It’s a phrase some of you have heard Master Lee say more than once. And if not, you just heard it here, so commit it to memory.Â
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Most of the senior students at the dojang know that I’m a contributing editor for Black Belt Magazine. The vast majority of the recent press featuring Hwa Rang Do or Master Lee in recent years has come from my keyboard. I also hold sifu ranking in three Chinese martial arts and a doctorate in Chinese medicine.Â
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Thanks to my job with Black Belt, and also thanks to other random good luck, I’ve had the rare opportunity to hang out with or study (privately in most cases) with the who’s who of martial arts from around the world. From spending days on the set with Jackie Chan and Zhang Ziyi, to watching Zulu stickfighting and Xhosa knife techniques in South Africa, I’ve been blessed to be able to see the best of martial arts around the world. In fact, I just returned from a training trip to Thailand, where I spent a week studying Thai swordfighting (krabi-krabong) in depth. So what does all that bragging mean for you if you’re training at the West Coast Hwa Rang Do Academy? Simple. I train there, too . . . starting from a beginner’s shiny new white sash.Â
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And why do I train at the WCHRDA? Is it because I happen to know Master Lee from the days when we both used to teach martial arts at UCLA? or because it’s close to my apartment? or because the uniforms are too stylish and cool looking to train anywhere else? It’s because I’ve had the chance to see and train with the world’s absolute BEST martial artists, and I count Chiefmaster Taejoon Lee among them. I said THE WORLD’S, not LA’s best, not California’s best, and not America’s best. He is among the world’s best martial arts instructors and masters. You doubt it? Go and travel the world like I have. See what else is out there. You’ll come back several thousand dollars poorer only to agree with me.
This morning, Master Lee was explaining the finer points of the second HRD hyung to me, demonstrating the proper body mechanics for the reverse punch. I’ve seen plenty of high level practitioners throw a reverse punch, and I myself have thrown thousands of them. But when you see it done properly, as if every cell of the puncher’s body is in perfect harmony with that movement, that punch is no longer just a punch. It’s an expression of transcendence.
The beauty of that transcendence is lost, however, on 99% of the people that walk through the dojang’s doors. The average person, even a so-called “educated consumerâ€, lacks the perspective or experience to see the value of what’s being given to them so freely for nothing more than the price of enrollment. I see it almost every time I walk into the dojang: “That which comes too easily, you esteem too lightly,” It’s a bloody shame. It expresses itself with every rude comment, every careless action, every half-hearted kick, every defensive response to criticism, and every moment when our ego allows any sort of behavior that is anything other than respectful, diligent, committed, and generous. This is the cold, hard truth of every asset or precious commodity – from money, to relationships – not just martial arts. We get into the habit of taking things for granted, and we do it with the things that we cherish, let alone the things that we cannot comprehend the value of.
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Almost 2 decades ago, when I first came to Los Angeles, I was at Caltech, watching Tsutomu Ohshima teach his Shotokan karate class. As a newcomer, I knelt just inside the door of the gym in the corner, watching the class train and observing the instruction. Master Ohshima noticed me kneeling, and came up to me after maybe 30 minutes and invited me in, asking me to sit more comfortably on the bleachers. When he came up to me, I bowed down, touching my forehead to the ground in the same way that you bow at the beginning of class.
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At the end of class, one of Master Ohshima’s higher ranking brown belt students came up to me and snidely asked why I was brown-nosing “Mr. Ohshima†with all the kneeling and bowing. I shot back a glare that would have cut through a tree and told him that if he had any clue who his teacher was, how his teacher was the prized pupil of the father of modern karate, how his teacher’s skill is legendary in the world of martial arts (even in Japan), he should cry at the number of times he failed to kneel down and show the utmost respect for his sensei. Embarrassed, he skulked off to change out of his uniform and find his pocket protector. In all his years of training, that student never comprehended the value of the moments he had with this great master. If you knew the kind of level of achievement and genius that Do Joo Nim has accomplished, if you knew the kind of persistence and dedication Susuk Kwan Jang Nim has put into training and continuing Do Joo Nim’s legacy, and if you knew how little you appreciate it and respect it, maybe you’d cry too. Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Don’t show your thanks with a Honey baked ham, or some cheap words. Show how much you understand what is being given to you and how much you esteem the Hwarang ethos by pushing yourself in every moment to be stronger, more dedicated, more respectful, and more aware not just in the dojang, but in every moment of your life.
Dr. Mark Cheng