If you are truly interested in going with master Lee, then you had better ask him yourself. It would be interesting, though, to find out if he does accept you into his organization, as all of the current ones under his banner are run by his students.
Hello Hyeongsa it has been a while since we spoke. You can go to Master Lee web site and get his phone # and call Him to see if he is accepting new students with a Kuk Sool rank. If you are really interested. I feel that he would love to branch out. D2
Master Lee and a few of his students (me included) will be doing a demo at PSBN Len Trevino's San Antonio school on April 3rd, and I'm sure you could talk to him then/there.
i suppose i could. but the thing is (and this is important): IS CJN Lee accepting schools under his new association? is he accepting any former KSW schools under his belt? or is it one of those "maybe, depending on if you talk to him" kind of things?
I really do not know if he is considering expanding into any new schools. I will try and find out this week, and let you know. Though, if you are really serious in your desire, I highly doubt that he would flatly turn away a quality (in his eyes, at least) school that wants to join. I am fairly certain that if someone came to one of the MSW schools with a KSW rank, you would most likely be welcomed.
Hyeongsa, I am guesing that its not that you especially wish to join MSW, but you are just interested to find out in general if Master BIL will accept anyone who has not trained under him or his students and in particular, ex-won schools? If he does then maybe you feel he could be the missing leader which you would like to see come forward to gather together all those who have left the WON under one flag etc. Am I right? If so, while I do appreciate your desire to unify everyone, and as a leader I couldn't think of anyone better than Master BIL, I really can't see it happening as everyone leaves for different reasons. Therefore it will be vitually impossible to find a way to unite them which satisfies all the various reasons they had for leaving. I think that the best you are going to get is an informal (or possibly eventually a formal) arrangement of accepting students for training and also, acceptance of rank, (subject to re-testing perhaps). This is already offered throughthe KSGA. But good luck in your quest anyway.
I'm not sure that the original reasons for leaving would even matter to most. It seems the grass is greener on the other side, and once you have your freedom as a teacher to explore and teach the arts as you wish, why go back? This is particularly true for Master level instructors, as by that time you no doubt have the foundation of good martial arts technique down, there is not much NEW to learn, but as always there IS more practice to be done ;-)
i believe in following your masters wherever they might lead you. however, and you all know this about me, when they ask you something ridiculous like signing a franchise which clearly states they can replace you as school owner and basically destroy your SOUL if they want, i think thats when the line is drawn. when it comes to "training other styles" i have everything i need in the originial Kuk Sool: axes, chain whips, spears, knives, medium swords, short swords, long/reverse/double swords, archery, flails, three sectional flails, tridents, hammers, etc. and when it comes to striking and grappling, have you stopped to really LOOK at the syllabus? the originial one? no wonder Kuk Sool is the best! but, Kuk Sa Nim is not the ONLY one to found this. and if i leave, i will follow the royal court path and not associate myself with the "Kuk Sool". anyway, the KSGA has its problems that need to be fixed first. i love it and the idea of it, and no association is perfect, but those problems i listed on the KSGA thread are stopping its growth.
I agree about not wishing to "go back" and I assume you also mean that those who leave would not be too exicted about joining a new association. However I can sympathiose with Hyeongsa who I think, is missing the OLD association and would like to see something to replace it. BUT...not much new to learn?? You have got to be kidding! I have only been "out" of the Won for less than a year but I can honestly say that I have already learnt far more new material in that short time than I did during the previous 8 years! Now I would agree that learning new stuff is not the "be all and end all" of MA and that we also need to practise practise practise what we already know in order to "master" it, but I can also say that much of what I have learnt has helped to make sense of what I already knew. There is so much stuff out there. And yes the KSW syllabus does have lots of weapons in it (most, though not all, of which are totally impractical) But as far as I can tell the syllabus for these weapons is either very thin or just not taught to anyone below 9th dahn! I mentioned this in the context of long swords to a 7th dahn Master to whom I was talking shortly before I left the WON. His reaction went aong the lines of, well, we have straight sword and reverse sword forms plus double sword..what else can you do with a sword anyway? Hmmm As for grappling, well its all very well looking at the original syllabus, but you then need to find someone who can teach it to you. I don't see anything in there equivalent to BJJ or combat sombo for example. Of course, not everyone wants all of that and I fully respect those who prefer to stick to a restricted syllabus. But those who feel like I do are unlikely to want to join any association that tries to restrict what they can learn or where they can go to learn it. And any way, I don't need to look for a new association. I have what I need in the NKMAA. THey teach the traditional art, have more than one Korean art to add to my knowledge, but also have no problem with me looking elsewhere for knowledge. Which, IMO is how it should be. But that IS just my opinion!
Well if you're constantly seeking new material, it can be had! I'm not referring to the fact that there is not new material, that would be a major fallacy. But in looking at the principles of martial arts, there are only so many ways to bend a joint, so many ways to do a body throws, so many ways to throw a punch, or kick, so on and so forth. With weapons, pretty much everything falls into one of 5 categories, stick type, bladed type, flexible type, projectile type, and combination type. There are for sure limitless ways to combine any empty hand or weapons methodologies, but good principles are good principles. In knowing them you can easily pick up any "new" technique or form.
I thought learning how to use "outdated" weaponry was one of the criteria that makes kuk-sool a *traditional* MA.
You may be right UK, and I am not saying that I think such training is a BAD idea. Just pointing out that the KSW syllabus contains some less than practical material whlst also being short (in some areas) on the practical stuff. Not a criticism, just an observation, and one which is true to some extent or another with most MA. Hence the desire to learn from wider scources...
really? master lee has it up as "grandmaster". could it be one of those things that have more than one meaning?
Chong Jae means Director or President...The concept of "Grand Master" is really and Western thing. The closest term might be Dae Sa Bom (太師範) or "Great Teacher".
You are correct, Onatop. But please go back and check out post #267 of this thread for a detailed analysis of the terms being questioned, in hangeul as well as hanja.
it makes me wonder....why didnt' GM Suh take the title Do Jae Nim "Owner of the Way" like GM JB Lee? Kuk Sa (Son) Nim means "National Teacher (Immortal)". strange that the Hwa Rang Do GM uses "Owner of the Way" while the Korean National Arts Association GM uses the Hwa Rang title of "National Immortal". anyone else see that?
