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Hwa Rang Do®/
Tae Soo Do®
Long Distance Training Program
HwaRangDo is different from martial sports or generic martial arts that have practitioners that give themselves fake ranks and titles; through such actions practitioners destroy their respective arts through disrespect, dishonor, and disloyalty.Now, more than ever, the martial art practitioners are in extreme need of strong moral mentality as well as integrity. As a martial artist, learning deadly techniques, one has a responsibility to be of good morale and never abuse one's knowledge.
Now we and the true martial art leaders need to start afresh to change the unfortunate turns events have taken in the recent decades. We have to change the practitioners mentality into "Jung Do" the true mentality of the martial arts and develop the proper spirit amon the leaders of our community.
So many school owners have for some reason or other developed an unfortunate attitude. For example they display any famous art's name and bios on their business (DoJang). They think that the good reputation of the art names they display can be used any way they see fit. That is a wrong perception!! The good reputation of a given art has been built by the art's Founder and the first instructors, masters, and Grandmasters dedications to that particular art. The people who defined a martial art, created it's reputation, deserve to have their art's name maintained. The particular martial art identity was defined those masters and leaders honor, loyalty, integrity, and dignity. But when everyone think they can use martial art identities as they see fit they damage and disrepute the art. Noone needs to display martial art names other than their own on their school - if they have loyalty, honor and integrity they can teach their art proudly. Only displaying one's own martial art name will make everyone see how wonderful one's martial art is, because it's "pure" and not mixed with others..
Why martial art instructors need teaching loyalty? Because martial art ranks are different from academic degrees. The more academic degrees one have the better for ones reputation; but for martial art it is the opposite! There is only one true way for the martial artist, the warrior - he has only one choice: to follow the spirit of his martial art and the way of honor. So if one chooses a martial art one should dedicate oneself to maintaining their art's honor for life. A true martial art is comparable to one's country - you should always be loyal to it.
One should always earn one's respect and ranks. Martial art has ranks like military ranks and not academic degrees! The ranks, honor, respect is what leads to the good reputation of a martial art identity. This reputatition can only be passed down with pride to the next generation. But in present times some dishonorable persons use the good reputation of some arts claiming false ranks and titles, lying to the public for personal gain.
DoJang instructors or masters loyalty their art's identity is a lifetime dedication and it's an obligation for anyone of true martial art honor to try and change the minds of any fake instructors or fake masters you meet.
Since your loyalty goes to your art's name and governing association your dues (Membership fees, Testing fees, Publication profits, Donations etc...), only go to a governing association - NOT the founder of the particular art or any one masters!! Out there all schools seem to have an organization from which only one person profits. This way so many instructors only think about self gain. These "store owners" are distroying the true martial art's way.
Our Hwa Rang Do® World Headquarters are seeking and looking for people, experienced in other arts or not, with strong moral mentality, who strongly believe in our art's philosophy and codecs and who will commit themselves to our art, its laws, rules and regulations.
So many people ask about certified schools in their area, but we some times had to dissappoint these people. That is the reason why our Master`s Committee asked permision from our art founder Dr. JooBang Lee to start a long distance training program.
Of course we do not allow just any body of the street to start training in this program. The applicants are first tested in their true mentality of warriorship.
This is a collection of essays from Hwa Rang Do®/Tae Soo Do® students who were accepted into the Long Distance Training Program. These particular essays all display the good morality, virtue and dedication that is so hard to find among people today. It is with pride we make these public to show the true martial art's community and the next generations of true warriors!.
