Tiếng Việt
Master Le Sang’s hometown is Thanh Hoa province, but he was born in the fall of 1920 in a house on the shore of Truc Bach Lake (Hanoi). He is the eldest son of Mr. Le Van Hien and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Mui.
In early 1939, he became ill and had difficulty walking. Following his mother’s advice, he found a martial arts teacher to train his legs to be strong and his body healthy. Fate brought him to the Vovinam class at Hanoi Pedagogical School, taught directly by Founder Nguyen Loc in the spring of 1940. Possessing athletic qualities, intelligence, a willingness to learn and practice diligently, he soon improved his health and made rapid progress in his martial arts career. Just a few years later, he was sent by the Founder to train Vovinam in Hanoi. Since then, he has always been close to the Founder like a real brother, sharing hardships and hardships and has followed the Founder to teach Vovinam in some regions in Northern Vietnam such as: Huu Bang, Che Luu, Am Thuong, Thanh Huong, Dan Ha, Dan Phu…
In 1954, he was assigned by the Founder to teach several Vovinam classes in Saigon and Gia Dinh province. By the end of 1957, the Founder fell ill (laryngeal cancer). Master Le Sang continued to train all the students who were studying with the Founder at that time; at the same time, three more martial arts schools were continuously opened on Tran Khanh Du Street (Tan Dinh), Su Van Hanh Street (next to An Quang Pagoda) and the corner of Tran Hung Dao and Huynh Man Dat Streets (also known as Moulin Rouge – the name of a discotheque that has ceased operations)… At the end of April 1960, before passing away, Founder Nguyen Loc handed over the leadership of the sect to him.
Due to the situation of the times, in the early 1960s, martial arts master Le Sang went to Buon Ma Thuot and Quang Duc helped Mr. Nguyen Hai (the founder’s younger brother) to reclaim rubber plantations and exploit wood. It was not until late 1963, when martial arts schools in Saigon were allowed to operate again, that he returned, joined hands with the core team, restored and developed the sect.
As the head disciple, working closely with Founder Nguyen Loc for nearly 20 years, Grand Master Le Sang has absorbed the Founder’s martial arts and philosophy as well as his personality in the most profound way. With his morality, passion and talent, the Grand Master has maintained solidarity within the sect; at the same time, with the contributions of many generations of martial arts masters, coaches, students and friends, the Grand Master has developed some of the Founder’s ideas to build for Vovinam-Viet Vo Dao a system of martial arts philosophy and a system of scientific and practical training techniques as it is today. In the mid-1960s, although life was still full of hardships, in parallel with organizing and developing the sect, each day he directly trained dozens of hours; yet many nights the Sect Master still stayed up late writing books to systematize and develop martial arts ideas. It is a system of ideology that guides Vovinam-Viet Vo Dao students to a good philosophy of life:
– “Live, let others live and live for others”.
Accordingly, Vovinam-Viet Vo Dao students not only practice, “overcome the weakness of the soul and body”, organize a good life for themselves, but also have the responsibility to help others live well and are willing to sacrifice spiritual or material interests to serve the common interests of the sect, of society… Not only that, the Grand Master also worked hard to develop the technical system of Vovinam-Viet Vo Dao to become more diverse and rich. Even at the age of over 70, the Grand Master continued to research and supplement the technical system to suit many subjects in the new period – the period when Vovinam-Viet Vo Dao developed strongly abroad after the milestone of laying the initial foundation in France in 1973.
Those extremely important contributions of Grand Master Le Sang are the premise for the Vovinam-Viet Vo Dao movement to increasingly develop, flourish and gradually spread to more than 70 countries around the world as a strong affirmation of the martial arts tradition and cultural identity of the Vietnamese people.
In addition to taking care of the sect, Grand Master Le Sang also participates in other tasks. He was elected as Secretary General of the General Department of Boxing of South Vietnam and General Treasurer of the Olympic Committee of South Vietnam for many consecutive terms (from around the early 1960s to the early 1970s). During that time, with a high sense of responsibility, skillfulness and fairness in his work, he was respected by many sports officials and martial artists of other schools.
Not only good at martial arts, having good leadership and business skills, Grand Master Le Sang is also a talented person. With his graceful handwriting, he often composed many poems filled with deep emotions and imbued with martial spirit. Some poems by the Grand Master (pseudonym Quang Vu, Huy Vu) have been set to music. In daily life, the Grand Master lives a leisurely and simple life, often helps friends and behaves sincerely with those around him. To his disciples, he taught with all his heart, loved and was tolerant. When his parents were sick, he was always close by and took good care of them. Throughout his life, the Grand Master was also an example of humility, constantly self-studying and self-training to be able to fulfill the responsibility entrusted to him by the Founder. Even when he or his sect faced great hardships and challenges, he still maintained his character, persevered, worked diligently with optimism, and believed in a bright future.
In his last days, despite his declining health, Grand Master Le Sang was still clear-headed and lucid. Although having to fight illness, the Grand Master still shows a high sense of responsibility for the development of the sect when preparing personnel and transferring the responsibility of leading the Vovinam-Viet Vo Dao sect to the Council of Grand Masters.
Living alone, without the burden of a family, enjoying reading books and newspapers, imbued with Eastern philosophy, and also being the most excellent successor of Founder Nguyen Loc; Grand Master Le Sang sacrificed and devoted his entire life to the construction and development of the Vovinam-Viet Vo Dao sect.
After a period of serious illness, Grand Master Le Sang followed the Founder to the eternal world at 3:00 a.m. on September 27, 2010, the 20th day of the 8th month of the Canh Dan year, at the age of 91. The passing of the Grand Master is a great loss to martial arts and martial arts, and an irreparable loss to all Vovinam-Viet Vo Dao disciples around the world.