Tag: tae soo do

Defend, Takedown, Submit! Hwa Rang Do®’s 3-Stage Fight Formula (Black Belt Magazine – Feb 2006)

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By Mark Cheng

Photos by Rick Hustead

 

In the self-defense world, the hot topic is mixed martial arts. In this eclectic arena, almost anything goes when it comes to techniques. The nonstop action has drawn in a whole new generation of competitors and spectators. Long before TV cameramen pointed their lenses on the octagonal ring, however, an art of countless possibilities and similar guiding principles bloomed on Korean soil.

Born out of the martial and medical kingdom of Korea’s ancient Hwarang Knighthood and organized into a modern system by Black Belt Hall of Fame Member Dr. Joo Bang Lee in the mid-20th century, Hwa Rang Do encompasses the entire gamut of combat techniques. While other arts showcase their power primarily from punches and kicks, Hwa Rang Do practitioners soar through the air with whirlwind hand and foot strikes, as well as grounded locks, throws and grappling moves that demonstrate the utmost finesse.

Taejoon Lee, the eldest of Joo Bang Lee’s children and heir-apparent to the system, sheds light on the historical evolution of the art: “When Hwa Rang Do first came to the United States, everyone wanted to learn how to punch and kick. The flashier moves brought in more students, and my father adjusted the curriculum and ranking system from his original Korean teaching structure to fit our new home.”

“Back then, grappling wasn’t very popular,” he continues. “People who were interested in martial arts wanted effective techniques that looked good, too. With a kick, you can generally get an idea of its power without having to feel it, but a submission technique requires experience for you to appreciate it. Ground grappling, by and large, isn’t as visually exciting as percussive techniques are. Just look at the way the rules have changed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Because spectators demanded more visual excitement, the promoters restart the fights [in a] standing position if there’s too little action on the ground.”

Viewing footage of Hwa Rang Do training and demonstrations held in Korea during the 1960s, it’s easy to see that Joo Bang Lee was right on the money. Between demonstrations of their breaking and weapon prowess, practitioners can be seen performing a plethora of joint manipulations, throws, takedowns, ground-grappling moves and submission techniques.

Continuing with his father’s mission to make Hwa Rang Do a viable and well-rounded system that meets the needs of its environment, Taejoon Lee has developed a new system for training students to survive non-lethal encounters – which, no matter what some might argue, make up the majority of self-defense situations. The three-step process combines the joint manipulations, takedowns and throws of Hwa Rang Do into a defend-takedown-submit format that’s an effective alternative to knockdown-and-drag-out combat.

 

Three-Part Plan

One truth of combat is that the more techniques there are in a combination, the less likely it is that your opponent will move the way you’ve planned. To deal with that, Lee divides his lesson plan into stages. Stage I deals with encounters that happen in a standing position at long range – where kicks and punches dominate. The primary objective is to close the gap safely while nullifying the attacker’s technique.

Stage II addresses close-range combat, where the transition from standing to the ground occurs. The objective centers on the execution of joint manipulations, pressure-point techniques, takedowns and strikes with the elbows, knees and forehead. This stage ends with the opponent on the ground in a nondominant position.

Stage III is divided into two parts. Stage IIIa is the one-knee position. It applies when you’re on one knee and your opponent is supine or prone. The goal is to finish the fight using joint-lock dislocations or submissions without rolling on the ground with him. This stage is vital in street-survival, law-enforcement and military applications in which grappling with a single adversary can reduce your ability to fend off multiple threats and, if you’re armed, to maintain control of your weapon.

Stage III itself occurs when you and your opponent are on the ground. It’s the last and least favorable option, one in which you must submit him or finish him. The emphasis on learning how to control him utilizing grappling and submission techniques.

For each Stage I attack, Lee covers the bases with different Stage II and Stage III options, depending on the positioning and reaction of the opponent. The beauty of the system is that it contains techniques that range from simple to athletic, so there are options for every skill and fitness level. A snapshot of this revolutionary fighting method can be seen in the classic two-hand C-lock.

 

The Fundamentals

The basic C-lock is one of the most widely used wrist-manipulation techniques in the martial arts. It’s effected by placing your opponent’s wrist and elbow at a 90-degree angle with his forearm, forming a rough C shape. While there are many ways to enter into this technique, the most important component is establishing control over the opponent’s hand so you can create the proper angle on the wrist.

The two-hand C-lock is essentially the same as the C-lock, but with a modified hand position. One of your hands is placed on your opponent’s hand near his wrist, while the other controls his elbow. The additional elbow control increases the strain on his shoulder, which can be dislocated by a little extra vibrating pressure. While the technique differs from a figure-4 application, it places similar stress on the joints and can be used to enter into the figure-4. The two-hand C-lock requires solid control over the opponent’s hand, forcing it into a C shape with his arm.

 

Stage I: Acquiring Grip and Angle

In this stage, one of your hands contains and pushes your opponent’s hand while the other pulls his elbow. The hand on his hand applies its force to the outside, while the one on his elbow applies its energy to the inside. With quick vibrational force, the shoulder can be dislocated. (The photos illustrate the application of this position against an attacker who’s pushing or grabbing the defender’s chest with one hand and preparing to strike with the other.)

Stage II: Setups and Takedown

There are two main outcomes in Stage II: The opponent doesn’t react in time and gets thrown by the outward C-lock joint manipulation, or he resists and tries to avoid the outward rotation of his arm.

  • Variation 1 – Wrist Throw: To apply this takedown, use the same principles as you did when executing the C-lock. Step through with the leg that’s on the same side as the hand you’re using to control your opponent’s hand. (In the photo sequence, it’s the right arm and the right leg. Notice how Lee drops to his knee to use his body weight to take down the opponent.) The most common mistake is trying to execute the takedown by swinging your arms laterally or downward. That increases the chance of losing the proper angles of control and manipulation on your opponent’s joints. Rotating and pivoting shouldn’t be emphasized because excessive lateral movement can open the angle of control. A direct, constant drive from your hand against his hand, along with a pulling counterforce on his elbow, is far more necessary for the takedown.
  • Variation 2 – Spinning Shoulder Throw: The way it’s executed is similar to the basic shoulder throw. When the attacker tries to resist the outward rotation of his arm and shoulder, don’t fight the force with force. Instead, go with the attempted counter, drawing him into another takedown technique. “Why butt heads with someone who has his mind set on doing something?” Lee asks. “If he doesn’t want to allow his shoulder to be rotated outward and insists on rotating his shoulder inward, use his motion, his resistance to help you put him in another throw – which is a spinning shoulder throw, in this instance.” To explain the finer points of this move, Lee adds: “Instead of putting your shoulder into his armpit to execute the throw, place your right forearm under his triceps close to his armpit to create the leverage for the shoulder throw. Maintain the C-lock by keeping your right hand on his hand and your left hand pulling on his elbow. It is important to keep his right elbow elevated so he does not slip off to the side. If he does, however, this technique easily transitions back into a standard two-hand C-lock.”

Stage III: Ground Control

Just as Lee teaches two options for taking the opponent down, he offers two variations for ending the conflict with a submission. The submissions vary with the placement of your right knee, which can be affected by the momentum of the throw.

  • Variation 1 – Outside Knee-on-Neck Wrist Quick Lock: This technique can be enough to immobilize or submit your opponent. However, it’s usually a transition move, suitable for use as a temporary hold or to transition into a tighter submission. Lee teaches five important points:
  1. Place your knee on the outside of your opponent’s neck. If he has his chin down and is facing straight up, apply pressure with your right hand on the point below his ear or under the jaw to gain compliance.
  2. Contain his elbow on the fold of your arm near your bicep ad press your body forward to pin the limb with your upper arm, thus preventing his escape.
  3. Cup your left hand over your right to ensure greater control.
  4. Don’t fall onto both knees as you drop. Rather, place only one knee on the ground, then bridge by pushing your hips forward and arching your back. Or sit up. Either option will put pressure on his wrist.
  5. Keep his right shoulder up. If he tries to turn toward you, this action will stop him. (This is another reason for placing your knee on the side of his neck.) If he tries to turn away from you, his shoulder position will enable you to apply greater tension on his wrist.
  • Variation 2 – Inside Knee-on-Neck Wrist Quick Lock: This option allows you to place your leg over his shoulder by first stomping on the inside of his face, then slipping your foot under his neck. While the technique employs another quick lock on the wrist, it has a high probability of submission. That’s because placing your knee or shin on his throat creates panic. The upward pull of his bent wrist works with the downward pressure on his throat to amplify the pain in both locations.

Maximum Benefit

Lee says his three-stage method of training benefits everyone because it places both sides – the defender and the aggressor – at minimal risk while progressively familiarizing students with effective combat techniques. While many people are socialized to believe that striking another person is wrong, join-manipulating and grappling techniques don’t suffer from the same stigma. Indeed, with so much media coverage of cases that involve excessive use of force – often in the form of percussive techniques – this method seems logical and legally sound.

“Everyone knows about the effectiveness of grappling, but many people overlook standing grappling range, where joint manipulation is at its finest,” Lee says. “That’s one of Hwa Rang Do’s strong points. We train to handle aggressive opponents without having to resort to pummeling them into prime-time news. This also gives teachers, police and security personnel a way to regularly drill and internalize a set number of self-defense techniques in a systemize and progressive manner. Nobody has to be reduced to a victim or turned into a savage for lack of a politically correct self-defense system.”

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Choong 충 – Loyalty Part 1

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Choong 충 - Loyalty “The True Meaning of Martial Art”

Published in Budo International November 2018 Issue

By: Grandmaster Taejoon Lee

 

Part 1 – The Story

In 660, during the Three Kingdoms Period in Korean History, the kingdom of Baekje on the western border fell to the Hwarang Warriors of the Silla Kingdom who made an alliance with the Tang Empire (China). Soon after, the kingdom of Goguryeo, the largest of the three kingdoms to the north, also fell in 668 to the Silla-Tang Alliance, which completed the unification of the Korean Peninsula for the first time. The Unification Wars were led by the Hwarang Knight, General Yushin Kim, and his successful campaign elevated his reputation to legendary status as the greatest general of the Silla Kingdom and one of the most important figures in Korean History.

