"If you don’t want to slip up tomorrow, speak the truth today" – cited the eminent martial artist, Bruce Lee.
During his entire life, no one ever really looked beyond the image and saw him as he really was. His frustrations and triumphs had a deep impact that really shaped his personality, and he could achieve what he wanted to achieve.
Born on November 27, 1940, in San Francisco, he was the fourth child in the family. His father was an opera singer. His debut in the cinematic world was at the age of 3 months. He was named ‘Bruce’ by his mother, which means ‘strong one’. He was a sweet, good-natured and bright child. At a young age, he had little parts to play in a Chinese war play, and since then he fell in love with acting. He started to act at the age of 6 and had plenty of opportunities, as a child artiste, to act in movies.
Bruce Lee entered La Salle College at the age of 14, from where he was expelled due to his indulgence in street fights. Thus his father sent him to San Francisco.
Bruce enrolled at the University of Washington. He witnessed a totally different scenario in America. At that time, boxing dominated the combat world, and martial arts, the new entrant in the field, was not trusted by Americans. Here he met Linda and they fell in love. When Linda’s parents objected to their marriage, he didn’t
concede to their decision and said, "I want to marry your daughter. We are leaving on Monday. I’m Chinese, by the way." These words prove his determination to accomplish whatever he had set his mind on.
He got his first real break when the director of his father’s film spotted him on the sets and offered him a part. The stage was set for Lee to move forward and from thereon, he never looked back. He then went out to become the most well known actor of his time and is remembered mostly because of his brilliance as a martial artist.
His rivals envied him to a great extent. His sudden and untimely death shocked the world. He is said to have expired due to edema in the hypothalamus gland of the brain but the real reason of his death is still a mystery.
His mother, Grace, has thrown light on his personality as a child : He was a very mischievous but good-natured boy. His benign attitude was evident since his childhood. His mother cites an example : One day, his mother saw Bruce staring down the street and when she approached him he just ran away. She found out that he had gone to help a blind man cross the busy road, as people around him did not aid him. This really impressed his mother.
According to sister Agnes, whom Bruce used to call "Little Queen", Bruce was a somnambulist and would have nightmares.
She even recalls that when he was very young, he was very protective and was ready to bash up the boys who would tease her. His care, both flattered her and made her proud of him. She nicknamed him as "Little Dragon".
He was a very intense person and dealt with challenges bravely. When he was asked, "Are you able to take care of yourself in a real fight?" by a journalist, he asserted that he was very daring. In his own words, "I have no fear of an opponent in front of me. And should I fight, you (the opponent) had better kill me before I get you."
He always wanted to triumph and considered himself a victor, so much so, that the occasional losing also disturbed him. From early on, in his life, he thirsted for fame and was sure that one day; he would get what he wanted. This was apparent from an incident; when he and Steve McQueen, a famous artiste then, were starring together in a film Panter and a Monkey. In this movie McQueen was supposed to carry Bruce on his back. McQueen considered this below his dignity and rebuffed it by saying that he would not do such a thing. Bruce Lee responded back by saying, "I’m going to be a bigger star than he is."
BRUCE LEE < 1940 – 1973 >
The very thought of martial art brings to mind Bruce Lee’s fiery kick, the crashing of profuse bricks in a lone blow, and his vociferous shriek. His contribution to this style of fighting is such that martial art and Bruce Lee are synonyms; where one ceases to exist without the other.
For his excellence, he was hailed not just by his contemporaries but also by the next generation. His movies were immensely successful and broke the collection records set by previous movies.
He is applauded for the postulation of ‘Jeet Kune Do’, an innovation of the martial art system. The art was based on the dogma of having an approach to live life to its satiation.
Within the short span of 32 years, his domination was not confined to a single zone of martial arts; instead it proliferated the vicinity of acting, teaching and philosophy. The conglomeration of various traits gave him the most envious personality and mass adulation.
