Bruce Lee's whole work of synthesising East with West
through martial arts and Chinese culture was evident of his 2nd Degree Initiate status. His development of Jeet Koon Do as
a synthesis of numerous martial arts is also sometimes overlooked. Bruce was a wonderfully spiritual guy, a deep thinking
philosopher who touched the thinking lives of many many people. He is someone who's work I admire greatly. His films are great
and yes the film portrayal of his battle with his *dweller on the Threshold is magnificent! JPC.
Bruce Lee, Philosophy graduate of the University of
Washington:
Know Yourself:
The core philosophy of Bruce Lee was to “know
yourself.” It is clear that all the avenues Lee took in life were in pursuit of self-cultivation, which leads to the
ultimate destination: self-knowledge. His art and philosophy were the vehicles he used to gain an understanding of himself,
to feel and fully appreciate the experience of what it means to be a human being. To achieve that, he spent countless hours
learning, training, reading and researching.
The biggest adversary in our life is ourselves. We
are what we are, in a sense, because of the dominating thoughts we allow to gather in our head. All concepts of self-improvement,
all actions and paths we take, relate solely to our abstract image of ourselves. Life is limited only by how we really see
ourselves and feel about our being. A great deal of pure self-knowledge and inner understanding allows us to lay an all-important
foundation for the structure of our life from which we can perceive and take the right avenues.
Fear comes from uncertainty; we can eliminate the fear
within us when we know ourselves better. As the great Sun Tzu said: “When you know yourself and your opponent, you will
win every time. When you know yourself but not your opponent, you will win one and lose one. However, when you do not know
yourself or your opponent, you will be imperiled every time.”
Krishnamurti, the great philosopher who influenced
Lee, said: “We must first understand ourselves in order to know anything and to understand and solve problems.”
Self-discovery and understanding are part of the process
of learning and growth. You should be constantly learning because life and experiences are your teacher. Education, learning
and training should encourage you to question and search. With each new experience, you learn something new about yourself—whether
good or bad. The self-help material available today is invaluable for developing yourself and opening doors to the acquisition
of knowledge about yourself. By developing self-confidence and honing a deep will, you will not only be able to know yourself
as a martial artist, but you will also be aided in your everyday life.
By having a greater understanding of yourself, you
will be able to recognize those areas of your life and your art that need improvement. You will be able to recognize your
weaknesses and strengths. You will be able to know others and have faith in yourself when obstacles get in your way.
Lee was an astute philosopher. His art of jeet kune
do was one of the paths through which his life revealed its secrets. For other martial artists, it can be a means by which
they can understand themselves. Lee said that the important thing for him was to understand himself while using his body.
That’s why his physical arts and philosophy are inseparable.
If you want to gain a true understanding of Lee’s
philosophy, it is imperative to peer into the mind of this great philosopher. It is essential to study and read his works
to gain a better understanding of him, for only then can you absorb what is useful and fully appreciate what Lee was trying
to say.
Quotes of Bruce Lee:
· To obtain enlightenment in martial
arts means the extension of everything which obscures the true knowledge, the real life.
· The way to transcend karma lies
in the proper use of the mind and will.
· The consciousness of self is the
greatest hindrance to the proper execution of all physical action.
· Jeet Kune Do favors formlessness
so that it can can assume all forms and since Jeet Kune Do has no style, it can fit in with all the styles.
· The great mistake is to anticipate
the outcome of the engagement; you ought not to be thinking of whether it ends in victory or defeat. Let nature take it's
course, and your tools will strike at the right moment.
· The fancy mess solidifies and conditions
what was once fluid, and when you look at it realistically, it is nothing but blind devotion to the systematic uselessness
of practicing routines or stunts that lead nowhere.
· Relaxation is essential for faster
and more powerful punching. Let your lead punch shoot out loosely and easily; do not tighten up or clench your fist until
the moment of impact. All punches should end with a snap several inches behind the target. Thus, you punch through the opponent
instead of at him.
· Hitting does not mean pushing.
True hitting can be likened to the snap of a whip -- all the energy is slowly concentrated and then suddenly released with
a tremendous out pouring of power.
· The knowledge and skills you have
achieved are meant to be forgotten so you can float comfortably in emptiness, without obstruction.
· Jeet Kune Do is not to hurt, but
is one of the avenues through to which life opens it's secrets to us.
· Jeet Kune Do does not beat around
the bush. It does not take winding detours. It follows a straight line to the objective. Simplicity is the shortest distance
between two points.