This is a heroic tragedy, mythical in nature yet a true Hwarang story of the second son of General Yushin Kim, Wonsul Kim. He was an accomplished Hwarang Warrior who also became a general like his father. After the successful unification of the Three Kingdoms under the Silla banner, now Unified Silla, the Tang Empire betrayed the Silla Kingdom, aiming to conquer what General Yushin Kim worked his entire life to achieve, aiming to subjugate the Silla Kingdom as a territory under the Tang Empire. General Wonsul was near Baeksu Castle in August of the year 672, fighting the Tang Army. The Hwarang Warriors of Silla seemed to have been winning the battle in the beginning and anticipating an imminent victory, the generals decided to disperse the regiment. The Tangs (Chinese) decided to take advantage and attacked with full force. The Silla Army took heavy casualties with countless soldiers killed as well as several of the other Hwarang Generals.

Realizing defeat was unavoidable, Wonsul prepared to die by charging into the enemy lines. His executive officer, Tamnung, held him back and said, "It is not difficult for a heroic man to die, but it is difficult to choose the proper time. It is better to make plans in life for future success than to die without having any victory."

Wonsul answered, "A Hwarang cannot retreat in battle and die as a coward. Besides, I would be too ashamed to face my father." This is the Fourth Code of the Hwarang O Kae (The Five Codes of the Hwarang): “Im Jeon Mu Twae - Never to retreat in the face the enemy.” It also meant that if you go to battle, either you win, returning in victory or you die in battle, never to return.”

The Hwarang O Kae

SA GUN E CHOONG – Loyalty to one’s King and Country

SA CHIN E HYO – Loyalty to one’s parents and teachers

KYO WOO E SHIN – Trust and brotherhood among friends

IM JEON MU TWAE – Courage never to retreat in the face of the enemy

SAL SENG YOO TECH – Justice never to take a life without a cause

Wonsul whipped his horse to make a dash for the frontlines, but Tamnung seized the reins of his horse and did not let him go despite Wonsul’s resistance. As a result, Wonsul did not die at the battle and reluctantly, set off with the Supreme Commander to return to Gyeongju, the Capital City of the Silla Kingdom to face his father and the king. However, they were in hot pursuit by the Tang Army, who were gaining on them. The Chief Inspector, Taegam, stepped up and said to the Supreme Commander, “Strengthen yourselves and depart quickly. I am already 70 years old. How much longer can I live? Today will be the day of my death.” Then, he charged fearlessly into the enemy ranks, swinging his halberd, taking out many of the Tang soldiers, but outnumbered he was eventually killed. Seeing this, his son also charged and fell to his death.

Taegam’s sacrifice was not in vain as it gave the Supreme Commander, Wonsul and the troops the critical time needed to escape to safety. By taking hidden routes, they were successful in returning back home to the Capital, Gyeongju. When the great King Munmu heard what had happened, he asked his General Yushin Kim, who was also a good friend and confidant to the king, “Why is it that our army has suffered such a devastating defeat?”

General Kim answered, “The plans of the Tang (Chinese) are inscrutably devious. We should send troops to watch over strategic positions. Wonsul, however, has not only dishonored the charge of Your Majesty, but also neglected the instructions, which were given to him at home. He should be beheaded."

The Great King said, "In this campaign he was only the Adjutant General, Wonsul, cannot alone be punished so severely and if I were to behead him, then all the other commanders must be beheaded," and thus the King pardoned him.

General Kim replied, “I disagree, but you are the King so I shall abide. However, I am Wonsul’s father and as his father, I disown him. From this day forward I have no second son as a Hwarang would never return from battle defeated. Thus, he is dead to me.” Wonsul was ashamed and left with dishonor in tears. Fearing his father, he dared not appear before him and hid himself in the countryside.

In June 673, people witnessed several dozen crying soldiers in armor with weapons in their hands walking out of General Yushin Kim’s home. Then suddenly, they vanished without a trace. Rumors spread of this strange incident until it finally reached General Kim’s ears. He said, “They were the heavenly guardian soldiers who protected me. Now, my luck has run out. I shall die very soon." On July 1, 673, General Yushin Kim died of natural causes at an old age of 79, after spending more than two-thirds of his life fighting on the battlefield for his King and Country.

Wonsul returned home to attend his father's funeral. However, his mother, Lady Jiso, rejected him even though he was wrongfully accused of being a coward. She said, "For women there are three rules of obedience. Now, that I am a widow it is proper that I should obey my son. But since, a man like Wonsul could not be the son of his father, how could I be his mother?"

Wonsul was devastated and wept, beating his chest in agony, and would not leave. No matter how much he persisted, the mother, Lady Jiso, would not see him. With a deep sigh of anguish, Wonsul cried out, "How cruel is Heaven that I should suffer more by living than dying. I should not have allowed Tamnung to stop me. It would have been better to die than to live in shame and dishonor." Then he retreated deep into the forest of Taebaek Mountain.

In September 675, once again the Tangs invaded with an army of over 40,000 (according to some Korean sources, it is said that the Tang’s army was actually about 200,000) led by the Tang General Li Jinxing. Wonsul came out of seclusion, returning once again to fight against the Invading Tangs with a Silla Hwarang Army of only about 30,000 at the Battle of Maseo. General Wonsul fought fearlessly as if anxious to die on the battlefield. However, he would not die; although he entered battle once more so that he may redeem himself with an honorable death that he was previously cheated from by dying in battle, once again it would elude him. He was invincible and no matter how hard he tried to die, he could not be killed. As a result, he achieved a great victory over the Tang troops and saved the Silla Kingdom from ruin. Lastly, a victory at the Yellow Sea by the Silla navy against the famous Tang General Xue Rengui secured the Unified Silla Kingdom against the Tang Invasion.

When the war was over, Wonsul was scheduled to be highly awarded with a hero’s welcome in Gyeongju, the Capital of Silla. However, Wonsul never returned to Gyeongju, but rather went deep into the mountains regretting his impiety to his parents.

Wonsul Kim spent the rest of his days in the mountains, never to be seen or heard from again, and died alone in an unknown year, at an unknown place, at an unknown age.

 

PDF: Budo-2018-11Nov(1)-Choong(Loyalty)P1

“How Grandmaster Helped me to find my way back to my Father”

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Testimonial By a Humbled Student

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I already knew that mentoring with Kuk Sa Nim would have been a deep experience, but the ability of the Grandmaster to know where to focus his attention and transmit his words really surprised me.

The knowledge, the depth, the experience of this man are prodigious. The many subjects we encountered in our conversation went from quantum physics to philosophy, with absolute simplicity. I only had to bring out the reason of my interior resentment, that is the absence of a relationship with my father, whom was never a father, to obtain from him a detailed analysis and the direction to overtake rage and fears, and to free myself from my own conditioning.

I only had to bring out the reason of my interior resentment, that is the absence of a relationship with my father, whom was never a father, to obtain from him a detailed analysis and the direction to overtake rage and fears, and to free myself from my own conditioning.

I felt necessary to let the GrandMaster know of the burden I had been carrying for many years. A real setback in my life: the total lack of any relationship with my father. That was a decision I had to make fifteen years earlier, after having realized throughout the previous years that he did not care about me at all. He did not want any fruitful communication with me; there had never been any exchange of love or transmission of life experience or know-how in the manner of a father-to-son relationship. I had tried many times to speak to him and draw his attention on me, but was never successful. I had also tried to write him a letter, the most important letter of my life, in which I made a point about us, explaining his typical behaviors and again tried to tell him of his faults. When he received the letter, he just sent it back with the postman…

I was left with no choice but to quit on my father, in order to protect me and leave him to the life he wanted, without me.

The Grandmaster came directly to the point, his words cutting on my conscience like a sharp sword: I had to forgive my father; go to him and tell him I loved him. I also had to do it quickly, being my father 76 years old: in case of any troubles with his health, shouldn’t I succeed in letting him know in due time, a permanent shadow on my soul would have crippled me for the rest of my life.

I tried to explain how hard that task was after so many years, but I didn’t need to: He knew it already. He said that a warrior must always be ready to take on heavy duties without never stepping backwards. He ordered me to do it, so that I should have done it even if I hadn’t agreed. He said that I had to do it not because my father deserved it, but because I deserved to be set free from my burden, from my self-imposed anguish.

At the end of our time together, I was definitely much shaken by His words and on the verge of crying. He came and gave me a warm hug and in that very moment I somehow felt his strength passing on to me. I knew He was right!

At the end of our time together, I was definitely much shaken by His words and on the verge of crying. He came and gave me a warm hug and in that very moment I somehow felt his strength passing on to me. I knew He was right!

We have to realize the huge privilege of being a part of the Hwa Rang Do Family: the Grand Master, such as all of the instructors, are following our growth personally, and they are interested in making sure that each one of us express the best that we can be and become a better man, a better warrior. “Empowering the world, one person at a time!”

Grandmaster Taejoon Lee gave me the hardest assignment of my life. He wants me to do it quickly, and then he wants to be informed of the developments. No chatters, no excuses, no blame, I just have to get busy and act. I’m not saying that I’ll be able to do it tomorrow, but I need to let Grandmaster Lee’s words and reflections change me from the inside and break down the thick walls that I felt I was forced to build in these many years. However, I’m sure of one thing: I know I’ll do it, I must.

He’s right: nothing in the world is more powerful than “Love”, and if we have even one single hope in one billion to make someone think and maybe change, we can only do it relying on that “Love” that we all have within us. All we need is the strength to express it.

He’s right: nothing in the world is more powerful than “Love”, and if we have even one single hope in one billion to make someone think and maybe change, we can only do it relying on that “Love” that we all have within us. All we need is the strength to express it.

“In almost fifty years I learnt more than four thousands way to hurt someone, but true greatness is in not using them and believing in Love”. I have no other words, but immense admiration and deep gratitude, to define our Grandmaster. I’ll try to be worthy of his teachings and to transform the great inspiration I received from him into reality.