Capt. Marco Mattiucci - Dr. Kyungho S. Choi - Mr. Oscar Reyes II - Mr. Ian McTigue
Capt. Marco Mattiucci - S-0101
Martial Arts are something more than a part-time occupation or a hobby. I train my body, mind and spirit every day and my wife does the same. We both are trying to improve our martial capabilities since about 13 years ago when we knew one another. In all that years we trained in different Arts (Aikido, Judo, JuJitsu, Full-Contact, KungFu ecc;) looking for something we haven 't been able to find. From a technical point of view I didn't like the fact that every Art I trained was too specialized in a narrow martial field such as: (1) Aikido is fantastic but an Aikido practitioner is not able to kick in the same way as a full-contact one; (2) vice-versa a full-contact practitioner is not able to react to a grappling technique and so on. Probably the Ninjitsu is the most comprehensive Martial Art I have studied but, unfortunately, I have never found a good master. From a spiritual point of view I have understood that a lot of Masters are interested in the student's money and not in their personal evolution. This is nasty! I am not able to understand how a professional master, that must have strong moral values, can consider his students only as a profit. In spite of all the previous negative aspects I never stopped to train myself I have studied fundamentally Kung Fu (2 years) and Aikido+Judo+JuJitsu (simultaneously for 7 years). I trained 3 days a week in the school and the other days by myself trying to collect, reorganize and improve all the martial techniques I knew. I received the Aikido black-belt about 4 years ago and then I was transferred in Rome where I started the military carrier. In that period I was invited to train in the Otzuka Club, a specialized Martial Art School in Rome where you can study: KungFu, Karate, Sanda, Free Fighting Taekwondo, etc. The President of the School was fascinated from my style and asked me to teach in a course of Self-Defence and Total-Combat. At the moment the course is growing and I'm opening other temporary courses in other gyms. The wide-range techniques I teach (from kicks to grappling to traditional weapons) are very appreciated from a lot of people. At this point you can ask me: why the Hwa Rang DoŽ? I'm happy about my courses and I enjoy the fact that other people appreciate my personal style but I think that having a lot of students is not sufficient to be a good Master. I want to learn something more than what I know in all three aspects of myself: body, mind and spirit. To do so I need to meet very good Masters!
About 6 months ago I saw an article on 'Budo International" newspaper (specialized in Martial Art) which explained the principles of Hwa Rang DoŽ, the strong foundation of the Art and the great potential in all kind of fighting (kicks, ground, grappling, ecc.).I was curios to see a practical demonstration of that "wide-range" Art so I bought a video on Hwa Rang Do® and I studied it. I was impressed from the Elegance and the complexity of the techniques. It was the first time I could see in a complete Martial Art an elegance similar to that I found in the Aikido and I think (I at a good faster must show "Ki" power combined with harmonic movements. I'm an electronic engineer specialized in computer crime and I work on computers since when I was fourteen (now I'm 31-years old). Because of that I looked for the "Hwa Rang Do®" word in Internet and I found the www.hwarangdo.com site. I studied for some weeks the contents of the site and then I sent an e-mail to the headquarters. After two weeks Mr. SIRNY sent me an answer. Probably Mr. Sirny doesn't know that his behavior has been fundamental for me in deciding to study the Hwa Rang DoŽ. In fact I understood from his answers that he was not interested to sell me something or to include myself in the "Hwa Rang Do organization". The main Mr. Sirny 's idea was: "preserving the Hwa Rang DoŽ Identity respecting the rules'. This was wonderful for me because I thought: "This man is much more interested in preserving his Art than other" and this right and good principle could com only from a good practitioner of a very good Martial Art. In the same period I contacted by e-mail other authorized Hwa Rang DoŽ Masters and I always received kind messages where they invited me to contact the headquarters. I felt in every school the same Spirit I felt in Mr. Sirny messages: the Spirit of the Hwa Rang DoŽ Family. If you say that I never directly know the Hwa Rang DoŽ family you are right but in spite of this fact I like it and I hope you make me able to be part of it.
