Zanshin: Tradition

     This article appeared in a regular column entitled Zanshin and ran in the World Oriental Martial Arts Federation Newsletter from about 1990 until around 2008.  This particular entry was one of the last ones to be published in 2008.  It explains the legacy that the students of WOMAF have inherited, and the tradition that I come from.  I have been a student at Pacific Rim Martial Arts Academy, the headquarters of WOMAF, for 40 years.  It has profoundly shaped my life, and my writing.

Z A N S H I N

                            

                      by Dick Morgan

                                                     Tradition

          I am wearing a new T-shirt that I really like.  It has beautiful Kanji characters on the front which mean “Tradition” in classical Japanese.  I received this shirt as a participant in the Spring 2010 Instructor’s Seminar at the World Oriental Martial Arts Federation U.S. headquarters: Pacific Rim Martial Arts Academy, in Beaverton, Oregon.  I have been to many of these seminars, and I am never disappointed.

          It is interesting that the Kanji characters on the front of the shirt are actually Chinese in origin.  Japan has a newer, more modernized version of print, which is used in newspapers, books, and business correspondence.  But when

the message is meant to be displayed as a decoration, advertisement, or art, then the more traditional, more elegant Kanji is often used instead.  Long-standing traditions are often treated like this, replaced by someone’s idea of a better way, disregarding the fact that a certain manner of doing things has served its users well for many generations.

          Martial arts are exactly the same.  The reason for traditions is to pass down to new generations methods which have proved efficient and effective.  In the martial arts, this means that we study not only the movement basics, but the history and philosophy of the art as well.  Who were our founders? How has our art developed into what it is now?  What did the founders intend that we learn, and why?

          The first of these questions is not so very far away from the present.  Modern Hapkido was developed in the mid 1950’s and early 1960’s by a small group of very dedicated martial artists in Korea.  They were studying a form of Aikijutsu imported from Japan after World War II by Choi, Yung Sul, who referred to this art as Yu Sool Kwan.  But this group of dedicated practitioners brought with them their expertise in many other martial arts, including Judo and Chungdo Kwan.  A new approach to Aikijutsu quickly developed, which was then renamed Hapkido.

          Our connection to this group of founders is through Grandmaster Kim, Sangcook.  He joined this group of founders as an accomplished Chungdo Kwan black belt, and influenced the development of Hapkido more than any other single person.  From his contribution to the art of Hapkido, we receive the hard focus of hitting and kicking, often referred to as “the one-punch kill” approach to technique.  Most of the kicks that are now standard tradition in Hapkido have come to us from Chungdo Kwan, the only Tae Kwon Do style that has kept its family title.  A few of those kicks, such as the Hapkido signature turn-back kick, were invented by Grandmaster Kim during this formative period. 

          Grandmaster Kim’s teacher, Woon Kyu Uhm, has been the president of Korean Chungdo Kwan for many years, and recently served as President of the World TKD Federation.  Grandmaster Garrison has studied with Grandmaster  Kim for 40 years.  During that time, he has traveled with Grandmaster Kim to Korea, conversed with Mr. Uhm many times, and practiced with Mr. Uhm’s other senior students, all of whom are now the senior leaders in the Tae Kwon Do World.  He has practiced with the senior masters of both Chungdo Kwan and Hapkido; He learned the Tae Geuk Forms from the man who invented them.  He has learned Hapkido from the people who invented that art.  For the past 40 years.  He has paid his dues many times over.

          That is where our martial tradition comes from.  It comes from a man who has practiced his art faithfully for half a century, and has become the master his teachers wanted him to become.  He now passes that art down to us, his students, as faithful to its origins as his teachers presented it to him.

He has not transformed it into a newer version, nor left out the parts he didn’t like, nor promoted himself beyond the rank his teachers have bestowed upon him.  The art is as pure and as close to the original as any presentation of Hapkido anywhere in the world.

          Now it is our turn; tradition is a two-lane road.  We have experienced the best training in this art available in the world today, but we must learn to be receptive.  We must approach the art with an open mind, a prepared body, and a determined heart.  When we practice basic moves, we must remember that these moves have been taught unchanged for generations.  We must examine them over and over, each time searching for the nuances that make them so effective.  Little things—the placement of a foot, the position of the fingers, the coordination of the breathing—can make a technique formidable, or make it ineffective.  We must continuously examine each movement we have been shown to discover all the elements that give them power and effectiveness.

          Many people discontinue this examination process, believing that they have learned all there is to learn.  They declare themselves done, and stop learning.  The secrets gleaned from a lifetime of study are no longer available to them.  When you resist learning, tradition is lost. 

          I have experienced another week-end of learning.  Many of the techniques studied I have seen many times before in my own 35 year history of studying Hapkido.  But none of the techniques were boring, or pointless, or ineffective.  All of them presented new approaches, new insights into how they work.  And once you have served as Uke for Grandmaster Garrison, you instantly understand a technique’s effectiveness, and believe me when I say, you are not bored.  You get the point very quickly: there is more to learn; there is more to perfect.  You are not done.  You are never going to be done.

          You will never be done learning because that is our tradition.  Hapkido is an approach to life itself: learning without compromise, and without end.  Consider yourself lucky that you are not done, and that you have such ready access to a stellar tradition.

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