This chapter 3 of PPT concerns and suggests the conceptions of taekwondo about truth. As far as I understand the term “truth”, and also the general conception of truth in the tradition of western philosophy, assumes that truth is something separated from corresponding to the reality. Some philosophers suggested propositions or presentations or some ideas for candidates of truth. In this conception truth can be true when it corresponds to the real world, which seems obvious. In this case, however, the separation of truth from the reality is necessary and evident, which causes many logical or epistimological problems; what are the ways the truth corresponds to the world? Is the truth out of the world? How can we know whether the truth corresponds to the world? In what sense truth can be same as the world is, for the correspondence? … and so on.

Compared with this, Korean traditional conception of truth suggests truth as some principles. The Korean term of truth is “Jin-Ri”, which implies ‘ideal principle’. Here, I mean, principle includes the sense of law along which we should move, with that of cognitive sense. If the truth were principle, so that it were laws of actions, it can go beyond distinction because the action is itself reality so can be non-distinctive entity without discrimitive separation, whereas common cognitive knowledge, as far as it depends on name and logic, cannot but be distinctive. An action is to be distinguished only when its subject distinguishes from another.

The first sentence of chapter 3 says this. When we talk of something beyond distinction we can say like that already knowing the distinctive aspects of everything. That is, we come to have two kinds of knowledge of something; distinctive and non-distinctive one. This is the implication of the first sentence of the second paragraph. The second paragraph depicts the property of this double-faced knowledge.

The third paragraph explains the difference of non-distinctive knowledge from undistinctive one, to attach the former to taekwondo. On this basis I say that those three aspects of taekwondo(Mudo, Muyae and Musool) are different in some sense, while they are not different ultimately.

At the last part of third paragraph we talk of Mudo, Muyae and Musool, which are prevailed conception of taekwondo already. But we need to define them more precise way for better discussion. This is the main subject of forth and fifth paragraphs. The concept of Musool is easy to understand, whereas, that of Muyae seems irrational; the skill for skill itself. So here we need to think of rationality again. Concerned with this matter the rationality of common sense is based on the life. Something is rational as far as it is good or useful for life. However, we then can ask why the life should be pursued. Here we can see the bottom of rationality, which has no good reason. It is not irrational because there is no standard to judge which is rational. Everyone just pursues it and all the rationality begins with it. Thus it can be said to be blind or non-rational. And I think this non-rationality lies in the existence of everything or of the whole world. Why does this world exist? The god made this world ? it has been a main answer in western area. But this answer appeals to religious conviction. The Korean philosophers have thought the world exists as it is without reason. All the rational reasons begin on the basis of existence of the world and the mankind. This is also my answer. In this meaning I say it is natural for everything to exist blindly, which is the foundation of absolute rationality.

The forth paragraph provide rational explanation for non-distinctive knowledge while the fifth the relations of three aspects of taekwondo from distinctive respect, mainly.

The last paragraph emphasizes that the truth of taekwondo can be found even only in a technique while it is not confined without it, since Do belongs to everything without a part nor a whole. Here I intend to mean that it would be wrong if you want to try some Zen training after taekwondo in order to the ultimate truth. Zen is not bad, if you discern something noble from something trivial thinking that the ultimate truth can be found in those noble things because it is ultimate, so important and valuable truth. Rather, because it is ultimate truth it is can be found also in the trivial thing. So technique can provide you all the truth of taekwondo to you