As I said to Mr. Sirny, if you accept me and if I will be able to obtain the Tae Soo Do® Black Belt I Would like to change all my Self-Defence and Total-Combat courses in Tae Soo Do® courses. To do so I would like to open at least a Hwa Rang DoŽ Club (referring to the Hwa Rang DoŽ naming protocol). The main reason to build a Hwa Rang DoŽ club in Rome is make me and my students able to learn and practice Tae Soo DoŽ and Hwa Rang DoŽ. The second one is giving the possibility to study Tae Soo DoŽ and Hwa Rang DoŽ to other people without the need to go abroad (money mustn't be a selection criteria for practitioners). My military status doesn't give me the possibility to study the Hwa Rang DoŽ on a full time base (as a professional practitioner I mean,). I have to remain in this status for the next 5 years (it's a particular legal-contract). In that period I hope: (1) to open at least two Hwa Rang DoŽ clubs in Rome; (2) to improve the Hwa Rang DoŽ level of myself and my students; (3) to obtain the Hwa Rang DoŽ Black Belt for me and the Tae Soo DoŽ Black Belt for the best students. One of the most important dreams in my life is to practice every moment in a day living in a Martial Art School. After the next 5 years I will be able to go out from the Italian military organization and then I can evaluate to ask you the permission to open a Hwa Rang D Ž Academy and then to give all of myself to the Art. I know hat all the previous objectives are hard to reach and I'm conscious of the fact that I could seem a dreamer. But why not? I'm sure that dreaming is the only way to start creating something real. Good will, persistence and luck can make a dream real. In the past 15 years I have studied in a lot of martial art schools but I have never stopped to train all the techniques alone, trying to better understand what the masters had taught me during the lessons. So I have a long experience in self-training and I know very well the difficulties of this kind of way to learn. In any case I think that it's not possible to learn very well a martial art without studying a lot alone (I remember that one of my masters said me: "nobody can learn for you'). Probably, studying a martial art using a video is much more difficult than performing a self-training after good lessons (I have no experience in distance-training) but I think that a good student must be first of all a good master for itself. A good student is an humble, smart and stubborn person and I think I am sufficiently humble, smart and stubborn to be able w train in the Tae Soo DoŽ Long Distance Training overcoming the problem of distance-learning. I hope you will trust me and I will try to be a very good Tae Soo DoŽ student Unfortunately I'm not rich at the moment, so I can't decide to go in the US, staying there for some years and studying continuously Hwa Rang DoŽ. I know that a lot of Italian people would be interested to follow a Hwa Rang DoŽ or Tae Soo DoŽ course but, unfortunately, they cannot spend for a travel neither for a long distance training. From this point of view I think that if you will accept me and I will be able to became a good Tae Soo DoŽ instructor a lot of Italian people will have the occasion to study the Hwa Rang DoŽ and Tae Soo DoŽ in spite of their economic status.
Dr. Kyungho S. Choi - 01-001-S0102
Personal reasons for choosing to learn HRD: As I go through vigorous residency training program as an emergency physician, I realized that I had to be physically fit to work 12 hour shift/day in a busy emergency room. I also had several encounters where physicians were attacked by psychotic and crazy patients. I needed to find a hobby or sport to keep myself strong, healthy and to defend myself from any possible attack in or out of hospital without harming the others. I regularly worked out in a gym and recently took up TaeKwonDo. Good exercise and sweats provided satisfaction of physical fitness. But I wanted to learn more complete martial art system than just punching and kicking as in Taekwondo. I searched through internet and read about most of martial arts in Japanese, Korean, and Chinese systems. No other system provided complete training for fighting situations in long and short distance and on the ground in addition to weapons than HRD. I was most impressed by the philosophy, attitude, and life story of Dr. JooBang Lee. I read most of articles provided on the internet. His vigorous training schedule, respect for his master and HRD, humanity to heal the wounded left a deep impression on me. As a medical doctor I am very interested in earning the oriental medicine arid its philosophy. also wanted to take up a martial art as lifelong exercise to practice. HRD provides more than I can handle. The depth of this art seems infinite. It will humble me more and more I train. HRD seems to be the art I was looking for. I tend to train in HRD for the rest of my life regularly since it seems almost impossible to learn all there is to learn. I want to take up this challenge as a humble disciple. Professional Goals I am taking HRD to build my body physically fit for the daily routine and to stay healthy. I would like to teach HRD if given a chance as a part-time instructor for the love of the art. Before I am a disciple of HRD, I am a medical doctor who is in the business of healing people and helping the weak. I do not intend to teach HRD as a full time instructor. But this art is a precious art from my country, Korea. I believe that it should have been the national martial art rather than TaeKwonDo. HRD provides the most complete art there are, and it came from my country, Korea. How many my own people know this? Unfortunately not as many as we would like to.
