신간 머릿말 소개 Preface of "Searching For the Forgotten Half in Martial Arts"

[진영]

Preface

I held the first overseas official seminar and demonstrations in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in August 2001. I had been establishing branch associations and disseminating The Two Sword System of Jinyoung Ssangkum Ryu all over the world and teaching seminars according to each continent for about ten years.
 
Finally, in 2009, The Korea World Haedong Kumdo Championship began and ended successfully. The overseas journey I had been establishing for nearly 20 years has been reached.  Now, I am making a plan to travel again in 2022 since I recently got back from Bulgaria in September this year. However, I am staying in Korea now due to the covid-19 pandemic.
 
Since I got older, before I know it, I am already in the mid-60s, looking at the 70s. The years have quickly passed. Textbooks for The Two Sword System Vol. 1 (2001) and Vol. 2 (2004) were published, and I was in the process of publishing Vol.3, Vol.4, and Vol.5, but circumstances did not cooperate until 2005.

One day, it occurred to me what I had left out of the explanation of mind and body training based on the techniques of Jinyoung Ssangkum Ryu. This book is a compilation of those insights. Gaining a more in-depth understanding of the meaning of ‘The Forgotten Half of Martial Arts Training’ is one of this book’s goals.
 
While living, for more efficient martial arts training and qualitative life improvement, I would like to share the things about ‘Martial Arts & Practice’ through my experiences of reaching enlightenment with many people. Consciousness changes life for human beings. Through martial arts training, both trainees and non-trainees are offered the opportunity for deeper understanding.  
 
Since the beginning of human history, nothing has fundamentally changed. In modern society, we can directly experience the process of innovation and development through constant changes. The level of consciousness and values ​​of modern people is unparalleled. We can live well when we get out of the existing consciousness as we look at the era of the 4th industrial revolution.
 
All of the old consciousness that has been passed down hundreds and thousands of years ago will disappear. It is not easy to foresee the future social image and its changes.
 
I published a Five book series for the correct way to practice (Korean version) from 2016 to 2018 and the publication of ‘Think Out Of The Box through Haedong Kumdo Training’ (English version, 2015) was published, whose motto is ‘Think Out Of The Box, so that I live well’ because it makes people healthy, happy and live well, and can help me do better than what I am doing now.  
 
The core of those books is to adapt well to changes in surroundings for Enlightenment; it depends on your mind, whatever you do. It is the principle, the law and the truth of nature that has not changed since human history. That is what I emphasize. Nature itself is ordering and conforming to it is the correct way for human life. My previously published five-book series (Korean version) is a way to that cultivation.
 

Martial arts training should make human life healthy and happy. If it does not, then the meaning of martial arts training for modern people in the 21st century will also disappear.
 
We may foresee that the mind-set training of the current system we have been doing will gradually disappear in the generation of the 4th industrial revolution. Everything we do is under one principle, so its underlying core and reality must be on the same line, and then we can say all is history.
 
The title of this book is ‘Searching for the Forgotten Half in Martial Arts’.
Many will try to know, ‘what is the half never thought of?’.
It is a little puzzle.
 
Martial arts are the practice and cultivation of both body and mind. It is explained differently from sports; some argue that martial arts can never be a sport. Both mind and body training must be explained together. They are inseparable, but you need to be able to distinguish each one.
 
In this book, acquiring martial arts skills is called 'Training'. Morality and personality should also be strengthened, and this education is called 'Practice'. I want to stress the importance of character without so much weight placed only on training. It is essential to distinguish just 'Training physically' from 'Practice mentally, which are inextricable.
 
When you can see, feel or know the flow of energy through martial arts training, then you will be able to notice the blockage and flow of energy. This will help each person to understand the basis of martial art strength, which is the essence of martial arts training.
 
Among the martial arts created in the modern era, its value and legitimacy can be estimated in terms of the level and degree that each system trains the body and mind in basic martial principles. Fifty to sixty years ago, in the early days when Korean instructors pioneered in the USA and Europe, its spread began by showing mainly the physical limitations of humans in breaking and kicking, etc. Even now, many gyms at home and abroad are, for the most part, memorization and repetition of skills. Since most of the trainees are children at each gym, it may be a bit burdensome to accept the playful atmosphere. 
 
