Grandmaster Sin Kwang Thé the son of Chinese parents, Sin Thé was born in Bandung, Indonesia. He began his martial arts training under a sand burn master at the age of 6. When he was 7 years old he began studying under one of Grandmaster Ie’s top students. After proving himself worthy, he then studied under Grandmaster Ie Chang Ming as a private student until Ie Chang Ming retired and passed the title of Grandmaster to Sin Kwang Thé (at the age of 25). As part of his training Sin The’ was required to do thousands of 1 leg squats and fingertip pushups. Having learned the entire body of Shaolin weapon, empty hand, animal, and internal styles, Sin Kwang Thé became the youngest Grandmaster in Shaolin history. Any martial arts school is limited by the accumulated body of information available to the student. In Shao-lin Do, this body of knowledge is astounding, as Grandmaster Thé constantly unveils training and styles from the 900-plus Shaolin forms he has inherited & mastered.
In 1964, Grandmaster Sin was preparing to go to Germany to study engineering and physics, but the Berlin crisis altered his plans. He met a couple from Lexington, Kentucky and they arranged a scholarship for him at the University of Kentucky. He visited Indonesia often to complete his training with Grandmaster Ie.
Master Sin studied academic subjects with the same dedication that he gave to the Shaolin art. As often as he could, he returned to Indonesia, for the time had finally come for him to learn the Golden Snake Style.
First of all, Master Sin had to learn to move like a snake. Grandmaster Ie tied Master Sin’s wrists to his feet in an arched position similar to the I Chin Ching #35 posture. In this position, he learned to crawl by moving the muscles of his chest alone. Grandmaster Ie also threw Master Sin into the ocean with his hands and feet tied. Master Sin learned to swim by wriggling his body. Now was he ready to learn the Golden Snake forms.
In 1968, Grandmaster Ie awarded him the 10th degree and Grandmaster’s red belt. Sin Kwang The’ became the youngest Grandmaster in the history of Shao-Lin.
Grandmaster Sin was on the verge of completing his engineering studies when Ie Chang Ming died. He had to make a choice of his degree or Shao-Lin. He realized that there were many engineers and he was the only Shao-Lin Grandmaster and chose to teach Shaolin Do.
He is a Graduate of the University of Kentucky with a Degree in engineering. He currently divides his time between Lexington Kentucky, Los Angeles, Austin, Denver, Atlanta & over 100 other schools in the United States. He is currently making a movie that will help promote Shaolin Do.
Grandmaster The’ is an internationally known martial artist and has been featured in Black Belt, Inside Karate, Inside Kung Fu, and Masters magazines. He has had his own education series on Public Television. He has co -authored 3 books about Shaolin, most recently -Shaolin-Do: Secrets from the Temple.
