A Hwarang’s Reflections on his Journey Toward Happiness

Posted on October 20, 2010September 29, 2024 by taejoonlee

A Tough Truth to Swallow:

“Nobody needs you. Seriously, you’re not that important so get over it.”

We often find ourselves overwhelmed, carrying the weight of responsibility, convinced that without us, everything we hold dear—our families, loved ones, careers, and businesses—would crumble. This belief, while deeply ingrained in us, is a source of immense stress and anxiety. But the reality is far different: life goes on, with or without us. The uncomfortable truth is that all things, and all people, are ultimately replaceable. When we are no longer here, our families, children, spouses, and businesses will continue. They may not function exactly as we would have envisioned, but they will endure, adapt, and move forward.

Understanding this is both humbling and liberating. It encourages us to shift our focus from the fear of what will happen in our absence to the blessing of the present moment. We are here, now, and that is a gift. Instead of being consumed with worry over the future, we should embrace today with gratitude, do our best to live joyfully, and help those around us. What matters most is the quality of the time we have, not the fear of how things will unfold once we’re gone.

However, accepting this truth is no easy task because it forces us to confront and dismantle our ego. Much of our self-worth is tied to the belief that we are essential, that our value is defined by how many people rely on us. We measure our importance by the roles we play—provider, caretaker, leader—and the belief that others would be lost without us. But once we strip away this illusion, we see that while people may want us around, their ultimate happiness, survival, and success don’t depend on us. Their lives, their joy, their sorrow—all of it—is a reflection of their own choices and self-determination.

This isn’t to suggest that our presence doesn’t matter or that our contributions don’t have significance. We are social beings, and our connections to others are meaningful. But recognizing that we are not the cornerstone of anyone’s existence allows us to approach life from a place of freedom rather than fear. It enables us to love and support others without being weighed down by the crushing responsibility of thinking that everything depends on us.

So, the challenge lies in letting go of the ego, in dissolving the false narratives we’ve built about our irreplaceability. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care for others or neglect our responsibilities. On the contrary, when we release ourselves from the illusion of being indispensable, we free ourselves to truly give, to be present without the burden of fear. And in doing so, we can experience life more fully, savoring the present, doing our best, and trusting that the future—whether we are here or not—will take care of itself.

Ultimately, life is not about how many people need us. It’s about how we show up in the moments we’re given. It’s about living with purpose, helping others from a place of love, and accepting that while our presence is valuable, it is not the foundation on which everything rests. Life, and the lives of those we love, will continue, shaped by their own strength, resilience, and choices.

The more we accept this, the more we can release ourselves from the weight of unnecessary guilt and pressure, and live with greater peace, joy, and fulfillment.

This truth hit me hard during an emotional moment with one of my students. Overwhelmed by the crushing weight of guilt and responsibility, he broke down in tears and said something that I will never forget: “I hate my parents. I want to die, but I can’t because I have to take care of them.” His words, born out of pain, encapsulated the internal conflict many endure—especially firstborn sons raised in traditional cultures. The idea of being bound by duty, trapped between personal desires and familial obligations, can become an unbearable burden. His confession echoed something I’ve encountered in my own life: the conflict between personal fulfillment and meeting the expectations of those who raised and shaped us.

This incident forced me to reflect deeply on my own experiences. I, too, have struggled with the weight of responsibility. I know all too well the feeling of being inadequate, knowing that no matter how hard I try, I may never completely meet my parents’ expectations. It’s a suffocating pressure, one that can turn love and respect into feelings of guilt and even resentment. But as I reflected on my student’s words, I realized that I never want my sense of responsibility to become the source of my own pain or misery. I refuse to let it destroy my inner peace or steal my joy.

Many people, unable to cope with this heavy burden, fall into a cycle of blame. They point fingers at their parents, accusing them of being the source of their misery. Some sink so deeply into this despair that they carry it with them into adulthood, growing resentful and, in extreme cases, suicidal. But I have chosen a different path. I realize now that it’s not our parents’ fault for wanting the best for us. They raised us with the hopes of giving us a better life than they had. It’s natural for parents to want to see their children succeed, but the weight of those expectations can sometimes become overwhelming.

Instead of blaming them, I choose to love and accept my parents for who they are—flawed, human, and doing their best with the tools they had. But more importantly, I recognize that I am responsible for how I interpret and carry my obligations. The burden of responsibility is not inherently destructive; it’s the way we perceive it that matters.

So, I decided to shift my mindset. Instead of telling myself, “I have to take care of my family”, “I have to work”, or “I have to care for my children”, I began telling myself “I choose to do these things”. This shift is subtle, but its impact is profound. It changes the narrative from one of obligation to one of empowerment. By reframing responsibilities as choices, we restore our agency. Instead of feeling trapped, we can embrace our roles with purpose and positivity.

This mental shift also helps us realize that the energy we put into the world shapes our experience. Negativity breeds more negativity, creating a vicious cycle of resentment and discontent. Conversely, positivity attracts more positive outcomes, reinforcing a healthier outlook on life. Life may not be a literal magnet, but our attitude certainly influences the way we navigate it. When we choose to approach our duties with a sense of agency and gratitude, the burdens don’t disappear—but they do become more manageable.

That said, I am not advocating for abandoning our responsibilities or only seeking personal happiness. True fulfillment comes from serving others, especially when we do so selflessly. What I’m suggesting is that we release ourselves from the inner pain of feeling like we’re failing if we don’t meet every expectation placed on us. The guilt we carry from not being able to fulfill every role perfectly is what often drains us.

To effectively care for others, we must first find contentment and peace within ourselves. If we are not happy, if we are consumed by guilt or weighed down by unrealistic expectations, we can’t give our best to those who depend on us. Instead of agonizing over what might happen without us or worrying about falling short, we need to focus on taking meaningful action. Worry is an endless loop—it doesn’t solve problems. Only action can lead to real change.

For me, this journey has led to one of my hardest realizations: accepting that the things I hold most dear, like Hwa Rang Do, will exist and continue without me. It’s difficult to accept that the legacy I’ve spent a lifetime building will go on after I am gone. But this realization has also brought me a sense of peace. Instead of fighting against it, I’ve chosen to embrace it. I now focus my energy on ensuring that my legacy not only survives but thrives, even in my absence.

This shift has allowed me to let go of the fear of being replaced or forgotten. It has opened the door to greater clarity, allowing me to focus on the present and to build something enduring—something that will continue to inspire and uplift others long after I am gone.

By reframing our sense of duty as a choice and freeing ourselves from guilt, we allow ourselves to serve those we love with a full and open heart. Rather than being a source of pain, our responsibilities can become a pathway to fulfillment and joy. It all starts with changing how we see the weight we carry.

In my younger years, the weight of expectations was a driving force. It fueled my ambition, pushing me to achieve, to surpass every obstacle, and to strive for greatness. The burden was heavy, but I wore it as a badge of honor, convinced that fulfilling those expectations was not only necessary but noble. At the time, it seemed that my self-worth depended on how much I could accomplish, how well I could meet the standards set by others—be it my parents, my mentors, or even society at large. I believed that the harder I pushed, the more worthy I would become.

But now, as I reach mid-life, I’ve come to realize that this same drive, which once propelled me forward, has transformed into an anchor, pulling me down into the depths of doubt, exhaustion, and disillusionment. The ambition that once filled me with purpose has, over time, turned into a constant reminder of how much further I have to go—how impossible it is to meet everyone’s expectations, including my own. The weight I once carried proudly has now become a burden, sinking me slowly like a ship taking on water.

I see clearly now that much of my unhappiness stems from clinging to these impossible expectations—those imposed on me and those I’ve imposed on myself. The constant striving to be more, to do more, to be everything for everyone has drained me of joy and left me feeling inadequate, no matter how much I achieve. It’s as if I’ve been aboard the Titanic, believing that if I just worked hard enough, I could somehow save the ship from sinking. But the truth is, no amount of effort can keep it afloat because the ship was destined to sink under the weight of those unrealistic demands.

