Thanks Mastercole.
I've not looked at the spiritual / symbolic meanings of the Yudanja poomsae in much depth, beyond what usually gets quoted in TKD texts.
Neither had I. But all it took was one catch phrase to spark my interest and cause me to research deeper. Take Keumgang for example, "what can break off every agony of the mind with the combination of wisdom and virtue is called "Keumgang." Now I think of how that sentence changed my life.
I've just now read an english translation of the Diamond Sutra. Some interesting notions about the transitory nature of things and detachment from self, but it's challenging for me to see any link between those points and the motions of Keumgang Poomsae, unless it's about things not being what they seem / are called.
It is challenging to attempt detachment from the self, much more challenging and beneficial than finding the meaning behind the moves. Example: Quick sharp movements/sudden enlightenment-sudden practice. Steady slow movements/sudden enlightenment-gradual practice, both being a debate within Zen. Palm strikes - A Zen priest who would smack a student in an attempt to trigger satori. 14 sitting stances in Keumgang - representing the stability of the sitting Zazen posture that Buddha took under the Bodhi tree, the immovable spot (bumispasha), also the idea of the largest mountain in Korea, something seemingly immovable (immovable meaning; I will find the truth and not be turned away). The rotation of the body 360 degrees, counter clockwise, then clockwise - representation of the Buddhist swastika's counter clockwise and clockwise rotation. Stomping the ground while making the santul-makki mountain block, again, demanding one's ground, that one will not be moved by delusion and ignorance.
Nonetheless, it was a pleasure to read, so thank you fo introducing me to it.
Actually, for you the Poomsae Keumgang has served 100% of it's purpose, you may or may not realize that. It has introduced you to this idea, which is all it intended to do. Of course I expanded a little about this idea from my own research, which is all it intended me to do. If this discovery changes your life, in 10 or 20 years, get back to me and let me know, if I am still alive, or let one of my students know, if not.
The reason I'm looking at the Poomsae from an applications perspective is to try and draw out more practical self defence from a set of patterns that are largely unexplained beyond simple striking arrangements and spiritual symbolism.
There is nothing simple about what Keumgang represents in a spiritual sense. Maybe Keumgang is telling us that the search for self defense fighting skills in Poomsae is a delusional trap in a cycle of suffering handed down from suffering being to suffering being and in order to break that bond of suffering we must sit, maybe up to 14 times and think about it?
I appreciate the spiritual aspect of the art as much as the next man, but right now I'm aiming to recover / restore some of the meaning to these movements that has either been lost in translation or lost in history.
This might be interesting research, if done well. We generally know where Taekwondo got these motions. It is simple, just to go those martial arts and study their theory.
I can appreciate that the motion in Keumgang Poomsae may be based on Keumgang Yuksa, but the motion must have existed for a reason in the first place, and that's what I'm trying to establish here.
At this point, I figure all we can do is guess, if that's our thing. In one of the old stone statues relief sculptures I saw of a Keumgang Warrior, you could see that his hands had a hollow opening, like where a staff would fit, maybe he was holding a staff or halberd?
In fact, I'd go further than that, and say that even if I can't find the original purpose, I want to create a new practical purpose for the movement that suits my abilities.
I guess, it depends on what one thinks adds more value to their life, or to the lives of others, via martial arts.
I understand that sparring was originally intended as a way to apply the techniques learned via the Poomsae, which were and are the backbone of the martial art.
For me, Poomsae is not the backbone of Taekwondo, or Karate. In technical terms, I think forms are a catalog of mostly inapplicable and failed theories. Of course, *some* technique are applicable and those can be seen in today's modern fighting styles.
Modern WTF sport sparring does not offer me personally enough in terms of self defence, and is in my view lacking when compared to the wealth of techniques contained within the poomsae.
You must have explored WTF Olympic Sparring Training Methods very deeply? Everyone's self defense needs are different. If someone has serious self defense needs, there is no martial art that can offer enough to fill those needs. The right kind of martial art, can only fill a part of that need, and that needs to be a martial art that uses full force/full contact as part of it's training - that is the value of modern WTF sparring training methods, please read these translations of Chong Woo Lee's comments on this subject:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/?start_tab=sets He is one of the chief architects of Shihap Kyorugi (Olympic Taekwondo sparring). Most people have never seen these before.
Street smarts, powerful negotiation and decision making skills, killer instincts, legal understanding of self defense law, use of weapons, access to weapons, your morals, etc, have more to do with self defense.
Even when one-step style sparring is used, it's not always clear in what way many of the movements from Poomsae are intended to be employed - which is why I'm digging back through Shotokan / Wado / Okinawan Karate Kata and supporting bunkai materials trying to find the intended purposes of / practical purposes for these movements.
I don't believe there are many practical purposes for Kata techniques to be found in any martial arts, just fanciful and theoretical one based on speculation, which is exactly what that masters of old were doing when they developed the empty hand kata. I think if you go back to kubudo, or weapons martial arts, you will find much more applications, but those will be mostly weapons based applications, which was their original intention.
Thanks in advance, look forward to hearing theories.