Thank you and Hwarang forever!

My update:

It took me a few days to think over Grandmaster’s words and I was ready to accomplish my task, the hardest ever in my life, but still the most necessary.

I waited for the right time in which I could find my father at home, and I advised the Grandmaster that the following Sunday I would go and meet him. Kuk Sa Nim told me to go there and speak freely with no expectations whatsoever, in order not to be let down in case of possible negative reactions. He told me to let my words come right from my heart.

I felt very confident because of this wonderful direct communication with my Grandmaster and all the strength he was able to pass on to me!

The day came and I went to meet my father. He appeared to be in full possession of his intellectual capabilities but did not recognize me for at least half a minute.. for sure, by showing up before him I had put him way outside his comfort zone..!

I greeted him and told him I was at the end of a path and I just wanted to let him know I loved him.

He replied he had been waiting for that all these many years..

A thought came across my mind, that he would have waited until death if I hadn’t decided to come over and meet him. As far as I could remember, he always preferred deciding not to decide… Then, I remembered Grandmaster’s words to love with no expectations and to stay in the positive. So, I quickly I let go of that negative thought and focused on dwelling in the positive.

We then spoke for about 10 minutes. He asked me of my work and I asked him of his retirement. We exchanged our cellphone numbers and everything let me think we would be in touch again soon.

I had succeeded in forgiving him and started a new chapter of a father & son relationship, which I have longed for all of my life. And, finally it’ll have a chance to be good since I promised myself that I won’t bring up anything of our past and his faults – never, ever again.

I had succeeded in forgiving him and started a new chapter of a father & son relationship, which I have longed for all of my life. And, finally it’ll have a chance to be good since I promised myself that I won’t bring up anything of our past and his faults – never, ever again.

All in all, that is the essence of forgiveness. You do not forget (you never could!), you just go through it and expand.

I left him with some time to fully understand the reasons of my visit and after one week my father called me on the phone to invite me for lunch at his place. He would introduce me to the woman he lives with and to her family.

We spoke for more than twenty minutes; he was friendly and I got along well. I can now say that all conditions for the beginning of a new and finally fruitful communication are set.

I entirely owe this victory to the words and wisdom of Grandmaster Taejoon Lee. He taught me that with the necessary humility and determination and most of all with a kind, compassionate heart every goal can be achieved. Never retreat!

Thank You, Sir.
Hwarang forever and everywhere!

Yours faithfully,

Reflections on Grandmaster Taejoon Lee’s Lessons – Conference 2013

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Reflections
By Marco Mattiucci
Susuk Sabum – 4th Dan Black Sash
Italian Branch of the WHRDA

World Hwa Rang Do® Association Championships/Conference/Seminars 2013
Hwa Rang Do USA Headquarters
July 27th – August 4th, 2013

Hwarang!

This document is both to organize my notes about the event and to offer some reflections of our beautiful yet powerful annual event.

Before going on, please let me say that I’m very grateful to have received such teachings and that these lessons are very valuable and worth the sacrifices my family and I have had to make to come all the way from Italy to Los Angeles and participate annually. No growth is possible without sacrifices.

Also I extend my gratitude to all the black sashes and students who have supported me in this event, before, during and after. And, of course infinite gratitude to Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee and his father Do Joo Nim Dr. Joo Bang Lee who are the pillars of Hwa Rang Do®.

“Do you know the difference between self esteem, self empowerment and self discipline? We teach self-discipline and self-empowerment, not only self-esteem! We have to explain that to the parents and create the right expectations.” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

Yes, I agree and believe that when we teach, we have to teach self-empowerment and self-discipline to our students, not only self-esteem. Because, self-esteem is only the love and appreciation for the self, self-empowerment is the courage and power to face problems and self-discipline is the possibility to adhere to a precise set of rules (morals/ethics) and respect them in spite of everything.

I think that self-empowerment is the foundation of our teaching process. The philosophy that Kuk Sa Nim teaches us is fundamentally a philosophy of power: a person is only truly strong when he makes the right decisions. Good and bad are just shadows of our actions. Only the Truth can direct a person towards what is good. I would like to think that when I am teaching my students, I am making them stronger in all aspects: mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

“What is the difference between trying and doing?” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

Many people “try” but few people “do”. When a committed student says that he’s trying to improve or something of that nature it’s a symptom of his predisposition: he’s going to quit. It could be for many reasons; maybe the responsibility he feels is too much, maybe he’s tired, lost his motivation, but nevertheless that is his condition, his illness.

When you’re concentrated in doing (making something happen) you cannot complain, you cannot waste your time, you cannot think about leaving or other negative issues; you’re focused on achieving. That’s because by the act of “doing” it is self-motivating. When you need to “try” to do something it shows a defensive, apathetic, self-defeating approach. Even before starting you already know that your doubts are greater than your motivations and that’s surely the end. Maybe not immediately, but sooner or later that’s the result, failure. So, as teachers, leaders, we have to be aware about this process/symptom and act accordingly, preventing or fixing it (preventing is better).

“Human beings are definitely afraid of change. We have to look for consistent and stable patterns. That’s the reason why the class has to be standardized to an extent.” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

Being afraid of change is one of the main reasons why many of our old instructors left Hwa Rang Do. It’s a very important issue for all of us leaders. Why are people afraid of change? Because it consumes much energy, critical thinking, and forces you to question yourself and everything you have ever believed in, shaking your foundation to its core. Definitely, we have to understand that there is a unique point in which our lives balance on, the issue of our death. As wise people, we should understand that there is no other points of external balance which can be accepted. Growth is change and change requires pain and sacrifice. It’s easy to say, easy to understand, but very hard to accept.

Normal students are afraid of Hwa Rang Do because they believe it is too much. The standard class is the only stable point in their martial arts journey. They need to be anchored with things that they can expect, giving them sense of stability and confidence. Changing the class too much daily where it’s always unpredictable is a sure way to lose students. It is our responsibility as teachers, instructors, and leaders to offer them in the beginning the sense of security through a stable, consistent program and empower them with the end goal of liberating them from mundane routine, systematic control, ultimately to live dynamically.

From this point of view, I think it’s very important to divide the classes for instructors and the classes for normal students. It has to be clear what the distinctions are and normal student should not be in the high-level instructors classes as there are different degrees of expectations and levels of self-belief.

“You, the Black Sashes, must strive for accuracy, precision and perfection. There are at least 18 levels to become a 1st dan Black Sash so you should be at least 18 times better than the other students.” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

What a huge responsibility! Every time I think about it, I’m in fear of being inadequate, but that’s the right direction and I cannot waste my time with negative feelings. I must only focus on training harder and become better than before. My students are always critiquing me, even when they seem to be patient and tolerant with my weaknesses. When they follow me, they should inevitably learn, improve. So, if I am weak, they become weak; if I am bad, they become bad. All leaders must push themselves to be the best, to do their best: that’s the only way to teach how to improve and grow. It doesn’t mean that my best is absolutely the best; it is only doing my best and the process of giving my personal best is what is necessary to be a positive, self-empowering teacher.

“…If you perform the same technique thousands of times, it can be a way to exercise the spirit; but if you perform it in the wrong way, you gain nothing but bad habits. You have to train with accuracy and precision to learn the techniques properly. More doesn’t necessarily mean better!” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

One of the fundamental aspects of my training is repeating thousands of times the same technique. I have also taught my students to do the same. What I didn’t teach them and myself is to be accurate and precise. My way to teach and train has changed much in the last 2 years. The sentence “more doesn’t necessarily mean better!” is always in my mind and I strive to find more effective ways to train, learn and teach. Time is important! Repeating techniques are good for the spirit, but only when you’re getting older, you start to understand that time is very precious and it must be used efficiently.

“Today, people want what is immediate and don’t want to commit to long term goals. The virtues of perseverance, commitment and loyalty are being lost” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

This idea perfectly describes our times of crisis. People don’t want to commit to long-term goals because they are afraid that they might be missing out on something, some opportunities, but that is terribly absurd. When you try to do too many things, trying to have everything, not to lose anything, focusing on nothing, you are surely going to lose everything. The right way to accomplish more is to focus precisely on one thing, and then relax to finish one task at a time. Then, from the completion of one, many more opportunities grow from its solid foundation.

I don’t have solutions for this. I only teach people to be strong, I think it’s the only answer that I can give as a teacher and a leader. Nevertheless, I’m sad about the overall situation, as I feel at times helpless to change the popular trends of the world today.

“The way, the process of learning is changing. The method, the act of learning was a continuous search, involving the individual to take physical action; going to the library, asking the librarian, looking up each book. Now, all we have to do is type a few words into Google, a search engine and the answers appear, requiring no more action than the act of typing. It’s altering the way we think, the way we interact with others, with the external world. It’s a way to create dependencies: intellectually, emotionally, and economically. From culture, arts to even food, everything is about dependency. We must be aware that we are giving up freedom, our privacy, the question of “why & how” in order to gain more convenience. What must we, then preserve? The process of learning; the act of seeking for knowledge, for truth, through Hwa Rang Do! That’s the only way we may preserve both our Martial Art and humanity.” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

Our journey of learning and seeking knowledge is really Hwa Rang Do in itself for me. If we remove this of idea of epistemology, philosophy, of seeking truth from Hwa Rang Do, then it’s no different than any other martial arts. What I mean is that it’s not only the amount of techniques or the techniques itself that makes Hwa Rang Do special, but the way we teach and learn them. From this perspective, it’s clear that the journey is really much more important than the destination, as the destination might not even exist.

“I am creating ESBD: EaSy But Deadly, a program without commitment base and for those with the inability to seek, for the short-attention span of the modern-mind… I’m just kidding, but it could make some money LOL.” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

A program without commitment is really hard to understand for me because I cannot teach non-motivated people. I am relieved to know that Kuk Sa Nim was joking, but there’s some truth in it. Anyway, I want to think about it, as I understand that it’s a good means for business and to give people a good opportunity to be introduced to the world of martial arts. From this point of view, it’s better than pure fitness, dance, or yoga, etc. We have to survive from an economical perspective and it’s not easy in a very competitive world where you can become a karate or Tae Kwon Do black belt in less than 1 year (paying a lot of course…). But, of course only as a gateway, an indoctrination into our core curriculum.

