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Taekwondo Bible Vol.1
Preface to the English ver.
Introduction

Part. I

1. Oneness and ...
2. There is Do ...
3. The World, ...
4. Picturing ...

5. There is ...
6. The Principles ...

Part. II

7. In Taekwondo ...
8. Facing the ...
9. Erasing ...
10. Thinking ...
11. Doing TKD
12. Not Losing ...
13. Three ...

Part. III

14. Taekwondo's ...
15. Distinction ...
16. Doing Both ...
17. Questioning ...
18. Looking Out ...
19. Endless ...
20. Finding ...
21. Begining ...
22. Keeping ...

Part. IV

23. Moving ...
24. Controling ...
25. Attacking ...
26. Leading ...
27. Surpassing ...
28. Attacking ...
29. Capturing ...

Part. V

30. Having ...
31. Knowing ...
32. Filling Mind ...
33. Taekwondo ...
34. Hitting ...
35. Attacking ...
36. Making ...
37. Avoiding ...
38. Offense and ...
39. Winning with ...

Part. VI

40. Offense and ...
41. Having Softness ...
42. There Be ...
43. Controling ...
44. Being Able ...
45. Harmony of ...
46. Beautifulness ...
47. Able to Stab ...

Part. VII

48. Seeing Motion ...
49. Sparring with ...
50. Free in Strict ...
51. Having Poomsae ...
52. Perfection ...
53. Having Yourself ...
54. There being ...
55. Getting Everything ...

Part. VIII

56. Completing ...
57. Taekwondo Be ...
58. A Piece of String ...
59. Seeing New ...
60. Everything in ...
61. Begining Training ...
62. Seeing the World ...
63. Truth of TKD ...
64. Oneness and ...

Taekwondo Bible Vol.2

Taekwondo Bible Vol.3

Taekwondo Poem


 

History & Discuddion


 

TKD Culture Network

 



Part IV. ON TECHNIQUE

Chapter 26

Leading through One Way to Life and Death  

   

“It seems the techniques of Taekwondo are too dangerous.”

“…Then they are not.”

 

 

 

 

Your opponent’s center, towards which you should direct your attack, is united with the principle of everything in man’s body and spreads into its many parts, which can be divided according to the distinctions of Samjae, Yin and Yang, and In and Out.

When we say that centers are spread throughout the body we are referring more specifically to what are termed kyongnak in Korean traditional medicine. These also constitute the centers of your attack in Taekwondo, thus they are the centers of the opponent’s life and motion. Here we can discern the interrelation between medicine and Taekwondo, and how the methods of saving and killing a man are no different. Who would deny its mysteriousness! This sort of principle finds its origins in the contradiction that the entirety contains each part and every part contains the entirety. This in turn implies a constant tension, which is another aspect of life. This constant tension is both the infinite support of life’s growth and the source of endless threats against life. Life already contains a lethal weapon in its core.

We can discern the body’s centers according to Samjae (Haneul, Tang and Saram). The head, which controls every motion through will, is the Heavenly (Haneul) center. The abdomen, which produces physical vigor, just as the earth is the mother of all things, is the Earthly (Tang) center. The breast, which expresses a vitality between Heaven and Earth, is the center of Man (Saram). There are spots in the center of each of these three where vitality converges. As a result, each of them has been termed high-Danjon, middle-Danjon and low-Danjon respectively. These are vital and highly vulnerable spots.

Heaven regulates every change, thus you can control your opponent’s motion by catching hold of his Heavenly center. The earth is the source of nourishment for of all things, thus you can control your opponent’s vigor by catching hold of his Earthly center. Man is the arbiter of his own life, thus you can catch your opponent’s vitality by catching hold of his center of Man. So it is that when you suffer a blow to the head you collapse and lose consciousness; when you receive a blow to the abdomen you lose your strength and vigor and collapse; and when you receive a shock to your solar plexus the pain immediately interrupts breathing and movement. On the other hand, as the Heavenly center is sensitive to change it is difficult to catch; as the Earthly center lies hidden deep beneath one’s pose it is difficult to reach; and as the center of Man is protected by two arms and a spinning body it is difficult to catch even though one may succeed in touching it.

A center is naturally concealed beneath a surface. However, it is also true that all things possess a path to their center from their surface. Likewise, life’s entirety and each of its parts are intimately interrelated to each other so that the center reveals itself outwardly, manifested in the previously mentioned kyongnak, or vital points of Hyeol.2) Therefore, the targets of a Taekwondo attack upon an opponent’s center may be divided into two main categories: the three centers and the infinite number of vital points that branch out from them.

