When Bruce Lee died in 1973,he did not leave this world without making an impact. Beyond his success as a martial arts actor, which was transforming enough to the movie industry in bringing the martial arts genre to life, he was a teacher.
Bruce's phenomenal life and career were engerize by his ideas. He is know as a martial artist, actor, a script-writer, a director and a philosopher. He majored in philosophy at the University of Washington. A man who devoured books on a wide range of subjects, from Eastern philosophy to Kung Fu to psychotherapy, he yearned for knowledge. As he put it, he wanted to express himself, and to express himself honestly. In order to express himself honestly, he had to know himself well. The idea should remind us of Socrates’ admonition, “Know thyself.”
As far as I concern, to me he's a master of his life. His principles for life is clear, he listed 25 life principles of his own:
- Emptiness the starting point
- Flow in the process of life
- Life has no frontier
- To live is a constant process of relating
- Life simply is
- Life - for its own sake
- The meaning of life
- The secret of life
- Life is the effect of feelings
- Meaning is found in relationship
- Manipulation and control are not the ultimate joy of life
- The essence of life
- Violence is a part of life
- The principle of life
- Life is sometimes unpleasant
- The pendulum of life must have balance
- Pliability of life
- Life as educator
- To live is to create
- The process of life
- The oneness of life
- The life of perfection is the simple life
- Life must be understood from moment to moment
- Enjoy yourself
These attitude almost made it impossible for someone as dedicated as Bruce to not become such a revolutionary master of his art. Bruce wrote,
［以無限為有限；以無法為有法］
-Using no way as way; having no limitation as limitation-
To Bruce, as a teacher and instructor, he believed that "A teacher is never a give of truth - he is a guide, a pointer to the truth that each student must find for himself. A good teacher is merely a catalyst." His lesson was lesson without being lesson.
The philosophy promoted by Bruce was repugnant to many people already mired in traditional habits of thought. Angry or not, they could not deny the success of Bruce. His understanding of martial arts was too profound for traditional views to keep him back.
It was the righteous in him for his race that brought him so far. He was being looked down as a Chinese in his homeland, Hong Kong and in States. His success proved that, under the sky and heaven is but human being.
The logic of Bruce’s philosophy, which he uneasily labeled Jeet Kune Do (Interception Fist [截拳道］(he was cautious of giving his philosophy a title for fear of its crystallization into yet another style), is quite simple: “The art of Jeet Kune Do is simply to simplify.”
The martial artist must ask two questions.
1) What is it that I want to accomplish?
2) What is the quickest, most efficient and effective way to reach my objective
Bruce felt that much of the “fancy mess” in martial arts wasted time and energy, and that styles restricted action. Styles, which lead to specialization, make a person incapable of handling a true master of martial arts. A kick-boxer would be unable to handle a wrestler who had the kick-boxer on the ground. A wrestler would be helpless against a boxer if the boxer kept the wrestler at arm’s reach.
Wrote Bruce,
“There is a great temptation to exploit favorite strokes to the neglect of most others. While this may bring initial success, it is unlikely to enable one to gain regular results in the highest-class competition. All too soon one’s opponents will find the answer to a limited game; a routine system of defense, for instance, plays into the hands of an observant opponent.”
- Bruce buried beside his son, Brandon Lee at Seattle-
To that end Bruce pushed himself to be a master of every form of martial arts, using whatever was useful and discarding whatever was merely ritual. Only a few months before he died, Bruce said, “I am improving and making new discoveries every day. If you don’t you are already crystallized and that’s it.”
-A trip to Hong Kong (Hollywood Road)-
other sides about Bruce Lee:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bruce_Lee
http://www.experiencefestival.com/bruce_lee_-_philosophy
http://www.maniacworld.com/Bruce_Lee.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeet_Kune_Do
- Absorb what is useful, discard what is not and add what is uniquely your own.
- Forget winning and losing; Forget what is pride and pain.
- Ideas are the beginning of all achievements.
- A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.
- Always be yourself; express yourself honestly, have faith in yourself. Do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.
- Make at least one definite move daily towards your goal.
- Using no way as way, having no limitation as limitation.
- Take no thought of who is right or wrong or who is better than. Be not for or against.
- The martial arts are ultimately self-knowledge. A punch, a kick is not to knock the hell out of the guy in front but to knock the hell out of your ego, your fear, or your hang-ups.
- I'm not in this world to live up to your expectations and you're not in this world to live up to mine.
- To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one's potential.
- The mind is like a fertile garden in which anything that is planted, flower or weed, will grow.
- Seek to understand the root. It is fertile to argue as to which single leaf, which design of branch, or which attractive flower you like; when you understand the root, you understand all its blossoming.
- Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.
- If you think a thing is impossible, you'll make it impossible.
- The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.
- Life is wide, limitless. There is no border, no frontier.
- Learning to understand rather than immediately judge or to be judged. We shouldn't not blindly follow the crowd and accept their approached. Not allowing oneself to indulge in the usual manipulating game of role creation.
- Everyday there will be revelation or a new discovery.
- Treasuring the past memory of the past misfortunes, it had added more to my bank of fortitude.
- A conditioned mind is never a free mind. Conditioning limits a person within the framework of a particular system.
- Empty your cup so that it may be filled; become devoid to gain totality.
- Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survived by bending with the wind.
- Don't think, FEEL. It's like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.
- The classical man is just a bundle of routine, ideas, and tradition.
- Set patterns, incapable of adaptability, of pliability, only offer a better cage. Truth is outside all pattern.
- Don't let your attitude be arrested. Transcend dualistic comprehension of a situation.
- To express yourself in freedom, you must die to everything of yesterday. From "old" you derive security; from the "new" you gain the flow.
- The real competitor is the one who gives all he has, all the time.
- Not being tense but ready, not think yet not dreaming, not being set but flexible - it is being wholly and quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come.
- Let the spirit out. Discard all thoughts of reward, all hopes of praise and fears of blame, all awareness of one's bodily self. And, finally closing avenues of sense perception, let the spirit out, as it will.
- The deluded mind is the effectively burdened by intellect. Thus, it cannot move without stopping and reflecting on itself. This obstructs its native fluidity.
- The wheel revolves when it is not too tightly attached to the axle. When the mind is tied up, it feels inhibited in every move it makes and nothing is accomplished with spontaneity. Its work will be of poor quality or it may never be finish at all.
- The mind must be wide open to function freely in thought. A limited mind cannot think freely.
- Because one's self-consciousness or ego-consciousness is too conspicuously present over the entire range of his attention, it interferes with his free display of whatever proficiency he has so far acquired or is going to acquire. One should remove this obtruding self or ego-consciousness and apply himself to the work to be done as if nothing particular were taking place at the moment.
-Part 2-
-Part 3-
-Part 4-
-Part 5-
-Part 6-
-Part 10-
-Part 12-
-Part 14-
-Part 15-
-Part 17-
-Part 18-
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