• Nov. 27, 1940 Bruce Lee was born at Jackson Street Hospital in San Francisco.
• 1941 He appeared in his first film when he was 3 months old.
•1946
He appeared in the film The Beginning of a Boy at the age of 6.
•1952
He entered La Salle College, a Catholic boys school.
•1953
He began training under Sifu Yip Man, a master of the Wing Chun system of Kung Fu.
• 1960 He graduated from Edison Technical School.
• 1963 He enrolled at the University of Washington and met Linda Emery.
He published his fir
st book The Philosophical Art of Self Defense.
•1964
He married Linda Emery.
• 1965 His son, Brandon Bruce Lee, was born.
• 1966 The shooting of The Green Hornet, TV series, begins in Los Angeles.
• 1967 He began formulating philosophy of Jeet Kune Do, or ‘Way of Intercepting Fist’.
• 1971 His movie The Big Boss broke the box-office records.
• 1972 Fist of Fury was released and it broke all previous box-office records set by his previous movies.
The Way of the Dragon again shattered the previous records.
He directed the fighting sequences of The Game of Death and Enter the Dragon.
• 1973 On July 20, he passed away. Over 25,000 people attended the funeral ceremony.
He was buried at Lake View Cemetery on July 30.
• 1978 Game of Death was released, and featured only 20 minutes of Bruce footage; the rest of the film was made with stand-ins.
His multi faceted personality ranged from him being a philosopher, writer, actor and above all, a very skilled martial artist. Though the bent of his personality was not confined to a single dome; his dedication and sincerity was at par in all of them.
MARTIAL ARTIST
Bruce Lee is inimitable and unsurpassed as a martial artist. Audiences were glued to their seats and held spellbound while watching him in action. He was very sincere in his work : he would start with 500 kicks per leg and up to 2,000 punches daily while training.
Bruce Lee published his first book in 1963 entitled Chinese Kung Fu : The Philosophical Art of Self Defense. Bruce Lee was skilled in creating his own method of self-defense.
After acquiring the core knowledge on martial arts, he felt that no art was complete in itself. Each had its own strengths and weaknesses and was restricted in its own way. This urged him to develop ‘Jeet Kune Do’, which was an improvised version of the techniques and skills of all martial arts.
The doctrine of Jeet Kune Do goes :
• Research your own experience
• Absorb what is useful
• Reject what is useless
• Add what is specifically your own
His morality gains ground when he says, "Because martial art is my career, I want to use it as a means to express my ideas. A real fighter should fight for righteousness. Moreover, when he decides to fight, he must be sincere and fight wholeheartedly to the end. Only in such a way can he develop good character and total truth and sincerity."
He worked really hard for all his stunts and was very good at all his fight sequences. He is, therefore considered to be one of the greatest martial artist of the world and is remembered and admired by millions of people, even after his death two decades ago.
PHILOSOPHER
Bruce Lee majored in philosophy from the University of Washington. He had a collection of over 2,500 books, on topics ranging from Eastern Yoga to Western Psychoanalysis.
Bruce Lee gave importance to the Buddhist concept of the eight-fold path, which he considered, as his gateway in his growth; both as a martial artist and as a human being.
• Right views (you must clearly see what is wrong)
• Right purpose (choose to correct yourself)
• Right speech (speak positively)
• Right conduct (your livelihood must not be in conflict with the right path)
• Right vocation
• Right effort (positive effort must be constant and consistent)
• Right awareness (you must remain continuously aware and committed to right action)
• Right concentration (you must learn to rid yourself of negative thoughts and behavior, and to replace them with positive and responsible ones.)
Bruce Lee’s faith in his philosophy ensured his status at the zenith of the ladder of success. He believed that qualitative ideas beget superior achievement. By this, he meant that we should try to use our own minds and make independent judgments in the various arenas of life.
