Division
7. On Poomsae
Chapter
53
Having
Yourself Empty at the End of Poomsae Training
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“How should I control
my breath?”
“Close your Ki while carefully observing your surroundings.”
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Generally speaking, it would be a futile labor to attempt to
grasp Taekwondo poomsae only in words and thoughts. Instead,
if you must try to understand poomsae through the sweat of training
and self-discipline, this is the sole path to the truth of TAEKWONDO.
Though they may be related, concept and action are quite different.
On the other hand, experience and understanding are directly
related. Experience can be understanding itself.
When you perform a poomsae it is important to completely unify
your spirit, having both power and tide in one, which is called
“regulating Ki in its entirety”. Regulating Ki in
its entirety does not at all mean always keeping your power
and tide the same, but rather keeping them harmonious and consistent
as an entirety. A beautiful song is harmonious and consistent
though it may include fast and slow, high and low-pitched tones.
You can obtain this by controlling your breath and concentrating
your mind. Regulating Ki in its entirety, you can unite Sseuimsae
and Sseuimnal, and further, complete each motion of poomsae
with completion. You can comprehend perfection through examining
life.
When Ki is regulated in its entirety every motion of poomsae
arrives at its proper pose and speed considering in relation
to the opponent, his physical condition, and the efficiency
of one’s training. It is just as in dance, where every
movement is related to the next, the whole comprising a unitary
and rhythmical flow. Every movement in a skilled dance, even
down to the finger, is always performed inclusively of a flow
that follows the entire current of the dance. In this way, though
it were a simple movement, it possesses great power because
it moves with the entirety. Thus, a skilled dancer’s motion
possesses power beyond its short reach; enough power to strike
and fell the opponent with the skilled use of a hand or foot.
Though the motion appears smooth it is the smoothness of a rolling
rock, which can destroy a building with the power of its rolling
from a distance. Try always to perform precise poses and to
make every motion in its own distinctive speed with full meaning,
like those in a good dance. Poomsae training then will be as
difficult as any you will encounter, but through its successful
completion one will very easily subdue the opponent. These reasons
relate perfect dance to the martial arts (Mu-yae). Beauty and
utility are the same at the level of immersion.
In performing poomsae motions you should control every movement
not by physical force but with your mind. Although you discern
Sseuimsae and Sseuimnal in poomsae, by controlling them with
your mind you can unify the two in one with the will of subduing
the opponent. Then, whereas either Sae or Nal by themselves
would be insufficient together they will now become mutually
supportive. No matter how flexible a body might be it cannot
be more flexible than the mind; no matter how quickly you might
run you cannot move faster than the mind; and though you might
have a hardened and powerful body it would be useless without
a mind to govern it. Therefore, only when you control your mind
at will can you accord the optimum smoothness, speed and power
to each movement. When you unify your mind and body you will
come to make the correct motions naturally and without restriction
on the body’s power. This is the non-restriction of self.
The reason that Taekwondo-Een trains in poomsae is not to gain
something. At the end of poomsae training there must be a complete
emptiness, an abandonment of everything. It is impossible to
attain non-restriction of self without the emptiness that comes
from abandoning the self. When you have abandoned everything
completely the unnecessary “you” will dissolve,
leaving only nature, and then you will grasp that gaining is
no different from abandoning. Thus, in training to master poomsae
and to achieve its true harmony, you should understand its formality
first as technique and then train yourself in poomsae through
constant repetition and enlightenment. Then you will arrive
at true Taekwondo.
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