· The art of Jeet Kune Do is simply
to simplify.
· The man who is really serious,
with the urge to find out what truth is, has no style at all. He lives only in what is.
· If you want to understand the truth
in martial arts, to see any opponent clearly, you must throw away the notion of styles or schools, prejudices, likes and dislikes,
and so forth. Then, your mind will cease all conflict and come to rest. In this silence, you will see totally and freshly.
· If any style teaches you a method
of fighting, then you might be able to fight according to the limit of that method, but that is not fighting.
· If you follow the classical patterns,
you are understanding the routine, the tradition, the shadow - you are not understanding yourself.
· Accumulation of forms, just one
modification o conditioning, becomes an anchor that holds and ties down; it leads only one way - down.
· You waste a lot of energy and even
making yourself less effective by studying " set patterns " (kata), fighting is simple and total.
· One of the most neglected elements
of martial arts is the physical workout. Too much time is spent in developing skill in techniques and not enough in physical
participation.
· To understand combat, one must
approach it in a very simple and direct manner.
· Understanding comes about through
feeling, from moment to moment in the mirror of relationship.
· To know oneself is to study oneself
in action with another person.
· When, in a split second, your life
is threatened, do you say, " let me make sure my hand is on my hip, and my style is 'the' style? " When your life is in danger,
do you argue about the method you will adhere to while saving yourself? Why the duality?
· Why do individuals depend on thousands
of years of propaganda? They may preach " softness" as the ideal to " firmness, " but when " what is hits, " what happens?
Ideals, principles, the " what should be " leads to hypocrisy.
· The second-hand artist blindly
following his sensei or sifu accepts his pattern. As a result, his action is and , more importantly, his thinking become mechanical.
His responses become automatic, according to set patterns, making him narrow and limited.
· Please do not be concerned with
soft versus firm, kicking versus striking, grappling versus hitting and kicking, long-range fighting versus in-fighting. There
is no such thing as " this " is better than " that. " Should there be one thing we must guard against, let it be partiality
that robs us of our pristine wholeness and make us lose unity in the midst of duality.
· There are styles that favor straight
lines, then there are styles that favor curved lines and circles. Styles that cling to one partial aspect of combat are in
bondage. Jeet Kune Do is a technique for acquiring liberty; it is a work of enlightenment.
· Jeet Kune do uses all ways and
is bound by none and, likewise, uses any technique or means which serves its end. In this art, efficiency is anything that
scores.
· To become different from what we
are, we must have some awareness of what we are.
· No fighter uses his leg violently
until he warms it up carefully. The same principle is equally applicable to any muscles that are to be used vigorously.
· Springiness and alertness of footwork
is the key theme. The rear heel is raised and cocked, ever ready to pull the trigger into action. You are never set or tensed,
but are ready and flexible.
· The primary purpose of Jeet Kune
Do is kicking, hitting, and applying bodily force. Therefore, the use of the on-guard position is to obtain the most favorable
position.
· To hit or kick effectively, it
is necessary to shift weight constantly from one leg to the other. This means perfect control of body balance. Balance is
the most important consideration in the on-guard position.
· Naturalness means easily and comfortably,
so all muscles can act with the greatest speed and ease. Stand loosely and lightly, avoid tension and muscular contraction.
Thus, you will both guard and hit with more speed, precision and power.
· It's not daily increase but decrease
- hack away the unessential!
· The well-coordinated fighter does
everything smoothly and gracefully. He seems to glide in and out of distance with minimum of effort and a maximum of deception.
· A powerful athlete is not a strong
athlete, but one who can exert his strength quickly. Since power equals force times speed, if the athlete learns to make faster
movements he increases his power, even though the contractile pulling strength of his muscles remains unchanged. Thus, a smaller
man who can swing faster may hit as hard or as far as the heavier man who swings slowly.
· The athlete who is building muscles
though weight training should be very sure to work adequately on speed and flexibility at the same time. In combat, without
the prior attributes, a strong man will be like the bull with its colossal strength futilely pursuing the matador or like
a low-geared truck chasing a rabbit.
· Endurance is lost rapidly if one
ceases to work at its maximum.
· Too wide of a stance prevents proper
alignment, destroying the purpose of balance but obtaining solidarity and power at the cost of speed and efficient movement.
A short stance prevents balance as it does not give a basis from which to work. Speed results but at a loss of power and balance.
· It is not wise at all to attack
without first having gained control of the opponent's movement time or hand position. Thus, a smart fighter uses every means
at his disposal, patiently and systematically, to draw the stop-hit. It brings the adversary's hand or leg within his reach
and gives him the opportunity to gain control of it.