So, I’ve made the conscious decision to cut myself free from this sinking ship. I am choosing to let go of the need for perfection, the need to meet every expectation, the need to be everything for everyone. I realize now that this constant striving, this relentless pursuit of external validation, was never going to lead me to fulfillment. Instead, it only ensured that I would keep chasing an elusive goal, always out of reach.

Now, I am beginning to build a new ship—one that isn’t weighed down by the burdens of the past, by the need to prove myself, or by the pressure to meet impossible standards. This new ship is crafted from hope, reconciliation, and acceptance. Hope for the future, not as something to be feared, but as something to embrace. Reconciliation with my own limitations, with the understanding that I am enough as I am, and that my worth isn’t tied to how much I achieve or how perfectly I fulfill others’ expectations. And most importantly, acceptance—acceptance of myself, of my journey, and of the fact that life’s true meaning isn’t found in meeting every demand placed on us, but in living authentically and with purpose.

Letting go of this burden doesn’t mean abandoning my responsibilities or giving up on striving for excellence. It means no longer allowing the weight of external pressures to define me. It means moving forward with a clearer sense of who I am and what truly matters. I now focus on building a life that reflects my values, not just the expectations of others.

This process of letting go and rebuilding isn’t easy. It requires unlearning deeply ingrained beliefs and reimagining what success and fulfillment look like. But I’m committed to this new journey—a journey where peace, love, and humility guide me, instead of fear, pressure, or the never-ending chase for approval.

I am still striving, but for something different now. I strive to live a life of meaning and connection, rooted in self-compassion and understanding. I strive to build something that isn’t just about external success, but about internal peace. This is the new ship I am crafting, and it will carry me forward—lighter, freer, and more aligned with the life I truly want to live.

And all of this became possible only when I embraced the humility to surrender to the Will of God—a humility that didn’t come easily or quickly, but one that I’ve gained through the hard-earned wisdom of half a century of struggle. Over the years, I’ve fought, resisted, and at times even rebelled against the currents of life, convinced that sheer willpower and determination alone could lead me to fulfillment. But it was only when I finally let go of the illusion of control—when I surrendered to something greater than myself—that I began to understand the deeper purpose for which I was created.

Surrendering to God’s will doesn’t mean abandoning effort or resigning oneself to fate. Rather, it is about aligning my heart, my intentions, and my actions with a higher, unshakeable Truth—a Truth that is constant, like the North Star, guiding me through the storms of life. Without this firm belief, without the foundation of Truth, it doesn’t matter how far or fast we travel, how much we strive, or how hard we push; we remain adrift in an endless ocean of uncertainty. We may expend tremendous energy and cover great distances, but without that inner compass, we are like a ship without a destination—always moving, but never arriving.

For years, I was that ship—pushing through the waves, traveling far and wide, but never finding a true port of peace. The exhaustion of trying to navigate life on my own terms, under my own limited understanding, left me weary and disillusioned. I was always reaching for something just beyond my grasp, always chasing a horizon that seemed to retreat the closer I came to it. It wasn’t until I surrendered to God’s purpose for me—until I acknowledged that His plan is far greater than my own—that I began to feel anchored and steady, no longer lost at sea.

This surrender isn’t passive; it’s an active, daily commitment to trust in the divine wisdom that orchestrates the universe. It requires faith in the unfolding of life, even when I cannot see the full picture. It requires humility to accept that I am not the master of my own destiny, but rather a vessel, guided by a purpose that transcends my own desires, ambitions, or fears. And it requires courage to let go of the need for control, to stop clinging to the familiar but futile pursuit of external validation, and instead to trust that I am being led exactly where I need to be.

Through this surrender, I have found a sense of peace that I never knew was possible. It is a peace that comes not from the absence of challenges or struggles, but from the deep, abiding knowledge that I am on the right path—that I am moving toward a destination that is meaningful, eternal, and aligned with the purpose for which I was created. And this purpose is not something I can fully understand with my limited human mind; it is something that I trust with my heart and soul.

Without this foundation of Truth, life becomes an endless chase—always striving, always seeking, but never finding. We can travel far, we can work tirelessly, and yet without that inner compass, we remain lost, adrift in a sea of confusion, endlessly searching for something we can never attain on our own. The more we strive to control the outcome, the further we drift from the peace we seek. But when we anchor ourselves in God’s will, when we allow Truth to guide us, we find that we no longer need to chase; instead, we are drawn naturally toward our true purpose.

This is the profound realization that has transformed my life. It has allowed me to stop battling the waves and instead navigate with grace, trusting in the direction I am being led. And with this trust comes a freedom I never imagined—a freedom from the weight of unrealistic expectations, a freedom from the pressure to constantly prove myself, and a freedom from the fear of failure. I no longer need to fear drifting aimlessly because I am anchored in something far greater than myself. I am anchored in God’s purpose for me, and that is where I find my peace, my direction, and my fulfillment.

With love, peace, honor, and humility,

Grandmaster Taejoon Lee

Grandmaster Taejoon Lee’s 8th Dan Speech

Posted on November 5, 2009April 20, 2021 by fernyceballos

Newly promoted, Grandmaster Taejoon Lee delivers his speech at his Hwa Rang Do 8th Dan Ceremony & Banquet.

On May 23rd, 2009 in front of over 100 friends, family and students, Taejoon Lee was promoted to 8th Dan Black Sash Grandmaster and given the title of Kuk Sa Nim.

During his speech, Grandmaster Taejoon Lee revealed the real reason for allowing his students to organize this beautiful and historic event — to honor his father, master and founder of our beautiful art of Hwa Rang Do, Supreme Grandmaster Dr. Joo Bang Lee. In a speech, which was heard from as far as a mile away, Grandmaster Taejoon Lee used the entire time he was at the podium to share on the sacrifices and courage of Dojoonim, as he ventured off into the land of opportunity, the United States of America, from his home country of Korea – to spread Hwa Rang Do and provide his family the best possible life.

As Grandmaster Lee put it, his promotion to 8th Dan Hwa Rang Do Black Sash is not his achievement, but the achievement of his master, father and teacher – Dojoonim. Grandmaster Lee humbly delivered a heartfelt, yet thunderous homage to his father, for having made everything which took place that night possible.

At the end of his speech, Grandmaster Lee called Dojoonim to the podium and to demonstrate his gratitude for all he had done for him, presented Dojoonim with a handcrafted sword, made and imported directly from Japan, with an estimated market value of over $10,000. The construction of the sword included an beautiful handle made of gold, brass and stingray skin. The steel blade was forged completely by hand benefiting from Japan’s centuries of rich tradition, science and art of sword making.

Earlier in the evening, Dojoonim declared and announced to the world that Grandmaster Taejoon Lee in 20 years or at the time of Dojoonim’s passing, would become Supreme Grandmaster Taejoon Lee and 59th generation “owner of the way”, and pass the secret combat skills of the ancient Hwarang Warriors for yet another generation.

All whom were present, were in awe of this magical and powerful declaration, for it ensures the preservation of our ancient traditions, martial art and history. We thank you for sharing this very special night with us. It will never be forgotten!

Visit the official Grandmaster Taejoon Lee 8th Dan Page featuring the documentary, “Inside the 1st Family of Hwa Rang Do & the Life of Grandmaster Taejoon Lee”.

The entire Grandmaster Taejoon Lee’s speech in text form:

Thank you Dojoonim.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, students, parents, and fellow Hwarang Warriors. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your attendance and your support for making this event possible.

Before I begin, I would like to take this time to recognize the members of the 8^th Dan Banquet Committee for their hard work and selfless contributions in making this event a reality.

