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Why
Turtle Taekwon-Do? |
Why
Turtle TaeKwon-Do?
Turtle TaeKwon-Do seemed
the right choice for me personally, because I rescue tortoises and Box turtles.
Left:
Tommy and Ernie, two of the three Red-eared terrapins that I rescued.
Their owners were bored of them after just four weeks!
In my studies of Korean
history I came across the Buddhist belief in the four celestial beings:
Green (or Blue) Dragon, White Tiger, Red
Phoenix and Black Turtle (or tortoise).
Each represents a
different aspect of Buddhism, the tortoise or turtle represents longevity,
and is always listening (just like me)!
George is one of my
Red-Foot tortoises
I have also been reading
the War Diaries of Admiral Yi Sun-Sin, he was a very noble man and a man of
integrity, I have grown to respect him a great deal.
He of course invented
the Turtle Boats (Kobukson) and this is another link between my Taekwon-Do and
turtles.
In the late 14th
Century Kim Shi-sup wrote ‘New Stories of the Golden Turtle’ based on the tales
of
On Mr Burgess’ website, www.fighting-spirit.co.uk we read
“Sosan, whose name means “West Mountain”, taught the Son school of
Buddhist thought, which emphasises that meditation is the surest course to
enlightenment.
Sosan wrote a book on the fundamentals of Korean
Son Buddhism, the ‘Songa-gwigam’, the
‘Tortoise mirror of the Son school’, this is derived from the use of tortoise
shells in ancient Chinese divination, which made the tortoise a metaphor for
moral guidance.”
So-San is the ITF TKD
pattern with the most movements at 72.
All in all Tortoises/
Turtles are very important to me and to oriental cultures.
Basil is one of my Box Turtles
Many
other TaeKwon-Do organisations use the Dragon, Tiger or
Turtle
in Korean = Kobuk (Geobugi)