“My goal is to be independent from you and make you independent from me. You have to be able to create on your own. You have to be able to make your decisions independently from me. You must be able to make decisions on your own, embracing the fact that you will have to suffer the consequences of the wrong decisions. You are part of Hwa Rang Do; you must be the drivers and no more remain as passengers, think on your own. Then, you must remain humble and when you have a good idea, you must share it. My goal is to make you instructors, and you have to teach 10 people to create 10 others with 10 people under them who are also able to lead, then soon we can lead thousands of people. I’m the only person besides Dojoonim who knows everything about Hwa Rang Do and if we die, what will happen? The remaining instructors will have to be able to rebuild everything without us!” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

Independence or self-reliance is another reason why some old instructors left Hwa Rang Do and a specific reason why some black sashes don’t want to open their own schools. I set a precise rule in Italy: if you want to become a black sash, if you want to test for black sash 1st dan, then you have to open at least one Tae Soo Do Club. It’s very clear and there’s no compromise on this. Furthermore, this is exactly what Kuk Sa Nim has outlined many years ago as he clearly stated that we are not just Black Belts, we become Hwarangs and they are generals, leaders and if they don’t have anyone to lead, then what’s the purpose of becoming a Black Sash? If they don’t want to do it, then they can leave Hwa Rang Do immediately. For me, it’s not possible to learn Hwa Rang Do without taking the responsibility of teaching. Maybe I push my advanced students too hard, but I’m very concerned about the future of Hwa Rang Do and I want to do my best to help Kuk Sa Nim and Do Joo Nim to disseminate the Art and to create a stable set of schools in Italy and Europe that can survive for many years, even after my death.

“Black Belt Magazine representative, during a banquet, told us that all the students of different martial arts organizations usually say: this martial art really changed my life! But when you ask them: in which way? What changed? They are not able to answer. The representative went on to say; however, that’s not the case with your students. When asked the same question, they all knew exactly how and what Hwa Rang Do changed in their lives and the benefits they have received.” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

Being aware of what the martial art is doing and has done for one’s personality, the body and the spirit should be the primary concern for a good student. We have to motivate our students to better understand what Hwa Rang Do is and what Hwa Rang Do can do for them. Seeking understanding is energy-consuming and I know that a lot of our students don’t want to spend the time and effort necessary in deep self-reflection to truly know themselves and their changes. The fact of the matter is that it’s not possible to study Hwa Rang Do without introspection. Therefore, the process of understanding is inevitable. The goal for us, leaders and teachers, is to guide them in this process and help them when needed.


“…How much you know is not as important; what’s more important is the way you express what you know.” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

Yes, there are instructors who are not able to do many things due to physical limitations, age, etc., but they can still strive to teach very well the small amount of things they know. And, even if they cannot do it, they still need to know how it’s done. The result is that they will have many followers and those students will become very loyal to them. It’s a very important issue. We have to spend time not only in training, but also in teaching how to train other people. This starts from the basics.

From this point of view, I would like to thank Susuk Sabumnim Dylan Sirny for the enlightening class he gave us about how to teach children. I believe that the methods he explained were fantastic! And, should be standardized for all schools and teachers. I have been reviewing what I’ve learnt from it and I will begin by applying it on a specific experimental set of children (Alice, my daughter, will be part of it). I want to train myself in that direction, improving my skills in depth and then disseminate my knowledge to all the Italian instructors, motivating them to apply the same methodology.

“Kids mainly understand what they feel and not what you explain to them.”– Susuk Sabumnim Dylan Sirny

It’s a very interesting point. I’m glad for this reflection. When I teach kids I deal with them as adults, but I have to remember that for them feeling; what’s pleasant and unpleasant, what feels good and bad are much more important than rational reasoning. It’s a key point to remember when dealing with children.

“You’re teaching the child but you’re enrolling the parents.”– Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

Absolutely true!

“Beauty is about esthetics and symmetry” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

I’m fascinated by this definition. I heard it from Kuk Sa Nim some years ago and I have been very happy to hear it again this year. We, as leaders, have to be beautified by the essence of fascinating people. I think it’s something that we can learn because esthetics and symmetry can be studied, understood and applied as concepts: (1) esthetics through the exercise of understanding the perceptions of others about us and the world; (2) symmetry through the study of rules and behaviors that make our lives consistent and balanced with what we think and say. That’s definitely why beauty and beautiful people attract other people even those they don’t necessarily want.

“Do Joo Nim says: that a fight is good! When it’s a comparison of skills to make each other grow.” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

I have been practicing the egoless way for several years and I find it very difficult due to my nature, but I’m coming to understand more each day. For the first time, this year, I participated in the championships as a competitor without thinking about the results and that has been a great experience for me. I also matched during the black sash test and in that situation; my main goal was to collaborate with my brother (not opponent) to allow him to demonstrate his abilities. I liked it so much more!

The problem I have here in Italy is that I’m the highest degree in Hwa Rang Do and when I match it’s always a lose-lose situation: if I lose I’m losing against a student of mine, if I win I’m winning against a student of mine… I partially solved this problem by matching only with the highest ranking black sashes in private with explanation and understanding of the unique situation. However, it’s a pity that it’s not too often.


“Promotion comes from imagination!” – Fernando Ceballos

Thanks to Fernando for the valuable business issues he pointed out during the presentations. The sentence “Promotion comes from imagination!” captured my attention. It’s definitely true! The greatest businesses in the world come from small but innovative ideas. The tools are important, mainly Internet based tools, but it’s the imagination, which is the source that fuels new and effective businesses.

“The Black Sash test will be changed and believe me, it will be very hard! In addition to the compulsory test, there will be specific subtests for grappling, weapon fighting, continuous sparring, voluntary service or social service, etc…” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

I completely agree! The pre-test for the Tae Soo Do black belt test, here in Italy, is unbelievably difficult now as it is. I made it harder and harder each year. The hardest test creates the greatest results and the greatest value.

“I cannot change my Father, but when I disagree I do question? Always seeking betterment, to make Hwa Rang Do and the family better you must question when you lack understanding and/or to seek what is best. You have to understand, Do Joo Nim is like Picasso, he is a master artisan. We cannot stifle him into a set scheme or routine due to our inability for understanding and for simplification. Most of life is gray and ambiguous, but if you don’t know black and white how can you understand the different gradations of gray and be complete? Because of this, it’s not up to him, but for me to define the standards of what is black and white for every Hwa Rang Do technique.” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

Kuk Sa Nim is doing the most incredible job I have ever seen in martial arts, he’s standardizing the entire Hwa Rang Do curriculum with the tools of multimedia and everything will be online. I’m so grateful for this and I follow every indication and detail He teaches online. The standardization is really valuable for Hwa Rang Do, mainly for long distance students like me. On the other hand, Do Joo Nim is the creator of the syllabus and of course he can see and understand all aspects of Hwa Rang Do and to expect him to remain within a set of standards is both an impossibility as well as a waste of his prodigious talents, his genius. Therefore it fits perfectly into our framework of Um and Yang, static and dynamic: Kuk Sa Nim is the standardized reference point, and Do Joo Nim is the infinite variations.

“My goal is to shake! I have to constantly test our beliefs. I constantly question myself; I don’t want to become dogmatic. Dogma is a way to control the masses and the only Dogma to follow is the one of Christ. You should be able to question everything, no other dogma either by man or the church is acceptable.” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

When I deal with my students it’s hard for me to always explain the reason or the why of my behavior. Now, I understand that is not completely correct. I want to fix this aspect of my personality. I ask a lot of trust to my students and sometimes, because of that I lose some of them. I will find a new way to create a way of balance in which the students can understand much more the reasoning behind my decisions.

“You’re not human if you have no garbage hidden within you. We must reflect deeply and cleanse our deepest hidden trash. Then, once cleansed, with the renewed heart and soul, we must help others. We matter because we need each other. Although we are not perfect, we can help each other strive perfectly. And, definitely that’s the reason why everything is important, because we are sacred; we are made in the image of God. We exist for each other and with God every life has intrinsic value as we are all his children.” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

These words are so beautiful and human that I cannot say anything more.

“We’re not only interested in techniques or the rules created by imperfect beings, we follow the natural laws and the absolute laws of a perfect Being. Only through natural laws and the laws of Truth, can we be complete and fulfilled.” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

All of our techniques come from natural laws, so understanding those laws means becoming complete and closer to God. The techniques are only a means to understanding nature, God’s creation. And, to live and walk in that path is becoming Godly.

“Money is only a measure of what we’re willing to let go or sacrifice to get. Our society is money-based, yet forgetting what the value of money really is” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

Teaching for free is not a good idea for at least two reasons: (1) if it’s for free, the public doesn’t value and only question why it’s free, so we diminish the value of what we teach; (2) if we are not able to ask at a higher price, then it means that we don’t believe that what we’re teaching is worth any value and this is worse than the first point because we are diminishing ourselves.

“You cannot rely on things that you cannot predict. Therefore, you must exercise greater planning and greater organization. More variables you are able to control and predict, the higher the probability to quickly manage the unpredictable. Because no matter how much you plan, how much you organize, you cannot know and control everything.” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

Every Hwa Rang Do School should have at least a five-year plan. I have a ten-year plan for the entire Italian branch and for EU, but maybe I’m too presumptuous. Anyway, what I can say for sure is that ideas are the drivers of reality. If you don’t have a specific target or worse if you don’t have a target at all, it’s very hard to hit any mark. The target may change, but it must always exist otherwise every action is a waste of energy.

Having a target, a vision, for the organization means that we must plan accordingly and to plan before every situation before taking action. In this way, whatever structure we create is ready to face many problematic situations and increase the probability to survive the storms through the years.