FAMOUS QUOTES FROM BRUCE LEE:
The consciousness
of self is the greatest hindrance to the proper execution of all physical action. There is no fixed teaching. All I can provide
is an appropriate medicine for a particular ailment.
The aim of art is to project an inner vision into the
world, to state in aesthetic creation the deepest psychic and personal experiences of a human being. It is to enable those
experiences to be intelligible and generally recognized within the total framework of an ideal world.
Art is an expression of life and transcends both time
and space. We must employ our own souls through art to give a new form and a new meaning to nature or the world. "Artless
art" is the artistic process within the artist; its meaning is "art of the soul".
The art of Jeet Kune Do is simply to simplify. Jeet
Kune Do avoids the superficial, penetrates the complex, goes to the heart of the problem and pinpoints the key factors. Empty
your cup that it may be filled; become devoid to gain totality.
When there is freedom from mechanical conditioning,
there is simplicity. The classical man is just a bundle of routine, ideas and tradition. If you follow the classical pattern,
you are understanding the routine, the tradition, the shadow - you are not understanding yourself.
Truth has no path. Truth is living and, therefore,
changing. Awareness is without choice, without demand, without anxiety; in that state of mind, there is perception. To know
oneself is to study oneself in action with another person. Awareness has no frontier; it is giving of your whole being, without
exclusion.
A Jeet Kune Do man faces reality and not crystallization
of form. The tool is a tool of formless form. Self-expression is total, immediate, without conception of time, and you can
only express that if you are free, physically and mentally, from fragmentation.
The Jeet Kune Do man should be on the alert to meet
the interchangeability of opposites. As soon as his mind "stops" with either of them, it loses its own fluidity. A Jeet Kune
Do man should keep his mind always in the state of emptiness so that his freedom in action will never be obstructed.
Jeet Kune Do, ultimately, is not a matter of petty
technique but of highly developed personal spirituality and physique. It is not a question of developing what has already
been developed but of recovering what has been left behind. These things have been with us, in us, all the time and have never
been lost or distorted except by our misguided manipulation of them. Jeet Kune Do is not a matter of technology but of spiritual
insight and training.
The tools are at an undifferentiated center of a circle
that has no circumference, moving and yet not moving, in tension and yet relaxed, seeing everything happening and yet not
at all anxious about its outcome, with nothing purposely designed, nothing consciously calculated, no anticipation, no expectation
- in short, standing innocently like a baby and yet, with all the cunning, subterfuge and keen intelligence of a fully mature
mind.
I hope martial artists are more interested in the root
of martial arts and not the different decorative branches, flowers or leaves.
Art of the Soul:
The aims of art is to project an
inner vision into the world, to state in aesthetic creation the deepest psychic and personal experiences of a human being.
It is to enable those experiences to be intelligible and generally recognized within the total framework of an ideal world.
Art reveals itself in psychic understanding of the
inner essence of things and gives form to the relation of man with nothing, with the nature of the absolute.
Art is an expression of life and transcends both time
and space. We must employ our own souls through art to give a new form and a new meaning to nature or the world.
An artist's expression is his soul made apparent, his
schooling, as well as his "cool" being exhibited. Behind every motion, the music of his soul is made visible. Otherwise, his
motion is empty and empty motion is like an empty word--no meaning.
Eliminate "not clear" thinking and function from your
root.
Art is never decoration, embellishment; instead, it
is work of enlightenment. Art, in other words, is a technique for acquiring liberty.
Art calls for complete mastery of tecniques, developed
by reflection within the soul.
"Artless art" is the artistic process within the artist;
its meaning is "art of the soul." All the various moves of all the tools means a step on the way to the absolute aesthetic
world of the soul.
Creation in art is the psychic unfolding of the personality,
which is rooted in the nothing. Its effect is a deepening of the personal dimension of the soul.
The artless art is the art of the soul at peace, like
moonlight mirrored in a deep lake. The ultimate aim of the artist is to use his daily activity to become a past master of
life, and so lay hold of the art of living. Masters in all branches of art must first be masters of living, for the soul creates
everything.
All vague notions must fall before a pupil can call
himself a master.
Art is the way to the absolute and to the essence of
human life. The aim of art is not the one-sided promotion of spirit, soul and senses, but the opening of all human capacities--thoght,
feeling, will--to the life rhythm of hte world of nature. So will the voiceless voice be heard and the self be brought into
harmony with it.