It is important that there are various methods of martial arts training for practitioners living now in modern times. Regardless of the Art, I always stress basic techniques and principles as the vehicle to discovering the ‘Nature of Reality’. The 'Basics' offer 'Awareness in Mindfulness' to the flow of energy.
 

 'The Forgotten Half' was something our ancestors had been doing as a required subject in the past. In modern times, the physical part is still active and developed; the mental part is easy to say in words but much harder to do in actions. You should know how to teach and learn systematically. I explained it in simple words using the present day as an example of how to live and understand its true meanings by the principle through this book. 
 
Most of the martial arts practitioners are aiming to build their strength (상승무공, 上昇武功), the importance of which may be predominate depending on the situation at the time. Here I would like to emphasize through this book the practical goal for modern people, that life as a human being will be fruitfully and abundantly experienced when you can use the increase of energy in a good and benevolent way through daily life. That is for modern people in the 21th century. It will be a true martial art & practice appropriate for the era of the 4th industrial revolution. You will be able to understand the meaning of the Forgotten Half easier and more clearly.
 
First of all, when it becomes recognizable that both 'my body is not mine' and 'the energy is not mine', this can be said is the beginning of proper martial arts practice. But if I think I have done this myself, my energy, my body, then I cannot control my stubbornness and greed, so I cannot put myself on the energy of nature. No matter how hard your best efforts are to hone your mind and body, eventually, it becomes difficult, hard, and even painful in the end.
 
Looking at the lives of the founders and grandmasters of modern martial arts can help you think about it in your way. It is also possible to draw an analogy from the past lives of famous and respected scientists, spiritualist, and philosophers who believe in their minds and thoughts, when I get away from nature, my life becomes difficult and hard; eventually, it makes me sick. The urgent priority is to recognize what the reality of energy is. Bear in mind that the energy of nature has a consciousness and is alive. Through your experience with mindfulness and awareness in daily life you can make this a reality.

When you understand this, you can easily grasp the principles of meditation and breathing. Without wasting time on false or wrong things which is an illusion, you will be able to make yourself good and others good as well. As you are getting to understand the flow of energy deeply and clearly, you will be able to learn the effective movements of your body for healing others. It also refers to movements that break the opponent’s balance and make use of the opponent's energy.
 
In the past, the word ‘Muwidongwon’; which means martial arts & medicine comes from the same root, has been handed down. Its basis will be the same energy of nature which is interconnected under one principle. If you could fully make energy your own; ‘Self-Acquirement’ and put it to practical use through martial arts training, you will be able to help the other person's discomfort or pain with various capabilities, such as acupuncture, moxa, and hand therapy and so on.
Because the principles come from one thing, the reason and principle are the same in the universe. That is why we can heal others through the way of doing martial arts; otherwise, you are not doing it with integrity. It is possible to follow the energy of nature properly which means an adaptation well to nature. For each person, the level will vary.
 
‘The Forgotten Half’, we’re going to talk about through this book, can be seen from the meaning of ‘Muwidongwon’ if you learn martial arts correctly, medicine is also supposed to follow for you, because it’s all come from nature, on which training with a correct mind makes it possible. Therefore, you can notice the interrelationship between Martial Arts & Practice.
 
After all, modern martial arts are to make the lives of modern people leisurely and abundant. Through martial arts training, you should learn the principle of life that makes you healthy and happy for a lifetime.
 
It is important to learn the principles to live well and in harmony with family and people in general. Accumulating higher human conscience and morality through proper martial arts training should be the purpose of modern martial arts in the 21st century. While learning techniques to overpower opponents as a protective measure, I would like to emphasize that the training is to make each strength (energy) turn into good with the betterment of humanity.

 
While expressing the importance of ‘The Forgotten Half’ through various explanations, expressions, and diagrams in this book, I will do my best to help all of you understand ‘The way of Nature and the Martial Arts’ and improve the quality of your life. I sincerely hope that this book will help many people learn the principles of life, love, nature and how the world works so that we can collectively take a step toward greater health and humanity during these trying times.                                        
                                                                                                 Kim, Jeong Seong
                                                                                                      November 2021