The system of important kyongnak are grouped into the twelve maek of Jeonggyong3) and the eight maek of Kigyong4), all of which correspond to yin and yang. Corresponding to the principle that yin is concealed in shade while yang is exposed to light, the twelve maek of Jeonggyong, which accord to yang, reveal themselves outwardly running along the Ki-hyol and Jeongmaek and connect the inner and outer changes, while the eight maek of Kigyong, which correspond to yin, are concealed within and are not related to any specific department but manage all physiological processes.

A yang kyongnak is exposed while a yin kyongnak is concealed. Just as the core of a toy top regulates its spinning so does the center of a thing naturally control its changes. Thus, what manages change is concealed within near to its center as a yin kyongnak while that which is exposed and in contact with other things and presenting its changes on the surface is a yang kyongnak. Therefore, each of the eight maek of Kigyong manage the changes of vitality that comes from its breaks and connections and its strong and weak, while each of the twelve maek of Jeonggyong reveal them outwardly and deliver their shocks from the outside to the inside so that the eight maek of Kigyong accept them. This is so because, if turned inside out, yin and yang proceed in an inverse manner.

The externally exposed twelve maek of Jeonggyong are spread about every part of the human body to create various vital points. When themselves categorized into their corresponding yin and yang, the twelve maek of Jeonggyong form yin kyongnak along the interior and yang kyongnak along the exterior of the arms and legs. The yin kyongnak concern the functioning of the five viscera5) while the yang kyongnak are connected with the functioning of the six entrails.6) The five viscera, under the influence of yang kyongnak, continue their functioning without break while the six entrails function intermittently. The center which regulates all change is by nature hidden, while that which is exposed outwardly results from changes in function and breaks in the harmony of the ceaseless inner change. A yang kyongnak is relatively distant from the core of life whereas a yin kyongnak is near. For this reason, you can more easily subdue your opponent by attaining his vital points along the yin kyongnak.

At the point where the flow of vitality stops to become a hyeol, it avoids what is hard and firm and seeks what is soft and flexible, avoiding cold and seeking warmth, shunning the flat for the rugged, and avoiding bumps to seek out the valley between them. This is due to the fact that vitality is the generative power of life, which flows along continuous change.

The hard and firm is more difficult to alter than the soft and flexible. Since change and warmth are different aspects of the same thing, a life seeks out warm spots. Since a change stands out of the shape it avoids lumps. Thus, between a hard and a hard lies a soft, between a flow and a flow exists a stay, and between a strong and a strong is a weak, and all of these are the principles that rule the structure of a life’s body in ceaseless motion. And this is also the appearance of Nature’s body itself. If you observe in the correct way, your eyes can discern your opponent’s weak points with ease, and by moving against according to the correct principles your attacks will reach his weak points as naturally as water by nature flows downward to gather in a low spot.


<footnotes>

1) "KyongRak" is a sort of way along which Ki move all around the man's body. 'Rak' of "Kyong-Rak" means a flow or a way of flow. KyonRak connects almost vital points 'Hyol' to one another in a flowing line, showing indirectly how those Hyols are interrelated and they influence one another. They also represent how inner organs are and they operates, so a traditional Korean medical doctor can recognize the inner state of a patient checking only KyongRak.
This KyongRak system is very useful to cure almost sickness considering the whole harmony of a patient's health, whereas it cannot be seen distinctively visually even though you anotomize man's body. This is why it has been ignored in the contemporary medical sciense of western world.

2) Hyol refers to those vital points on man's body(or all kinds of animal body) which can be the paths to inner organic operations of a life. In martial arts hyol is a vital point, which cause a sudden death with a severe shock on it. Hyol is also a region of acupuncture and connected with one another along KyongRak. The solar plexus, eyes, perpendicular furrow and so on are all examples of Hyol.

3) Jeonggyong 12 maeks are branches of outer KyongRak. They are called such as since they are constituted of 12 branches of outer KyongRak. Almost all Hyol (vital points) are located on these Jeonggyong 12 maeks. (See About JeongGyong 12 Maeks)

4) Kigyong 8 maeks are branches of inner Kyongrak. They are called such as since they are constituted of 8 branches. They are more important in Ki-gong(training of Ki) rather than in medical cure. (See About KyGyong 8 Maeks)

5) 5 viscera refer to the liver, the heart, the spleen, the lung and the kidneys.

6) 6 entails refer to the stomach, the large intestine, the small intestine, the gall, the bladder and three functions of breathing, digestion and urinary functions. The last, i.e. three function is called "Sam-cho" in Korean, and has no anatomical substance so that it can cause difficulty. Any way, these 6 entails with 5 viscera have been an important conception for understanding human physiology in oriental medical science.