My first experience with HRD was about 10 years ago at a HRD school in Union, NJ where my roommate's brother was a black belt. I saw master Yum. Then, I never heard of this art, am sure I am not the only Korean who does not know about HRD. Now, I have been training Taekwondo for last 6 months and am an orange belt. But I am losing interest fast because all we do is simple kicking and punching. I would like to learn how to submit the opponents to the ground in simple steps or to take up weapons to defend against several of them. This is why I want to learn HwaRangDo Applying for long distance program I am very impressed of HRD. After several months of searching for the optimal and most complete martial art to learn as the lifetime commitment, I decide that it is Hwa Rang Do®. Not Jujitsu, Shalom KungFu, Japanese Bushido or Ninjishu, but the very ancient martial art from my own country, Korea. I want to pass it down to my 3 years old son. I hope that he becomes a master when he grows up and maybe a medical doctor like me. I live in Manhasset, 1 .5 hours away from N.J. Union or Palisades Park or N.Y. Long Island schools. With busy schedule as a medical resident doctor, I cannot attend these schools. I want to learn this art with all my heart. Also no art requires possible students to write an essay to learn the art. That is why I am applying for this program.
Going back to 1978 my father was a fighter pilot under late president Anastasio Somoza, my father held the rank of mayor in the air force. On a day we were visiting the Escuela Basica de infanteria (basic infantry school) we had the chance of witnessing a demonstration given by Mr. Echanis and Mr. Sanders, since then I was impressed for the art even it was never explain on its complexity it left a remarkable interest on me.
Yes I do, have a desire to later teach Hwa Rang Do but more accurate on the aspect of medicine.
Twenty-two years on a little country named Nicaragua a group of remarkable men went to my country with a vision of stopping communism, they encountered many odds even within the U.S government and the very staff of officers on the Somoza' s national guard. On my opinion these two instructors were ahead of times serving a cause, which in the circle they moved, were not very well understood. Unfortunately the cause they believed cost these two men their lives to some people it was just another chapter in the history of Nicaraguan conflict. For me it was not even at that young age I knew the losts of these two men were a great lost. Twenty-two years later I humbly asked for permission to learn the art of Hwa Rang Do to honor these two men. The art and principles they believed and died for. This time on the cycle of life to be used on the way of healing but always based on the principles and laws of our founder and the art of Hwa Rang Do. Respectfully yours, Oscar Reyes II
The study of martial arts is a serious matter to me. Within martial arts lies the potential to actualize mind and body beyond the normal human functioning. Great and deadly combat skills can be learned and tremendous spiritual energy can be harnessed. Health can be raised to new levels and maintained and true self-mastery can be earned, all through the study and practice of martial arts. The path is infinite, but must start from the correct point. Hwa Rang Do is an art that contains everything that a martial art needs to contain to be complete unto itself, and has the dignity and strength to endure.
I have chosen to study Tae Soo Do, on the long distance plan, because I want to be a part of the Hwa Rang Do tradition and there are no schools where I am currently. I need 18 months to 2 years to build myself up and prepare to move south from the Bay Area nearer to a dojang where I can continue my studies. During that time I would like to come as far as I can mentally, physically and spiritually within the greater HRD art so that I can hit the ground running, so to speak. I would, of course, follow the advice and instruction of my teacher, were I at a school, and study Tae Soo Do if warranted, but I have had enough martial arts experience to desire starting with the more difficult and complicated Hwa Rang Do from the beginning. Since I do intend to eventually teach Hwa Rang Do and Tae Soo Do it is just as well that I start with Tae Soo Do and learn everything from the ground up.
