Grand Master Jin K. Seong
Grand master Jin K. Seong has been mastering the art of Kumdo since 1976. He achieved Kyosa 7th Dan at year of 2001. He also has been serving US Korean Kumdo Association as Executive Managing Director.
Achievement
- Kumdo Referee Certificate 1996
- Kumdo Instructor Certificate -1990
- Korea Kumdo Association Technical Research Committee Testing Committee Member
- 1st place in the Culture and Education Minister’s Cup National Kumdo Championship, 1981
- 1st place in the National Sports Festival High School Division, 1981
- 1st place in the Seoul Kumdo Association President’s
Championship, 1980,1981,1983,1985,1989
- 1st place in the Seoul Mayor’s Pennant Kumdo Championship, 1984,1985,1986,1989,1990,1998
- 2nd place in the National Sports Festival, 1990
- 3nd place in the National Sports Festival, 1992
- 2nd place in the Seoul Mayor’s Pennant Kumdo Championship, 1983,1994,1995
- 3rd place in the National Ranking Championship 6th Dan Black Belt Division, 1995
- Korea Sports Association Award of Accomplishment, 1997
- Received visa “Alien of Exceptional Ability” (Self Sponsor) emigrate to U.S.A. 2001
- Established Sung Moo in Korea in 1992
- 1st School Sung Moo Opened in New Jersey 2002
- 2nd School Sung Moo Opened in New Jeresy 2003
The ultimate goal of Siljin Dobup
Written by Jin K. Seong.
The ultimate goal of Siljin Dobup is ‘controlling the mind”. The human being consists of mind and body. We think our body and mind are ours or are they? We often make mistakes, regret, collapse and abandon when we fail to control our body and mind. Can we control our mind then? Can we really become the master of our mind? Through training in Siljin Dobup we seek the answer. Siljin Dobup is designed to achieve the ultimate state were the body and mind become One.
There are five ascending stages of training in Siljin Dobup Jee (earth), Soo (water), Pung (wind), Hwa (fire), Cheon (sky). There are also some basic cutting moves to study before Jee, however major training begins at the level of Jee.
The details of each stage’s goal and mind study will be explained below.
1.Set Jee-Earth Putting down “the self”
Jee is Earth. Earth is the origin of life and death. Since the Earth is the fundamental in all lives, it is the first stage of learning. Learning is accepting. We need to empty what we have already to accept new things. It means to be humble enough to accept the teacher from whom you’re eager to learn.
SOO-PA-RHEE– this terminology stands for the three stages of martial arts training originated from Buddhist terminology
SOO– Keeping what we’re taught. It is a stage that we keep the principles and basics learned from the teacher.
PA– Is the stage that one breaks the mold by one’s individuality and ability to create a unique style based on keeping the principles and basics. This stage is planned intentional and conscious.
RHEE– Is the stage of natural and unconscious training which is the extension of stage PA. This is the ultimate stage that the trainee performs PA freely without losing reason, rules and basics.
It is impossible to access learning without studying the stage of SOO. A trainee can fall into conceit easily and too much pride will lead to the failure of communication with others. That is why the trainee needs a guide in the beginning stage. A strong relationship has to be built between the teacher and disciple at the stage of SOO. The disciple must have faith in the teacher’s way even though he or she disagrees with his ideology. It is a matter of sincerity not of right or wrong. Again, without emptying what you already have and being humble, the journey of learning could go wrong.
1. Chapter (Set) Jee is designed as the training stage of SOO. A trainee will learn to keep the basics and principles of the sword technically and mentally in the frame of the teacher’s philosophy. It is a very straight forward chapter that every student must follow.
2. Set SOO– Flowing like water
SOO means water. Our mind should flow like water. Water can harmonize in any place and transform into any shape without losing its character. Our mind should be flexible like water. We should open our minds to the unlimited possibility for greater achievement. The movement of SOO should be big and smooth with flexibility as water.
3.Set Poong— Stopping like Wind
The wind blows or stops without being seen. We practice severing and stopping in Poong. Our minds are limitless and free of charge. Sometimes our minds are stuck on a memory of the past or fear of the unknown in the future. This is not an efficient way of controlling our minds. If this happens during sparring or competition, one can not maintain the freedom of moving and find the weakness of the opponent.
In set Poong by abruptly cutting out unnecessary things, we make room for positive energy of Set Hwa.
4.Set Hwa—burning like fire
Fire is energy. When a person builds up Chi energy he can have more power, passion, confidence and dream bigger dreams.
You will learn how to put down “the self” and accept in Set Jee and Soo. You will learn how to make room in your mind by severing unnecessary things in Set Poong. And finally you will learn how to fill up your positive Chi energy in Set Hwa. The movements of Hwa are live and continuous. You should train to generate spirited Chi energy as if there is a blazing fire inside of you!
