The Philosopher Within

Everyone knew who Bruce Lee was. No one would doubt that he was a martial artist of the highest level. There are things that many people do not know about Bruce. Most people on the street do not know that he founded the art of Jeet Kune Do . His movies were a vehicle for self expression and getting his point across. He was also a philosopher.

Bruce believed in formless form, being like water and adapting and fitting into every situation. It changed for based on it’s container. Adaptable as they say. One should compare the blade of grass to that of tree. If a strong wind blows then the solid tree will break but the blade of grass will bend and yield. You should. Do the same.

The key points of Bruce’s philosophy were daoism and Zen Buddhism. He believed that everything should be fluid and not fixed. The universe and the world are constantly changing and we should change with it. He never liked the fixed rigid ness of many martial arts. He felt they did nit adapt and change to meet with situation. There are lots of dead people who thought that their art could defend them against whatever. They were wrong. Bruce thought a gun was the best self defense.

Then what are the martial arts for . They could be used for self defense but they were a means of self expression. When one mastered whatever it was they were doing for self expression one could say they are a person of gung fu. Meaning they mastered whatever they were doing and perfected themselves. It could be martial art they were doing or dance or golf.

Sometimes people defended the art based on where it came from. Chinese people might like a style because it was Chinese. Someone may prefer karate because it is Japanese. This sort of cemented a certain racism. Martial arts should be learned based on useful they are not rejected because they are foreign.

Bruce used his movies to make a point. In Way of the Dragon he travels to Rome to help defend a resturaunt from some thugs. One of the workers refuses to learn karate because it is foreign. Bruce said learn it anyway. If it useful why not learn to use it.

No martial art has it all. Jiu Juitsu has ground fighting, the kwin do great kick, American boxing’s good punches. To be a good fighter one needs to be well rounded. The arts give you tools and the object is to be able to use those tools when the time is ready.

Take what is useful from any art and discard the rest. Be practical. The author had a chance to interview Brandon Lee , Bruce’s son, before he too died under strange circumstances. The author also had a letter sent to him from Bruce. You can learn a lot from Bruce Lee even if you are not a Martial Artist,