Master Oogway & Master Bell

That is how our conversations will be between me and Master Bell

Every time I watch this Master Oogway, I couldn't avoid my eyes getting wet. This is how our Master Bell teaches all of his students. He is old wise and very peaceful. He remains alone in that school by himself whole day. Hence the energy in the school is very very  pleasant. He has infinite patience and tolerance. All the lessons that I learn from him are lifetime. I'm very fortunate to be with him.

காணி நிலம் வேண்டும் பராசக்தி

காணி நிலம் வேண்டும் பராசக்தி
காணி நிலம் வேண்டும் - அங்கு
தூணில் அழகியதாய் நன்மாடங்கள்
துய்ய நிறத்தினவாய் - அந்தக்
காணி நிலத்திடையே ஓர் மாளிகை
கட்டித் தர வேண்டும் - அங்கு
கேணி அருகினிலே தென்னைமரம்
கீற்றும் இளநீரும்

பத்துப் பனிரெண்டு தென்னைமரம்
பக்கத்திலே வேணும் நல்ல
முத்துச் சுடர்போலே நிலாவொளி
முன்பு வர வேணும் அங்குக்
கத்தும் குயிலோசை சற்றே வந்து
காதிற் படவேணும் என்றன்
சித்த மகிழ்ந்திடவே நன்றாயிளந்
தென்றல் வரவேணும்

பாட்டுக் கலந்திடவே அங்கே யொரு
பத்தினிப் பெண்வேணும் - எங்கள்
கூட்டுக் களியினிலே கவிதைகள்
கொண்டு தரவேணும் அந்தக்
காட்டு வெளியினிலே அம்மா நின்றன்
காவலுற வேணும் என்றன்
பாட்டுத் திறத்தாலே இவ்வையகத்தைப்
பாலித்திட வேணும்.
-பாரதி

Healing Arts System

In this modern world of convenience and the kind of lifestyle that most people follow, the imbalance in the person becomes almost inevitable. Though mankind is running in different directions for different reasons but they are always in pursuit of their well-being, happiness, peace, fulfillment and prosperity. In order to achieve that, we need to understand what a human is. To start with, we can consider the concept mind, body and spirit.

Body :-

Body is the complex physical structure which consists of different functioning systems like Skeletal, Muscular, Cardiovascular, Respiratory, Nervous, Digestive, Reproductive etc. Body is the vehicle through which we maneuver into the world with our thoughts and ideas. We perceive the world through our sense organs and use our brain to think and make decisions. In order to maintain and grow healthy, body needs proper diet, good amount of water, proper breathing, good physical activity and proper rest. The body chemistry is also greatly influenced by mental state of the person as well as energy flow through meridians of the body.

Mind:-

The mind is place of memory, the seat of consciousness and way, state, or direction of thinking and feeling. The mind is also the bundle of running thoughts. All our activities either through way of thinking or doing activities using physical body will get stored in the memory. They are called habits and once habits are strengthened by the repetition, it becomes character. The brain is the physical organ which houses the mind. The healthy mind is the one which is calm, relaxed, focused and take instructions from us.

Spirit:-

The spirit is the very subtle internal energy or the real being living inside of us or the awareness of the self. Breath is only physical connection between body and spirit.

We will feel joyful and at ease within ourselves when there is balance between mind-body-spirit. Energy will flow freely and we will be at our best to deal with anything in our life. This could be achieved by certain  systematic way of living. We are product of our habits. The balanced way of living can be initiated by training which involves mind-body-spirit together. As we train and live, we will gain the freedom from our habits and the way of living becomes choice for us. We can choose to live happy and peaceful.

Tang Soo Do

Tang Soo Do is the very profound martial art that has been practiced for thousands of years. It has been preserved, practiced and taught by great masters for various generations. It is not just the fighting art but the way of life. It will take us beyond all our fights. The greatest fight is that there is no need to fight.

There won’t be any conflict between who we are and how we want to be perceived. Being Truthful and Honest to oneself plays bigger role in getting rid of this conflict. Truth will defend itself. Staying truthful

always make us stronger, gives us more clarity to look at the reality and all the fear vanishes. The martial art is a beautiful system which can used to address personal, family and social issues.

