Thesis for 4th Dan - Philosophy of Taekwondo
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Transcript of Thesis for 4th Dan - Philosophy of Taekwondo
4th Dan Promotion Test – Thesis: Philosophy of Taekwondo
Machado, Pedro
Abstract:
With this thesis the author, desires to contribute with relevant information about Taekwondo,
maintaining the original philosophy transmitted by the great and noble Korean People.
This thesis was presented in Coimbra on the 20th February 2010 during the 4th Dan promotion
test that was supervised by the Master Luciano Neto, National Technical Adviser, of the
Portuguese Taekwondo Federation.
Keywords:
Taekwondo, philosophy of, Korean, Poomses, Han, Taebeck, Silla, Koguryo, Paeckche, Hwa
rang, Buddhism, Won Wha, Su Bak, Yu Sul, Tae Kyon.
Thesis for 4th Dan – Philosophy of Taekwondo Page 2
Table of Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................................ 3
Traditional and National Spirit .............................................................................................................. 3
History and Philosophy of Taekwondo ................................................................................................. 3
The Hwa Rang Warrior ......................................................................................................................... 4
Entrance of Buddhism in Korea ............................................................................................................ 4
The Birth of Hwa Rang.......................................................................................................................... 5
The original flower ................................................................................................................................ 5
Introduction to Hwa Rang ..................................................................................................................... 5
The training of Hwa Rang ..................................................................................................................... 6
The Code of the Hwa Rang ................................................................................................................... 7
The Martial Arts of the Hwa Rang ........................................................................................................ 7
Su Bak.............................................................................................................................................. 8
Yo Sul .............................................................................................................................................. 8
Tae Kyon ......................................................................................................................................... 9
The decline of the Hwa Rang ................................................................................................................ 9
Developing a training Philosophy ......................................................................................................... 9
Developing a Philosophy for Competition .......................................................................................... 10
The Role of Meditation in Taekwondo ................................................................................................ 10
Ki and its nature ................................................................................................................................... 11
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 11
References............................................................................................................................................ 12
Revision:
Name Date Reason to Modify Version
Pedro Machado 16/02/2010 Creation 1.0
Graça Alves 16/02/2010 Revision of English 1.1
Nuno Semedo 18/02/2010 Revision of the document 1.2
Acácio Gaspar 20/02/2010 Supervisor 1.3
Thesis for 4th Dan – Philosophy of Taekwondo Page 3
Introduction
Taekwondo, the way of the foot and the fist, is a highly refined system of martial arts [2]. The
students of Taekwondo can propel themselves high into the air and deliver powerful kicking
techniques with an excellent accuracy.
The martial art of Taekwondo is based on self-defense techniques that were developed by
Korean people to defend themselves from invader countries. Taekwondo has also a
“traditional” component based on strong basic skills, forms of poomse [3].
Korean Taekwondo is the martial art that suffered the major evolution in the history of the
martial arts. Some of this evolution has come with the entrance of Taekwondo in the Olympic
Games. In fact, most of the popularity of Taekwondo is a consequence of Taekwondo being an
Olympic Sport.
But has a student of Taekwondo I had the need to know more about Taekwondo, and with this
thesis I was able to research the origin of Taekwondo and to find my own route through the
Taekwondo principles.
Traditional and National Spirit
Ancestors of the Han (Korean) race had some issues caused by natural disasters and existential
restrictive circumstances of life that had made a spiritual connection between the Korean
people and elements of the earth like heaven, rain, cloud, sun, moon, trees, rocks etc. With
this connection came the strong believe in the “Heaven’s God” and later developed into the
thought of “Seon” (impeccable virtuousness).
Based in those believes were the doctrines of Buddhism and Confucianism that were brought
to Korea by the Chinese in the age of the three kingdoms. With these doctrines, the Koreans
learned to devote themselves to the nation and society.
“Korean’s traditional thought is characterized by the priority on loyalty to the country and filial
piety in people’s daily life, thus making people to think first about the responsibilities before
seeking any power and voluntary working justice.” [1]
History and Philosophy of Taekwondo
Taekwondo was born in a Nation that had nearly five decades of brutal occupation. Hand in
Hand with this occupation came attempted systematic destruction of the Korean culture.