Tony Diaz for the video presentation, which he has spent countless hours in reviewing over a terabyte of videos and pictures to extrapolate an eloquent yet powerful summation of the Hwa Rang Do family and my journey.

Fernando Ceballos and Raymond Fong for implementing an effective online campaign to organize and raise the funding necessary to make this evening a great success.

Rick Robbins for designing the classic look and feel of our online campaign.

Daniel Gonzalez for designing all the graphic elements that went into the publishing of tonight’s event.

Glenn Mantel for making it possible for me to present to you a small, yet poignant gift in the way of the danbong.

Reynaldo Macias for accepting the daunting task of being tonight’s master of ceremony and for doing a fantastic job.

Antonio Goodwin for connecting us with one of the top DJ’s in the country, Mr. Quick, whom you will witness in a short while.

My Brother-in-law Danny Kim for providing the video projector.

Joey Klein for organizing all the people involved to work together harmoniously in making the planning process as smooth and flawless as possible as their team leader.

And, of course, my sister, Dr. Janet Lee for designing and creating the center pieces as well as coordinating this beautiful setting we are all graced with. And to my sister Stacie Lee for being the handy helper to both mother and Dr. Lee.

The last couple of months have been quite interesting to say the least. I was first approached by Dojoonim over a year ago, when he invited me to test for my 8^th dan. At that time, I humbly declined as I thought like a bottle of fine wine, I could wait a couple more years so that I can age properly.

I have never been interested in acquiring higher dans as most other martial artists I have witnessed. The way I see it, rank is something that the master offers his student as a gift when the student is ready to carry the responsibilities of such title and rank. And, it has always been my philosophy that One Hwarang Should Conquer a Thousand, so no matter the rank, as a Hwarang we must always be prepared to accept whatever the challenge, however great or small. However, this spring marked the 100^th Black Sash Examination and I could not pass up such important benchmark in our history.

There is so much I would like to share with you; it would take the breadth of this entire memorial day weekend and then some to fully express all the feelings, thoughts, and reflections I have had in these trying months. However, I know Mr. Quick is waiting anxiously to get the groove on and I am sure you are as well. So, I shall attempt to tell you about what is most important, most valuable, “The Ideal of One.”

You are all here tonight thinking that you are honoring me. Well, if so then my “head fake” worked. As the late Randy Paush, a professor at Carnegie Mellon, dying of pancreatic cancer says in his last lecture which he gave in front of all his students and colleagues, that the greatest lessons are learned indirectly and he finishes his lecture by telling everyone that the lecture was not for you, but it’s for my children. So, I say to you, this banquet is not for me, it is for my father, my mentor, my master.

My trials, my accomplishments are nothing. My hardships, my sufferings, I have none.

All I am and have done dwindles in comparison to my master. My journey is smooth sailing in flat waters compared to my master’s journey through a tempest.

He was born the fourth son of siblings of 7 children.

He started his training at the young age of 4.

He trained in the mountains of North Korea under the strict guidance of his master Suahm Dosa, a hermit monk.

He escaped the communist regime of the dictator Kim Il Sung during the Korean War.

He survived through impoverished, war-torn conditions during the Korean war.

He left home to work and help support the family at 16 years old.

He systemized the knowledge passed to him by his master into a modern martial art system, introducing it to the public for the first time in 1960 in Seoul, Korea.

He had the first post-war nationally televised martial art expo in the largest and only sports stadium in Korea, Jang Chung Chae Yuk Kwan.

He met with Korea’s former president, Park Jung Hee, and was given the responsibility to create one unified Korean martial art.

He attempted twice to form the all Korean Unified Martial Art System, which was dismantled both times. In the process, he aided in the development of Kuk Sool Won, and Hapkido.

He bumped heads with the former KCIA director and won his allegiance.

He protected his community in Seoul against the rampant bullying by unruly thugs.

He created the Korean Hwa Rang Do Association and opened 28 schools in Seoul alone.

He single handedly was responsible in bringing over all of the members of his immediate family to the United States which consisted of his parents, 2 sisters, 1 brother-in-law, 3 brothers, 2 sister-in-laws, 3 nieces, 4 nephews, 2 daughters, 2 sons, and his wife.

He has revived the Hwarang Knights and brought their significance to the modern consciousness and to the minds of all martial art practitioners today.

He has authored three books and co-authored three more.

He was instrumental in elevating the hand-to-hand combatives of the Elite US armed Forces through mentoring and cultivating the former head instructor of the Special Forces Green Beret, the late Michael Echanis.

He secured the name Hwa Rang Do and all of its intellectual property by acquiring the first trademark for a martial art and copyrighted all of it’s curriculum for the first time in history.

Without him, the world would have known of the Hwarang, only as a group of flower boys who rode on horseback and shot arrows, diminished as an archaic cultural side note on tour guidebooks of Korea.

I have yet to mention of his physical prowess and accomplishments.

He was the first to rotate 540 degrees in the air, striking a target 10 feet in the air with his foot.

He was the first martial artist to be aired on the ABC’s TV show “That’s Incredible.”

He has had cars and trucks run over his stomach.

He has had thousands of pounds of rock slabs smashed over his body with sledge hammers.

He is the first and last with only me coming close to have successfully completed a 5 directional cut of watermelons held against the naked stomachs of his students, while blind-folded.

He has taken down a bull with one blow.

And in the deep recesses of his mind, training under his master, he has fought against tigers.

There’s a saying in Korea that when you live long enough, you shall endure all of its pain.

As my father has been a witness to my journey, so too I have witnessed, fortunately or not, much of the hardships and heartaches that my master had to endure throughout his teaching career.

If I have taught thousands of students, then he has taught tens of thousands of students. And, although the reward of seeing a person blossom, transform, and become the potential they all possess is priceless, it takes 1000 disappointments for one moment of satisfaction.

Above all, we as Hwarang cherish and hold in the highest regard, the virtue of loyalty. If I have faced countless betrayals, then my master has faced too many for words to do justice.

I have seen my father take in students from the streets in their teens and raised them as his own children, with my mother feeding and nurturing them with kindness and love. To the point where at times, I felt jealous as my father has always been the strictest with me. Only to have them grow into manhood, acquire a taste for power yet short on wisdom, and claim their superiority. To the unfathomable extent, where Dojoonim had to witness one of his students, whom he took in without question, once again treating him like his own son, in front of his face say, “With all of my vast knowledge of Korean Martial Arts, I have created Hwa Rang Do and all of it’s curriculum.” And, this all done after being sworn in under the name of God.

I have known of a Buddhist Monk, who calls himself the Mop. When I asked him, Why do you call yourself the mop?” He replied, “Because like a mop I clean all things, yet like a mop I am always dirty.”

Unlike most teachers, we parent. When teaching your children, just teaching is not enough. You must make sure they learn the lesson. And even though you have been scarred, dirtied from past disappointments, you must once again teach with conviction and love, for as children they can feel you more than they can hear you. And, even when you are at the brink of disillusionment in people, you must believe in them even when they do not believe in themselves.

To be truthful, formal classes with Dojoonim for me, I can count with my fingers.

It’s the lessons I have learned in observing him as a teacher, a father, a husband, a man, which are most profound and have taught me the most.

Most of what I have been witnessed to are heartaches, pain and sorrow.

I have never seen him adorned with great gifts from his students; I cannot remember when was the last time one of his instructors treated him to a fine meal; I have never seen him take a vacation or his masters treat him to one; and I am just as guilty.

Most of what I have seen has been painful. I have heard student’s complaints and resentments of my master, which only showed me their lack of understanding, compassion, and only revealed their self-entitled nature.

However, even after witnessing all of his trials and hardships, I was inspired to be like him. He was my mountain, he was the one.

The one person, who have committed his entire life to one thing, to one love, to one passion.

