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Chapter 1. Oneness and Nothingness be to be born together with each other() "How should I begin Taekwondo?" Master stood up with no word and I followed
him.
It is necessary that a man is born with his mind and body on earth, and it is impossible to control his mind and body in harmony unless he relies on the principle that has been existing since the time when there was nobody. This principle, according to which everyone can control his mind and body and live his life, has been called "TAEKWONDO"1) by senior masters. There are the ways along which the planets move in the sky; the ways along which birds and beasts travel on earth; and also the rules that mankind should obey in society. Just like these again, there is also the right way along which we should control our hands and feet whenever we make any motions. This is another aspect of TAEKWONDO. Man's life can be constructed only in his own motions and it is everything of his with the nature in. Owing to these reasons, we can call Taekwondo a <Do>()>, which contains the eternal principle. <Do> Since early times many men, relying on what each of them
attained, have divided the TAEKWONDO into three aspects, i.e. Musool(martial
technique), Muyae(martial art), and Mudo(martial principle). Musool(martial
skill) refers to those techniques with which you can control and surpass
your opponent as you want. Muyae(Martial art) is to obtain the harmony
of mind and body in which you use martial techniques at the level of arts
sublimating distinctions between mind and body into perfect harmony. Mudo(Martial
principle) refers to comprehension of the ultimate truth with its realization
in addition to the level of Muyae(martial art). However, all of these
distinctions among Musool, Muyae and Mudo will and must disappear at the
end. If you do not know this truth, talking about Taekwondo as Mudo, you
can never realize the eternal truth of Taekwondo. You would hide it by
yourself. A thing looks different from another as if all kinds of distinctions
were real. The real affair, however, is the existence of the entirety
of everything mixed in changes with one another all the way. So <Do()>
exists in real. But since it transcends every distinction man cannot explain
even though he knows it. Therefore, there is no one who can talk about
Taekwondo as just Mudo(martial principle). Owing to this reason, those
antecedent masters have called it only "Muyae(martial art)" but not "Mudo(martial
principle)" even though such a profound martial principle has been alive
and not forgotten for several thousand years. It is but to teach people
the meaning hidden behind words in direct way that I say here the word
"Mudo(martial principle)". Taekwondo has been the Oneness of Musool(martial
skill), Muyae(martial art), and Mudo(martial principle) all the way; past
and present. There already is <footnotes> 1) In this article, the concepts of "Taekwondo" and "TAEKWONDO" are distinguished. "TAEKWONDO" refers to the philosophical principles that man should follow in his life, i.e, the inner feature of Taekwondo as Do(Ô³) while "Taekwondo" refers to the principles of motion to control one's mind and body, i.e. the outer feature of Taekwondo as motions. Pronunciations of both are same and both refer to a thing, to different aspects of a thing respectively. But this distinction was made just in order to suggest logically clearer explanation on what the old masters have taught. Perhaps ony may think this distinction is unnecessary. Anyway, readers can read and understand all with no considerations on it.
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