Artistic skill, therefore, does not mean artistic perfection.
It remains rather a continuing medium or reflection of some step in psychic development, the perfection of which is not to
be found in shape and form, but must radiate from the human soul.
The artistic activity does not lie in art itself as
such. It penetrates into a deeper world in which all art forms (of things inwardly experienced) flow together, aand in which
the harmony of soul and cosmos in the nothing has its outcome in reality.
It is the artistic process, therefore, that is reality
and reality is truth.
On Zen:
To obtain enlightenment in martial art means
the extinction of everything which obscures the "true knowledge," the "real life." At the same time, it implies boundless
expansion and, indeed, emphasis should fall not on the cultivation of the particular department which merges into the totality,
but rather on teh totality that enters and unites that particular department.
The way to transcend karma lies in the proper use of
the mind and the will. The one-ness of all life is a truth that can be fully realized only when false notions of a separate
self, whose destiny can be consedered apart from the whole, are forever annihilated.
Voidness is that which stands right in the middle between
this and that. The void is all-inclusive, having no opposite--there is nothing which it excludes or opposes. It is living
voud, because all forms come out of it and whoever realizes the void is filled with life and power and the love of all being.
Turn into a doll made of wood: it has no ego, it thinks
nothing, it is not grasping or sticky. Let the body and limbs work theselves out in accordance with the discipline they have
undergone.
If nothing within yous tays rigid, ouward things will
disclose themselves. Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like and echo.
Nothingness cannot be defined; the softest thing cannot
be snapped.
I'm moving and not moving at all. I'm like the moon
underneath the waves that ever go on rolling and rocking. It is not, "I amd doing this," but rahter, an inner realization
that "this is happening through me," or "it is doing this for me." The consciousness of self is the greatest hindrance to
the properexecution of all physical action.
The localization of the mind means its freezing. When
it ceases to flow freely as it is needed, it is no more the mind in it suchness.
The "Immovable" is the concentration of energy at a
given focus, as at the axis of a wheel, instead of dispersal in scattered activities.
The point is doing of them rather than the accomplishments.
There is no actor but the action; there is no experiencer but the experience.
To see a thing uncolored by one's own personal preferences
and desires is to see it in its own pristine simplicity
Art reaches its greates peak when devoid of self-consciousness.
Freedom discovers man the moment he loses concern over what impression he is making or about to make.
The perfect way is only difficult for those who pick
and choose. Do not like, do not dislike; all will then be clear. Make a hairbreadth difference and heaven and earth are set
apart; if you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against. The struggle between "for" and "against"
is the mind's worst disease.
Wisdom does not consist of trying to wrest the good
from the evil but in learning to "ride" them as a cork adapts itself to the crests and troughs of the waves.
Let yourself go with disease, be with it, keep company
with it--this is the way to be rid of it.
An assertion is Zen only when it is itself an act and
does not refer to anything that is asserted in it.
In Buddhism, there is no place for using effort. Just
be ordinary and nothing special. Eat your food, move your bowels, pass water and when you're tired go and lie down. The ignorant
will laugh at me, but the wise will understand.
Establish nothing in regard to onself. Pass quickly
like the non-existent and be quiet as purity. Those who gain lose. do not precede others, always follow them.
Do not run away; let go. Do not seek, for it will come
when least expected.
Give up thinking as though not giving it up. Observe
techniques as though not observing.
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. The man who played the role of Kato in The Green Hornet and
starred in four and a half films was a martial arts instructor, and more—he was 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 gung fu
to psycho-therapy, 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.”
“All knowledge ultimately means self knowledge,”
said Lee in an interview. For Lee, “to be a martial artist means also to be an artist of life.”
In Lee’s pursuit of personal perfection, he walked
a life of deep philosophy that urged him to seek answers and improvement. Shawn Olson www.
The person who has no control, responds immediately.
If you go up to him and tell him, "Your momma does this," or something similar he's going to get mad. He'll just lash out
instantly, right? He doesn't have the self-control to think about it, to even question, 'What's this guy's motive? Is he really
insulting my momma?' The person without control will just react immediately and go after the guy. What was different about
Jesus? He went in the Temple and sees the money changers defiling His Father's house and it filled him with rage. The impulse,
if he were not to have the control, he would have just started turning over tables right then on the spot. But no, what did
he do? OK, so, at the second initiation you master the emotions. Now even after you pass an initiation you can slip back for
a period of time because you aren't expected to be 100% perfect but you are expected to be polarized in the mind at the time.
