The Doctrine of Chongdo

A Doctrine is a system’s overall operating philosophy: when in doubt, the doctrine tells you which way to look. The more defined the doctrine is, the simpler the rules are that follow.

Consistent with our traditional roots, Chongdo’s operating philosophy utilizes some fairly ancient concepts to tie its studies together. Unlike most traditional systems, however, our philosophies are not idle nods to outdated notions. Instead, we actively employ our philosophies in very specific ways.

Fundamental to our system is that all situations can be divided into a blend of two groups, ûm and yang. Often incorrectly described as “energies” or “forces,” this simple categorization is much more pragmatic than is generally potrayed. It may initially seem strange for a progressive system such as ours to promote such “quaint” notions; however, this is no more or less real than describing nutrition concepts as a “pyramid,” or organizational hierarchies as a “ladder.”

Everything in Chongdo is categorized with this notion in mind. A technique that is mostly circular is “ûm.” A certain fire building technique is “yang,” and so on. Students are not required to know this for every single aspect; but students do understand that problems can usually be solved by applying this organization.

Our doctrine is subdivided into ûm and yang strategies.