martial artists in the United States to popularize the flying sidekick breaking techniques, taking a running leap over several people to shatter a stack of boards. The aerial combination kicks progress in difficulty from double jumping front kicks (where both legs kick out at two separate targets simultaneously), to combination kicks in which the kicker strikes and opponent three times after leaving the ground.

Another type of tuk soo jok sul is the wol jang jok sul or kicking techniques after stepping or pushing off an object with the foot.

“You know the kicks you see a lot of action stars doing in films?” asks Lee. “In hwa rang do, we do many of those same kicks that you see on the screen, but without the wires to hold us up.”

To emphasize his point, Lee stands up and positions two of his students with kicking targets, one at chest height and the other at head height. He sprints towards the wall, leaping up and pushing off the wall with one foot, changing direction towards the first target and kicking solidly with his other foot. With the same foot, he spins in midair and nails the second target-some six feet away from the first target-with a spinning round kick before alighting on the mat again.

“That’s the essence of wol jang jok sul, says Lee. “We use this kind of foot technique to attack multiply targets and change direction in midair. At the beginning levels, students learn to take a few steps off a wall and then push off the wall to kick a target that’s a few feet away from it. Later on, at higher levels, we can use an aerial kick as a means to change direction and strike the next target. Just know you saw me jump up the wall and hit the first target using the wall as a means to push off and change direction, but I used the force from the first kick to propel me backward so I could kick the second target.”

Such flying techniques may seem almost unbelievable to the untrained observer, but this kind of technique is simple physics, biased on inertia-the propensity of an object in motion to remain in motion and an object at rest to remain at rest. Each time the foot touches a stationary object; there is resistance to motion. For instance, when Lee begins to sprint towards the wall, his body is accelerated into motion. When it hits the first target, the target provides resistance against which his kick pushes to propel him backward and upwards into the next target. However, don’t let the simplistic explanation fool you. There is a great deal of physical coordination required for such maneuvers.

ASKING FOR TROUBLE?
This kind of kicking may seem as if it would offer ample opportunity for an opponent to grab an outstretched leg, but Lee merely grins at the suggestion.

“If someone were lucky enough to grab a leg, part of wol jang jok sul training is to use the free leg to kick your opponent with a telling blow, and free your leg,” says Lee. “In addition, we set up our aerial spinning kicks, like the 540’s with both legs, using one leg when you first leave the ground to gage the distance or create a diversion, and the second kick has the finishing power from the spin.”

“Agility is defined as the ability to change directions rapidly,” he continues. “Wol jang jok sul requires a great deal of agility – twisting the upper body, balancing in mid-air, and torque from the waist – to create the proper angle and motion for that kind of aerial combination kicking. We are basing out movements one the harmonized motion of proper breathing, leg strength, waist twisting and torso alignment to create powerful movement in different directions while airborne. Its physics combined with ki power to make the body lighter is such a way as to facilitate the jump and following kick. That’s the wirework you see in movies, but done in real life, with real kicks and real people. This is part of hwa rang do’s basic philosophy of maximizing human potential. It’s not just about training the simplest techniques for combat, but more to challenge yourself to achieve options that are unthinkable for the average person.”