[Terry's Tales] Om Mani Padme Hum (Self and Body Rhythmic Discourse on the Jewels of Altruism and Wisdom)

I have a special retreat that is a short forty five minute, relaxing walk from my abode.  During the course of this walk I pass a small school of Hapkido, one of the arts in which I am belted.  The noises of training that are emanating from this building are exactly the same as the noises I heard in the training halls where I learned almost thirty five years ago, and my thoughts are ‘ahh’.  ‘A new generation.’  

At this point, I no longer talk much about my martial arts background. As I am older and my body is no longer in the best physical condition, especially with arthritis in the shoulders and suffering two bad knees, I feel people may think what I tell them is merely bragging.  All I need say is that the people who trained me, trained with me, or later under me, and those who had opportunity to witness my skills on display are aware of some of my capabilities and knowledge.  Nothing more need be said.  So, in this vein, I never say much more than what follows.  

In the past people, not fully understanding or appreciating the ideas surrounding the philosophy by which I live, but knowing me to be a man of peace, have asked me how it was that I could teach the violence of martial arts if I am truly a follower of peace.  The answer to that was quite easy. 

First of all, it has to be understood that I was taught martial arts by an acknowledged Korean master – and one who was a graduate of Korea Judo College (now known as Yong-In University) wherein the focus of the training was MARTIAL ARTS, and during the course of his years there he was a world class competitor in Judo (though he received intensive training in Hapkido and Taekwondo).  His training was year round for the four year period of his attendance and he trained twelve hours a day, six days a week.  Upon graduation he served in the elite Presidential Bodyguard of the military.  What I trained in and learned were real, proven, Asian martial arts.  While I came to have a very high level of respect for other Asian martial arts, I came to have a healthy level of skepticism of those taught in the US due to the proliferation of schools where the owners/masters have little or no martial arts knowledge or else seek nothing but the profit motive, regardless the cost. 

Though I digress as an aside here, knowing what I know today, if I were seeking an effective school of martial arts in the US I would first look for schools of Aikido or Hapkido, followed by schools of competitive Judo (not because I do not like schools of competitive Judo, but simply because competitive Judo is more difficult to mentally wrap your mind around.  If you do get into it though, you will never leave it).  It would be a plus if the schools teach Taekwondo, but not necessary.  I would also take a close look at schools that teach the martial arts of south Asia, such as Thailand, the Philippines, and so on.  I would be extremely wary of schools that purport to teach only jui-jitsu, Japanese karate, Chinese Kung-fu, or even just Taekwondo so I would study them intensively before even walking through the door.  Yet, if they are offering a physical activity related to martial arts such as gymnastics or wrestling in addition to the martial arts then I would definitely recommend a strong consideration of such a school.  Schools that claim to teach some combination of Japanese karate, Chinese Kung-fu, or even just Taekwondo, I would simply avoid especially if they are also offering classes in dance, acting, special social outings, or other such things as well.

Anyway, because the techniques I was taught actually worked in real-life situations, I came to a higher level of confidence in self and an overall happier attitude towards life.  The reason that I know they worked was because the kind of training I underwent to learn the techniques was not the choreographed training utilized in the US pseudo-schools today; moreover, the Master (who arrived in east Tennessee in 1978 held an internationally recognized Sixth level Taekwondo Belt certification, an internationally recognized Sixth level Hapkido Belt certification, and an internationally recognized Fifth level Judo Belt certification (not surprising here because he had been a world class competitor); finally, in the early 1980’s this master set up a challenge situation similar to what would eventually become the ‘Ultimate Fighting Challenge (UFC).  The challenge was that anyone who could defeat one of the black belts from our schools in a no-holds barred contest would win $3,000.00.  There were a great many challengers, but none of them ever came away winners.

For those who can read Korean you will recognize the

 word 'Hapkido' on this second story window. 

My thanks to Choi, Dong-uk, who came and 

helped teach one year. 

The "Circle of Fire" training, along with the "Wall of Fire" training required students to perform a forward rolling fall after jumping over the flames of many candles. The idea is that NO flame is to be disturbed, not even wind from the students body passing overhead.  This was something that one could only learn to accomplish only after years of persistently trying. 

Even very young children could break cinder block concrete if properly taught. Here, Han, Wan-hui shows a young student how.  

Backflips are great body training exercises. 

Just as running up, down, or across walls for various sundry purposes are great body training exercises.  Here this eleven year old runs up the wall to the eight foot level to perform a backflip. 

Tournaments are an ancillary part of the program used to help improve technique and reaction understanding.

Here I am, all 210 pounds of me, performing the Judo "Form

 of Throws" with a very young Daniel Lee (circa 1984). 

Master Jung, Mi Hyang, 1997 Korean Woman's 

Champion, who spent time assisting in the school.  

Then I was hit with an epiphany that most properly trained black belts must encounter at some point – I realized that it was not necessarily the martial arts training itself that was important, but the mental training that was a by-product of the martial arts training that I had received.  This special way of thinking is only achievable if one has actually earned his Black Belt levels by truly working for them and even then, sometimes people do not learn it.  Worse still is when I find people who are actually holders of earned Black Belts who have learned the “Black Belt way” of thinking, but use the thinking to achieve negative ends.

That in mind, when I began running the school in east Tennessee, I utilized that understanding to establish a form of training that used the vehicle of martial arts to teach people to think in terms of accomplishment, not in terms of violence.  That is why I was able to have not just students who performed well in tournaments, but, as I mentioned in previous blogs, who could run straight up walls and then perform backflips, students who actually performed backflips and back handsprings over a two mile course, and students who became academically accomplished.  NONE of my long term students ever thought in terms of violence because I never taught them to do so, and, in the end, they were all way better off that I didn’t because they learned how to really create damage.  Instead, they learned the discipline of success.

As a final anecdote, one of my best students was a gentleman who was about my age.  This man who, in the course of running a Special Operations Group (SOG) in Vietnam as a Green Beret, earned a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, purple hearts, and his commanding officer once confided in him that in the action for which he was awarded the Silver Star, had he died as a result of the action his commanding officer would have put him up for the Congressional Medal of Honor instead of the Silver Star.  Here is somebody who knew violence, in fact he had been a Green Beret in the US Army and probably could have given me lessons in violence had I sought them.  He had served during the Vietnam War and as a result of his time in Vietnam he came away with a very bad case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  He knew he did not want his children to learn to think in terms of violence (usually taught in terms of ‘self-defense’ because he knew how such thinking would diminish their future in ways that he fully understood.  For this reason, since his children wanted to learn ‘karate’, he thoroughly checked out each school in the area.  It was not until he came to the school I ran that he considered enrolling his children.  Since he enrolled three children I gave him a free pass for himself.  He was with the school for three years before he left to assist the victims of Hurricane Katrina and he told me before leaving that what I had done for him in helping him to retrain his mind had resulted in the most successful relief from the PTSD that he had found.

So, in answer to why somebody with my philosophical approach would want to teach martial arts – the answer truly is easy.  It was for the benefit of my students and for society that they try to find successful paths of peace in their lives.  I hope I succeeded.