Bruce Lee's water philosophy

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

We are taught from childhood to fight to the point of exhaustion. By all means bend the world under yourself. But while we bang our heads against the wall, someone seeps through it like water. What is the path of water followed by the legendary Bruce Lee? Find out now.

To control myself, I must first accept myself, not acting contrary to my nature, but following in accordance with it. Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee (Li Zhenfan) is not just a film actor, director and martial artist. Physical strength in him was combined with metaphysical philosophy. He is a legend, whose name is passed down with reverence from generation to generation.

Lee started kung fu in the mid 1950s. His first teacher was Ip Man, who preached the Wing Chun style.

In 1959, Lee left Hong Kong and went to America, first to San Francisco, then to Seattle. In the United States, he opened a martial arts school and began teaching his own style of kung fu - Jeet Kune Do ("Way of the Leading Fist").

The easy way is the right way. In a fight, nobody cares about beauty. The main thing is confidence, honed skills and accurate calculation. Therefore, in the Jeet Kune Do method, I tried to reflect the principle of "survival of the fittest". Less wasted movement and energy - closer to the goal.

In 1971, at the height of his film career, Bruce Lee starred in the TV series "". In one of the episodes, Li said a phrase based on the Chinese philosophy of wu-wei (contemplative passivity) and became very popular.

Become formless, disembodied like water. When you pour water into a cup, it becomes a cup; you pour water into a kettle, it takes the form of a kettle. Water can flow or break. Be water my friend.

However, the famous aphorism does not explain the whole philosophy of Bruce's water and how he came to it. In 2001, John Little, who wrote many books about Lee, published a collection of previously unpublished letters, notes and poems of the actor - "Bruce Lee: The Artist of Life" (). It is an invaluable resource for understanding Bruce Lee's views on life, love, parenting, and martial arts.

Apparently, the philosophy of water came to Li after disappointment: he could not at all comprehend the "art of detachment" that Ip Man taught him. Here's what Bruce writes on the subject.

Bruce Lee When the sharpness of my self-awareness reached what psychologists call, Master came up to me and said: “Keep yourself, follow the natural curves of things, be detached. Remember: never go against nature, never directly resist problems, but control them by turning where they lead. Leave training for a week - go home and think about it."

Bruce did just that.

Bruce Lee After many hours of meditation and spiritual practice, I finally gave up and went on a solo junk ride. At sea, I thought about my training. This angered me - I hit the water. And at that moment one thought struck me. Isn't water the essence of kung fu? I hit her, but she didn't feel pain. I struck again, with all my strength - she is invulnerable again. Then I tried to hold her back. But this turned out to be impossible. However, water, the softest substance in the world that can be placed even in a tiny vessel, only seems weak. In fact, it can destroy the hardest matter on earth. I would like to be water.

Suddenly a bird flew by, casting its reflection on the surface of the water. Then I absorbed another lesson, another hidden mystical meaning was revealed to me: in battle, in front of the enemy, your thoughts and emotions should be like a reflection of flying birds on the water. This is exactly what Master Yip meant when he said "be detached." This did not mean not having feelings - it meant not being burdened and not choking them alone. To control myself, I must first accept myself, not acting contrary to my nature, but following in accordance with it.

Quoting the famous saying of Lao Tzu, Li wrote:

Bruce Lee The natural phenomenon that most closely captures the essence of wu-wei in kung fu is water.

This is an excerpt from the Tao Te Ching. He reveals the essence of water. The water is so beautiful that it is impossible to squeeze it into a fist, to hit it, it does not know the pain. Pierce it with a knife - you won't hurt. Tear it apart - it remains intact. It has no form - water takes the form of a vessel into which it is poured. If heated, it becomes invisible steam, but it has so much strength that it can split the thickness of the earth. Freezing, water crystallizes and turns into powerful lumps. The water can be as fast as Niagara Falls and as calm as a pond. It terrifies in a raging stream and refreshes on a hot summer day. This is the wu-wei principle.

In other words, if you bring the philosophy of martial arts into everyday life, before you struggle with the circumstances, it is worth trying to adapt to them. You need to be soft as water, susceptible to rapidly changing circumstances. The course of life itself will lead you to happiness. It is worth resisting only truly strong storms. If you paddle against the current all the time, you will quickly become exhausted and go to the bottom.