Part
II. PRINCIPLES
Chapter
13
Three
Materials Harmonized to Change
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"Why are there clouds in the
sky?"
"... Why does the earth need rain?"
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Control your opponent with Sool (¼ú[âú]),
face yourself with Yae (¿¹[çÝ]) and maintain
the whole by Do (µµ[Ô³]). Here is TAEKWONDO. When
so enlightened you will put all of yourself in a state of change through
swift footwork. You will be concealed beneath the naturalness of the world
and will erase your opponent from your sight. At the same time, you should
maintain yourself in a dark calm, with nothing disoriented, so that you
become immutable to the world up to your non-being. This is to follow
the way of Haneul (Heaven). On the other hand, when enlightened you can
subdue the strong opponent with less power because rather than fighting
it, you soak into the change he intends. You control him from within,
so that his own changes act to destroy himself. That is, the opponent
is destroyed by his own power. This is to follow the way of Tang (Earth).
All of these are to be found in not losing yourself by always returning
to your own position, which means following the way of Saram (Man). You
can begin to follow these three ways by focusing your mind and banishing
idle thoughts. The Sages have called the trio of Haneul, Tang, and Saram,
the "Samjae" (Three Materials), and taught it as the foundation
of all change. All the changes of Taekwondo arise from it and none can
circumvent it.
The harmonious composition of Samjae - namely Haneul, Tang, and Saram
- is change. However, since the Samjae is fundamentally whole, all changes
occur within that oneness. For purposes of understanding, man commonly
divides and distinguishes the Samjae, which results in nodes of change,
i.e. rhythm. Every change has a temporal flow and the intervals between
the nodes of that flow compose its rhythm. Rhythm is the formality that
characterizing the flow of change.
By definition change implies that something is altered. The figures of
such altering must possess nodes, intervals, and rhythm. Since man's action
constitutes change it also necessarily contains rhythm. There can be no
motion of man that does not contain rhythm. When practicing Taekwondo,
however, it is not possible to exclude all rhythm in one's motions. One
can overcome the rhythm of one's regular motion.
On the other hand, your motion is an external expression of inner change;
otherwise that motion would not belong to you. Therefore, you must capture
all the changes within your opponent in order to catch the rhythm in his
motion.
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