Div.7 Chapter 52

Perfection which is neither Completion nor Incompletion

“How can I train my mind?”

“Think only necessary things. That is enough.”

You are surrounded by many enemies. There is no way out. To where can you escape? You should find refuge in a place beyond the restrictions of existence, to the inside of yourself. Through skilled motions you must forget everything and immerse yourself in a state of Mu-A (non-I, 무아[無我]). Just as you transcend to the inside of life over every denial to its reality, so must you hide from many enemies on your inside. This is the most reasonable escape from reality. This is not to avoid but to face an opponent, controlling him. In this state of immersion in the inner life you can discern the world of dance in relation to Taekwondo. After all, the two are no different.

Therefore, in the performance of Taekwondo Poomsae, as in dance, although each movement may appear separate and completely distinct in time, each actually interacts and collaborates with the others in Poomsae. Therefore, one movement leads to another, and one movement is accompanied not by this sort but by another sort of movement in Poomsae. Because of this, Poomsae that can be divided into each movement cannot at once be distinguished such in another. This is why Poomsae differs from basic motion.

The principles that organize motions in Taekwondo Poomsae can be categorized into two comprehensive types. One is maintaining incompletion in completion and the other is maintaining completion in incompletion. When you maintain incompletion in completion each sequence of fragmentary movements achieves its own complete meaning with some independence from their entire system. This individuality of each part in Poomsae makes the entirety incomplete, so it is said to maintain incompletion in completion because each motion achieves completeness by itself, its multitudity never completely merging into the whole. When you maintain completion in incompletion every movement is related to the others in a unitary flow, so no movement and no pose achieves its own complete meaning outside of this flow; i.e. out of sequence of the various poses. Instead, this restriction of each movement to the others generates a complete harmony and an incomplete motion achieves its meaning only in this whole. Thus, it is said to maintain completion in incompletion.

The incomplete motion in the completion of Poomsae is felt as separate in every movement and joint, where you can discern such sharpness as slicing every portion of empty space with a sword and with every moment erupting with a fierce energy. It is for the completion of subduing an opponent in every movement. Since, however, to fill is followed by to empty, you should maintain incompletion in completion to open its entire meaning and rid it of all self-restriction. The complete motion in incompletion of Poomsae takes the form of a continuous flow of movement without break, which reveals itself in a natural weightiness, filling all empty space and flowing in a stream of continuous rhythm. It is for the meaning completion of each to subdue an opponent in the whole combination of each independent motion; and so, the entirety related to a motion lies in each since it has open meaning in its formal incompletion. It is complete.

As you master movements to maintain completion in incompletion in the practice of Poomsae, you can learn how to harmonize a part in an entirety, not merely as a part but as one of its entirety. As you practice movements to maintain incompletion in completion you can learn how to harmonize a part in an entirety, not merely as a part of the entirety but also as one that contains and reflects its entirety. In either the case of completion in incompletion or incompletion in completion, final mastery appears as perfection that is neither complete nor incomplete but which is both of them at once. It has no figure.