Historic manuscripts were destroyed by the Japanese occupying forces, leaving the nation with
virtually no remaining historic records detailing Korea’s ancient heritage. The Korea people
were forced to speak and write in Japanese. With this occupation, the Koreans were forbidden
to practice the indigenous Korean Martial Art. [2]
Thesis for 4th Dan – Philosophy of Taekwondo Page 4
The art of Taekwondo certainly takes root in man’s instincts to survive by means of protecting
himself from outside threat with the bare hand fighting skills, and it was developed into
systematized martial art in the times of three-kingdoms era.[1]
The three kingdoms were formed by the kingdom of Silla (founded in B.C. 57), Koguryo (B.C.
37) and Paekje (B.C. 18). All of these three kingdoms shared a thought that was to unify all the
Korean Peninsula. They had to defend themselves from the invader forces of foreign countries.
The Hwa Rang Warrior
The Hwa Rang came into existence during the sixth century A.D. The foundations that gave
birth to this elite group of warriors can be traced to approximately 200 B.C., during the Chinese
Qui Dynasty (221 – 206 B.C.). This is the point when formalized contact began between China
and the Korean Peninsula. This interaction was intensified with the placement of Chinese
military colonies on the Northern Korean Peninsula during the Han dynasty (200-220 B.C.).
From these contacts, the Korean Peninsula began a period of fast development in agriculture,
health science, military strategy, and formalized governmental statesmanship. Taoism,
Confucianism, and later Buddhism were all introduced in Korea by China. [2]
Entrance of Buddhism in Korea
Buddhism entered in the Korean Peninsula state of Koguryo in A.D. 372, when the Chinese
monk Sun-Do was sent from the Chinese state of Ch’in by King Fu Chein on an Official mission
to introduce Buddhism to Korean Kingdom. The East Indian monk Malanandra arrived, through
China, with royal escort, in the Korean state of Paekche, in A.D. 384.
With the transmission of Buddhism, was born the royal and aristocratic Korean society. The
kingdoms of Koguryo and Paekche had already accepted the doctrine, but the kingdom of Silla
didn’t accept at first, the doctrine.
In the beginning, the Kingdom of Silla had the Confucian aristocratic ideology. In fact, the
attempts to introducing Buddhism were met with some hostility.
The monk A-do, Buddhist, had some success in the introduction of Buddhism in the Kingdom of
Silla at the 5th Century A.D., because he had induced some outlying regions to accept the
Buddhism doctrine.
In the year 514 A.D., King Pop-hung of Silla accepted the Buddhism doctrine and tried to
induce the court of the kingdom of Silla to accept the doctrine but he didn’t have success. The
court of Silla enjoyed the privileges of the Confucian school of thought. Buddhism doctrine
already had been accepted one century earlier in the kingdoms of Koguryo and Paekche.
Thesis for 4th Dan – Philosophy of Taekwondo Page 5
The Birth of Hwa Rang
During the sixth century the three kingdoms on the Korean peninsula continued to draw sharp
cultural lines between themselves and the expansionistic Chinese T’ang Dynasty (A. D. 618-
907).
This expansion had induced an extended the period of war on the Korean peninsula, which
gave birth to the Hwa Rang warriors.
The Hwa Rang warriors appeared in the court of King Chin-hung, kingdom of Silla, in 576 A.D.
King Chin-hung was nephew of King Pop-hung, who was the first to accept Buddhist doctrine in
Silla.
The original flower
Won Hwa, “Original Flower”, where the name called to the female leaders of the Hwa Rang.
The group of Buddhist monk warriors was based in the doctrine of no self. They believed that
the human form was only a portal onto their higher Buddha-self. They didn’t do anything for
themselves but, instead, devoted their entire lives and all their actions to their supreme
spiritual teacher, Who Hwa, who led them through the path of Buddhist warrior knowledge.
There were many “Won Hwa” to guide all the platoons of the elite group.
