Jhoon Rhee International`s Web Site

By: Grand Master Jhoon Rhee

The purpose of life is to be happy, and there are two kinds of happiness: Physical and spiritual. Material wealth provides us with physical happiness. Spiritual happiness is obtained only though art. Art such as music, dance, painting, sculpting, cooking, etc. My philosophy is to lead martial artists toward a classical art form to align them with the purpose of our life, Happiness.

We obtain our knowledge through seeing and hearing. We appreciate our arts through the same two senses. All visual beauty is expressed by various types of lines.

First, there are the straight or geometric lines of beauty generally found in the mineral kingdom, like in a diamond or snowflake. Second, there is curved or streamlined beauty commonly found in the plant kingdom, such as in flowers or fruits. Third, there are lines created my motion generally found in the animal kingdom, such as fish swimming in the water, beast running in the wilderness, birds flying in the air, and human body movements, particularly in sports and dancing.

Among all beings in the universe, there is nothing more beautiful then the lines of the human body. When these lines of the body create new lines of motion by following choreographed movements, it is a most beautiful sight.

But these lines of beauty stimulate only the sense of sight, which is merely fifty percent of the human senses used to appreciate art. Adding music to body movements synchronizes the beat of the music and the movement. It stimulates not only the visual, but also the auditory sense, which makes a 100 percent complete sensation for spiritual happiness. Just look at an ice skating performance, ballet, or ballroom dancing.

Now we know why musical forms are becoming so popular in many martial arts tournaments throughout the world. When my family and I became citizens of the Unites States on February 28, 1973, we created a new idea, Jhoon Rhee Martial Arts Ballet, a combination of martial arts from the East and classical music from the West.

The goals of the Jhoon Rhee Martial Arts Ballet are to express physical beauty and to share the message of healthy and happy living through martial arts discipline. I personally feel that Martial Arts Ballet is best with classical music. There are seven pieces of Jhoon Rhee Ballet which I have choreographed. I would like to share the philosophies of each choreographed piece with you:

Marriage of East and West

This is performed to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, to promote the philosophy of peace and harmony among all people of the world. The philosophy of marriage of East and West is expressed in the following prose:

"The martial arts represents Eastern culture to the West, and classical music symbolizes Western culture to the East. Rudyard Kipling, a poet laureate of Victorian England, once wrote: 'The East is East and the West is West. Never the twain shall meet.' Since his time, we have seen a dramatic change. Because of today's advanced communications, our world has become smaller and from this smaller world evolved a cultural exchange between East and West. This has provided a better understanding among all people. Let us take a step further to eliminate the narrow gap that still exists. An exchange may not be enough. What may be needed is a marriage of two cultures."

As I noted above, my family and I became U.S. Citizens on February 28, 1873. To commemorate the occasion, we created a new idea, the Jhoon Rhee Martial Arts Ballet. The day my family "married" America the beautiful, my Tae Kwon Do married her inspirational music. We saw a new intriguing beauty and a power generated from the union. It is a happy marriage of Eastern and Western cultures, which I hope someday will become a significant contribution to peace among all people.

Might for Right

This is performed to the theme from Exodus, to promote the philosophy of justice. "Might for Right" has been the motto of the Jhoon Rhee Institute of Tae Kwon Do since 1962 when it was founded in Washington, D.C. Its inspiration is derivative of a current theme gleaned from the historical analysis of many world languages.

Webster's Dictionary defines "left" as evil, and "right" as righteousness. It is quite interesting to note that this meaning can also be found in most other languages as well: Latin, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Dutch, Russian, Arabic and Korean, to name just a few. And although these languages were created by different people at different times in human history, almost universally "right" means righteous and "left" means sinister or evil.

Inspired by this nearly universal precept, I composed some short prose to be read as a background recitation during the performance of the Martial Ballet "Might for Right" to Exodus:

The Beauty of Mexico

Throughout history people of neighboring countries have generally created hatred for each other. For example, between Koreans and Japanese, Russians and Chinese, Turks and Greeks, Indians and Paskistanis, Chileans and Argentineans, Mexicans and Americans, and so on. Why can't all the people of the planet live together in harmony? I just don't know.

