1 dan Black Belt Essay by Jeroen van Vuure

[HAEDONG]

Black Belt essay

Jeroen van Vuure

The Tao of Haedong Kumdo part two

Deventer/Bonn, 20 oktober 2023

I AM a fool to be enlightened

Introduction:

For me, personality Tao of HK(Haedong Kumdo) means the way of love and energy in my life true the way of the sword(Katana). Love and energy are like a dragon, strong, powerfull and at the same time still and calm. If needed with fire, fire can be dangerous and unbalanced. The way means the challenge and conscience(ness) in life to be in the best possible balance with what is NOW (with the dragon as a symbol). Enlightenment.

What the beautiful sport HK means to me i already wrote in part 1. What i like to reflect on(what does it mean for me?) is in part two how does i feel and experience Enlightenment. And what is Enlightenment for me?

In the book “searching for the forgotten half in martial arts” by GMK (GrandMasterKim) i quote 3 subjects and reflect on them: it is a good way of looking into enlightenment and HK and what it does for me.

1. Enlightenment and Foolishness (blz.31):

“Realising foolishness is achieved through Enlightenment”

I was born enlightened, like everybody else. Fall down in life, get broken, suffering, and bumping my way true. It is true suffering we (i) search again for light/love or enlightenment, my mind thought i was spiritual, until life did show me my mistakes (lessons) as a human being. Until i discovered i was a fool, then i felt really free and alive. A fool in a good way.
In life and in training HK. I became humble, and my ego dont want to be humble. My mind is a fool. Now i know and can surrender to love and enlightenment.

While training with HK, it is a real lesson in foolishness. I learned all my limits and learned to love them. Many times, i felt like a fool, thinking i can't do it until i find out i can do it!

How come? I learned to love my limits and limitations. It is al writing by GMK, I AM a part of nature. Nature is love. I learned to love my nature. My nature as a human being (i call it foolishness or craziness) and my nature to be enlightened, what does that mean?

Dualisme between balans, harmony, happiness, health, and disbalans. Life is dualism. Our nature is to be one. Whole, complete. Strangly enough (or maybe not) while training HK, i feel the essence of being (one). The flow, energy, the movement, the state of not thinking, the power, and even unlimitlesness. Also, my body is limited in movement, it doesnt matter, my body is a tool, my mind is a fool, i am love!

How is that possible? I think HK brings us and me out of my comfort zone. Or thinking out of the box, as GMK calls it. My comfort zone is my limited being and thinking. Out of my comfortzone for me is finding out i can do more then i think, that i write this essay for my black belt examen, is a wonder for me, never thought i could do this or would do this (in my midlife i had a “burn out” and have trouble sometimes to focus or to remember things like the many forms of HK). The “burn in” is that i think less and can feel very deeply in energy, feel connected with nature or love.

2. Human life and Death are the same in Enlightment (blz.62):

“When you come to know where the area of Nothingness is (Original Mind Place, Original Nature, Kong, True Self or Creation Zone) you are aware that the body and energy is not yours”. “This area of Nothingness accumulates Love. You will finally understand how to live ...and that reveals what the reality of love is...”

What is the reality of love for me in HK? I am responsible for taking good care of my body (part of nature). One of these things is training HK, which is good for my mind, soul, and body. Creating harmony and doing good, harmony and balance, enlightenment.
In nothingness or stilness, for me in deep meditation or when i am in a good flow while training HK, i feel love as essence of (my) nature. The body is borrowed from nature, love is eternal, and human life and death are the same in enlightenment.

The reality of love and energy is like a dragon. The dragon is such a beautiful symbol of love power and energy in a balanced way. I really love it. And the power of the dragon can blow me away also.

The space of nothingness (aware i am not my body, its a gift from nature), accumulate love, for me because the dragon can be one in nothingness, so without dualisme. Love becomes a reality. Life itself shows me how to live. Or (as a more extreme statement) I am life, love, light, the dragon.

