What is Baduk?
Baduk (or Go) is the art of personal growth. The simplest form of that can be seen through victory over others. And winning can be measured in terms of rank as players climb the ladder of personal ability. But... there is much much more.
In Go, there is no luck, no good hand or fortunate roll of the dice. It is for this reason the game can feel brutal to many. There is no way for a new player to experience the excitement of a victory without actually besting the other player. Meaning, almost every players first couple dozen games are an onslaught of losses. But even here — especially here — there is a valuable and humbling lesson for the ego.
Practitioners of Go quickly learn that failure is normal and actually even essential. The losses can hurt though, especially if we are competitive or prideful. And so we learn to steel our minds and hearts. And we learn not to give up in the face of adversity.
Each move is final, like the stroke of a pen a choice cannot be undone. But that doesn't mean mistakes spell game over. In fact, to err is human. And so we find ourselves learning how to live with our mistakes, to try our best to make them work in the moment, and to learn and grow from them after each game.
To be continued...