Whenever, I felt it was all too much, all too painful, when my heart lay wasted in pieces; all I needed to do was to think of my father, my master as he lived twice as long, and taught as twice as much, and have endured twice as much; I could not complain, but only admire.

It is this I am an heir to. No raise in salary, no fortune, just more mopping.

The lessons I have learned from him are too many to tell in one sitting. It will take a lifetime. So, I shall share with you all that I have learned from my master, if you will share your life with mine.

And we shall mop the world together as one, to hopefully instill the power of one; to believe in the self as all great things started from one person, then when all the people are self-empowered, then hopefully we can all live together as one in peace, in harmony.

There are too many people for me to thank. So before I close, I would like to recognize few of the people who are in attendance tonight who have made an impact in my life as well as made great sacrifices to be present.

Sensei Taro Ariga for having an open mind, helping me to realize my vision of a new weapon fighting method.

Master Fariborz Azhakh, whom I have known for over 25 years, for his guidance in keeping my dojang open and for helping me to revamp our organizational management.

Dr. Mark Cheng, whom I have known for 20 years, for being a great brother and for keeping me in the minds of all martial artists.

Jokyo Victor Garcia, whom I’ve known for over 25 years, for never giving up as I have challenged him to start over again, which for him at this point in his life is like climbing Everest for the second time in his 50s.

Susuk Sabum Dylan Sirny for accepting me as his grandfather and for being my proof that we are on the right course.

Susuk Sabum Scott MacKnight, whom I have also known for over 25 years, for his undying loyalty to me when I was a child and now hopefully a man.

Colonel Richard Downie, whom I have also known for over 25 years, for his dedication to his country and never forgetting the Hwarang Spirit.

My sisters, Dr. Janet Lee and Stacie Lee, for their unconditional love and support.

And, mostly, to my mother as she is my teacher of compassion and forgiveness. I love you too mom.

Also, to all my students for believing in me and always challenging me to be a better teacher.

My father has said, that warriors do not retire, we die!

Although, I am most honored and privileged to be the heir to Hwa Rang Do, I must endure the greatest loss in order to claim it.

I will promise in front of all attending witnesses, that I shall do my best to secure Hwa Rang Do for the next generation, not only preserving my master’s life’s work, but fulfilling his vision.

I will accept once again his challenge which he has set forth for me to be second, but making second remembered as much or more as the first.

… or die trying.

Dae Dan He Kap Sa Hap Ni Da.

Dojoonim, Abonim…

The Hwa Rang Do Angola Experiment – In Angola’s “City of Trash”

Posted on October 19, 2009April 20, 2021 by fernyceballos

If you were to do a Google search for “Lixeira, Luanda” you won’t find much. The only helpful search result is a picture on TravelPod.com. This picture shows a child, sifting through a garbage dump, which in reality, tells you everything you need to know – this is Lixeira.

Lixeira is a city within the province of Luanda in the African nation of Angola, which is built entirely on top of a garbage dump. The poorest of the poor in the world live here with the trash surrounding them being the source for supplies, tools, food and regrettably, even water.

“My first striking impact with this place was the sight of thousands of slums where some 500,000 people lived surrounded by tons of rubbish scattered all over the place. Many of these inhabitants lived in a condition of malnutrition and sickness”.
– Davide Pizzo (TSD Brown Belt)

“The conditions of the place for the mission are disastrous, no kind of hygiene, rubbish everywhere, rust, open air sewer, streams of dirt and piles of garbage that people burned, which released a thick smell so bad that, for the 21 days there, I couldn’t see clearly the sun or the moon.”
– Emanuele Veluti (TSD Half Black Belt)

Lixeira and the surrounding regions along with being one of the most impoverished places in the world, is also one of the most dangerous, where only missionaries (with approval from the government) are allowed to stay and work. Even then, with no assurances for their safety, several missionaries have recently been murdered while performing their humanitarian works.

It is here that 4 brave men and women from the Hwa Rang Do Italian branch have traveled to teach the children of Lixeira, the ancient korean martial art of Hwa Rang Do – with the goals of the mission being to teach the life skills of unity, motivation, strength, and self-awareness through the practice of Hwa Rang Do and otherwise provide the experience of a lifetime to children in a part of the world which is forgotten and void of any future worth looking forward to.

“I think it’s vitally important to teach these children a behavior based on moral values. The alternative to their current condition is to get involved with other youngsters addicted to sniffing petrol or starch, or burglary.

“The primary purpose of our mission is to give these children a chance to choose their own future; to grow and improve their lives, in spite of the fact that they were born in Lixeria. Otherwise, they have no other prospective but end up in one of the local criminal bands.”
– Davide Pizzo (TSD Brown Belt)

Chief Instructor Marco Matiucci, head of the Italian Hwa Rang Do branch, had the difficult tasks of selecting 4 of his students to take part in this mission (they had many more volunteers for the mission than they could send). Instr. Matiucci had to grapple with the very serious possibility that the students he selected could be robbed, assaulted, kidnapped or even killed. With that in mind, the criterion used to select the students was for lack of better wording, “who would be missed the least?” – meaning:

Are they an only child? Do they have kids? How big is their family? Does their family depend on the person financially? Are they married? Do they have a girlfriend/boyfriend?

… the unthinkable questions had to be asked in order to make the selection for the mission.

The brave volunteers chosen were Laura Della Mora (TSD Yellow Belt), Emanuele Veluti (TSD Brown Belt), Maria Luisa Medelin (HRD Blue Sash & HRD Team Leader), and Davide Pizzo (TSD Brown Belt), while being led by General Italo Governatori (General of the Italian Military Police Force, close friend of Instr. Matiucci and President of “Lumbe Lumbe).

Lumbe Lumbe is a non-profit organization based out of Italy, devoted to helping the poorest people in Brazil, Mozambique and Angola create businesses, and schools for children in the most impoverished areas of these countries. In Angola, they work directly with Salessiani, an international Catholic organization for African missions.

“I was deeply impressed with the work done by the Salessiani missionaries; over the course of 30 years, they succeeded to create 18 youth centers in the district of Lixeria that take care of 50,000 children. These children are taught the rudiments of the alphabet, practice sport and are prepared professionally. They have a future ahead and it’s all due to the hard daily work and sacrifices of the missionaries. The friars never show signs of tiredness and they possess a strong spiritual force within them. Their reward, they say, is donating themselves to others.”
– Davide Pizzo (TSD Brown Belt)

Lumbe Lumbe prepares 2 to 3 Italian teams per year to go to Angola to help the Salesiani teach children and help their families become more independent. Initially, Lumbe Lumbe was hesitant about the possibility of teaching Hwa Rang Do and Tae Soo Do (Sport version of HRD) in Angola, but after witnessing the professionalism, dedication and self-discipline of Italy’s Hwa Rang Do instructors, they saw the incredible value they could bring to the people of Lixeira.

“People can be poor, but it doesn’t mean they don’t have rich thinking!”
–Laura Della Moral (TSD Yellow Belt)

All members of the Hwa Rang Do team paid for all travel expenses themselves, including $1500 for each individual plane ticket with Ethiopia Airlines. They also each had to purchase insurance, in the event of injury or death. Lumbe Lumbe aided with the slew of vaccinations, organization of the trip and over 4 weeks of emergency courses to psychologically prepare the team in the areas of terrorism, psychological resistance to extreme situations, and how to move and act within Angola.

The responsibilities for the team were as follows:

The team-leader (Maria Luisa) will manage the Hwa Rang Do & Tae Soo Do lessons and the relationships with the local people (formal, legal and practical).
The rest of the team will help the team leader in everything she needs, from lessons to their ultimate safe return to Italy.
The mission is a personal engagement for all participants with the people of Lixeira, not just through the HRD/TSD activity. (Participants are aware of the serious problems they will face in doing so.)