PERCEPTION:-

Today we live in comparative society. Right from childhood, we are taught to compare ourselves with others. This is a sickness which will never allow us to remain peaceful and contented. The quality or happiness in life depends on who we are and not on the perception. But as society we put more focus on how we are perceived. In school, we put more focus on getting good marks rather than enjoy learning. In family, we spend lot of energy on how our family appears to be good. Marriages are done based on these perceptions. Hence people are suffering from either superiority or inferiority complex. In childhood, kids play happily and enjoy their life. As they grow, they learn to compare themselves with the others. Instead of focusing on their ability and goals, they put more focus on competing with others. As we grow adults, we get lost ourselves in this competition. This competition or comparison will never stop till we die. We are not clear about who we are and what we want in our life. There is no sense of settlement within oneself. We want everything that we see without inquiring whether we need it or not. Without clarity about who we are, most of the time we end up in chasing somebody else dreams.

Tang Soo Do comes with strong philosophy. There is no comparison between any students. The art primarily focus on character development. Though it is fighting art, the student will learn a lot about himself/herself in the course of learning. We develop the courage to see who we are and what are our strengths and weakness. We learn the tools to address our weakness or shortcomings and prepare ourselves to face the challenges in our life. We develop patience and tolerance within ourselves to overcome our shortcomings. With consistent training, our emotions will get settled down, our mind becomes focused and our body becomes flexible, strong and healthy. There will be sense of belonging within us. The art is so real that it will take us beyond all the perception (fake or superficial layer of us) and brings out the real person within us. We can always take the art to deepest level as we need. There is no place called destination in the art. Though we have different belts signifying different stages of the growth, each belt comes with knowledge and responsibility. Being a black belt and wearing a black belt are two separate things. It involves continuous evolution of human being. We enjoy training, we enjoy growth and we enjoy living. We don’t beat ourselves when we make mistakes. Mistakes and learning from the mistakes are part of the growth process. We do better when we learn better. We don’t get fooled by what we think we know. We frequently inspect our own achievements and have appreciation towards life. We are proud of ourselves but yet remain humble.

LIFESTYLE:-

Today people lifestyle has become very busy. People don’t have time to think about themselves. No time to take proper diet, exercise or rest. Our minds are occupied with lot of unfinished tasks, unfulfilled desires, unclear dreams or ideas etc. We give priority to everything else except for us. If we have too many thoughts running, we won’t have mental space to think. If something goes wrong either in physical, mental or emotional level, we don’t have any clue. We go to the doctor and take pills and move on with life doing the same things. We blame the situations or people outside. Seldom have we looked at ourselves or our role in the situations. Our lifestyle is full of convenience. Both the body and mind gets weaker. We won’t have strong will. Our emotions will dictate our life. Our life will have lot of room for chaos.

In Tang Soo Do way of life, we have clear structure, schedule and discipline to follow them. Everything in life has its own time and place which makes life simple. Having structure and discipline will be useful in preventing us from drowning in emotions due to convenience. The basic fundamentals of life are very simple. Life becomes complex when our wants take over the control of our life. So it is very essential to take time for oneself and that time is definitely not waste. It will be helpful in getting better quality of life. It will be useful to make sense out of the life that we lived and prepare ourselves for the better future. This will prevent us from making same mistake again and again in our life. We can walk through life with sense of clarity. As we live more, we will become wiser. In terms of priority, we always put ourselves first and we take total responsibility for all of our actions. In any situation, we look at the reality as well as our role in it. Being realistic and staying clear, makes a huge difference in one’s life and it will prevent oneself from unnecessary expectations, mental manipulations etc. We can have anything in our life as long as we are responsible for it. If we want the best from the world, we need to give the best to the world. To give the best, we need to be at our best within ourselves. The whole point is to develop strong and beautiful character within us.

RELATIONSHIPS:-

In this modern world, there is lot of gadgets available for our convenience. Materials have been given more importance than human beings. Lot of conversations among the people is about the devices, money, corporates, property etc. There is sense of attitude “what’s in it for me?” within all of us. This may be fine for business, profession etc. But when it comes to human relationship, that is selfish attitude. We need to have sense of love, care, respect and appreciation towards people. We need to feel that we are living human being and treat others the same way. When we are in so much need of others or when we put lot of our emotional responsibilities on others, then the relationships are going to be heavy and complex. That need indicates something seriously missing within us. In that very need, we will become selfish and we will ignore the fact what the other person will feel. In this fast paced lifestyle, there is not a lot of patience and tolerance within the people which is very essential for the relationship. The relationship becomes beautiful when we are well balanced, joyful and sharing the best with others.