He states that the function and duty of a quality human being is to sincerely and honestly develop potential and realization of oneself. He further adds that the energy that is created from within, and the physical strength that is generated from your body, only can guide you towards the accomplishment of your purpose in life.
Bruce Lee was able to recognize the negative aspects too. He said that philosophy does not accept what life believes in and strives to convert reality into a problem. He has proved his point by this example. He states that philosophy makes us think about trivial questions like, "Is this chair that I see in front of me really there?" "Can it exist by itself?"
Thus, he believed that these were the kinds of questions, which make the life complicated instead of making it unproblematic.
TEACHER
Lee taught with great sincerity. He extended his erudition to the entire human race and taught with equal earnestness to everyone. On one hand he was largely criticized by masses for training foreigners and revealing the ancient secrets to them, while on the other hand he is lauded for not confining the sea of knowledge to any particular section of society. His magnanimous nature made it possible for the unfortunate ones to learn the art as he forgoes the fees from them.
• Not being tense but ready. Not thinking but not dreaming. Not being set but flexible. Liberation from the uneasy sense of confinement. It is being wholly and quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come.
• It is futile to argue as to which single leaf, which design of branches or which attractive flower you like; when you understand the root, you understand all of its blossoming.
• Life is a constant process of relating.
If you want to do your duty properly, you should do just a little more than that.
• Training deals not with an object, but with the human spirit and human emotions.
• Ideas, in other words, define a man and, by extension, define the society and country in which he lives.
• A person cannot forget someone who is good to him.
• Empty heads have long tongues.
• One great cause of failure is lack of concentration.
• If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.
• Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one’s potential.
• The past is an illusion. You must learn to live in the present and accept yourself for what you are now. When you lack in flexibility and agility you must make up with knowledge and constant practice.
• "I’ve seen all the great martial artists in America and most of the ones in Japan, too, but – physically – Bruce Lee was the greatest I’ve ever seen." - by Hayward Nishioka.
• "The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering," - by Brandon Lee, his son.
• Martial art, like any art, is an expression of the human being.
• Remember that a martial art man is not merely a physical exponent of some prowess he may have been with in the first place. As he matures, he will realize that his sidekick is really not so much a tool to conquer his opponent, but a tool to explode through his ego and all those falsies. All that training is to round him up to be a complete man.
• A successful instructor gains the confidence of his students. The method of gaining their confidence is by commanding their respect. You will win your students’ respect by your sincerity, integrity, determination, energy, self-confidence, and force of character and sense of justice.
• An artist’s expression is his soul made apparent.
• Recording that my emotions often err in their over-enthusiasm, and my faculty of reason, often is, without the warmth of feeling that is necessary to enable me to combine justice with mercy in my judgment, I will encourage my conscience to guide me as to what is right and what is wrong, but I will never set aside the verdicts, if render, no matter what may be the cost of carrying them out.
• To me, ultimately, martial art means honestly expressing yourself. Not it is very difficult to do. I mean it would be easy for me as a martial artist to put on a show and be cocky and be flooded with a cocky feeling at how impressive and cool my techniques would appear to you. And I could continue on in this phony way, blinded to the fact that I was doing this to impress you instead of actually expressing myself.
• Kung fu is a philosophy; it’s an integral part of the philosophies of Taoism and Buddhism, the ideals of giving with adversity, to bend slightly and then spring up stronger than before, to have patience in all things, to profit from one’s mistakes and lessons in life. These are the many-sided aspects of the art of gung; it teaches the way to live, as well as the way to protect oneself.
• Gung fu is not preoccupied with breaking bricks and smashing boards, such as karate. We are more concerned with having it affect our whole way of thinking and behaving.
• Because martial art is my career, I want to use it as a means to express my ideals. A real fighter should fight for righteousness.
• Moreover, when he decides to fight, he must be sincere and fight wholeheartedly to the end. Only in such a way he can develop a good character and total truth and sincerity.
• This is an art; an expression of man’s own self.