I am aware that these are “big words” and can sound impressive or with great expectations. The words are only pointing to an energy or essence. To a feeling i have, but let me be clear, i truly dont know anything. For me also it is also research and exploration.

3. True Happiness and Health (blz140 and 141):

While living, martial arts training direct us to get chances to accomplish a happy and healthy life...what is the meaning of health and happiness? … it means the energy of nature (love) gets into the body...”

How can i “have” an happy and healthy life? To live a life according to nature, out of the box, or comfort zone. I, with my mind shell, not try to control everything, but let nature/love flow. And of course, that is a challenge sometimes. Things come and go by itself, also I as a personality and my body.

Training HK is for me, flowing with nature. And sometimes, when i start thinking of training, i feel resistens, or i try to postpone. That is my mind. When i start training after a while, my mind kind of disappears, and the energy starts flowing, i “stop thinking”, i feel love, emptiness, happiness, and no words. So what can i say or write?

Conclusion:

We fall and get broken, suffering and bumping our way through, and we learn, find our true self, love. Spiritual growth. Until we are one or love, or whatever we call it. The body is a tool for Enlightenment. Very beautiful!

This essay is full of words used in a language on “paper”... but that is what the essence of this is. All has no words, like silence in meditation... One of my HK masters once said:

“The Tao that can be spoken of is not the real Tao”.

So, try not to read this essay of words, but try to feel a glimp of love inside you...

a glimp of Tao.

Haedong!

The now following is the first part of my personal reflection, based on the new book of GMK

The Tao of Haedong Kumdo, love. My personal reflection part 1.

Today, i am reading the book “searching for the forgotten half in martial arts”. Page 138. Chapter 2. Goals of training. Human life itself is Practice, which is "do" (Tao).
That is why i practice HK, it’s a way of living, an easy way to practice what is important in life, love. Everything i feel in this sport, comes together.

Harmony of three things; Body, Soul and Spirit, for a better quality of life. This is the way (Tao). By adapting well to nature, “Harmony and balance” or “enlightenment”. I come from a long way, HK brought me energy, health and oneness. And If i fall down in an human emotion, i do Ki Mu, and feel the love of life again.

Important is to show a correct mind(set) in every situation. It means we need to think out of the box, and get free consciousness (love and enlightenment), according to the book. I can feel it so strongly in the practice of martial arts. I experience that i only succeed in things, if I have the correct mindset, if my mind is not in balance and harmony, i fail (succesfully). There is nothing wrong with failure, it brings me closer to consciousness.

The fun trick in HK is, we cannot fail, because every experience is a good one.

I read: Human life itself is the practice, thoughts we have, relationships, places, food and so on. We fall and get broken, suffering and bumping our way through and we learn, find our true self, love. Spiritual growth. Until we are one or love, or whatever we call it. The body so is a tool for Enlightenment. Very beautiful.

In 2019 Master Kim was in Deventer, Holland. I had the honour to give Master Kim a place to stay in my house, how lucky I was. It was a beautiful week, to much to write it all down here, we were one big family of HK. Master Kim himself is an example of love, light, healing and happiness, I can only say so because I experienced it myself, this is an anecdote of my story:

Every morning I started with a big cup of coffee, otherwise I had no energy. One morning, Master Kim saw me drinking my coffee and looked surprised, he said to me that I don’t need it to wake up, my energy was blocked between my body and my head! That was true, my head was not awake.

He pressed some accupuncture points on my chest, it was very painfull, I tried not to scream. After that I suddenly felt the energy from my body moving into my head and it was flowing for the first time true my whole body! Everytime I do HK now, i can feel this energy, and a big deep inner peace without thoughts, i feel so happy. That’s why I am addicted to HK now lol. For the peace, love and energy, i dont care what the colour of my belt is.

I am a beginner, and hope to stay a beginner.

That’s why I hope there will be an event next year in Holland again, with all members of the HK family, just to celebrate the love we are, and that whatever we do in sport, we cannot fail because we do it with love. We express ourselves true Haedong Kumdo, Haedong!