In Tang Soo Do way of living, the relationships are strong and gentle. We remain alone but not lonely. We earn the respect for ourselves as well as respect others. We are clearly aware of how we are carrying ourselves and we will feel the energy around us as well as the energy of the people that we are interacting with. We are clearly aware of the conversations and its cost in terms of energy. We will make conscious choice in sharing our life with somebody as well as choosing the subject of the conversation. We are also aware of the changes in people feelings and energy during the course of our conversation. Being well balanced and emotionally stable within us, gives the safety, security, confidence and trust to others. This is very beautiful to watch. Wherever we go, we choose to belong there and hence people will be very much comfortable with us. We understand the process of human character development and can help people better (who are in need). Patience and tolerance becomes virtue of our character. We always look for the best in the people. We will always remain humble and wish the best for others.

Today as Third degree Black belt, I’m very strong within myself and feel very humble about that. With strong focus, calmness and discipline, I’m able to get things done. I feel thankful to all the masters who preserved the art in pristine form for various centuries. I appreciate and admire Master Bell’s patience and tolerance towards me throughout the journey. With years of training and living the way that I learnt (to the best of my ability), I understand that I gained incredible level of balance among physical, mental, emotional being of myself than I ever had. I’m aware of the path that I travelled. 

I’m clearly aware of codes/tenets of being black belt.

1. Structure & Discipline

2. Integrity

3. Concentration

4. Perseverance

5. Respect & Obedience

6. Self-Control

7. Humility

8. Indomitable Spirit

9. Honor Friendship

10. No retreat in battle

I’m also aware of the fourteen attitude requirements to Master Tang Soo Do.

1. Purpose of training should be enhancement of mental and physical betterment.

2. Serious approach.

3. All out effort.

4. Maintain regular and constant practice.

5. Practice basic techniques all the time.

6. Regularly spaced practice sessions.

7. Always listen and follow the direction of instructor or seniors.

8. Do not be overly ambitious.

9. Frequently inspect your own achievements.

10. Always follow a routine training schedule.

11. Repeatedly practice all the techniques already learned.

12. When learning new techniques, learn thoroughly the theory and philosophy as well.

13. When you begin to feel idle, try to overcome this.

14. Cleanliness is required after training. Keep yourself and your surroundings clean.

Each Dan promotion comes with knowledge, experience and responsibility. I feel privileged and honored to be part of black belt society. Being black belt demands high standard of living and it will serve me as tool to maintain strong, beautiful life as well as help me to grow beyond my limitations as life unfolds.

14 Attitudes to Master Tang Soo Do

 1.  The purpose of training should be enhancement of mental and physical betterment.

 2.  Serious approach.

 3.  All out effort.

 4.  Maintain regular and constant practice.

 5.  Practice basic techniques all the time.

 6.  Regularly spaced practice sessions.

 7.  Always listen and follow the direction of instructors and seniors.

 8.  Do not be overly ambitious.

 9.  Frequently inspect your own advancements.

10. Always follow a routine training schedule.

11. Repeatedly practice all techniques already learned.

12. When you learn new techniques, learn thoroughly the theory and philosophy as well.

13. When you begin to feel idle, try to overcome this.

14. Cleanliness is required after training. Keep yourself and your surroundings clean.

My Martial arts profile

I started learning Martial Arts in Japanese Style ShitoRyu under the guidance of Master Devaraj from 1999. I was practicing in that style for more than 7 years. Right from childhood, I was grown in a community where education is given more importance than anything. So I studied well and got a seat in prestigious engineering college in 1999 but I was weak both physically and mentally. I needed something which could make me strong. So for the first time in my life in 1999, I started showing serious interest in something(Martial arts) other than education. I never thought this is going to be significant part(or way) of my life.

Martial arts made me strong both mentally and physically. It gave me immense joy and energy. My perspective towards life changed a lot. Life has started becoming fresh and interesting. I participated in many karate tournaments in India and I met many Masters there. They all had some things in common. They are very strong and lively. It looked very attractive to me. Days were going fine. Due to job location, I’ve to move away from my master(who is in Coimbatore) to a different place called Chennai in 2003. Till this time, I had a pretty good experience in Martial arts but without clear understanding about it. I always needed my master to practice the art. I lacked discipline to practice on my own and hence I was very imbalanced.