What do we mean by being polarized in the mind?
An example of this was Bruce Lee's dream confrontation.
He was an initiate and was confronting his dweller. A famous scene that we saw in the movies where a character was faced with
his *dweller was Bruce Lee where he kept fighting this monster in his dreams. I gave an example of me fighting this monster
in my dreams. That wasn't really my dweller that was just a monster in my dreams. But with Bruce Lee's case I think that could
have been a representation of his dweller. Bruce Lee was an initiate, an initiate in quite a few things. Maybe you've seen
the Bruce Lee movie where he fights a demon all the time in his dreams. He may have not been ready for the third initiation.
He could have been ready for the second. JJ Dewy. www.
*The "dream warrior" that haunts Bruce in "Dragon:
The Bruce Lee Story".
- "Using no way as way, having, no limitation as limitation"
- "Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water.
If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot
it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend."
- "When there is freedom from mechanical conditioning,
there is simplicity. The classical man is just a bundle of routine, ideas and tradition. If you follow the classical pattern,
you are understanding the routine, the tradition, the shadow - you are not understanding yourself."
- "Truth has no path. Truth is living and, therefore,
changing. Awareness is without choice, without demand, without anxiety; in that state of mind, there is perception. To know
oneself is to study oneself in action with another person. Awareness has no frontier; it is giving of your whole being, without
exclusion."
- "The aim of art is to project an inner vision into the
world, to state in aesthetic creation the deepest psychic and personal experiences of a human being. It is to enable those
experiences to be intelligible and generally recognized within the total framework of an ideal world."
- "Art is an expression of life and transcends both time
and space. We must employ our own souls through art to give a new form and a new meaning to nature or the world. "Artless
art" is the artistic process within the artist; its meaning is "art of the soul"."
- "Art reaches its greatest peak when devoid of self-consciousness.
Freedom discovers man the moment he loses concern over what impression he is making or about to make."
- "Art reveals itself in psychic understanding of the
inner essence of things and gives form to the relation of man with nothing, with the nature of the absolute."
- "An artist's expression is his soul made apparent, his
schooling, as well as his "cool" being exhibited. Behind every motion, the music of his soul is made visible. Otherwise, his
motion is empty and empty motion is like an empty word; no meaning."
- "Art is never decoration or embellishment; instead,
it is work of enlightenment. Art, in other words, is a technique for acquiring liberty."
- "Art calls for complete mastery of techniques, developed
by reflection within the soul."
- "Art is the way to the absolute and to the essence of
human life. The aim of art is not the one-sided promotion of spirit, soul and senses, but the opening of all human capacities
- thought, feeling, will - to the life rhythm of the world of nature. So will the voiceless voice be heard and the self be
brought into harmony with it."
- "The artistic activity does not lie in art itself as
such. It penetrates into a deeper world in which all art forms (of things inwardly experienced) flow together, and in which
the harmony of soul and cosmos in the nothing has its outcome in reality."
- "It is the artistic process, therefore, that is reality
and reality is truth."
- "If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will
disclose themselves. Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo."
- "Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not
be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward
things will disclose themselves."
- "The perfect way is only difficult for those who pick
and choose. Do not like, do not dislike; all will then be clear. Make a hairbreadth difference and heaven and earth are set
apart; if you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against. The struggle between "for" and "against"
is the mind's worst disease."
- "Give up thinking as though not giving it up. Observe
techniques as though not observing."
- "Eliminate "not clear" thinking and function from your
root."
- "Voidness is that which stands right in the middle between
this and that. The void is all-inclusive, having no opposite - there is nothing which it excludes or opposes. It is living
void, because all forms come out of it and whoever realizes the void is filled with life and power and the love of all being."
- "Nothingness cannot be defined; the softest thing cannot
be snapped."
- "The point is doing of them rather than the accomplishments.
There is no actor but the action; there is no experiencer but the experience."
- "To see a thing uncoloured by one's own personal preferences
and desires is to see it in its own pristine simplicity."
- "Wisdom does not consist of trying to wrest the good
from the evil but in learning to "ride" them as a cork adapts itself to the crests and troughs of the waves." This quote was
plagiarized by Bruce Lee for an essay he submitted to the University of Washington at Seattle. The actual source of the quote
is Alan Watts' book "This Is It" (1959).
- "It's not daily increase but decrease - hack away the
unessential!"
-
- “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength
to endure a difficult one.” Bruce Lee. Philosopher.
- Jeremy Condick. jpcondick@ntlworld.com