“Is Hwa Rang Do good to me? Yes, and No, it gives me more headaches and heartaches! But, I made a commitment over 25 year ago. I tried to leave Hwa Rang Do many times, but the Art always pulled me back.” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

Hwa Rang Do asks for 100% of all what you can do and all of your potentials. Sometimes, it’s not easy to deal with what Hwa Rang Do requires and then we always have two choices: stay or leave. In spite of that, I believe that a person cannot really choose to stay or leave Hwa Rang Do. Every person is free to choose one way or another. However, I absolutely believe that it is the Art that chooses the person and not vice-versa.

Like a hero that gives his life for an ideal: can he really choose to give his life? Or is he what he is because he cannot avoid his fate?


“Spear fighting, sword and shield fighting and archery dueling will be implemented…” – Kuk Sa Nim Taejoon Lee

Yes, I think it’s possible and exciting. We never cease to progress, to move forward, onward, always moving. Kuksanim teaches us to be first and to not wait for others before we take action. So, at times more than not, to others we seem to be swimming upstream.

My Days with Grandmaster Taejoon Lee

Posted on by taejoonlee

GML-Giuseppe

From: Giuseppe Catania
July 2016

Hwarang Sir!

I stayed close to you the entire last month, first in Chianni and then in Genoa. It was another very important moment for me and and I feel very lucky to have spent this precious time with you, both during the seminars and during the mentoring on all these days.

I think that for any instructor who has the opportunity to participate in your lessons can be truly inspired… watching you teach a class and see how you gradually “build” the lesson – it’s like seeing a great painter creating his canvas … it was very exciting to watch and as instructors we can just hope, may be one day, to become at least a tenth of what you are as a Teacher and Master.

“watching you teach a class and see how you gradually “build” the lesson – it’s like seeing a great painter creating his canvas”

I am also very grateful for being present during the mentoring sessions… as I said, I think that teaching as you teach is extremely difficult, but even more so, I think that the ability to read and touch the soul of the people as you know how to do is truly impressive, sir.

To know how to truly listen to people and know how to say the right words at the right time; I think that only a great spirit may possess this kind of skill and abilities. All those who participated in the mentoring were very enthusiastic, and I think some of them were even a little shocked by your ability to get inside them and give deep reflections to think about their lives.

Time seemed dilated and the two weeks seemed like months as deep and intense was the time spent together.

In two weeks you have given us so much and uplifted everyone’s spirits … I know, however, that the enthusiasm is like fire… and if you don’t feed it with new challenges and new goals to achieve, the fire will be soon extinguished. And, I know there will be a lot of work we must do and I also know that we will make a lot of mistakes, but I am convicted that this will not stop us… Susuk Sabumnim Marco Mattiucci has always taught us to never give up even when faced with extreme adversities… You know that he is really strong in this belief; and at the same time we are very fortunate because we have the example of Do Joo Nim and you, Sir!

Maintaining a relationship with extraordinary people like you is never easy, but of course, it also really challeges us and gives us powerful inspirations.

As you are aware, last year was very “particular” for me to say the least… when I came back from the United States, spending an intensive week with you; for the first time, I began to think deeply of my whole life. I have come to realize that I did not know anything and what I thought I knew was not the truth. In the beginning I was struggling, as I felt very bad, inappropriate and unsuitable for everything; I felt like I was a bad Hwa Rang Do student as well as a bad Hwa Rang Do instructor, also a bad son, and a bad husband… a bad person.

It was a very painful experience, but it was also an important, necessary process for my growth as a teacher and as a human being. And, I am reminded as you have said many times; “without pain there’s no growth.” During those days, I isolated myself for several months from my Instructor, my Hwa Rang Do brothers/sisters and my family, but I needed that time alone to process a lot of things, seeking truth and to rebuild myself on the foundation of the Truth.

And, I am reminded as you have said many times; “without pain there’s no growth.” During those days, I isolated myself for several months from my Instructor, my Hwa Rang Do brothers/sisters and my family, but I needed that time alone to process a lot of things, seeking truth and to rebuild myself on the foundation of the Truth.

Many people would like to have a better life, to grow and improve as human beings, but few are able to accept the change that this involves. I think that every time you want to “rebuild” something you need to destroy something that was before… and I think that is true for people too. We all want to grow and evolve, but more often than not we want better conditions without having to endure a transformational process because this often requires suffering and pain, and that’s why I think many people are scared of change, even when it’s for the betterment.

As Susuk Sabumnim often told me: everything that is not growing begins to die! In recent months, I have meditated on a lot of things and as I have said to you, I have felt that I needed to change and so now was the best time for that change… it was perfect!

I think, therefore, the best way to honor all your efforts is to improve as individuals and help as many people as possible to do the same as you do through our beloved and beautiful Martial Art, trying to bring our message of Strength, of Light, and of Love as far as possible in this world that is increasingly moving towards the darkness.


I think, therefore, the best way to honor all your efforts is to improve as individuals and help as many people as possible to do the same as you do through our beloved and beautiful Martial Art, trying to bring our message of Strength, of Light, and of Love as far as possible in this world that is increasingly moving towards the darkness.

Thank You for all you do, Sir!
Much Love!
HWARANG FOREVER!

Giuseppe Catania
Sabumnim – Hwa Rang Do® 3rd Dan Black Sash
Owner/Instructor of Hwa Rang Do® Branch in Genoa

Achieving Focus and Clarity In The Midst Of A Chaotic World

Posted on by taejoonlee

GML-MeditateBch

This is the first podcast I did for Elite Marketing Pro.

Click on this to hear the Audio Recording

Discover Your True Path

Posted on by taejoonlee

the-tree-of-life

This is something I prepared for a podcast I did for Elite Marketing Pro, April 2016.

You can listen to it here: Hope you enjoy 🙂

Discover Your True Path (Audio Recording)

I have been teaching now for over 35 years and have taught tens of thousands of people all over the world. In the process, I have come to know my students personally as they have confided in me with many of their struggles in life. What I have come to understand now is that all of them think that their problems were unique and the most common rhetoric from people when you try to advice them is, how do you know when you have not lived “my life’, walked in my shoes, etc. However, in listening to so many people, what I find is that most of their problems have common roots. Although they vary in the look and feel, in the sequence of events, in the differences of circumstances, but all arising from the same foundational problems. And however great or small the magnitude of their pain, they all suffer the same. Whether the scale of one’s experience is small or great, one can only perceive the world from their perception and no one else’s. In the discussion of pain, if the extent of a person’s experience is only the pain caused from being struck by a pencil, then they cannot know the pain caused by being struck by a car. And, when one argues that there’s no comparison in the pain caused from a pencil from the pain caused by an impact from a car, what we discover is that pain is still pain and it’s very personal.

Foundationally, it is the question of meaning, of purpose and this has remained same all through the ages as man came to acquire, intellect, knowledge, since Adam & Eve ate the fruit from the forbidden tree of knowledge. As I have said, in order to change and transform a tree, what do you do? If you only focus on what you see and what is apparent then you would have to touch, change, transform every branch, every leaf, every flower, every petal. However, there is a way you can transform the entire tree by addressing only one thing – the roots. When you change what you put through the roots is how you can transform the entire tree in one shot, so to speak. As Einstein has said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”. Therefore, the answer does not lie in what we can see and what is apparent; the truth lies in what is not visible or apparent, in the immaterial, in the ethereal, in consciousness, in what is harder to acquire.

As Einstein has said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”. Therefore, the answer does not lie in what we can see and what is apparent; the truth lies in what is not visible or apparent, in the immaterial, in the ethereal, in consciousness, in what is harder to acquire.

In philosophy and science there is a battle between two juxtaposing views – materialism and idealism. Materialism states that everything in existence can be explained through matter, whether visible or invisible. Whereas, idealism states that all things in existence is consciousness and is invisible, ethereal. And before the technological advancements of our era, people devoted their lives to God, to spirituality, to family, to living. As we come into the modern era, the advancements in technology has made our labor easier, creating more time for leisure, but relieving more than just the burdens of living, but the knowledge in how to live free and independent. At one point one man possessed all the knowledge necessary to survive in the world and that person was then responsible to transmit that knowledge with whatever else he has gained to the next generation and so on, and so on. However, when there was so much knowledge, no one person could possess it all so we began to compartmentalize, specialize, to give more and more power and dependency to government, to the landlords as the state began to offer more than just protection. Then, finally with the advent of currency, it allowed the rapid expansion of cities, empires, and civilizations. In the beginning, people understood the value and limitations of currency, as it was only a promissory note backed by real commodities just as well as knowing where their food came from.

We have lost the understanding of purpose, of foundation, of meaning. And, in my opinion that is the greatest cause of suffering, the root of the problem. We have to ask ourselves if science, knowledge, intellect, materialism is truth, then why is the world in so much chaos, so much hunger, so much sickness, so much war. And more people today are lost in purpose and meaning as it is evident in our millennial generation that desires above all things than success and money; they want change, any change, just something other than what is: Not realizing that the change must come from them rather than asking for it, but of course in order for them to create change they must know what must change and for what end.

And more people today are lost in purpose and meaning as it is evident in our millennial generation that desires above all things than success and money; they want change, any change, just something other than what is: Not realizing that the change must come from them rather than asking for it, but of course in order for them to create change they must know what must change and for what end.

With so much information, yet so lost; and that I tell you lies in the ingenuous way we acquire knowledge. Not through empirical data, but through more and more hearsay. We need not journey, we need not venture outside our doors, it’s all at our fingertips and because there is so much information as well as misinformation, making it harder to believe in anything so we succumb to believing in nothing.

Harvard University performed the longest research project in history. It was a research to better understand human development, simply put to know what truly makes people happy. It took over 75 years and more than 3,000 subjects, half of whom was selected from the Harvard student body and the other half from the worst social-economic circumstances in the ghettos of Boston. They tracked all of them every year and subjected them to rigorous interview, physical medical review and psych evaluations. Some were poor and became rich, some were wealthy and lost everything, and even one became president. They asked all of them in the beginning what would make them happy and they all said money, fame or both. At the end of the 75-year research, they asked surviving members the same question and they all answered – relationships.