The general plan for the “Angolan Experiment” was:

Arrive in Luanda and contact the Salesiani (missionaries)
Official contact with the Italian Diplomatic Corp in Angola.
Official contact with the religious leaders in Angola
Official contact with other voluntary organizations in Angola, including a local Capoeira organization.
Make contact with the local people, local leaders and access any potential issues or problems

Proceed with Hwa Rang Do/Tae Soo Do activities and instruction:

The team leader will work together with the Salesiani to find a location for lessons, to schedule the lessons and recruit/encourage local children to attend.
Organize meetings and joint activities with the local Capoeira organization and discuss other possibilities for the future.
Each HRD/TSD lesson is expected to be 50 – 100 students, with multiple lessons throughout the day to serve as many children as possible.
Towards the end of the 3 weeks, organize a party and martial arts demonstration for the town.
Safely return to Italy

The team travelled to Angola for 3 weeks for their mission, which began on August 1^st, 2009 …

“Before departing I had inquired about Angola, on its history, on Luanda and on the specific district where we would spend the three weeks, but to imagine is however far from what one lives, for sure all this has prepared me, but the initial impact was strong and I believe that I would not have been able to avoid it. The traffic, the confusion, the crowd of people that floods the roads, the smog, the garbage, the intrusive odors, the dust, the being submitted to the looks of all for the color of your skin, the danger, the fear, the smiles, the handshakes, the embraces, the heat, the joy, the poverty, the wealth. All comes out together.”
– Maria Luisa Medelin (Team Leader – HRD Blue Sash)

During this time, there was limited communication being sent via email, including pictures to Lumbe Lumbe, Hwa Rang Do Italy and Chief Instr. Marco Matiucci.

As you can imagine, with limited communication, the Hwa Rang Do leadership worried and hoped that as every step in the plan was implemented, it was done with safety & security being the #1 priority.

As their mission moved forward during the 2^nd week, we received this email from Chief Instr. Marco Matiucci:

“I have to admit that in these days I’m a little bit worried for the Angola team because they just told me that they have started the activity outside of the protected area (that is, outside of the area managed by the Catholic missionaries). There are a lot of people who are armed around them and a lot of “children-hunters” (local people that kill or kidnap children to use them for experiments or other evil intentions).

“As part of their mission to engage the local residents, our team is playing with the children, inviting them to wash and clean, cut their hair (Emanuele is a professional hairdresser), but most importantly, motivate them and teach them self-respect and self-awareness according to HRD/TSD teaching (principles and techniques). Children-hunters are often justified for their nasty work by authorities and corrupt government officials because the children are dirty and uncontrolled. So these kidnappings are allowed as a way to remove a “problem” for the society…

“Because of that, the activity of our Angola team creates a real problem for both for these corrupt officials and for the children-hunters.

“This makes me worry.

“I told them to be carefully in motivating too much, everything has to be done carefully otherwise we may have political/criminal problems or worse.

“As a result of this communication, the World Hwa Rang Do Association refrained from publishing this article or attracting any publicity to the self-less efforts of the Hwa Rang Do & Lumbe Lumbe Angola team, until they had safely returned to Italy.”

“In Angola all, big and small, they intensely live every instant, as if that moment were the last, as if tomorrow didn’t exist.

“The situation of the women is almost disastrous, they are not considered, they are used, they have 4-5 children and they are alone; husbands go away, so women are forced to maintain the family by themselves, working the whole day, but yet they sing and continually smile. Children play for road barefoot, among mountains of garbage, with balls deflated or made of cloths, or on abandoned and rusted cars, risking every time to hurt themselves, to become infected, if not worse to die…

“But yet they always smile too.”
– Maria Luisa Medelin (Team Leader – HRD Blue Sash)

On August 24^th, at 6am all 4 HRD team members and General Italo Governatori flew into Italy and were greeted by a group of Hwa Rang Do students from the various Italian schools & clubs to welcome them with smiles, hugs and kisses.

Everyone, including Hwa Rang Do Italy, Lumbe Lumbe and the humanitarian organizations in Angola are grateful for the successful completion of the mission and for the safe return of everyone involved.

It is with great pride that we salute our Hwa Rang Do & Tae Soo Do brothers and sisters for their selfless dedication to humanity and in helping the weakest, poorest and most desperate of our kind in the absolute worst conditions, when even their own country is not willing to care for them…

“Three weeks have been full of new difficulties, challenges of management; as team leader I felt the responsibility for my companions, my “brothers”, and I could not think only about myself, even if I was in a new and different environment; I had to check everything, every move, perceive all the states of mind…

“One day they brought us in visit for the city, and I discovered that Luanda has rich districts, skyscrapers, plasma screens, commercial centers, places and villas with swimming pools… but these areas are usually only frequented by the few rich Angolan people and by the many foreigners that work there.

“Many questions flashed in my head. How is it possible that this happens?!…

“I saw that next to these places (almost exclusively frequented by white people) around many corners there is someone who dies on the road or some orphan boy who survives by washing cars. Boys with long hair, unable to afford a haircut, are persecuted by police because of their appearance.

“My mind raced with many thoughs… “why?… why?…” and the anger was the emotion that invaded me.

“I have told in the beginning, “confusion and contradiction”: these are the memories of my trip, because I can’t understand how all is possible. I would want to change this all, I would want to help, to do the best I can, but I feel impotent. I came with the idea to help in every way I can, prepared to work as physiotherapist, if there had been the opportunity and to teach Tae Soo Do everyday, all day.

“The experience of the teaching has been exciting: at the beginning I felt some fear, I didn’t know the language well, how to explain and what to say, but in the end it has been simple… it was enough to DO!
–Maria Luisa Medelin (Team Leader – HRD Blue Sash)

This mission marks the beginning of a broader mission by the World Hwa Rang Do Association to bring the gift of self-empowerment to all, as it has done for so many of Hwa Rang Do & Tae Soo Do students worldwide.

As the rest of the industry focuses on providing entertainment via pay-per-view spectacles, Hwa Rang Do has remained steadfast in its commitment – to empower humanity via the principles, teaching and practice of its martial discipline. This trip and the incredible experiences, which you are reading excerpts from, are the epitome of what Hwa Rang Do as an organization is striving to do…

“One evening I went out with Father Roberto, a 75 years old “Hwarang” (to whom I gave the official Hwa Rang Do T-shirt) who walked his path without looking back, straight to his purpose with a strength, an empathy and a sensibility that spoke to me many times (I immediately had an admiration to him – I like people who speak few and do a lot). With him I went, in the night, through a big market called “roche” (large about 10 km).

“I admit that my attention to dangers was very high (obviously, for the influence of the practice of Hwa Rang Do, which pushes me in paying attention to the details of the places where I go): there where fires everywhere, people running, loud music, children screaming.

“After a long walk we reached the destination, that was a “caisa de rua”, a house dedicated to hosting the “crianca de rua” (homeless children). In that place children can find water to clean themselves and a roof under which they can stay and, if they do good actions, they earn credits they can use (at the end of the year at the Don Bosco party) to get clothes or other useful things to survive.

“Father Roberto asked me, knowing my profession, if I wanted to cut the hair of the kids.

“Obviously my task was easy to be done, I’ve done it for many years, it’s what I’ve seen since I was very young and it’s what represent me. So I said to him “no problem” and I started working.

“One, two, three… I started cutting hair one after another; everybody smiled to me, they introduced themselves, they were happy, we laughed together about the styles of cutting: they have impressive eyes, true warrior eyes.

“I started being hungry, I was hungry, hungry to cut as much as possible because I wanted to make them all happy, give them my best. This motivated me, so I kept on without stopping, without fear, I could accomplish it, I could make all of them happy!

“After some time the tools I was using (with battery) ended the charge and stopped supporting me, it didn’t have any more energy for me. I started sweating, being afraid, “what can I say to the others?”, but I had to do it, I could do it, “let’s go! Find a solution!” Electricity is what we needed, but in vain I looked for a cable to get the energy, we were in the dark with some portable lights only. My instruments were abandoning me.

