Part
V. ATTACK AND DEFENCE
Chapter
35
Attacking
in the Ways of Haneul, Tang, and Saram
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Your indignation moves the center of
your mind, so you can move the center of your body, too. |
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Since the Taekwondo figure is the same as life, his
part and his entirety are mutually inclusive. This mutual inclusion
appears in every motion, regardless of its size or speed, so the correct
principles of Taekwondo control every change, from a momentary movement
to the longer processes of training and life.
Accordingly, in Taekwondo the ideal attack strikes the
opponent with an explosive blast of power but one dealt in relaxed smooth
motions. At the same time, one’s mind should be kept empty, just
as the center of a large drum is empty despite its thundering vibration.
This is possible because you follow the way of Haneul, keeping everything
of yours in its proper position. Your attack lies in having the opponent
opposed to the world, so the sharpness of your attack is unseen and
unrecognized, even by those who stand next to it. Your opponent is thus
subdued in a natural way. This is simply following the way of Tang.
And all of this comes back to you, accomplished as you originally intended.
This is because you control Taekwondo following the way of Saram.
Generally speaking, the attack in Taekwondo means brining
the universe to a point and focusing it on the opponent’s weakest
spot. It is a spatio-temporal point; and no part of your body should
remain attached to it. This is connected to that aspect of Nature that
never for even a moment stops changing. In Taekwondo, you should conceptualize
your opponent’s weakest point and strike. It is around this point
that he becomes opposed to the world. A point strikes in a line while
a line cuts something with a surface; and, a line that thrusts a point
and a surface that cuts a line consist of momentary figures of Taekwondo.
This should be applied to every attack, whether it be striking, throwing,
pressing or grabbing the opponent, because every motion should follow
TAEKWONDO.
There can be no stopping this sort of Taekwondo attack.
Why? A line is separate being beyond a set of points, just as is a surface
beyond a set of lines; yet a line can be broken and a surface can be
cut. The line and the surface that overcome this threat become shorter
and narrower respectively so that a Taekwondo-Een can attack a point
of your opponent with just such a point in its ultimate. Therefore,
the attack cannot be stopped because a point cannot be divided nor restricted.
A point, which is unrestricted and without shape is
similar to DO, which is in everything, shapeless; and it is also similar
to Heaven (Haneul) which resembles Do. This is why King Sejong , in
developing Hangeul (the
Korean alphabet), represented Haneul (Heaven) with the symbol ‘?’
. Is it not wondrous that the principles of Taekwondo attack and the
symbols of Hangeul, though they are of a different sort, demonstrate
such consistency in principle?
41) King Sejong was the fourth monarch of Korea’s
Choseon Dynasty (1392-1910) and is regarded as the inventor of Hangeul,
the Korean alphabet. See below.
42) Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, was invented in 1443
by Korea’s King Sejong. It is comprised of phonograms of vowel
and consonant combinations. It has been called the most scientific
alphabet in the world because its consonants suggest the manner in
which their corresponding sounds are produced by the articulatory
organs, while its vowels represent a fundamental Oriental worldview
(in this case Korean). Its basic consonants are ? (g), ? (n), ? (m),
? (s), ? (ng), though there are additional consonants based on these
basic sound groupings. Its three basic vowels are ?, ?, ?, which represent
Heaven (Haneul), Earth (Tang), and Man (Saram), respectively. A simple
consonant and vowel are employed as the basic elements for constructing
increasingly complex phonograms that have at times added articulatory
features, such as aspiration and tense. Several (at least two and
at most six) consonants and vowels combine to produce each syllable
(or phonogram), the actual reading and teaching units of Korean.
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