We are moving further away from the truth – the spirit; and relying more on the things human beings create. We forget the true nature and essence of all things as we focus only on the pleasure, the benefit, fulfilling the ever so prevalent phrase, “What’s in it for me?” Acquiring all things they desire in Machiavellian fashion and wanting the acceptance and praise of what used to be their community before the Internet and now the World. The truth cannot lie in more hearsay and opinion of others. Because the majority agrees does not mean it’s right. So, let me ask you something we all heard before, would you jump off a cliff if your trusted friend does so, how about 10 people, how about a thousand, how about a million, lets say everyone on the planet? You see it’s easy to say when there’s one, but when there’s everyone, then it all changes. I would have to say no! I wouldn’t jump, until I understood why and for what purpose.

You see truth, goodness, human beings posses intrinsic value, meaning they do not increase or diminish in their worth because the value and worth is in it’s existence.

You see truth, goodness, human beings posses intrinsic value, meaning they do not increase or diminish in their worth because the value and worth is in it’s existence. Therefore, the most noble path is to live and die as a scapegoat. You know we all had one growing up, in our family. There was that one child who was always at the wrong place at the wrong time. But because of that sibling, you escaped punishment, you were saved and yet they did nothing wrong. Is that not the best way to serve your fellow man? This can be fully understood when you know difference in suffering from doing good versus suffering from doing bad, or evil.

In essence, materialism makes gods of men, and idealism requires surrender to God, to ultimate consciousness. And for those who say the acquisition of ultimate consciousness is an ultimate goal in itself which can be achieved by man, but I say for what is the ultimate consciousness for, and that can only be known to God. For in the end, no matter how much a man can know, you also know that man is imperfect and so it cannot be trusted fully. Therefore we place ourselves in a conundrum we cannot escape.

The arrival to this conundrum is necessary in order for one to seek and understand the truth. And it is my hope that I may assist you in helping, guiding you to your personal truth, which is a condition that must be fulfilled to know the ultimate truth.
And in fact is that not the highest aspiration of any human being?

Decathlon of Hwa Rang Do® (Black Belt Magazine – Sep 2014)

Posted on by taejoonlee

By Fernando Ceballos

Photos by Robert Reiff

"New Form of Standup Competition is the Final Element Needed to Evaluate All-Around Martial Arts Skill!"

At first glance, you’d think you’re watching a Muay Thai match up. However, if you look closer at their equipment you’ll notice some key distinctions.

They have shin guards and black head gear, however the head gear itself has a face guard and padding on the top of the head. And the gloves are open finger gloves similar to MMA.

The fighters engage with lighting fast punching and kick-combos, including flying and spinning kicks followed by takedown attempts and throws.

They go to the ground frequently, but there is no long drawn out grappling stalemate. In fact, after a 5 count, the fighters are always brought to their feet if there is no successful submission victory.

We see a single leg takedown attempt, immediately followed by a leg lock and yell of “tap” within a second of hitting the mat.  It happens so quickly, you look around for a replay monitor.

The fighters return to center ring, the referee gives the command to bow, raises the winner’s arm and brings the two combatants together for a hug. After some good sportsmanship, the two depart to calmly take their seats beside an open mat ring and the next two fighters are announced.

What is being described is one of the many martial sporting events, Yongtoogi (or Stand-Up & Submission Fighting), which takes place during 2 days of competition for the World Hwa Rang Do® Championships. Other events during the Championships include grappling, sword fighting, stick fighting, and other events comprising of over 10 categories of competition.

“This is our unique and the world’s only, decathlon of martial arts competition” Lee says – 8th Dan Hwa Rang Do Grandmaster and President of the World Hwa Rang Do® Association.

“Most martial artists spend months training for 1 fight or at most one tournament. Yet, over 40% of our competitors will compete in 10 tournaments, over the course of the two days, not only testing their skill in each category, but their endurance. Our advanced students compete in 1 additional tournament - Yongtoogi – our advanced submission fighting category, designed to condition fighters to master Hwa Rang Do’s Self-Defense formula – Defend, Takedown, Quick Submit”.

Lee observes all matches from behind the time keeper’s table, with a stoic expression on his face. Only smiling and clapping, along with the audience when the match finishes, acknowledging BOTH combatants for their efforts, displaying no favoritism.

What is most striking about the end of all matches, is how calm the winning fighters are after each match. None of them raise their own hands, gloat and celebrate after their victory – regardless of how difficult or dominant they performed.

The fighters’ mutual respect for one another clearly overrides any desire for an understandable emotional outburst, which follows most martial arts victories we may see on television or other live sporting events.

Yongtoogi and the rest of Hwa Rang Do’s tournament categories are held within a “closed tournament” format – meaning no groups without a direct affiliation to the World Hwa Rang Do Association (or WHRDA) may enter any of the tournaments.

“We’ve pretty much kept this format a secret, and have only recently held these events in public places, such as at the Origins International Martial Arts Festivals at Disneyland in 2011 and 2012. Those events were the first time, we allowed the rest of the martial arts community and general public to see what we have.”

A Brief History of Tournaments in 70’s & 80’s

It has been almost 25 years since Hwa Rang Do participated in any open tournaments – whether organized by the WHRDA or other martial arts groups.

“Before developing this decathlon of tournament categories we have today, like other martial arts groups, we previously participated in competitions all over the country and the world, dating back to the mid-70’s.”

In the 70’s, Kenpo and Karate groups hosted stand-up fighting tournaments, each with their own rules.  There was no protective gear and the rules were similar to what we all saw in the film, ‘The Karate Kid’ – one hit, one point.

Some of the Kenpo organizations allowed groin strikes. None allowed takedowns, except Karate but only in the form of a leg sweep, however no points were awarded for sweeps.

Rotational kicks were also not allowed, which posed a problem for Hwa Rang Do and other dynamic fighting arts.

“We couldn’t fully express the comprehensive nature of our art. We would be disqualified if we attempted a spinning kick or takedown, but since we were a small group at the time, we wanted to show the martial arts community that even with these limitations, we could still win and we did win – a lot.”

As described in Black Belt Publication’s new book, ‘The Complete Michael D. Echanis Collection’ book, these frustrations were even apparent when military combatives legend, Michael Echanis, who was studying Hwa Ran Do under it’s founder, Joo Bang Lee, would storm into tournaments and challenge the champion to a street fight, most of the time leaving the champion bloodied and unconscious.

“My father certainly did not condone or endorse Michael’s actions, which is why he encouraged him to go back to military and teach the Special Forces. He was a warrior, born for combat and he was better suited for the military, not civilian life.  However, the statement he was trying to make was clear. We have an art which cannot be fully expressed in, what at the time, were contemporary martial arts competitions.”

According to Lee, eventually Hwa Rang Do began running their own “open tournaments” organized by his father Joo Bang Lee, but they stuck to common rules, in order to attract outside groups. While they were very successful, the tournaments were a challenge to coordinate and appeasing all groups and their requests for rules changes and special treatment was not easy.

In the early 80’s the politics of running tournaments became more than Joo Bang Lee wanted to take on and Hwarangdo ceased running tournaments for 4 years and chose to simply participate in open tournaments hosted by other groups.

“The benefit of participating in tournaments & demonstrations were obvious. It was a marketing tool and a way to allow our students to test their skills and overcome fear through the experience of competition.  When we performed in tournaments, other martial artists and those in attendance wanted to join our organization. That allowed what at the time was a little known art called Hwarangdo to grow!”

When Taejoon Lee, entered college at the University of Southern California in the mid- 1980’s – already recognized then as a “master” rank – he had opened clubs not only at USC, but his group spread to UCLA, UC Riverside, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, Arizona State and others.  News of these clubs spread and within a couple years, Lee literally led an army of college-age practitioners in the art of Hwarangdo.

He asked his father permission to run inter-school closed tournaments and eventually received his blessing to once again hold 2 open tournaments per year under the name of ‘BIG MAC’ – “Martial Arts Championships (MAC)”.

They did this in partnership with NASKA, the North American Sport Karate Association, whose rules allowed fighters to get points for takedowns, which was important for Hwarangdo practitioners, giving them more freedom to express their skills.

Hwarangdo practitioners competed in BIG MAC, in addition to outside open tournaments through the 80’s. However, once again, the challenges of working with outside groups became a problem, but this time, it was far worse.

Lee states that, “Tournaments became increasingly unruly with a loss of respect for each other and poor sportsmanship, which severely diminished the value of participating.  Etiquette and respect for one another is a core part of our martial way, so clearly this was a problem.”

Lee recalls two incidents in particular, which ‘broke the camel's back’.

“There was one incident, I recall, where a competitor didn’t like a referee’s ruling, punched him in the face and a melee ensued.   A few weeks later, at another event, 2 opposing teams were fighting on a stage at the Team Fighting finals and spectators started throwing chairs across the stage at each other.

“We started losing students because of negative experiences. As a result, we reduced our participation by sending only select students as representatives and then stopped completely by the early 1990’s.”

Developing the World’s First Martial Arts Decathlon

Lee and his father, Joo Bang Lee, decided that developing their own tournament format exclusively for Hwarangdo, which also reflected the comprehensive nature of the art, was the best course of action.

Adding to the Point Fighting, Open-Hand and Weapon Forms competitions, which were already in place, Lee first implemented a Gotoogi (or Submission Grappling) program adapted from self-defense techniques in Hwa Rang Do, with no striking for the purposes of competition.  You could only win by submission or points, similar to Jiu Jitsu or Catch Wrestling.

Then came the development of the ‘mugidaeryun’ or weapon fighting categories, which began as Kumdo, Korea’s counterpart to Japanese Kendo.

As documented in the article of January 2014 issue of Black Belt Magazine, ‘Hwa Rang Do Weapons: Taejoon Lee and the Korean Martial Art’s New Spin on Traditional Sword and Stick Fighting”, Lee developed & patented a leg attachment to the traditional Kendo armor called the “Hache Hogu” or leg protector, which opened the category up to allow for strikes to the leg and spinning attacks, creating a new dynamic weapon fighting sport - Gumtoogi (Sword Fighting) and Bongtoogi (Stick Fighting).

