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"It takes a year to harvest a crop, ten years to see the full beauty of a tree, and fifty years to make a person." ~ Korean proverb
Svetlana Kim interviews Grand Master Jhoon Rhee 1-on-1 for the On Cover Feature Interview with MOTIVATION magazine.
My mentor and close friend, Jhoon Rhee, is called Master, and he is a Master. He has mastered fame, power, body, mind, a life of purpose and the secret to happiness. Master Rhee's priority is helping others achieve balance, so he formed the 100-21 Club, "one hundred years of wisdom in a 21-year old body."
Born in Korea, he came to America in 1956. Grand Master Jhoon Rhee befriended and trained together with Bruce Lee. He also taught World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali the "Accu-Punch," which Ali used to knock out Richard Dunn, the British Champion, in Munich, Germany in 1976.
Among Grand Master Jhoon Rhee's well-known celebrity Black Belt students are Tony Robins, Jack Valenti, and over a dozen members in the U.S. Congress. Grand Master Jhoon Rhee is a legend on Capitol Hill, where he has trained more than 350 members of Congress in Taekwondo, three mornings a week from 7:00 a.m.-8:00 a.m. since June 5, 1965. His goal is to teach members of Congress until June 5, 2015 to make it 50 years of volunteer service to personally thank America for what it did for South Korea during the Korean War as well as many other contributions to the world.
Grand Master Jhoon Rhee lived a difficult life in Korea, especially after the Korean War, when most Koreans faced widespread poverty and struggled for basic necessities following the civil war. When he first arrived in America, he said, "What a contrast! I was in a hell yesterday and now I am in a paradise the next day!" He wanted to find out what was the root of America's strength.
The first time I received an e-mail from Master Jhoon Rhee with his signature and three capital letters "TBL." I was curious and asked Master Jhoon Rhee about "TBL." He believes that the universal purpose and values of human life are the first three things we must teach children. The three universal values are "TBL," which stands for TRUTH, BEAUTY, and LOVE.
- Truth beautifies all human hearts. Therefore, Truth is the first universal human value. Truth must be universal and everlasting. Be true to yourself. Knowing who you are is the most important knowledge of all.
- Why do people love? People fell in love with physical beauty and /or beauty of the heart. Beauty is the second universal human value. Happiness is the universal purpose of life for all. There are two kinds of beauty: physical beauty and heart beauty. When people have beautiful hearts, that beauty radiates outward and enhances our perception of their physical appearance. Therefore, beauty is a product of being truthful.
- The happiest time is when you share your love with another person- spouse, family, or friend. Therefore, Love is the third universal human value. Love is the cause of our happiest emotion. Love is the reason we live because we cannot find happiness without love. We love our children unconditionally, but more importantly, we should love ourselves because we cannot love others without loving ourselves first.
If we do not love ourselves, we are mentally telling ourselves that we are unworthy of love. This message would conveyed to those around us. Let us make our hearts beautiful by being truthful. Therefore, love is a product of beauty of heart, and being loved by oneself and others brings us happiness. Truth, Beauty, and love are good values, because they lead us to find the purpose of life and happiness.
According to the Master 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.
If you ask him what he teaches, he says: "True education begins with physical education that develops a vibrant and strong body at an early age. Then, motivate our children for a happy life by teaching the purpose of life, the way to achieve the purpose, and how to enjoy it during the process."
Happy person has everything, unhappy person has nothing. He is a visionary. According Master Jhoon Rhee, a visionary is one who can see in his/her imagination the unseen and the potential. Developing a vision will help you to see potentials which have not yet become realities.
Master Rhee-acknowledged world-wide as the Father of American Tae Kwon Do-who remains very active in his community, and has become a role model and an educator in its truest sense: someone who brings out the best in everyone he meets.
Master Jhoon Rhee was born unhealthy in 1931, very weak and uncoordinated. When he was six, any five year-old-girl could beat him up. As he get older, his mind has been mature enough for him to choose to be happy and have the best attitude.
Master Rhee was dancing on December 20, 2003, at one of many Christmas parties and he felt discomfort in his chest. I told his wife about it. His wife, who is a Registered Nurse, immediately made an appointment for him to be examined by his heart doctor. He had open heart surgery on February 12 for ten hours. They found out he was born with a heart murmur. He also had two by-passes and a stroke Master Rhee told me, "The fear that my teaching will stop never entered my mind. I knew I would recover soon to resume my normal activities, and the only thing that would take a bit more time would be being able to demonstrate sharp kicks and punches. I thought I had enough credibility built with all my students around the world and they all knew I lived a positive life prior to my surgery.
Did you ever wonder why someone who has such a healthy lifestyle would be affected by heart disease?
Master Rhee never thought "why me?" Instead, he thought "What is the next best thing under the circumstances?" He also lives his philosophy that says "Everything happens for the best."
Master Rhee's advice is as follows, and is quite simple: proper diet, proper rest, proper exercise, and proper mental attitude. I strongly recommend to everyone — never eat too much.
Master Rhee has indomitable spirit, "My disease did not affect my spirit at all, because I know time will heal me completely. I took it as one of many challenges, nothing more than the normal challenges we face every day."
Hi! Did this 1-on-1 interview with Grand Master Jhoon Rhee inspire, motivate, or help you in any way? We would love to read your appreciated feedback in a comment below. Thank you for taking the time to read this interview and in advance for sharing your thoughts.
About the Interviewer: Svetlana Kim
Svetlana Kim is the author of White Pearl and I: A Memoir of a Political Refugee, which chronicles her journey from Russia to the United States, where she arrived with only one dollar in her pocket and a few words of English at her disposal; today, she is a leader among her peers in the business world, and has been honored with numerous awards citing her commitment, skill, and integrity.
Click the following link to learn more about: Svetlana Kim
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