Essay for 3 dan written by Ben De Busser

[HAEDONG]

Ben De Busser
Essay for 3 dan

1. How can we practice to achieve both better training and a better life through martial arts?

Training the martial arts in whatever sport or style is a matter of attitude. It doesn’t matter if it’s Haedong Kumdo, Hapkido, Taekwondo, … The real game changer is how you train. In some sports there is a competition or ranking in which you can develop.

But the actual development, the only development that counts, is the process you put yourself trough. You have to practice the martial arts on multiple levels. Train your techniques not only by doing them, but by thinking of them and the consequences or follow up.

There are elements in sports that also apply to a healthy lifestyle like focus and nutrition. It helps you, gives you all you need to do well in life. Keep on practicing and growing on all levels, because practice makes perfect… Fully committing to martial arts for me, means being in peace with yourself. Being able to focus in chaos, bring light to darkness and find solutions when there are problems.
I started training martial arts when I was 16 years old.

My first training of hapkido was driven by other intentions then why I keep on training now. I wanted to learn how to defend myself. Now I want to expend my mind and learn the principles of different movements.

Not only for defending myself like I once started all those years ago, but for exploring my own body, mind and soul. Trough martial arts I learned not only to control others in self defence, but rather to control myself. That way you can kind off control others because your actions are more thought trough. Trough training in controlling yourself, your thoughts and your mind, you learn to relativize and give energy where needed. Not only when asked! You learn to spend your energy wisely with success. That way you train for a better life.

There are two important things in my own path that I find very important. It’s called starting and finishing. When you want something different and/or better, you have to change some aspects of your life or daily routine. That requires change. To change something, there must be a willingness to start your journey. The strength to start that journey is the first important thing.

Secondly there is continuing the journey of self improvement for a better life. Because nothing is going to change if you give up or worse, you don’t begin. Change van be hard and is not always necessary.

You don’t have to change for nobody but yourself. Physical development is only one aspect of that journey. The harder part is the mental and emotional development.

This requires will and perseverance and is harder to change because it is more personal. But through martial arts and meditation you can overcome those fears and make them your strengths instead of weaknesses.

I learned trough Kimu training to clear my mind and just be in the moment. Change is located in small things. Don’t do some chores only for 50%. Finish them before you start something different.

If you want a better life, you have to know what you want to change. You have to close the gap between your reality and the change you want to realize.

Therefore you need to know where you are and what you’re made of. Meditation helps you to see who you really are. Then you know what you have to do for making your life better. Martial arts is not always for everyone.

But for me, it’s a great way to express myself and be who I am.
I thought long and hard what could make my life better and how I could benefit from martial arts.

For me, both of my clubs (Hapkido and Haedong Kumdo) do mean a lot to me. My life gets better when I get to see them grow. How they learn to understand the way the body is to move in the technique. Why we do certain things in a special way. The joy I get from teaching the students everything I know and motivating them. Seeing them enjoying the benefits of martial arts and finding rest in their heads, their minds. That fulfills me and makes my day, my life and my trainings better.

2. What is the ultimate purpose of human life?

The ultimate purpose of human life is to live it, according to me. How you do it is different for everybody else. Human life is just like every other lifeform on the planet. We are born and we will die like all living creatures do. In the meantime we try out best to be memorable for those who we love and cherish. That is our life. We do what we can for who we want. Some people choose living for fame and glory, others seek solitude.

The ultimate purpose for me, what I try to do with my life, is inspire people. I love working where I work and training both Haedong Kumdo and Hapkido to my group in Belgium. I want to be of any meaning in there life. They can learn from me and I from them.

Humans live in groups, therefore you want to be accepted by the group you are part of or want to be part of. You conform to the standards of the group and bring your own special uniqueness into it and make it divers. That way, together, we survive. Living is our purpose, surviving in group is how we do it. Thousands of years of evolution have brought us here.

We don’t have to train in martial arts, we don’t have to reach the stars, we don’t have to work our entire lives… We do it all for the society that we build ourselves. We need each other to survive and we expend our minds and push our limits because we want more. We expect more from others. More is expected of us.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that we need others as they need us. We complete each other. I can’t say what we as human beings are destined to do in general because I don’t know. What I know is that I cant live without a lot of people. I need them and I impact there life too.

The purpose of my life is to be there for others as they are for mee. In the process of living my life, I want to be happy and loved, I need to be kind and sincere, I love to be together with family and friends and practice martial arts. That is my ultimate purpose!

3. Can you share your opinion on the effects and significance of Kimu training?

Kimu training for me is like two things in general: reflection and deepening my understanding of the martial arts.
The first one is reflection. Reflecting on your capabilities on one side, and shortcomings on the other.

It is realizing where you are, finding rest and peace in your mind and very important, self-awareness. After a kimu-training you are completely zen, ready to consume knowledge.

You empty your mind and take on whatever form you need yourself to be. It’s like the famous quote from Bruce Lee: “You put water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put water in a cup, it becomes the cup. Water can flow or it can crash. Be water!” We have to train to be water, to become what we need to be, what we want to be. Change is always necessary for another result.

Kimu-training helps me seeing what I need to become and how to get there.
Secondly there is the deeper understanding of martial arts. Trough kimu-training and emptying your mind, you can find a whole new world within martial arts. The training of the techniques is one thing. Learning the higher level understanding of martial arts is very important to grow.
Thinking is just in our head. Thoughts are no reality. They are living in our minds but haven’t manifested yet.

Kimu training makes deeper thoughts possible. Deeper as in within your soul, deep in your mind. The more we think, the more it grows and starts living and expending in our head. By acting on those thoughts, we ignite the change to take form. If we want to become a bottle, we have to pour ourselves into a bottle.

We have to take form of whatever we want to be. How to get there is by exploring where we are at first via kimu training. Then we know… Then we start doing… Then we start changing…