Expanding the competitive categories further, the same armor was used for long sword, twin short swords, long staff, twin stick fighting and mixed weapon fighting competition as well.

By the late 2000’s, Hwarangdo’s World Championships had evolved from a simple half-day 3-category event consisting of forms and point fighting, into a 2-Day 10-category martial arts decathlon.

During this period, the advent of MMA had also simultaneously transformed the martial arts world, with a greater emphasis on ‘reality based’ competition.

It is said that MMA is “as real as it gets”, however that too would prove to be far from what would take place in a street fight or self-defense situation, yet there was clearly an interest in what a martial art like Hwarangdo could do in a full-contact format.

“Even back in the 80’s, my father had deep philosophical conflicts, about having our students engage in full contact fighting, yet always knew that competition would eventually evolve to what we’ve come to know today as MMA.

“However, being who we are, we had to think more deeply about what we wanted to represent.  Our art transformed the early days of empty hand and armed combatives in the Special Forces through Michael Echanis. We were dominant in the late 70’s and 80’s in sparring and forms competitions. And we now run the world’s only 2-day martial arts decathlon.  From a self-defense and combat sport perspective, we’ve had nothing to prove and since the 1990’s, we’ve only gotten better.

“In the past, there have been students of ours whom wanted to compete in full-contact tournaments outside our organization. We could not allow it while they were affiliated with our association, so in those cases, we mutually agreed to part ways so they could pursue their goals and they performed extremely well. However, we asked that they not claim having trained in Hwa Rang Do nor did we want credit nor did we support them. It wasn’t what we were about.”

“Our priority has always been maintaining that which is unique to us – our sense of brotherhood, our family bond, the spiritual component, our hwarang heritage and respect to our higher ranks and masters.”

In the late 1990’s & early 2000’s, Hwarangdo did in fact develop a full-contact sport category, “Kyuktoogi” with only advanced students & those demonstrating a strong mental maturity allowed to train and compete in. However, Lee was not yet comfortable with the social dynamics it created.

“In Full Contact Fighting, the goal is to hurt or incapacitate your opponent. How does a group or organization who thrives on our bond and brotherhood, operate like a family, while having the goal of hurting each other, inside the ring?”

“We also wanted to maintain our leadership hierarchy. In sport, that is broken. The champion and contender rankings is what dictates the hierarchy, however just because you are a champion, does not make you a leader, nor does it make you wise nor a good person.  What we wish to cultivate are leaders, not just fighters.”

“That’s not to say we didn’t want to create a ‘reality based’ fighting format, but it had to align with our values and goals.

“First, it had to promote the altruistic ideal of competition, which is to push one another and test the skill of our brother or sister across the ring from us. Second, the rules had to promote the development of a valuable skill set which could be potentially life saving, if mastered.”

Hwarangdo’s Fight Plan – Defend, Takedown, Submit

The answer came when Lee authored ‘Hwa Rang Do: Defend Takedown Submit”, published by Black Belt, which outlined the art’s self-defense strategy, which could be adapted for military, law enforcement or personal self-defense.

The strategy is broke down into 3 components:

Defend – Using distancing and striking techniques to defend and setup the next stage of the formula…

Takedown – Engage in a lock or hold, which will neutralize your opponents striking by taking them to the ground, then…

Quick Submit – While maintaining a dominant top position on the ground, quickly apply a lock-up to either, submit your opponent, choke them out or inflict more serious injury through a bone break or dislocation, should they not submit or pass out.

The important thing to know is that Hwa Rang Do emphasizes the “quick submit” strategy – meaning to quickly recognize the lock-up opportunity present and immediately execute the most effective finishing technique to dispose of an opponent, while avoiding a BJJ style ‘roll’ on asphalt or concrete, which leaves one vulnerable to injury and multiple attackers.

The dominant top position also allows the Hwa Rang Do fighter to quickly recover and react to other threats.

This formula is what the ‘Yongtoogi’ sport became based on.  Rather than encouraging Hwa Rang Do competitors to go for the ‘knock out’, Lee wanted them to focus their efforts on mastering the ‘quick submit’ and showcasing the full breadth of the art.

The matches would entail two continuous minutes of fighting. The striking would be limited to medium force attacks to the head and body, to prevent unnecessary injury while at the same time encouraging them to fully express the striking and takedowns available in Hwa Rang Do’s vast curriculum and to setup for a ‘quick submission’.  However, a fighter would have only 5 seconds to submit their opponent, before they are stood up by the referee and the match is allowed to continue.

Should a competitor successfully apply a submission and get the other person to ‘tap out’, the match would be over and he or she would be declared the winner.

Should the match go the full 2 minutes, 3 judges would score the bout for each fighter on a scale from 1 – 10, in the areas of “striking”, “takedowns” and “spirit”.  Each judge would add up their score and choose a winner.

The fighter with 2 judges scoring in their favor would win the match.

The “spirit” category is left up to the judge’s discretion to award a fighter credit for things not covered in the other two categories, such as energy level, difficulty of techniques performed and aggressiveness.

Now, five seconds on the ground may seem like a very short period of time, but that is precisely what Lee wanted.  He wants to train his practitioners to quickly recognize the available finishes and apply them without hesitation and with precision.

This experiment has proven fruitful in the past 2 years that these rules have been in place for Hwa Rang Do, with matches resulting in tap outs via armbar, shoulder locks, ankle locks in addition to many decisions.

Lee says “My goal is not really intended to create champion fighters, although that certainly is fun to watch and an excellent test of skill for our students via competition.  My goal is to help my students develop the self-defense skills against each other, which could one day save their lives, without the ego-driven culture of full contact fighting gyms and most importantly, preserving our martial way – our traditions, respect for your senior ranks, respect for one another and our familial bond.”

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Hwa Rang Do®’s Weapon Fighting (Black Belt Magazine – January 2014)

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Hwa Rang Do Weapons: Taejoon Lee and the Korean Martial Art's New Spin on Traditional Sword and Stick Fighting

By Black Belt

Photos by Robert Reiff

Grandmaster Lee's task at hand: modernize hwa rang do's sword method for more modern appeal while preserving expression, uniqueness and safety.  No easy task, surely -- but Lee is no ordinary martial artist.

The two competitors kneel at opposite sides of the ring, a bamboo sword at each person's side. They slowly don their armor. As they stand, two additional plates — called hache hogu (leg armor) in Korean — reveal themselves, hanging down from their belts and covering their thighs. The referee brings them to the center, after which they bow, draw their swords and begin the bout. So far, it looks like a standard kendo or kumdo match, but as they clash, the flavor of the fight changes — with lightning-fast spins, low-level maneuvers and attacks aimed at more than just the head and wrists. While numerous forms of weapons sparring are practiced around the world, none is better-known than kendo. It's the frontman of competitive sword fighting and boasts more practitioners than any other art. However, in the eyes of many, it's badly in need of an update, especially with respect to the variety of techniques permitted. Enter hwa rang domaster Taejoon Lee. Taejoon Lee, president of the World Hwa Rang Do Association and son of the art's founder, Dr. Joo Bang Lee— as well as co-author of the landmark book Hwa Rang Do: Defend, Take Down, Submit— had his work cut out for him. The eighth-degree black sash knew that his art categorized its plethora of weapons according to how they're used in battle — slicing, striking, thrusting, throwing and so on. He also knew that much of that versatility was prohibited by kendo's rule structure.

Taejoon Lee tasked himself with modernizing his art's method of conducting sword fights to make it more appealing to modern practitioners. He wanted a solution that would permit the greatest possible expression of technique with both bladed and impact weapons, thus preserving the Korean art's uniqueness. And he knew that the solution would have to maintain the safety factor for which kendo is renowned.

To give a glimpse into the thought processes that went into the endeavor, he recalls an allegory from his homeland.

A Tale of Three Nations

“Three martial arts masters — one from China, one from Japan and one from Korea — came up to a massive stone wall," Taejoon says. “The Chinese master walked up to it, touched it, gave it a little push and then, realizing the wall was solid, went to look for a way around. The Japanese master walked up to the wall and stared at it, then took a stance and proceeded to punch it repeatedly. His fists were reduced to bloody stumps, but he eventually broke through. The Korean master looked at the wall, threw his favorite jump-spinning back kick and bounced off. He shrugged his shoulders, then went to search for a way around."

While it may sound like a cultural joke, the sociological implications of the story are spot on. The martial arts of each nation have been influenced not only by the personalities of their masters but also by the geography of the land.

Japan is a collection of islands. When attackers invaded, the locals had precious little room to retreat before ending up in the sea. Thus, it's not surprising that their combat mindset evolved to favor powerful and direct killing techniques. Systems such as kyokushin karate and kendo exemplify this idea with their hard-charging, one-punch-one-kill mentality.

China, on the other hand, is a vast land mass. If an invader came from one direction, retreat was almost always an option. Military strategies took into account the availability of maneuvering room and thus emphasized avoidance. That gave the Chinese the chance to develop martial arts that focused on yielding before delivering a finishing blow.

Situated between China and Japan, both geographically and ideologically, Korea is a peninsular nation. Historically, that afforded Koreans the ability to retreat toward the mainland if attacked from the ocean yet forced them to develop hard-core fight-or-die skills if backed up to the seaboard. Thus, their combative tendencies exhibit both linear and circular approaches.

Back to the Present

While striving to accomplish his task, Taejoon Lee appreciated that kumdo gave his students a chance to develop their linear sword skills in a sparring format, but he thought the standard rules prevented too many of the circular, spinning techniques that have always proved invaluable in combat.

“Hoi-jeon is a central concept in power development for hwa rang do," he explains. “To develop greater power output, you have to accelerate your weapon through a greater distance or place it under a greater torque. So when we spin — whether for a kick, a strike or a cut — we're trying to capitalize on that rotational force to impart the maximum damage to the target. It's not that you can't do that in kendo or kumdo; it's just that nobody really does it. So as soon as we implemented our new leg armor, which is now patent pending, spinning strikes or cuts to the thigh or belly suddenly had a lot more relevance."