5.Set Choen– Sky
Cheon is the final chapter to start controlling your mind after competing Set Jee, SOO, Poong and Hwa. Cheon is Sky and it covers everything. It is tolerant of good, bad, beautiful, ugly, hot and cold. The existence of all things is under Sky.
You should be able to recognize and accept that you are the master of you mind. Cheon is different for you and me. There is my Cheon and your Cheon. Everything is free and in harmony.
*몸주인 마음주인
글. 성 진 규
난 지도하면서 이렇게 말을 한다.
“몸의 주인이 아니라서 그러십니다.”
“내몸에 주인이 당연히 나라고 생각하지만 내가 주인이면 이렇게 말을 안들을 수가 있겠어요?”
“그래서 훈련을 통해 몸이 내 말을 좀 따르고 내 생각데로 움직여주라고 매일 매일 몸수련을 하고 있는 것입니다.”
마음은 이렇게 하고 싶은데 몸은 따라주지 않지만 매일의 몸수련을 통해 차츰 몸이 말을 듣게 되고 마음따로 몸따로에서 마음과 몸의 갭을 줄여나가게 되면 비로소 내몸에 온 주인이 된다고 생각된다.
그런데 몸에 주인이 되었다고 느끼는 시점이 오면 이상하게도 몸보다 그전에 몰랐던 마음이 더 말을 듣지 않는다는 것을 알게된다. 평상심을 잃게 되고 놀라고 두렵고 망설여지고 의심이 들고……그래서 마음의 주인이 되려는 필요성을 느끼게 되는데 이 때 몸수련에서 얻은 경험이 큰 힘이 된다. 인간관계에선 때론 속기도 하고 하지만 맞으면 아프고 굶으면 배가 고프고 땀을 흘리면 게운하고 하는 것처럼 내 몸은 절대 나를 속이거나 거짓말을 하지 않는다.그래서 말을 안듣던 내몸이 반복되는 훈련에 의해 주인이 된 것처럼 마음도 훈련을 통해 주인이 될 수 있다는 생각을 믿을 수 있고 믿어야 한다.몸으로 시작한 수련이 마음수련으로 옮겨져 내 마음의 주인이 된다는 것은 무엇을 의미하는가?
몸의 주인이 되면 내 몸을 내가 컨트롤 하기 쉬워지듯 마음도 컨트롤 하기 쉬워진다는 것이다.
평상심을 찾고 놀람 두려움을 극복하고 결단력과 담력이 배양될 것이고 더나아가 부정적이고 불필요한 생각들을 긍정적이고 유용한 생각들로 바꿀 수 있는 마음 부리기가 용이해진다는 의미이다.
몸을 컨트롤 하듯 마음을 컨트롤할 수 있는 진정한 나의 주인이 되는 것, 이것은 행복한 일이 있어서 행복한 것이 아니라 내스스로 행복을 만들어 낼 수 있는 주인된 마음인 것이다.
* Master of mind and body
Written by Jin K. Seong
Most everyone who takes up kumdo for the first time will talk about his or her body not listening to his or her head. This is probably because the body is unfamiliar with the new stances and movements which require the use of muscles not often used. So when teaching, I say, “That happens because you are not the master of your body.” To this, the students reply, “Obviously I am the master of my body, but if I am truly the master, how come my body is not listening to me?” To this, I answer, “That is why we train: so that our bodies will listen to our minds and move the way we want them to.”
The mind wishes the body to move a certain way, but the body doesn’t listen. But through continuous training, the body starts to obey the mind, and the gap between the mind and body begins to narrow. Thus as time passes, we begin to think that we are truly the master of our bodies. But strange enough, once we think that we are truly the master of our bodies, we realize that the mind is what we really want to control but cannot. We realize we lose our sense of balance, we are easily surprised or afraid, we hesitate, we question and so on.
So we feel the need to control the mind, that is, how we think. And not surprisingly, all the training and practice that took place to bring the body under control comes in very handy as the same logic can be applied when trying to control the mind. People sometimes deceive us, but our bodies never lie: when we are hit, we hurt; when we do not eat, we are hungry; when we sweat, we feel refreshed afterwards. Thus, training our bodies is a straight forward process. But training of the mind could be slightly trickier. This is why training of the body precedes training of the mind. The former serves as a practice run for the latter. And we have to believe that the training of the mind is possible, because it will never happen if we don’t first believe.
So what does it mean to be able to train our bodies to listen to our minds and eventually train our minds to go where we want it to? This means one becomes the true master of one’s mind and body. Being the master of one’s mind will mean not losing one’s balance (or being able to quickly find it again after it has been lost), overcoming one’s fears, being more bold and decisive and so forth. If one is able to control one’s thoughts, one will be able purge the negative and unnecessary and replace them with the positive and productive.