The Hwa Rang were first a society of individuals that had as primary objective the
understanding of the Ki, with the help of the Buddhist meditation, and perform what was
considered supernatural feats. With the
development of the Ki energy, they could
expose their body to the extreme
conditions like the fierce current of freezing
Naklong River. Additionally, they could sit in
deep meditation in the snows in Taebeck
Sanmaek Mountains, where they were
trained, clothed only with a loin cloth and
emerge unscathed.
Introduction to Hwa Rang
Once the first group of Hwa Rang was introduced to King Chin-hung and their expertise
revealed, he became certain that these warriors were fundamental to the defense of
the Kingdom Silla against their attacking neighbors.
But with the years of war, the Hwa Rang had proven the loyalty to the kingdom of Silla
but also revealed that they were inefficient to defeat the Silla’s geographical
neighbors: Koguryo, Paekche, and the invasive T’ang Chinese.
Image 1 - Taebeck Mountain
Thesis for 4th Dan – Philosophy of Taekwondo Page 6
Therefore, the court of king Chin-hung set about organizing a group of young talented
noblemen, who were exceedingly loyal to the hope of them emerging victorious in
battle and defeating their invasive neighbors.
Because of wealth and aristocracy of the court
of Silla, the King Chin-hung found a major
problem recruiting young noblemen to the
strict order of Hwa Rang. To solve this
problem, the King Chin-hung implement a new
strategy that was to use young beautiful
woman, Won Hwa, to gather these young
noblemen around them.
From all of the Won Hwa there were two names that emerged Nan-mo and Chun-jung.
Several hundred young noblemen did, in fact, congregate in their presence.
But there was a major problem, one of them was jealous of the other. One day Chun-
jung poisoned the wine of Nan-mo and threw her body into the river, killing her. The
Silla Royal Court condemned Chun-jung to dead, and the group of men surrounding
the women disbands.
King Chin-hung raised a new strategy that was to induct young and handsome
nobleman to join Hwa Rang. The average age of these noblemen were twelve years
old. To accomplish the objective, these young noblemen were dressed in the finest
clothing and their faces were attractively painted with elaborate makeup. They were
extensively instructed in Buddhism, medical science according to the Yellow Emperor’s
Classic of internal Medicine (the Nei Ching), poetry, and music. It was believed those
who fared well in these activities had the grace to become advanced warriors. Thus, a
certain number of them were recommended to the Court of the Wha Rang.
The training of Hwa Rang
The second generation of this elite group of warriors was trained in all forms of known
martial warfare. The Wha Rang were taught with advanced practices of meditation so
they could understand the energy of the Ki. With the understanding of the Ki the Hwa
Rang made each of their physical movements a service to their leader and an action
ultimately in the service of Buddha.
The thought developed by the Wha Rang was that meditation not only took place in
traditional fashion, in the sitting posture, but also when one focused one’s personal
Image 2 - Wha Rang
Thesis for 4th Dan – Philosophy of Taekwondo Page 7
spirit and when entered in battle with highly refined purpose and visions the victorious
outcome. All the battles fought became a spiritual exercise in enlightenment.
One of the main goals to the Hwa Rang, was the need of
killing the enemy because they thought that was beneficial
to ultimate karmic good of their society. They induced the
thought of the Hwa Rang making them to believe that they
would archive a good Karma and be raised to a higher level
of incarnation in their next reincarnation.
This group of Buddhist monks was apart from the other
formalized groups of Buddhist monks, because of the
ideology that made the necessity of killing every enemy
opponent. They also believed that the Kingdom of Silla was
the land of the Maiterya (the unborn Buddha), and as such,
killing for their society was, in fact, a Holy act. Therefore,
Hwa Rang believed that each life they took, in necessary
battle, was a movement of meditation and would lead them
on to Buddhahood.
Once a Hwa Rang was fully trained, he was put in command of a military troupe composed of
several hundred common soldiers. From the battles won by the Hwa Rang the unification of
Korea took place. History would not be served if it were not stated that this unification was
archived by very bloody means, which result in the death of a large percentage of the
population of the Korean Peninsula.