“Then I thought I had a shaving blade with me, “good!” So I kept on doing my job… problem solved. One, two, three… but then the blade became dull, it didn’t cut anymore, again another problem; I looked madly in my bag for another one, but nothing more to use in there… “but, it has to be here, I remember I brought it, where is it?… I can’t find it…”, I couldn’t go on… I didn’t have any more tools to continue, I ran out of ideas, I felt hopeless…

“Through the desperation of the moments passing by, the stream of painful emotions ripped through me, many thoughts about what I did wrong and I could do, about having to accept the loss, I started to cry thinking I couldn’t finish what I began, I had failed, I couldn’t help everybody with the few I knew.

“So father Roberto got close to me and, understanding my state, put his hand on my shoulder, as my father does, as Kyo Sa Nim does, and said to me: “Don’t worry, come on! Be strong!”.

“It’s a simple action of love that only people like him give me that way. A love that rarely is given to me, an action that represent so much for me.

“Then we came back home and obviously the journey back, always between fires an screams of the roche (market), created a suggestive atmosphere; it seemed like we were coming up from hell…

“So, the day after I went to an oratory, the same oratory full of kids running, pushing each other, screaming, jumping on you, kids who eat you alive to get you attentions.

“But it was a different day, there were A LOT of kids and the entertainment of the oratory for them didn’t start yet. On one side there was some sand and some children playing on it, I couldn’t sit down, I love grappling: so I got nearer and I started wrestling with them and as they knew of me, they all came to me and wrestle all together! I started throwing them one after the other, soft as the hand on my shoulder that gave me relief days before.

“During that play, casually I called a kid “cicciottello” (= “fat”, said in a nice and funny way) and he immediately repeated it in perfect Italian language; of course I was astonished of that and so I thought: “come on, try and give them what you adore..” and so I said to them “Tae Soo Do!” and they repeated it perfectly… “Hwa Rang Do!” and they all did, perfectly again and it’s easy to understand my feeling in that moment, because I know people who still can’t pronounce it.

“So I gave a punch and they copied perfectly… “ok, the moment has come, I can try…”

“I told to all the children to follow me on the line of the soccer field and with those 20 kids, avoiding any possible formation (because to wanted to stay close to me), I started walking from one side to the other yelling “Tae Soo Do – Hwa Rang Do”, giving punches (like in the warm up), and since they were 20, they became 30, 40, then 50!! We were so many and all yelling that we covered almost all the soccer field and at every scream I had shivers through my back-spine, my voice was one with the childrens’ voice and my heart was exploding.

I was feeling again the sensation of “giving myself”.

I looked to my friend Davide (adventure fellow) and he was almost crying; later he told me that he felt moved by me and all the children and I answered that he couldn’t even imagine what was flowing in my blood in that moment and that I wished for him to feel the same.

– Emanuele Veluti (TSD Half Black Belt)

There are many wonderful humanitarian groups who bring much needed aid in the form of food, medical care, clothing, schools and other forms of relief to places like Angola.

In an effort to build on top of the essentials for life provided by people like Father Roberto and other humanitarian organizations, Hwa Rang Do’s mission is to bring transformation to these regions and other areas of the world, beginning with the development of the self, by first instilling confidence, awareness and development of the individual. This in turn empowers families, groups, organization, entire countries and ultimately, the world.

As Grandmaster Taejoon Lee stated during his speech at his 8^th Dan ceremony:

“The lessons I have learned from him [Dojoonim] are too many to tell in one sitting. It will take a lifetime. So, I shall share with you all that I have learned from my master, if you will share your life with mine. And we shall mop the world together as one, to hopefully instill the power of one; to believe in the self as all great things started from one person, then when all the people are self-empowered, then hopefully we can all live together as one in peace, in harmony.”

Giving Thanks

Posted on October 7, 2009April 20, 2021 by taejoonlee

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

Things I am thankful for – Thanksgiving as an Umyangian:

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

Inside the Black Sash Conference 2009

Posted on September 28, 2009April 20, 2021 by fernyceballos

During our annual Hwa Rang do Black Sash Conference (held this year from July 24 through August 1st, 2009), Black Sashes (1st Dan & Above) from across the globe, gather at the West Coast Headquarters in Los Angeles, CA USA for rigorous training of the mind, body and spirit, led by founder Dr. Joo Bang Lee and his eldest son, Grandmaster Taejoon Lee.

Throughout the conference a great deal of knowledge is passed down to these Hwarang Knights from the more than 4,000 techniques available through Hwa Rang Do. In addition to the physical, a great deal of time is devoted to the personal growth of our Black Sashes and that of their own students, in their respective home states and countries.

The pictures in this slide show were taken during these 10 days of private training with the founder, Dr. Joo Bang Lee and Grandmaster Taejoon Lee. The quotations were quietly recorded in a notebook by one of the Black Sashes attending from Italy, during the conference and later shared with all other Black Sashes, as a philosophical summary of her experience.

We would now like to share these quotes from Dr. Joo Bang Lee and Grandmaster Taejoon Lee with you…

End-Dependancy (Five Stones)

Posted on September 16, 2009April 20, 2021 by admin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How insane is that?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Sure,” the parent replies.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on March 1, 2003April 20, 2021 by taejoonlee

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

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

History

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

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

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

Construction

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

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

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

Application

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Extrapolation

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

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

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

Aerial Kicking (Martial Arts Combat Sports – May 2002)

Posted on May 1, 2002April 20, 2021 by taejoonlee

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Black Belt Magazine – July 2001

Posted on July 1, 2001April 20, 2021 by taejoonlee

Taejoon Lee
Hwa Rang Do®’s Golden Child
Prepares to Lead the Korean Art into the New Millennium
(Black Belt Magazine – July 2001)
By Hyung-Min Jung

The conflict between traditional values and modern living is an issue in many cultures these days. The martial arts have also become a battlefield for this conflict, with many practitioners wondering whether to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors or tread a new path. In an era when old-fashioned values are increasingly falling by the wayside, there are exceptional few who manage to retain the strength of the old ways while improving, growing and adapting with modern society. Taejoon Lee, chief master of the World Hwa Rang Do® Association, is one of them.

Personal History
The eldest son of Lee Joo-bang, the supreme grandmaster of the World Hwa Rang Do Association, Taejoon Lee has seen both sides of the tradition-vs.-modernization and has constructed a path for his students to follow. Born in Seoul, South Korea, and raised under the strict eye of his father, Lee under went an often painful forging process in his early years. “Children have life a little too easy these days,” says the seventh-degree, “Go talk to older people. Most of them went through things that would be considered child abuse by modern standards, yet the vast majority of them didn’t exhibit the kind of disturbing behavior we see so commonly in today’s youth, like breaking into their father’s gun cabinet shooting their schoolmates.”

Once when Lee was 4, he threw a temper tantrum in front of his parents. His father left him on the rooftop of their building in the freezing snow barefoot and in his underwear in the middle of the Korean winter until he realized the impropriety of his manner. “Doing that is illegal these days,” he says. “You’d be thrown in jail in a heartbeat, and your kids would be put in protective custody. In Korea, we called that discipline.” For most the story would end there, but that’s not all. The real clincher is: After sometime has passed, Lee’s father tells the mother to go let him in. When his mother approaches and tells Lee his father has given him permission to come in, Lee refuses and defiantly remains in the snow.

The opponent (left) controls Taejoon Lee with a head lock (1). Lee activates a pressure point behind theopponent’s right knee to prevent him from stepping backward, then slides to his left so he can position his right arm for the escape (2). Lee scrapes his ridge hand and forearm across the opponent’s face as he arches his back and neck, thus loosening the head lock (3). The hwa rang do expert continues to bridge backward as he wraps his right arm around the other man’s neck and cranks it (4). Lee continues to roll the opponent and pull him off-balance as he steps forward with his right leg (5). To finish, Lee drops to one knee and tightens his hold on the opponent’s neck and hair (6).