Only when we can truly control our thoughts like we control our bodies, can we truly become the masters of our destiny. We will be happy not because there is something to be happy about but rather because we have made a conscious decision to be happy. We will be happy simply because we chose to be.
*총을 사용하는 시대에 왜 우리는 칼을 배울까?
글. 성 진 규
총을 사용하는 시대에 왜 우리는 칼을 배울까하는 질문을 해본다. 칼을 수련하는 본질적인 이유를 알기위해서 한번쯤 생각해 보아야 할 명제이다.
단지 운동적인 측면이라면 달리기도 있고 역기를 들 수도 있고 흔한 구기종목을 할 수도 있다. 그렇다면 운동적인 측면보다는 정신적인 측면에서 접근을 해보아야 더 근접한 답을 구할 수 있을 것이다.
우리가 수련하는 칼(도법)은 문명이 발달하기 전의 아주 오래전부터 내려오는 것이다. 그렇다고 전통의 문화를 계승하고 발전시킨다는 거창한 명분을 전면에 내세우는 것도 아니다.(최소한 실전도법은 그렇다) 여기에는 목숨을 내놓고 생사를 전제한다는 긴장감과 두려움, 의연함과 절박함 이런 극한 상황들을 가상할 수 있다는 것이다. 죽거나 산다는 매우 단순명확하고 원초적이며 모든 것을 걸어야 문제를 풀 수 있다는 절실함 같은 것들이다. 죽음앞에서는 부귀나 명예도 신분과 지휘도 다 부질 없는 것이다. 삶과 죽음은 시작과 끝이며, 완전한 비움이고 내려놓음이다. 죽으면 끝이고 아무것도 없는데 다른 무엇이 중요할 수 있는가? 세상의 부귀와 영화도 근심과 걱정도 나의 죽음 앞에선 아무런 의미가 없다. 그런 죽음이라는 극단적인 가상을 통해 현재 내가 가지고 있는 근심이나 고통을 내려놓는 방법을 찾아보자는 것이다.
죽는마당에 갈등과 노여움과 원망과 욕심이 무슨 대수며 내 생각을 조금 바꾸는 것이 뭐가 그리 어려운 문제이겠는가? 이렇듯 죽음앞에선 현재의 내가 가지고 있는 스트레스와 고통의 크기를 상대적으로 줄일 수도 있고 작게 만들 수가 있다.
재미있는 것은 우리의 뇌가 눈으로 보는 것과 생각하는 것을 구별하지 않고 똑같이 인식한다는 것이다. 즉 시공을 초월하여 생사를 전제한 가상이(수련의 정도차이는 있겠지만) 그 에너지를 똑같이 만들어 낸다는 것이다.
역기를 들고 달리기를 하면서는 연결시키기 어려운 근본적인 질문에 칼이란 소재로 목숨이라는 마지막을 가상하며 에너지를 극대화하여 고통의 크기를 조절하고 통제하려는 것 이것이 바로 총을 사용하는 시대에 칼을 배우는 이유인 것이다.
이것은 결국 내 정신의 주체됨이며 정신의 자유로움을 찾고자하는 것이다.
*Why should one study the Sword (Siljin Dobup) in the modern age of Firearms?
Written by Jin K. Seong
The question gets commonly asked: Why should we study sword training in the modern age of guns? What is the purpose of sword training? Exercise? If so, one could do other other sports , such as running, or weightlifting. Perhaps the reasons lies in the spiritual aspects of sword training.
The purpose of the sword arouses concerns since the sword is capable of threatening one’s life and thus arouses mixed feelings of nervousness, fear, bravery and desperation as he or she encounters in a life or death situation. In sword training (Siljin Doup) one trains by imagining oneself in such a situation and experiences the emotions that one would encounter under these extreme circumstances.
Life or death is a simple and basic concept. One becomes desperate to survive when he faces death. Wealth, honor, social class or occupation does not matter when someone is about to die. Life and death mark the beginning and the end and when in a situation of facing death one empties and lets go of concerns. Through the art of the sword one hypothetically situates oneself to be in an extreme situation where his life is threatened and tries to release all concerns.
Interestingly, our brains do not distinguish between what we see and what we think. The practioneer imagines himself in a life or death situation perhaps in a different historical time period, depending on the quality of his practice, his imagination could produce the same effect as facing this type of situation.
Running and weightlifting are solely physical activities that do not deal with the spiritual aspects of dealing with life and death. In the practice of Swords the spiritual aspect is achieved by training with the concept of life and death.
Through the practice of Sword ( Siljin Dobup), one trains himself to control his own emotions and seek mental freedom.