To demonstrate his point, Taejoon Lee puts on his armor, picks up his bamboo sword and squares off with a student. They exchange blows and blocks for a few seconds, feeling each other out. As the opponent charges in with what ought to be a decisive head strike, Taejoon Lee blocks, spins and drops to one padded knee. The sound of his sword striking his adversary's leg armor resonates throughout the school. If the training equipment were replaced with live blades and the armor removed, a leg would have gone sailing through the air.

Circular Attack

Taejoon Lee then launches into an offensive application of the spin, upping the tempo of his footwork and movements. As the first few strikes are executed, it's obvious he's headhunting, unleashing heavy blows at his opponent, who can barely block in time. After each charge, Taejoon Lee backs off a bit more. Finally, he darts in with speed and ferocity, his weapon held high for a head attack. His opponent lifts his sword in hopes of blocking, but Taejoon Lee is one step ahead. Having drawn the man's weapon upward, Taejoon Lee spins underneath, effecting a beautiful belly strike. "A lot of martial artists say that any spinning technique is turning a blind eye to the opponent — they say that as soon as you turn your back, a straight- line technique will dominate you," Taejoon Lee says. "That's true — up to a point." To illustrate, he spins, and his opponent strikes him easily each time he does so. Point made: Using a blind spin without setting up the technique is a Hail Mary play in combat. Taejoon Lee then shows how the hoi-jeon principle should be used: He deflects his opponent's sword to the side, and by the time the man regains his composure and centerline control, he's already been cut. Mentally and physically, Taejoon Lee breaks his balance, drawing him into a specific reaction and capitalizing on the opening that's created.

With the modifications Taejoon Lee made to the safety gear, weapons training enters a whole new realm. Angles of attack and defense become less predictable — and more exciting to watch. Best of all, the improvement doesn't apply just to bamboo swords.

Taejoon Lee walks to the side of the ring, lays down his training weapon, picks up two shorter swords and goes to work. Then he switches to a rattan stick, a pair of sticks and a rattan staff. He and his opponent go sword against sword, double short swords against sword, double sticks against staff, and staff against staff, and the flavor of each weapon remains visible throughout.

“When I first implemented sword fighting, we used the standard kumdo format and I referred to it as kumdo," Taejoon Lee says. “But with the new safety armor and the emphasis on wider technique, we now call it gumtoogi (sword combat) or bongtoogi (stick combat)."

Like Against Like

In hwa rang do, impact weapons vie against impact weapons, and bladed weapons vie against bladed weapons because there are major differences in the associated strategies. With a stick or staff, students are allowed to make contact with any part of the shaft. With a sword, however, a cut must use the simulated edge and a thrust must use the tip and target the opponent's throat guard.

“It'd be easy to allow whatever contact to score, but that wouldn't honor the principles of each weapon's strong points," Taejoon Lee says. “Training should honor technique and revolve around principle. Scoring whatever just reinforces sloppy technique and dishonesty."

To that end, the spinning leg attacks effected with a simulated sword must be done with one knee touching the floor, and cuts that target the belly must be delivered from a standing position. Although, in reality, an edged weapon could certainly attack a leg from the standing position or the midsection from the kneeling position, the rule forces students to execute deliberate technique with a greater degree of precision. It also makes each move easier for officials to judge at tournaments, where more points are awarded for high-difficulty techniques such as spins.

Ready for Launch

To maximize the propagation of gumtoogi and bongtoogi, the World Hwa Rang Do Association has made the new weapons-sparring format open access. “This is a good program for traditional schools to teach applied weaponry with," Taejoon Lee says. “We took what kendo and kumdo brought to the table, used the majority of the targets and equipment, and modified it to allow for a wider expression of technique using a greater variety of weapons — while maintaining safety and emphasizing clear-cut attacks. For those who practice Korean martial arts weaponry, we've created a sparring format that allows them to express the real flavor of their art and develop the ability to attack at angles they couldn't use before."

As hwa rang do moves forward through its fifth decade, it's especially impressive to see a traditional art whose leadership has such a passion for maintaining and preserving ancient combat skills while applying ingenuity to improve the teaching and training methods. Taejoon Lee's commitment to this makes him one of the martial arts trailblazers of the 21st century.

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Grandmaster Taejoon Lee End of 2010 Message

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There is much to be thankful this past year, as we have successfully celebrated our Golden Anniversary and accomplished the goals we have set for ourselves. The uniformity and standardization of art has given clear identity to our group, empowering all of us with pride and unity. Our Internet presence is stronger than ever through our sophisticated Internet development and marketing. Our sport venue is unrivaled as it is the only decathlon of martial arts tournaments, which covers all areas of competition – forms, weapon forms, stand-up kick/punch/throw fighting, submission fighting, and weapon fighting. As a collective, we are growing stronger, bigger, and better everyday as witnessed at our 50th Anniversary Events this year.

I should be very thankful and happy this year, as my father, our founder has been honored as the Man of the Year 2010 by Black Belt Publications and there’s much momentum for Hwa Rang Do to really shine in the public’s eye in the upcoming years. However, I cannot deny this slight aching in my gut, the perpetual feeling as though I am standing on thin ice, the uneasiness brought on by mistrust of our financial institutions and our government, and a sense of frustration and anger, which comes from feeling powerless knowing that only one percent our nations population possesses the majority of our nations wealth, not to mention the fear for our future generations as our planet is in jeopardy. I had never thought I would live through and witness the decline of our civilization. These are only things we read about in history books.

fallofrome
The Fall of the Roman Empire

Although I am excited and happy about our accomplishments, how can I rest at ease knowing that our world, our nation, our people are doomed to repeat our mistakes all over again. With all the advancement in technology, it has made our lives easier or at least at face value. However, in reality it has made it easier for us to be distracted and influenced by those who have the finances and the power to do so. We are connected in everyway, all day, at home, office, or mobile. Yet, with all these means of better communication and access to so much information, our family unity and the sense of community are on the decline. People are becoming more and more hedonistic, self-centered, amoral and eager to consume whatever they can as quickly as they can.

In truth the advances in technology and globalization has sped up the decline of our civilization and we are falling exponentially. Our generation is living through one of the most profound moments in history as we are witnessing how the ideals of socio-economic and political models of the modern era are being played out as well as the potential destruction of our precious environment. Communism has fallen to democracy as only a handful of countries still remain; capitalism is prevailing over socialism or so it seems. However, unspeakable, unimaginable events have taken place. Who would have ever thought that communist states would adopt forms of capitalism as their economic model and democratic states socializing some components of their economy? Furthermore, how does the beacon of democracy turn into a militant state and more importantly, with its peoples’ support? And, how does a communist nation become an economic powerhouse, producing most of the world’s goods. Even more troubling, how do we allow an enemy vessel to come within 35 miles of our coast to launch a intercontinental ballistic missile without being detected? And, just even on the most fundamental domestic level, if we have made so many advances in our society, then why are there so many homeless people among us? When I was young, I had to search out the homeless like hunting for a dinosaur. They were rare to find and dwelled only in Downtown.

There are so many more issues domestic and abroad that I can discuss, but I want to spend more time on the solution. I have spent much time contemplating on this – how can we change so that these things never take place. By lifting the veil of secrecy and isolation through improved globalized communication and for such things as Wikileaks, it has brought the world together. None of the socio-economic and political theories exist in its pure form today. Much like the martial arts where the most popular these days are MMA or mixed martial arts, which a few decades ago would have been taboo, nations are combining and mix-matching different socio-economic and political theories to use what works best in combination for their needs. So, we can at least thank technology for this.

From assessing what is happening in our economy today, I think we can say that ultimately in any economic theory, it will always end up with the very rich and the very poor. We are currently draining our middle class and the rich is getting richer and the poor is getting poorer. We just don’t know it because our standard of living is higher than other third-world nations, but proportionally the disparity of the rich from the poor is the same if not greater than any other third-world nation. The only difference between socialism combined with communism and capitalism combined with democracy is that with communism the rich is dictated by the government and in democracy it’s up to the people, but the end result is the same – only the few with the most.

I went on to contemplate if there were any way to separate money with power and influence. There’s is a notion to separate the government completely not only from religion, but also in commerce so to prevent government interference which might favor one person, one company over another. Although, we have separated religion and state in theory, our nation is still ruled by Christians as politicians rally to gain the public’s votes and since the majority of Americans are Christians, so are all our politicians. Therefore, this notion of complete separation of government from commerce is speculative at best.

As a Hwarang and an Umyangian, we believe in balance and that not one thing will work always. It is knowing and understanding all opposing views and ideas to arrive at a balance and only then can we become harmonious with others and nature. It seems today that wars are no longer fought for political views, but rather as always for economics and archaic as it is, for religion. You can’t mix religion because of it dogmatic nature. How paradoxical that the very thing that professes peace is the thing, which is the root of so many deaths, bloodshed, and war.

There seems to be no answer in the external world. The only thing that I can come close to as a solution is looking inward. It is hardest to change our human nature. I know, I have been trying for over 30 years. However, without change we cannot advance. Even with so much advances in all areas of technologies, academics, and reformations, we still cling on to old dogma. It seems the only way to change the human condition is to change the human being. We must change our nature of greed, hatred, and power and come to realize that we are all in this together. That humanity is only as strong as its weakest human being. We must do as the great Mahatma Ghandi had said – You must be the change you want to see in the world.

We must collectively elevate our human nature, our human consciousness. That is the next step in our human evolution, advancing not only of the physical and mental, but more so of our spirit and consciousness. Put aside our differences and understand the power of ONE. We must value what’s noble over what’s pleasurable and selfish. We must as individuals and as a global community once again teach and relearn for ourselves that our value, self-worth, comes from the measure of our service to others rather than size of our bank account.

This is why I am so excited and happy to announce that we, the World Hwa Rang Do Association, is converting to a non-profit organization with the aim of becoming a humanitarian organization to empower the world one person at a time through the martial, intellectual, spiritual discipline of Hwa Rang Do. We are putting our money where our mouth is and committing even stronger to fulfill our goal of becoming a flowering human, and with continued efforts to one day become a flowering humankind.

Grandmaster Taejoon Lee