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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 29

Catching your Opponent with Full Bait and Empty Trap  

   

"What is Samjae?"

“The foundation of all distinction.”

 

 

 

 

As you know what form your motions should take, and you recognize what points you should attack and what points you should not, then, riding the flow of Heo and Sil1), the attack on your opponent can succeed.

What are Heo and Sil? That whose appearance in no way reflects intended reality is termed “Heo”. That which is filled with an intention to act regardless of its appearance is termed “Sil”. As you know, the “I” is empty, so there can be no constant substantial subject of pursuit so that the counter change of Heo and Sil in every case continues without cease relying on its emergent conditions and on what you and your opponent’s wills intend. This change is limitless and without perfect completion, so that it can be compared to the yin and yang of Yeok. Distinguishing something and intending to act are qualities only of Saram (man) who possesses his own will. Therefore, Heo and Sil are to be discerned with division to a rise or fall of each. Nature, on the other hand, is so unintentional as to distinguish nothing for itself, so that Heo and Sil are mixed in infinite change and there is neither that which is not Heo nor that which is not Sil. Therefore, the existence of each is also boundless. It is because the Taekwondo-Een seeks to imitate this virtue of Nature that he erases himself so as to delete all distinctions in what he desires.

Why is it difficult to attack and subdue one’s opponent without riding change and the flow of Heo and Sil? This is so because the opponent whom you face in Taekwondo is no mere object like a stone or block of wood but a living and moving being, having in mind both what he intends and what he wishes to avoid. To live is to adapt. The infinite capacity of adaptation is the very substance of life. Since one’s opponent adapts himself to change in pursuing what he desires, you can subdue him with ease only after you have restricted his adaptation along the flow of Heo and Sil. This is the difference between catching a fish and taking hold of a mere stone in the water.

How does one ride the flow of HeoSil? Only after you understand it can you know how to ride it. Emptiness of what you intend to do is Heo while its fullness Sil. On the other hand, what is to be filled is Heo while what is to be emptied is Sil. Therefore, Sil is followed by Heo as Heo is by Sil. Likewise, Heo contains Sil as Sil contains Heo. Neither of them can be ultimately distinguished; you can have Heo as Sil and Sil as Heo, and it is so changeful that each of both follows including the other, which makes the flow of HeoSil.

As you grasp both the nature of Heo and Sil you can ride the flow of HeoSil in three ways: First, have your tide and balance empty saving your distance with a faint motion of no fullness on the one hand, while on the other hand preparing yourself for the following motion in your rhythm, i.e. having form-filled motions concealed by faint motions. Second, you should tempt the opponent into your full blind spot by both erasing and picturing yourself to have him opposed to the world, which is to putting full bait into an empty trap. Third, you should have your empty self opposed to him while controlling yourself with your full self at the same time, and thus to have Heo as Sil and Sil as Heo so that you catch the difference between his Heo and Sil with the aid of the sameness of your Heo and Sil.

These three ways of subduing your opponent by riding the flow of HeoSil are both the same and different. As you come to understand TAEKWONDO you will come to realize such sameness. If you master the control HeoSil in this manner you will be familiar with distance in Taekwondo. For Sil is owing to what you want to do, which, when emptied, makes Heo, so that you can be at once both close to your opponent with Sil and distanced from him with Heo. Therefore, the distance between two Taekwondo-Een is in continuous flux even when they maintain their respective positions like posts.

Ideal motion in Taekwondo, which rides the flow of HeoSil, always avoids the opponent’s Sil while striking at his Heo, and turns your Heo to Sil along the continuous change. Seeking the Heo of what he thinks, you should find it through a balance of simplicity and complexity. Seeking the Heo of his motion you should create out of the harmony of the slow and fast. All of these, when coupled with one another, make the ‘preceding attack’ with the ‘counter attack’, and generate ‘faint motion’ with ‘filled motion’.

What is termed “preceding attack” precedes the opponent’s filled preparation so as to strike at his Heo in a fast tide. The preceding attack should precede three things: his motion, his waiting, and his expectation. What is termed “counter attack” harmonizes you with his attack of big change in HeoSil so as to strike his empty point with that of which you are full. The counter attack also should catch three things: the crevice of his motion, that which he failed to consider in his preparation, and that which is not firm in his tide.

There is a motion, of which the figure is full, yet of which the substance is empty; and thus which is not an attack even though it appears as such and which is not a defense even though it appears as such. We call this “a faint motion”. On the other hand, there is also a motion, which is a sharp attack on his core and which can also be a worthy defense despite its appearance. We call this a “a filled motion”. Every motion, even if it be a faint motion, can be transformed into a filled motion without confusion whenever needed. Similarly, every filled motion can also be emptied whenever needed, when there is no distinguishing a faint motion from a filled motion. This is performing both Heo and Sil in a movement.

As when you strike a Heo in his motion you can precede the motion, and when you precede his expectation you can strike the Heo of his thinking so there is no difference between preceding his preparation and striking his empty part with your fullness. There is also no difference between a preceding attack and a counter attack.

The principle that rules every change of HeoSil can be summed up in by a single clause: to strike your own Heo in order to subdue the opponent. The best way to deceive your opponent is to deceive yourself, and if you want to change the world you should begin by transforming yourself. In this way, you can subdue him without mistake because you are rather empty truly scattered as you know your own Heo allowing it, which is again a perfect Sil. Even if each of Heo and Sil appears different to those who make blind distinctions, ultimately each is not distinct from the other, and its fundamental essence is the Heo in no willing of Nature. But in the willing of man the fundamental essence is Sil. Therefore, you can obtain useful Heo only after you have obtained Sil through continuous training. This is no different than the principle which states you can transcend distinction only after you have understood distinction.

 


1) “Heo” plus “Sil” is equal to heosil.
2) Refer to footnote in Chapter 23.