There are many lesser options, to my mind, for training locally. With what I want to achieve and accomplish they are not really options at all. Very few martial arts have the completeness and dynamic range to truly warrant the life long dedication that Hwa Rang Do engenders. I have used the totality of Hwa Rang Do's curriculum to judge other martial arts since I first came across the book on knife self-defense for combat with Mr. Echanis. I was living in Orland, Florida at the time and had no idea there was a way to train long distance, but took the ideas and curriculum of HRD as a model in my search for a martial art identity. Karate and Tae Kwon Do schools seemed lacking by comparison. The Aikido I briefly studied might as well have been modern dance for all the combat effectiveness it contained. There seemed to be a growing trend towards combination arts that had a hard style and a soft style taught under one roof. I looked into some of these, but it always seemed that a true martial art should be complete unto itself and should require a lifetime of practice and study. If you had to do two or more styles for completeness the whole thing seemed doomed from the start. The Kung Fu styles seemed enticing, but I never did find a teacher that I liked nearby. Kung Fu has the dubious problem of a general lack of cohesiveness, where every single school and style and teacher needs to be evaluated separately. I knew enough about martial arts to know that I did not really have the ability to judge that for myself. To my great relief I found the Chung Moo Do style of martial arts and a great teacher in the person of Tom Curtin. (The style was then called Oom Yung Do, and he was an assistant head instructor) I studied this art on and off for two years during which time I was back and forth to school in Atlanta where I studied Kashima Shinryu.
Chung Moo Do seems to have a great many things in common with Hwa Rang Do, from names of forms to a common origin (according to some martial historians). Honestly, I never would have abandoned the art and looked to Hwa Rang Do except that there are no schools out in California. Well, that and the reason there are no schools out here. Chung Moo Do has suffered some very bad press with the arrest of Honorable Founder John C. Kim for tax evasion, along with some of his top instructors. Chung Moo Do has been put on cult watch lists and banned from a few states. This is very upsetting, not because I believe the cult watch reports, but because a martial identity is a sacred thing. It is hard enough to tread a path like that and dedicate your life to self-development, and then the development of others, without having to defend the integrity of your art against such attacks. Although the cult reports are unfounded, the tax evasion happened and ended in prison terms. That is a touch blow in my mind. Protecting the integrity of an art is every member's duty, especialy the founder and his top instructors. The cult issues caused an unfortunate resonance despite its untruth...Martial arts have serious spiritual development aims that can not be separated from the mental and physical aims and unfortunately this has lead CMD to hide some of the spiritual development for fear of cult accusations. Hwa Rang Do, on the other hand, provides high level police training and even military consulting to the US government, is not under any cult-like suspicions and is able to freely talk of such esoteric things as mind control, putting people to sleep and reading minds. This is of serious importance to me.
In fact, the Zen influence and concomitance to zazen practice and meditation provides another dimension to this art and another reason I wish to train. I have been studying and practicing Zen Buddhism along with Zhan Zhaung Qi Qong for the past 7 years and wish to continue in that direction with proper guidance. The Chi Kung is important to me, but I am willing to drop the methods I now for what HRD and TSD have to offer along those paths. The Zen training seems of paramount importance and I intend to continue my sitting everyday, but desire a proper teacher to help cut through some of the delusion and spark true realization. This again sets HRD apart from other martial arts and explains why I wish to train in this art over all the local options available to me.
All told, Hwa Rang Do is the most complete and honorable tradition that I have found and I want nothing more than to travel as far down this road as I am able in this lifetime. The energy development, the mental and physical development, as well as the spiritual development and development of character are my true aims. The fact that Hwa Rang Do is also a true warrior art with the strength and power to teach real combat effective techniques completes the circle for me and leads me to this point of asking permission to begin training in your tradition and make it my own.
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