Bình-Định SA-LONG-CƯƠNG - MARTIAL ARTS

MARTIAL ARTS

II. TEACHING PROGRAM

Ẩm Hà Tư Nguyên
Uống Nước Sông Nhớ Suối Nguồn
To Drink the River Water - To Remember the Source

Before tackling tthe « Teaching Program of Võ-Trận Đại-Việt », we need to discuss on the Definition of the expression « Võ Trận Đại-Việt ».

Definition of the Expression « Võ Trận Đại-Việt » :

      In order to be able to giive an Deéfinition of the expression « Võ Trận Đại-Việt » with correctitude and exactitude, but not with a demagogic, fallacious or boastful manner, we have to gather Two Views Points :
     - The View Point of Martial Arts Principle ;
     - The View Point of Reaoning Principle.

A - The View Point of Martial Arts Principle (Võ-Lý) :

       The Đại-Việt has Five Great Schools-Systems :

          1. The « Võ Lâm », Martial Arts from Forests (understood : Martial Arts from Aventurers) ; ;
          2. The « Võ Kinh », Martial Arts from Imperial Capital
          3. The « Võ Cổ-Truyền », Martial Arts from Warlike Tradition
          4. The « Võ Phật-Gia-Quyền », Martial Arts from Buddhists, developed under LÝ Dynasty (1009 ~ 1225) ;
         5. The « Võ Thiếu-Lâm-Tự », Martial Arts from Shao-Lin Temple, imported under SONG Dynasty (960 ~ 1279) and MING Dynasty (1368 ~ 1644).
          The Ancients called them briefly by : Lâm - Kinh - Truyền - Phật-Gia Quyền - Thiếu-Lâm-Tự.

       And the Đại-Việt has Four Martial Arts Disciplines :

       1 - Discipline of Martial Arts for defending oneself, i.e. "Self-Defence Martial Arts" (Võ Tự-Vệ) ;
       2 - Discipline of Martial Arts for keeping the gardens and parcs, succinctly called "Gardens and Parks Martial Arts"(Võ Vườn) ;
       3 - Discipline of Martial Arts for keeping the Ricefields and Plantations, succinctly called "Ricefields and Plantations Martial Arts " (Võ Ruộng) ;
       4 - Discipline of Martial Arts for defending the Nation, succinctly called with modesty "Battlefields Martial Arts" (Võ Trận).

In social realities of nowadays, by political reason of Managing and Administration, all various Martial Arts Discipines are united in only one with as Extrinsic Name « Vietnamese Traditional Martial Arts » (Võ-Thuật Cổ-Truyền Việt-Nam) whom the Intrinsic Pedagogy of Martial Arts « has nothing which is Traditional (Cổ-Truyền) ». (See WEBPage : Training - Plastron)

       B - The View Point of Reasoning Principle (Luận-Lý) :

           According to the View Point of Martial Arts (Võ-Lý) quoted previoufly, the Ancients from Đại-Việt had confirmed that our Traditionnal Martial Arts belonged to Battlefields Warlike Traditions.
            And thus so, if we don't practise these Warlike Traditions, we could not evidently consider our Martial Arts as being Traditional Martial Arts (Võ-Thuật Cổ-Truyền), and stil less declaim them as « Võ-Trận Đại-Việt ». It is there about the quintessence of Martial Arts Studies from Việt people having had orged hroughout so much high and low of History, and above all it's there the alive and dynamic Message from Việt Ancestors.

When we gather these Two Views Points quoted previously, all naturally the Expression « Võ Trận Đại-Việt » includes his Definition which is: « Battlefields Martial Arts Traditions from Đại-Việt ».
Nowadays, with the development of NBC (Nuclear - Biological - Chemical) Weapons, the war doesn't wear at all the combative character of heroes and of combatants of law from ancient times. All spiritual values are cleared when on behalf of maximum effectiveness we invented weapons to mass destruction of humanity. And it is precisely this fact highlighted more than ever the precious Message of heroism stamped with humanity from a cultural heritage of Đại-Việt Traditional Battlefields Martial Arts of the past.

The Teaching Program of « Võ Trận Đại-Việt » :

When the Grand-Master Trương-Thanh-Ðăng has had mastered Traditional Martial Arts of Bình-Ðịnh and Martial Arts of Thiếu-Lâm Temple, he founded the Sa-Long-Cuong Drill Hall on the 14th August 1964 in the capital of South Viêt-Nam, he put up a sign on which was wrote down «Sa-Long-Cương - Traditional Martiaux Arts of Bình-Ðịnh and Martial Arts of Thiếu-Lâm Temple». Then, he teached at the same time those two Martial Arts completely different so that to give his Martial Students the opportunity to know them and distinguish between Vietnamese Martial Arts and Chinese Martial Arts.
(Cf. Presse Report from journalist Vũ Đình Trường in 1969 at Saigon : "Võ-Đường Sa Long Cương - The Sa Long Cương Drill Hall" - published in the Presse Monthly Magazine VÕ-THUẬT - MARTIAL ARTS, Vol.II N° 8)

The Teaching Programme from the current International SA-LONG-CƯƠNG System includes - on the quantitative plan - untill 60% Martial Arts from China and only 40% Martial Arts from Bình-Định. However, a certain number of techniques in Codified Sequence from these 40% Martial Arts of Bình-Định have been modified and falsifyed under the usurped name "Official version", moving away from the original.
Although that is so, it exists some SA-LONG-CƯƠNG Drill Halls who still include in their Teaching Programme other foreign Martial Arts - in this instance the Tai Chi Chuan (Thái-Cực-Quyền), the Tang-Lang Chuan (Đường-Lang Quyền), the Aikido (Hiệp-Khí Đạo), etc. - which have nothing to do with the SA-LONG-CƯƠNG School System, inherent in Bình-Định Traditional Martial Arts.

And we are talking previously about International SA-LONG-CƯƠNG School System but we don't still tackle about a certain number of other Schools which declare themselve also as coming within the Traditional Martial Arts from Bình-Định and they teach all kinds of foreign Martial Arts...(See WEBPage : Training - Plastron)

      It's precisely the lack of Bình-Định Traditional Martial Arts true knowledge which leads to the will to combinate Bình-Định Martial Arts with other foreign Martial Arts in order to acquire a hypothetical maximum effectiveness. This combining is only an utopia ; it only makes reducing the pedagogic quality and the pragmatic efficiency of Bình-Định Traditional Martial Arts.
      It goes without saying that this combinung irremediably causes harm to the Cultural Heritage bequeathed by the Ancients.
      And that's without talking about Vietnamese Martial Studies which will be assimilated by foreign Martial Arts, impoverishing in this way the Humanity Martial Arts Studies, because only Martial Arts Studies from one or a few of rare nations would live on for the humanity.

The Traditional Martial Arts of Bình-Định belongs to Đại-Việt Battle Fields Martial Arts. They constitute a thousand years old cultural heritage, intimately linked to History. By consequent, their preservation and their restoration are essential for all us.

Our Bình-Định SA-LONG-CƯƠNG - Võ-Trận Đại-Việt School System in Việt-Nam and in France acting in accordance with the name declared, gives priorrty to conservation of Traditional Martial Arts of Bình-Định from illustrious Grand-Masters of Việt-Nam, Battlefields Martial Arts Lineages and only conserves, in our training programme, the authentic part of Bình-Định Martial Arts from Sa-Long-Cương School System teached by the late Grand-Master TRƯƠNG-Thanh-Đăng.