Through daily mental training like the aforementioned experience, Lee grew and learned within the Hwarang warrior tradition. “People, especially in the United States, think of discipline as a form of punishment,” he says. “It’s seen as an impairment of freedom, limiting the free expression of another human being. To the followers of the Hwarang tradition, we understand that without strong discipline accompanied by effective consequences, a human being cannot grow to full potential. The discipline and forging we undergo in our youth gives foundation on which to really grow mentally, physically and spiritually.

Yet there’s a caveat to those would misinterpret what Lee is saying. “Discipline isn’t punishment,” he cautions. “Discipline should come from love. Punishment comes from hatred. Children have to be guided with care and love, not with an abusive heart.”

The freedom Lee speaks of can be seen in everything from his beautiful West Los Angeles dojang (training hall) to the effortlessness with which he takes flight to kick. The spacious hall that houses Lee and his students offers the best in modern training equipment, complete with polished equipment, hardwood floors, comfortable mats, stereo sound and computerized attendance and bookkeeping systems. Yet there are reminders of traditional virtue all around in the shape of beautifully carved, wooden Chinese characters representing the qualities of perfect conduct as written by his father: humanity, justice, courtesy, wisdom, trust, goodness, virtue, loyalty and courage. Under the junior Lee’s strict guidance, such a training environment gives students the foundation on which to build their mind and body.

The physical discipline of Hwa Rang Do is another aspect of Taejoon Lee’s expertise. Speaking of the spectacular kicks for which his art is renowned, he says “A lot of people look at a kicking demonstration and talk about how much they want to learn that. But when it comes time to really practice, really train, really sweat push hard, their hearts might not be into it. Physical excellence isn’t something a credit card can buy. It’s one of the best B.S. detectors you can find. Someone who really works hard, really puts in the effort will be superior.”

In Hwa Rang Do, kicks abound, and the degree of difficulty is often underestimated by novices. “New students love to see advanced students practicing the aerial and spinning kicks, often trying to imitate them,” Lee says. “But the discipline it takes to stay focused on really perfecting the basic kicks and develop the leg power from stance work can seem boring to novices. That’s when I have to explain to them that every hour they put their whole effort into perfecting the kicks and stances will make it easier to learn the more difficult techniques later on.”

“When students can postpone that urge for immediate gratification and focus on the task at hand, they’ll be successful in anything they do because they’ve learned what real persistence and diligence are about,” Lee continues. “These are people who push themselves to greatness—the self-starters that every company wants to hire.”

Taejoon Lee (left) readies himself for the opponent’s attack (1). The opponent charges and attempts to tackle the hwarang do stylist (2), but he intercepts the motion by wrapping his left arm around the opponent’s right arm and pushing his own right arm down as if to effect a guillotine choke (3). Lee then switches course and locks a figure-4 hold on the other man’s right arm (4). By placing pressure on the opponent’s triceps, Lee forces him down as he tightens the shoulder lock (5). Next, Lee drops to his right knee while maintaining pressure on the shoulder (6). He completes the defense by moving to the opponent’s back and immobilizing him (7).

Evolution
Hwa Rang Do’s techniques are not limited to just kicks, however. The system to which Lee’s family is heir is perhaps Korea’s most comprehensive martial art. Throws, locks, strikes and more than 108 weapons comprise the arsenal of modern hwa rang do warriors. Ancient techniques that have been handed down for thousands of years give students a distinct advantage on the street, but don’t think for a moment that the art hasn’t evolved over time.

“When the kingdoms of Baekche (18 B.C.-A.D. 668) and Silla (57 B.C.-A.D. B.C.-A.D. 668) were at war, firearms weren’t a major part of the equation like they are now,” Lee says. “But Hwa Rang Do has grown to meet the needs of every era. We now have gun disarms, weapon retention techniques and strategic shooting principles for the military and police courses we teach. “The base concepts on which the system was founded allow you to interpolate the proper attack or defense in any situation, regardless of which era you’re in,” he continues. “Koreans have been invaded more than any other country in Asia, but our culture and our ways have survived. We didn’t get that way by not being able to adapt.”

In the same way his art has evolved, so has Lee. When he arrived in America at age 9, he took the English name of Henry. While still young Henry Lee was known in martial arts circles as a child prodigy. He attended the University of Southern California and pioneered the Intercollegiate Hwa Rang Do Society (ICHRDS) during his undergraduate career. During those years, he ran as President of ICHRDS (which governed seven HRD university clubs: USC, UCLA, UCI, UCR, UCSD, CSLB, ASU) for over ten years, he managed to divide time between teaching at several campuses, running his own school, managing the international headquarters dojang and full-time academics—thus maintaining a delicate balance between the demands of Korean tradition and American college life. After he graduated, he made the difficult decision to abandon his pursuit of law and follow in the footsteps of his father, inheriting the family business with all the trials and tribulations inherent in a martial arts dynasty.

“Because he’s so completely focused on the development and maintenance of his art, my father let a lot of things go in his early years here in the United States,” Lee says. “His students would ask him questions about the history or lineage of Hwa Rang Do, and then they’d write articles on what they heard from him. Unfortunately, there were some inaccuracies that piled over time due to the language barrier, and my father didn’t really make an effort to put the situation in check.”

“When I made the decision to devote my life to Hwa Rang Do full-time, I questioned him about everything I wasn’t 100-percent sure about. But my father’s answers as well as through my personal research made complete sense to me, and now with the help of a bilingual individuals such as myself, we’re setting the historical straight for the public, and we’ll let the scholars verify it all.”

Future
Now Lee’s life is geared toward propagating his father’s art and continually bettering himself in preparation for the mantle he will wear one day as the Supreme Grandmaster of Hwa Rang Do. “All the happenings of the past few years have given me time to really digest what my place in this world is,” he says. “I am my father’s eldest child, the one who will support him and his art to my last breath because I see the greatness that he is and because I understand the truth that he speaks.”
“I made a conscious choice to accept the responsibility that comes with being my father’s successor in Hwa Rang Do,” he continues. “As warriors our strength is measured by the responsibilities we carry and our accountability to a higher cause. That signifies our worth to this world. My responsibility is to my father’s art and in setting an example for later generations of practitioners to follow.”

Part of that responsibility involves understanding Hwa Rang Do’s origins. Lee is publicly clarifying his father’s role in the development of the modern Korean martial arts. He has also grown comfortable with his Korean heritage, exhibiting a fierce pride in the accomplishments of his people. “Koreans have never been conquered; that’s why we’re called the indomitable people,” he says. “Our culture, our ways, our language all live on despite the horrifying cultural oppression of the the Japanese occupation from 1910 to 1945. To come from that kind of heritage is an honor. In recognition of that history, he has dropped his American name and now sticks to his Korean name: Taejoon Lee.

The junior Lee was practically raised in the dojang, he says.The chief master continues with a little-known vignette: “Years ago there was a Korean martial arts gathering in San Francisco. Hapkido masters, were there, taekwondo masters were there and kuk sool masters were there. When it came time for the masters to be seated at the head table, Ji Han jae, the man who is revered as the senior-most hapkido practitioner in world, was in the seat of honor. The older masters know their place with each other. When they get face-to-face, they know who trained with whom, what each other’s secrets are. There’s no hiding behind the media or a Web site. The man who sits first is the most-senior, most-revered person in that gathering. My father, my uncle [Lee Joo-sang] and I arrived late. When we walked in, Ji Han-jae got up, as did everyone else, and re-seated. My father sat at the seat of honor, followed by Ji Han-jae and my uncle. After them, everyone else sat. When I saw my father sit first, that told me everything I needed to know. Now it’s my turn to make sure the world understands the real deal with Hwa Rang Do and my father’s legacy.”