I came to Fremont, CA in 2007. I met Master Bell there and started training in Tang Soo Do with him from March,2007. Master Bell revealed me the inner spiritual aspects of Martial arts and taught me the strong philosophy along with the art. Each single movement in the art is practiced with Mind-Body-Spirit balance concept. I started learning the secrets of the Magic(Martial arts). I begin to become centered on myself which gave me stability, balance, clarity and peace. I understood the connection between the life and the art. It is more than punching, kicking, doing some forms or breaking boards. It is a beautiful system to elevate the human consciousness or awareness about oneself and about life.

I learnt to look at whole picture of my life and also learnt to look inside myself to find solutions for the life situations. My life started to become simple and cool. Things at my job are getting done with less effort. I'm no more looking towards weekends for enjoyment. I'm pretty excited everyday. My relationships with my family and friends has become very smooth. I learnt to share my love, happiness and clarity with them.

Apart from martial arts, Master Bell also taught me Yoga and Chi kung which complement each other.With deep stretches in yoga, the mind-body-spirit comes together in a beautiful balance and I experienced a profound peace or bliss which words will not be enough to explain it.Chi kung is the profound system to become aware of the life energy and to rejuvenate one's energy to maintain inner harmony. After started practicing Chi Kung, I became very aware on my habits like eating, sleeping, breathing and thinking. And also I became conscious of my conversation with people around me.

Today as a blackbelt and instructor, when I look at my character, I came long way. I become more mature, strong and humble in my character with more patience and tolerance. And the most beautiful part is the understanding of the system behind my growth or the path that I travelled. I think this will be the most important tool which will help me to evolve continuously in future and also to help my beloved people in my community.

Blackbelts Photoshoot

OBJECTIVES OF TANG SOO DO

To help the individual develop Mentally, Physically, and Spiritually, and in doing so gain more knowledge of the self by increasing self-awareness and developing a greater sensitivity towards all things in nature.
"in nature be like water
At rest, like a mirror
Respond like an echo
Be subtle, as though non-existent"

1. Mental Development
Tang Soo Do develops the intellectual capacities of the student. It concentrates on developing the students ability to analyze new situations; to reason quickly, and to think and act through knowledge and spirit. It also offers the student a higher degree of mental development by introducing each individual to a state of mental consciousness that is non-intellectual (anti-intellectual). This is achieved by helping each student to perceive experiences, interactions, and situations as they occur through the utilization of all of the senses. In Tang Soo Do, the student learns to further develop and utilize all of the senses and is not restricted to the belief that the human mechanism consists only of the five senses as recognized by the Western World.

2. Physical Development
Each individual has different physical abilities and limitations. In Tang Soo Do, students learn to recognize and cope with their limitations but more important, they learn to develop all of those qualities and physical abilities they are capable of attaining. The practice of Tang Soo Do exercises .both the internal and external systems of the human anatomy which results in keeping one younger, healthier, and more physically fit for a longer period of time. Since Tang Soo Do practice involves the utilization of the entire body, the student develops better coordination and quicker reflexes. Also, the muscular fibers of the body do not deteriorate and atrophy, and the internal and autonomic systems of the body function more efficiently. Within cacti living thing in the Universe, there exists an internal physical force that is the necessary ingredient for the perpetuation of life. The student of Tang Soo Do does not learn to develop this physical force (since it already exists) but rather develops an awareness for it and develops a means of utilizing it in conjunction with all other physical properties of the human body. Mere physical or muscular strength is not all that is involved but instead, each student strives to develop a means of getting "in touch" with their inner force and strength in an attempt to become a more complete physical being that is part of and not separate from the Universe.

3. Spiritual Development
The practice of Tang Soo Do enables one to grow spiritually by developing within each student a positive philosophical approach to life. One of the main purposes of Tang Soo Do is the development of character. Students strive to improve their character and mental perspective through a system of training that requires a high concentration and disciplining of the mind and body. The ultimate goal of the art is creation; a spiritual awakening of the mind and body towards a sensitivity and appreciation for the beauty of life and love and reverence for nature. Students develop humility and a change in personality by gaining a sensitivity of which they are not usually aware of. They learn to respond to their innermost feelings and become more self-confident, self-sufficient as a person, more independent, mature, and inner-directed. Students able to maintain this communion with themselves outside the school are able to meet with any conflict or situation in a more able manner, using their entire "being" to deal with life.