There have been three big walls that have caused wars throughout history. They are national, religious, and racial walls. The day the people of the world agree to construct one universal country, one universal religion, and one universal human race by everyone becoming color blind, everyone on this planet will be happy with every breath of life.

In 1976, when my five-man Tae Kwon Do team and I were invited to Mexico City by Master David Moon, I, as an American citizen, wanted to do something meaningful to promote a people's diplomacy between America and Mexico I searched for a way to make the people of Mexico feel closer to America.

Finally, I was inspired with an idea to create a Martial Arts Ballet to Granada, a popular song by the Mexican composer Augustin Lara. I named the Ballet, "The Beauty of Mexico" and performed it before a live audience of 13,000 and a nationwide television show during prime time. I made millions of Mexican friends instantly.

The next morning, when I arrived at the airport to fly back home to Washington, D.C., many people recognized me from the show and they all appreciated my presentation, especially the idea of honoring their country.

Chosang (Ancestor)

One of the highest honors in my life was to serve as the national chairman of America's birthday celebration on July 4, 1982, the year of the 100th anniversary of American-Korean diplomacy. On that day, 229 Jhoon Rhee students assembled in a Stars and Stripes formation on the Washington Monument grounds. Each student represented one million persons of the 229-million American population of that year.

There were another 206 students who formed the letters "U.S." to represent the nation's 206th birthday.

There were two interesting coincidences on that day. First, the sum of 229 and 206 is 435, the exact number of members in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The second coincidence happened as follows: July 4, 1982 marked the landing of the space shuttle Columbia, at noon, at Edward's Air Force Base. It was 12:00 noon in California and 3:00pm in Washington, D.C., when the space shuttle Columbia touched the ground. President Ronald Reagan sang God Bless America at that moment. At the same time, our students performed the Martial Ballet "Chosang" ("Ancestor") to God Bless America on the Washington Monument grounds.

Jayoo (Freedom)

The form "Jayoo" has been created in appreciation of the value of freedom. A concept which has been spread throughout the world since our founding fathers created this nation with the freedom system protected by the Constitution of the United States of America.

George Mason, one of the wisest of those founding fathers said, "Liberty is the gift of God, not the government; and the purpose of government is to protect that liberty, not destroy it." I believe our future world can be bright only if we choose to work to light the hearts of our young people by our living example. True liberty is practiced within the law of human conscience. Free behaviors that follow the animal instinct are not true freedom but are license. We must be able to distinguish license from freedom.

Meegook (America)

Arts are created to express our love. As musicians sing or play the national anthem to honor their countries, we martial artists also perform Martial Ballet. "Meegook", meaning "America", has been created to express the love for our great nation and is performed to The Star Spangled Banner.

I hope that someday every football half-time show will invite martial artists to perform the Martial Arts Ballet "Meegook" to The Star Spangled Banner. My hope is that the United Stated Congress will adopt "Meegook" as the official National Jhoon Rhee Ballet. I am sure that where there is a will, there is a way, especially when the will is a noble one.

Hangook (Korea)

In memory of my roots in the Republic of Korea, I have choreographed the Martial Arts Ballet "Hangook", meaning "Korea". As a Korean-American, I was really concerned with the anti-American sentiment in South Korea prior to the year 1990.

I conducted a black belt test for three members of the U.S. Congress: Senator James Jeffords of Vermont, Congressman Mel Levine of California and Gerry Sikorski of Minnesota. I asked them to perform Meegook to The Star Spangled Banner and Hangook to the Korean National Anthem, with flags of both nations.

My objective was to show the performance by the members of the U.S. Congress on Korean Television in Korea to reverse the anti-American sentiment there. The Korean KBS Television Network broadcast it in prime time as a special program.

This televised performance really made an impact on the Korean people toward America, at a time when a positive display of respect was truly needed.

Because of this example, I firmly believe Martial Arts Ballet can play an important role in promoting peace among nations.