World Tae Kwon Do Federation
aka WTF

The TAE GUK SERIES

THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND THE TAEGEUK PATTERNS

(Published in the Tae Kwon Do and the Korean Martial Arts Magazinze, 1996 by Chris Pearson)

The word Tae-geuk is constructed from the symbol Tae, meaning bigness and the symbol geuk, meaning eternity, thus the Taegeuks encompass all that is within Tae Kwon Do. Each of the eight Taegeuks represent an image or 'way of thought'. To explain the origin and meaning of the Taegeuks we must look to ancient oriental philosophy for the answers. The Yin-Yang symbol (Um & Yang in Korean) is a very common, an almost fashionable sight these days but what does it really represent? The two sides of Yin & Yang depict the two opposite elemental forces: - Light & Dark, Creative & Receptive, Hard & Soft, etc. From these two forces all other emotions and elements can be created using different combinations of the two. The circles of opposite colors within the Yin and the Yang and to show that within darkness there is always light and within light there is always darkness. The circular nature of the Yin-Yang symbol symbolizes that everything within the Universe is always in constant motion but in harmony.

The Taegeuks are given their meaning in the ancient work the book of changes (known as I' Ching by the Chinese and Jooyeok by the Koreans). The book of changes defines eight different combinations of Yin & Yang and it is these manifestations that the Taegeuks represent. The Jooyeok, "The Book of Changes", is an ancient work composed by several Chinese sages over a period of hundreds of years. It tells of a theory in which the phenomenon of constant shifting change, the human condition, is shown to possess a moral harmony. It analyzes the process in which two opposing metaphysical forces called Um and Yang combine to generate new combinations and this is seen as the conceptual mechanism, which propitiates life and the universe.  Fuh Hi was the 13^th century author of the Jooyeok. He identified eight combinations from the two primal forces of Um and Yang. He named them and arranged them in a circle to illustrate their harmonious relationship and designated the character of each. These eight concepts, as he showed us manifest themselves in all living things, including human destiny.

 Each manifestation is given a symbol or Trigram. This is a combination of Yin and Yang represented by three solid or broken bars. Four of the eight Trigrams are part of the Korean flag. As well as a Trigram, each combination manifests itself as an image or element (Heaven, Lake, Fire, Thunder, Wind, Water, Mountain or Earth) and an impression or attribute (Strength, Joy, Yielding, Movement, Penetrating, Dangerous, Resting or Devotion). The Taegeuk training patterns are practiced with these attributes in mind and should in fact shape the attitude of the student as they perform the pattern.   The Trigrams are arranged in a circle around the Yin-Yang symbol in such a way that symbols on opposite sides of the circle are 'mirrors' of each others nature. For example, the top Trigram - Keon - is pure Yin and represents heaven. Opposite this (the bottom Trigram) is the symbolism of pure Yang - Gon - the Earth. Fire - Ri - is opposite water - Gam and joy - Tae - is opposite calm/stillness - Gan. Thunder (noise without force) - Jin - is opposite wind - Seon - (force without noise).

 The Taegeuks and their associated meaning are listed in the table below. The actual names of the Taegeuks simply mean first training pattern, second training pattern etc.( Il means first, Pal means eighth) but each pattern has its own individual personality and meaning and are ordered with the students progression through Tae Kwon Do in mind.

  * Some information courtesy of: http://www.ir.isas.jaxa.jp/~cpp/TKD/poomsae/index.html