Bruce Lee – My Hero

Bruce Lee has been my hero since my childhood. I have seen his movies numerous times and still whenever I see his movies being aired on any channels, I cannot help stopping my channel surfing and watch them. For me, he was and is the ultimate hero even today.

Though earlier the fascination was for his kicks and punches and the way he used to fight in the movies, but later the curiosity to know more about him, made me study him a lot. And the more I knew about him, the more fascinated I became.

Bruce Lee was the factor which made me learn martial arts, though I could never achieve what I wanted. Sometime my physical capability curtailed the progress, sometime there were other occupations and obstacles. But it helped me, it gave me confidence. I never had to bow down. Once again going through some really crucial phase of life, here I got some great wisdom from him. Yes, Bruce Lee was a Philosophy major and his philosophy about life and the way he approached his life can be seen from his words. The following lines from Tao of Jeet Kune Do (Jeet Kune Do is the martial art form he invented.)

 

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. Tao of Jeet Kune Do

Here are some golden words from my hero..

Bruce Lee on philosophy of life

• Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. 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 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.
• All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.
• If there is a God, he is within. You don’t ask God to give you things, you depend on God for your inner theme.
• Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system.
• The void is no mere emptiness, but is real, free and existing. It is the source from which all things arise and return. It cannot be seen, touched or known, yet it exists and is freely used. It has no shape, size, colour or form, and yet all that we see, hear, feel and touch is “it”. It is beyond intellectual knowing and cannot be grasped by the ordinary mind. When we suddenly awake to the realization that there is no barrier, and has never been seen, one realizes that one is all things, mountains, rivers, grasses, trees, sun, moon, stars, universe are all oneself. There is no longer a division or barrier between myself and others, no longer any feeling of alienation or fear. Realizing this, results in true compassion.
• Like everyone else you want to learn the way to win, but never to accept the way to lose – to accept defeat. To learn to die is to be liberated from it. So when tomorrow comes you must free your ambitious mind and learn the art of dying!

Bruce Lee on Himself

• I am happy because I am growing daily and I am honestly not knowing where the limit lies. To be certain, every day there can be a revelation or a new discovery. I treasure the memory of the past misfortunes. It has added more to my bank of fortitude.
• I refer to my hands, feet and body as the tools of the trade. The hands and feet must be sharpened and improved daily to be efficient.
• I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.
• If I tell you I’m good, you would probably think I’m boasting, If I tell you I’m no good, You know I’m lying.
• You just wait. I’m going to be the biggest Chinese Star in the world.

Some wisdom from the master

• Simplicity is the key to brilliance.
• Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick.
• The possession of anything begins in the mind.
• It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.
• If you make an ass out of yourself, there will always be someone to ride you.
• A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough.
• Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself; do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.
• To hell with circumstances. I create opportunities.
• If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.
• 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
• A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.

Bruce Lee on Martial Arts

• The main characteristic Jeet Kune Do is the absence of the usual classical passive blocking. Blocking is the least efficient. Jeet Kune-Do is offensive; it’s alive and it’s free.
• When you fight, if it is a real fight, use every tool that you have, use your whole body. Use your fists, your legs, your fingers, your head if you have to, and hit them in every vulnerable spot, the balls, the eyes etc. to win.
• I hope martial artists are more interested in the root of martial arts and not the different decorative branches, flowers or leaves.
• Again let me remind you Jeet Kune Do is just a name used, a boat to get one across, and once across it is to be discarded and not to be carried on one’s back.

Some other heroes on My Hero – Bruce Lee

I have been around a lot of great martial arts fighters. Worked out with them. Fought them in tournaments. In my opinion Bruce Lee was the greatest martial artist who ever lived. I think Bruce Lee is the greatest martial artist ever. I don’t think anybody is in his class.” – Jim Kelly

“Lee, pound for pound, might well have been one of the strongest men in the world, and certainly one of the quickest.” – Chuck Norris

I never stood in front of another human who was as quick as him. He not only had the quickness but he had the inner confidence to muster the conviction to do so. I’ve seen others who had the speed but lack conviction or vice versa. He was like Ali, he had both. I stood before both of these men, so I know.” – Joe Lewis.

Tags: Bruce Lee, Martial Arts, Heroes, Personal, Life, Philosophy, Quotes, Oneliners