The Five Tenets of Taekwondo

There are five primary tenets of Taekwondo. They were developed by Choi, Hong Hi They are:

1. COURTESY (Ye Ui)
At the heart of Taekwondo the practitioner is taught courtesy and respect for all living entities. This is initially achieved by the practitioner mastering self-defense. Possessing this mastery they come to understand that they need fear no person. With this as the source point for self-awareness they can move forward through life with self-confidence and a deep respect for all peoples.

2. INTEGRITY (Yom Chi)
Integrity, honor, and truth are at the heart of taekwondo training. The taekwondo practitioner is taught that without integrity, honor, and truth taekwondo simply becomes a system to defeat another individual in hand-to-hand combat. But, taekwondo is much more than this. It is a complete system providing physical and mental mastery to the practitioner.

3. PERSEVERANCE (In Nae)
Most things in this life are not easily obtained. This is particularly the case with the physical mastery that comes through the practice of taekwondo. Through ongoing training the taekwondo practitioners comes to understand that there are always new levels of physical self-control and mental underestanding they must master. Therefore, the only way to form a continuum of ongoing achievement in life is through a defined pattern of perseverance.

4. SELF CONTROL (Guk Gi)
Self control teaches the taekwondo practitioner that not only must the learn to refine their moves in free sparring but they also must learn to control their actions in life. From this, each practitioner moves forward through life with a refined and controlled since of purpose.

5. INDOMITABLE SPIRIT (Baekjool Boolgool)
The taekwondo practitioner is taught to develop a one-pointed focus in life. From this they can focus their attention upon anything that must be accomplished and achieve the end goal with exacting precision.

For more information about the evolution of Taekwondo you can read:
The History of Taekwondo.