Poomse Question

by Kelly
(Ottawa, IL)

Good Afternoon,

I am a 48 year old 3rd degree black belt that has had to take some time off from class (not training) because of children's sport schedule. I have asked for homework (so to speak) to keep me focused and learning.

I am currently working on an assignment and I have run into a brick wall. The question is:

With the WTF Poomse, we assign a member of the family to each form:

Example:

Poomse Palgwe Ee Jang - Lake
(South East, Youngest daughter)

Why, What is the meaning of the order? Is there a significance to the order.

I have found all kinds of stuff for Palgwe forms but nothing in reference to the question above.

If you have any lead you could suggest I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks for your time.

Pilsung!

kp

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Well Kelly, you are really testing me with this one.

I assume you know from looking in your tae kwon do books that the Palgwe Ee jang form is based on the Lake philosophy of the eight trigrams of the I Ching or Book of Changes. The I Ching is an ancient Chinese oracle of philosophy that is a book and a method of divination.

In the I Ching, the Lake trigram of one broken or yin line above with two solid or yang lines below is known as the Youngest Daughter.

In addition to family relationships, and earth elements associated with each trigram, there are also seasons and directions. In the original Fu Hsi arrangement of the eight trigrams, Lake is South East. But in the later King Wen arrangement, Lake is West.

The I Ching is 3000 plus years old in the mythical Chinese chieftain, Fu Hsi version. The more commonly known version was changed by King Wen during his rule of the Zhou Dynasty of 1150-249 B.C.

So to answer your questions, there is a significance to the order of the three lines of the Lake trigram that render it the youngest daughter. The arrangement of the trigrams has changed, rotating around the yin/yang symbol, so calling Lake South East or West would be correct.

I hope this has been helpful.

Kalynn