The Code of the Hwa Rang
Once the Hwa Rang were a refined group of spiritually based warriors, their actions
were founded upon an exacting code of ethics. This code of ethics was developed by
the Buddhist monk, Wong-wang. The code of Hwa Rang was:
1. Serve the king with loyalty;
2. Be obedient to your superiors;
3. Be honorable to all mankind;
4. Never retreat in battle;
5. Kill justly.
The Martial Arts of the Hwa Rang
The Hwa Rang were expert swordsmen, archers, and masters in the hand-to-hand
combat. From all the martial arts there are three that emerged in Korea that were:
Image 3 - Wha Rang Warrior
Thesis for 4th Dan – Philosophy of Taekwondo Page 8
Su Bak
Su Bak, a fierce method of hand-to-hand combat, is the first documented martial art
style to exist on the Korean peninsula. Su Bak was a deadly
martial art that has the main objective to kill the opponent
using powerful strikes.
Not only did the Hwa Rang use weapons and hand-to-hand combat to defeat and kill their enemies, but they were the
first group with the knowledge to kill the opponent by disabling vital pressure points to disrupt the Ki flow of
their opponents. They were also the first formalized group to understand the power of the Ki and to use this power to
kill with efficiency.
Yu Sul
During the late three kingdoms’ period, Su Bak became fragmented, and differing schools of the art came into existence. At this point, a new system of Korean martial art was formed: the Yu Sul. This martial art was developed to defend, with the power of the Ki, a simple brute force attack.
With cultural transmission between the island nation of Japan and the three Korean kingdoms, taking place during this period, it is understood that Yu Sul was the predecessor of Japanese Kenjutsu, the forefather of jujitsu.
With the born of Yu Sul, appeared two very distinct schools of martial arts thought on the Korean Peninsula. The hard-style based in attacking methods of Su Bak and the softer and manipulative defenses of Yu Sul.
During this time, Su Bak became known as Tae Kyon. Tae Kyon was written in the Chinese characters “push shoulder”. The Hwa Rang warriors obviously embraced this martial art form and, as mentioned, created their own addition to it, Known as Su Bak Gi or “foot fighting”.
Image 4 - Su Bak
Image 5 - Yu Sul
Thesis for 4th Dan – Philosophy of Taekwondo Page 9
Tae Kyon
The Korean Martial art Tae Kyon was born at a time when
martial arts, on the whole, went into a rapid decline on the
unified Korean Peninsula, under the control of Silla
Kingdom. Tae Kyon, was the evolution of Su Bak and was
also a very aggressive hard-style martial art system.
The martial art of Yu Sul declined and vanished from the
Korean Peninsula almost as fast as it had developed. By the
end of the seventh century, no sign of it existed. Tae Kyon,
therefore, survived as the only fighting system with a link
to the ancient Su Bak.
The Korean martial art system of Tae Kyon continued to be practiced by the Korean military
from the time of Hwa Rang forward.
The decline of the Hwa Rang
After the unification of Korea and the defeat of the invasive Chinese T’ang Dynasty, the
mind of the Korean people started to evolute to more philosophic thoughts. The elite
of the Hwa Rang fell into decline because they no longer needed an elite group to
defend Korea. The Hwa Rang started to be known as a group specialized in Buddhist
philosophy because of the healing abilities associated to the power of the Ki.
Developing training Philosophy
When we enter in a dojang of Taekwondo we see students with different levels of
technical evolution according to the color belts and the commitment to practice the
martial art.
The train of Taekwondo is more than a simple pathway from the white into black belt.
A student of Taekwondo must understand all the culture and all the philosophy of
origins of Taekwondo. Understanding the body and mind is one of the main goals to
practice of Taekwondo.
Nowadays, most of the students of Taekwondo had only one thing in mind that is to
train to obtain the next belt, or to win a competition. This perception by some
students is very dangerous, because if a student trains a martial art like Taekwondo
without a true understanding of the principles, may use the powerful techniques of
Taekwondo to serve his/her own interests. Because of this, one possesses the ability of
walk away from confrontation instead of being dragged into them simply to prove who
the better combatant is.
