Division
6. How to Weapon
Chapter
42
There
Is No Difference between a Weapon and Something Else
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“Why is it that
the one who prevails is not the one who has strength but
the one who lowers his pose?”
“Because change flows from pride to humility just
as water moves from up to down.”. |
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There are various styles of martial arts in the world. At times
they use simply the bare hands and feet, at other times they
employ swords, spears or other such weapons in the struggle
to subdue the opponent. Most people make clear distinctions
between the variant forms of martial arts, but you, whoever
you may be, can come to comprehend that everything is based
upon the same ultimate principles. Therefore, while a sword
differs from a spear and a hand from a foot, the motion of using
one is same as all the others. It is the Taekwondo-Een who perceives
their sameness beyond their visible distinctions, and it is
the Taekwondo-Een’s mind that understands that sameness.
Anything can serve as a weapon to such a Taekwondo-Een, who
makes use of anything according to one principle.
What is a weapon? Every tool can be called a weapon if you
use it to subdue your opponent. Such a weapon should always
be like an extension of your body regardless whether that weapon
is the hand or a foot you were born with or a sword or a bat
that you have acquired. Forming a part of your body, the weapon
should convey your intentions to the world. Thus, whether or
not something can serve as your weapon depends on whether or
not you can express your will freely through it.
Since a weapon in Taekwondo should be as a part of your body,
you who practice Taekwondo ought to strengthen those muscles
that unite it with your body, not only with powerful force but
also with swiftness so that you can accord your mind with the
changes of nature as you train your body. When you handle a
weapon that does not belong to your natural body you should
train and strengthen the particular parts of your hand before
the weapon and your body will be able to share a life under
controlled by your will.
In Taekwondo training your bones will be hardened and your
joints strengthened despite the calluses that will often form
on your hands and feet. Indeed, such calluses must form in the
process of training your body to best express your will. When
you handle a weapon such as a sword or spear you cannot avoid
the blisters and muscle aches that are a result of your training
to use them. This pain is part of the unavoidable process of
uniting the weapons with your body. They may be likened to the
pains resulting from an organ transplant. They are the pains
of adaptation and strengthening. However, you should also keep
in mind that excess is never desirable, for excess will ruin
the balance of your entirety, though in the short term it may
strengthen your hands or feet using the weapon.
It is proper that you as a Taekwondo-Een should “weaponize”
your entirety through weapons training. Life can be both its
own best weapon and a lethal weapon against itself. Until you
can handle and use a weapon as an extension of your own body
through Taekwondo, the sword or the spear cannot obtain its
own life as if it moves for itself via your hands. Without such
expertise no good weapon can be employed. Not even a thousand
weapons are as good as one weapon united with your body.
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