Just as the Hwarang knights of ancient Silla had models like the legendary Gen. Kim Yu-shin, the modern followers of the Hwarang tradition will have a shining knight to follow in the 21st century. Taejoon Lee is coming out, ready to fight, ready to stand behind his art, ready to show the world what the strength of tradition can accomplish and ready to make waves. His life in Hwa Rang Do has given him the means to make the perfect synthesis of East and West, the traditional and the modern—finally attaining balance within himself and living harmoniously with the universe.

Lee Joo-bang, the patriarch of Hwa Rang Do, sits with son Taejoon.

The Invincible Sulsa Warriors (Black Belt Magazine – June 1986)

Posted on June 1, 1986April 20, 2021 by taejoonlee

By Taejoon Lee

In the early 1970’s, Americans began to receive a wider variety of martial arts from which to practice. Among this vast array of choices was an innovative and dynamic style that would forever transform the perception of the martial arts: Hwa Rang Do® (way of the flowering manhood). Korea holds the roots of Hwa Rang Do, an 1800 year old martial skill-set originally known as UmYangKwon (combat skills of Silla Hwarang warriors), which at present is led by Dr. Joo Bang Lee. Within this esoteric art, which combines many facets of physical and mental development, resides perhaps the beginning of today’s warfare tactics and hand-to-hand combat techniques.

Hwa Rang Do is a highly balanced martial style incorporating physical techniques with philosophy, academics and healing arts. It is divided into four categories: 1) wae-gong (external power), 2) nae-gong (internal power), 3) shin-gong (mental power), and 4) mugi-gong (weapon power).  To demonstrate this idea of balance, Hwa Rang Do has two different, yet necessary, divisions of physical applications: Jung-do and Am-ja.

Jung-do is the “way of the true sword and light.” It means fighting in battle with honor and dignity, dueling to the death, never retreating in the face of the enemy, and dying if one must in the process. In ancient times, the code of chivalry was up held at all cost, and the gentleman’s code was practiced sincerely. Jung do techniques require the ability to face the enemy in a fair match to demonstrate superiority of power. It involves the study of the way of the true sword, where one must call out the inner spirit. This is attained by eliminating all thoughts and emotions. One is like the wind, which moves from here to there, and in the movement there lies strength, with no inhibiting element to stop the current of air.

Am-ja is the “way of darkness.” In this division, trickery, deception and cunning are the key elements of success. One must use whatever method, tool, or strategy is necessary to gain an advantage and defeat the enemy. In am-ja, the only honor lies in the ultimate outcome. Like the Machiavellian principles, the end justifies the means. In this school, one learns techniques in manipulating the enemy psychologically, physically and emotionally to confuse him, then move in for the final blow. In ancient Korea, the way of darkness was necessary for maintaining national security.

With the neighboring Korean kingdoms constantly at war with one another, espionage and counter-espionage were inevitable. Consequently, there emerged a group of warrior elite known as the sulsa (knights of the night). They practice the am-ja methods of warfare and infiltrated enemy kingdoms to gather information.  The sulsa were selected from the best Hwarang warriors. They were Hwa Rang Do’s special forces, majoring in infiltration, exfiltration, intelligence gathering, assassination, and survival tactics. They used whatever means necessary to carry out their plan.

Unlike the ancient Japanese ninja, however, the most important asset of the sulsa was there ideal of hwal-bop, which encouraged the warrior to save lives, rather than take them. If one is able to kill, then one should be able to heal as well. The sulsa played a significant role in the unification of the Korean peninsula. Legend has it that the king of Silla province had a dream of producing the greatest fighting machine in history. Consequently, hwarang warriors were trained in all aspects of warfare, strategy, and combat. The very best warriors were subsequently selected and trained as sulsa. The chosen few possessed the characteristics of patience, loyalty, trust, courage, intelligence and cleverness.

Thanks to the sulsa’s selfless devotion to the kingdom, Silla’s neighboring provinces of Koguryo and Paekche were ultimately conquered, unifying Korea into one nation. Unfortunately, the unification also marked the decline of the sulsa. With Silla’s enemys in check, there was little use for the “knights of the night.” During their heydays, the sulsa were experts in un-shin-bop, a subdivision of Hwa Rang Do, which involves the art of concealing oneself in front of others. It employs a combination of distraction, suggestion, stealth, and camouflage. To be invisible, one must utilize what is visible. By controlling the elements that can be seen, one can appear invisible. We assume things are real by making associations with past experiences. We set expectations and anticipate the results before analyzing all the facts. When one can determine the boundary between reality and illusion, he no longer exists in the real world, but only in his illusions.

Yet another aspect of Hwa Rang Do is its subdivision of am-ja into three catagories: jham-bok-sul, jham-ip-sul, and bo-bop.

Jham-bok-sul is the study of camouflage for hiding for long periods of time. It focuses on techniques of hiding by adapting and immersing the body and spirit into the environment. To hide as a rock, one learns to be a rock, study its characteristics, take on its spirit, and become totally engulfed in the reality of being a rock. One must not only be able to hide on land, but also in water, under ground, in trees, and in all different types of terrain. By knowing every situation and every environment, one achieves that balanced state where differences no longer exist and all things merge into one.

Jham-ip-sul is the study of infiltration and exfiltration techniques. In this subdivision, one has to analyze the enemy’s personality, so he can live among the enemy. Techniques in traveling swiftly, climbing, acrobatics and stealth are also taught. Intelligence – emphasis is placed on sneaking behind enemy lines to collect information and relay it back to the generals. Camouflage is also an important part of jham-ip-sul. Many aspects of shin-gong (mental power) are taught: bok-shin-sul (the power to read minds); in-sul (the development of patience); choe-myun-sul (the technique of putting a person to sleep); and sa-sang-bop (study of human types).

Bo-bop is the study of stalking, stealth and fast movement. There are many ways to walk, depending on the type of surface. The art of stealth is taught for sentry stalking and removal. Utilization of dan jun ho heup bop (the study of breathing techniques with active ki power) assists in body relaxation. There are incredible stories of sulsa warriors flying through the air like sparrows, from tree to tree,and rooftop to rooftop (much like todays free-run

ning). These training tactics and the application of over 4000 hand-to-hand combat techniques made the sulsa an awesome fighting machine. Another aspect of the sulsa’s prowess was its weapons expertise. There are 108 different weapons in the study of Hwa Rang Do, which helped make the sulsa an enemy feared by all. The spirit of the Hwarang warrior links sulsa of every generation.

One of the most famous hwarang warriors of the 20th century was Michael D. Echanis, who through his master Dr. Joo Bang Lee, brought the ancient ideals of the Hwarang combat skills into the American military system. Echanis, who was killed in Nicaragua in 1978, left his mark in the training programs he instituted for the elite forces of the American military. One of the first Americans trained in Hwa Rang Do and the first American given the title of Sulsa by our Founder, Dr. Joo Bang Lee, Echanis took the techniques practiced by the art’s early warriors and applied them to modern-day unconventional warfare by creating the first unconventional warfare tactics school in Fort Bragg, NC.

The advancement of battlefield technology has decreased the need for hand-to-hand and special weapons experts, but there still situations where the strategies and techniques of the sulsa would be most effective. As long as there are nations with opposing views, there will be battles and wars waged where the foot soldier is utilized. The method of warfare may have changed over the past 1,800 years, but man’s desire to live remains the same. Putting aside all the strategy, weapons, and military jargon, we are all human, even the invincible sulsa. The Hwarang spirit has not endured 18 centuries because its techniques are superior, but because people who cherish the art understand the value of harmony between man, nature and the universe.

Official Site of Grandmaster Taejoon Lee

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