Image 6 - Taew Kyon
Thesis for 4th Dan – Philosophy of Taekwondo Page 10
It is fundamental to use the knowledge to raise the power of the body and the mind at
every instant. It’s important that this evolution should be synchronized to grant that
the student of the Taekwondo his ready, at each time, to receive Knowledge shared by
his instructor/master.
Developing a Philosophy for Competition
Much of the focus of modern Taekwondo has shifted from a self-defense orientation
into a competition oriented martial art.
The true practitioner uses the competition to share experiences and to interact with
another practitioner of the modality. Basically, Competition is all about sharing
experiences and perspectives.
The competition is also a way for the practitioner to beat is worst opponent: himself/
herself.
In a competition the most insignificant perspective is who wins who. The most
important in a competition is the knowledge that the practitioner extracts from the
interaction with the opponent. This Knowledge will induce the practitioner to train the
body and mind, making possible his/her improvement.
The Role of Meditation in Taekwondo
Meditation plays a vital role in preparation of a practitioner of Taekwondo, both
mentally and spiritually, for the demands of self-defense coupled with the essential
development and channeling of Ki, universal life force. Moreover, the act of meditation
represents a spiritual boundary between the distractions of daily life and the focused
mind one requires in the training hall.
To begin, in order to respond rapidly facing a threat that has escalated beyond verbal
meditation, the mind and the body must react rather than anticipate. This important
distinction lies at the core of traditional defensive strategy. Making wrong assumptions
about the movement from an opponent may lead into the wrong defense causing a
severe injury.
Through the sincere and diligent practice of meditation, the practitioner will raise an
uncanny ability to react to an unprovoked attack rather to anticipate a potentially false
move.
Thesis for 4th Dan – Philosophy of Taekwondo Page 11
Ki and its nature
The practice of Taekwondo requires the student to become proficient in a multitude of
blocks, kicks, strikes and sweeps. However, in order to support these techniques far
beyond the physical limitations of the body, he must introduce an element not easily
definable in common terms. This element is referred as Ki. The Ki element can be
defined has Ki the cosmic ocean in which everything exists.” (Richard Chun)1 or as “an
universal energy capable of infinite expansion and contraction, which can be directed,
but not contained, by the mind (William Reed)2 or Ki, the vital life force, permeates the
Universe, flowing through and animating all things. (Marc Tedeshi)3.
Ki development is an essential component of martial arts training that is often
overlooked in all likelihood due to the metaphysical issues it raises.
Conclusion
The Taekwondo spirit was directly influenced by traditional and national thoughts from
the Korean people. When a practitioner trains Taekwondo should take into
consideration the true principles of Taekwondo.
A true practitioner will train the body and the mind when is training Taekwondo. It is
very important to complement the train of Taekwondo with meditation. Meditation
will help the practitioner to use the energy of Ki.
The principles of Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-control and Indomitable Spirit
are an evolution from the original code of the Hwa Rang.
Competition is a way of interaction between practitioners and as a result of this
interaction, new experiences should rise, allowing the implementation of diferent
strategies and thoughts.
Now the Taekwondo spirit can be better summarized by the philosophy of “hongik-
ingan” (universal benefits humanism), peace-loving spirit, spirit of integrity with which
everyone should protect righteousness and grant a strong sense of responsibility. [1]
1 Richard Chun a true pioneer and practitioner of traditional Taekwondo [3];
2 William Reed, a disciple of Koichi Tohei, founder of Shin Sin Totsu Aikido [3];
3 Marc Tedeshi, Hapkido practioner [3].
Thesis for 4th Dan – Philosophy of Taekwondo Page 12
References
[1] Kukkiwon, Taekwondo Text Book, 2nd Edition, 2006, Kukkiwon, ISBN: 89-7336-750-1
[2] Scott Shaw, Advanced TaEKWONDO, 1ST Edition, 2006, Tuttle Martial Arts, ISBN: 0-8048-
3786-4
[3] Doug Cook, Traditional Taekwondo: Core Techniques, History, and Philosophy, YMAA
Publication Center, 2006, ISBN: 1-59439-066-5.