About

Grandmaster Taejoon Lee’s Action Reel

 

Documentary

 

Biography

To know Taejoon Lee is to know the martial art, Hwa Rang Do®. He is a 8th Degree Black Sash in Hwa Rang Do® with a title of ‘Grandmaster’ and the 59th generation of the “Ancient Warlords of Korea,” known as the Hwarang Knights.

 

Grandmaster Taejoon Lee is the eldest son of the art’s founder, Supreme Grandmaster Dr. Joo Bang Lee, who integrated the martial techniques and warrior spirit of the Hwarang into a unique martial art system in the 1960s known as Hwa Rang Do®. Hwa Rang Do® captures the sacred doctrines and honorable principles the Hwarang Knights lived by centuries ago. Today, Grandmaster Lee continues that tradition and abides by the same principles and is the bearer of the ancient tradition of the Hwarang Knights.

 

Grandmaster Lee received his Black Belt at the age of seven, and taught Hwa Rang Do most of his life. While most kids were busying themselves with video games and shopping at the mall, Master Lee operated clubs and schools during his middle school and high school years.

 

While he was studying for his bachelor’s degree in philosophy at the University of Southern California, he taught at various Southern California universities. And in 1994, he opened his dojang (academy) as the West Coast Headquarters of the World Hwa Rang Do Association (WHRDA), in West Los Angeles, California.

 

Grandmaster Lee is one of the world’s finest martial artists, in a style that spans an unusually broad skill-set of striking, kicking, joint locking, throwing, grappling, and wielding weapons.

 

His speed, precision, power, and encyclopedic knowledge of body mechanics converge into a beautiful yet lethal blur of movement, which can only be appreciated by seeing him in action.

 

Not surprisingly, his talents have been recognized by industry press, which has featured him in nearly two dozen articles including two covers of Black Belt magazine (World’s Leading Martial Arts Journal). He has trained many members of the Elite U.S. Military & Law Enforcement, and has performed celebrated demonstrations in the United States, Asia, Latin America, and Europe.

 

Above all else, what truly sets Grandmaster Lee apart as a martial artist is not his aptitude as a martial artist. What truly sets him apart and makes him standout is his philosophy when it comes to teaching and mentoring.

 

To understand what and how Grandmaster Lee teaches, it is important to first recognize that Hwa Rang Do’s purpose is not to manufacture unruly brawlers brimming with ego. Instead, the goal is to guide individuals to achieve physical, mental, and spiritual balance that allows their full potential to flourish, in the service of humankind.

 

Accordingly, when Grandmaster Lee is teaching physical technique, he is simultaneously delving into the emotional and psychological. Without wasting words, Grandmaster Lee guides his students through a trying physical journey that leads to spiritual self-knowledge, about one’s fears and how to conquer them. He is not interested in creating another human being who knows only how to punch, kick, and be physically brutal – he is only interested in molding someone into the ideals of a Hwarang Knight.

 

Grandmaster Lee’s ability to teach in this fullest sense comes not only from decades of teaching experience but his own remarkable personal story. Born in Korea, into a warrior lineage, Grandmaster Lee early on internalized the impossibly high standards set by his father, the legendary Founder of Hwa Rang Do.

 

Immigrating to the United States at the age of nine, he had to confront an alien culture, language, and value system with its own set of prejudices and assumptions. As a young man, he worked with adult survivors of child abuse at a mental hospital, where he fathomed the depths of human cruelty. And as the Vice President of the World Hwa Rang Do Association and the designated heir to the Hwa Rang Do mantle, he has had to lead a worldwide organization dedicated to preserving a traditional martial way that runs counter to the modern culture of consumerism and indulgence.

 

To expand Hwa Rang Do’s exposure and influence, Grandmaster Lee has leveraged the popular media and has personally appeared or starred in various films. He has also trained countless executives, doctors, lawyers, and educators who are in a position of leadership but who themselves seek guidance on matters of the self. He has also authored a detailed book on Hwa Rang Do philosophy and technique, Hwa Rang Do: Defend, Take Down, and Submit (Black Belt 2005).

 

In some ways, Grandmaster Lee is an anachronism, with values, roles, and convictions born of some century long past. That said, he is always striving towards the future, especially to train tomorrow’s leaders who understand that great social and political decisions can be made only by those who have trained beyond their self-imposed limitations, who have been fiercely tested, and who have overcome.

 

As the saying goes, “one horsed-warrior conquers a thousand”. He has and will always work to transform all of his students into that “horsed-warrior”.

 

Today, Grandmaster Lee presides as the President of the World Hwa Rang Do Association, a humanitarian non-profit organization dedicated to empowering individuals through martial arts, community based initiatives and humanitarian work in 2nd and 3rd world regions of the world. Learn more at www.hwarangdo.com

 

He teaches virtually through is online studio, www.CyberDojang.com, journals online at www.TaejoonLee.com and travels frequently around the world to conduct seminars and private lessons.

 

If you’d like to book him for a private lesson or seminar, you can email him at gml@taejoonlee.com

 

He currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.