what are people views on Bruce Lee?

[SteveLau]

When I look at his views of MA before he was 25, there are some that I do not agree to. The reasons are that he did not understand some of the styles fully including Wing Chun. He did admit that he had not mastered the style yet. Understood that he had moved to U.S.A. before he completed his Wing Chun training. It is human nature to make mistake even one knows the mistake well. For example, forever looking for new ways to improve his MA and physical condition is going to extreme. IMHO, a person should have achieved his full potential in MA after 15 years of regular training. After that, maintaining his skill level will be the more important priority (because of the aging effect).




Regards,

KC
Hong Kong

[mickey]

Greetings,

Views on Bruce Lee: Hmmmm,

Well, with only one movie scene, he was responsible for the appearance of Chinese spare ribs on the menus of Chinese restaurants all over the world (especially where Black people lived) and responsible for the shift from Chinese "Eat In" restaurants to "Take Out Only" in Black neighborhoods.


mickey

[taai gihk yahn]

He was an actor who unapologetically lifted and used concepts wholesale from Chinese philosophy w/out attribution, passing it off as if he was this bottomless font of ancient hoary wisdom (e.g. - his whole "be like water, my friend" interview); I mean, hey, whatever, he had mouths to feed so he gave people what they wanted...

[TenTigers]

He was an actor who unapologetically lifted and used concepts wholesale from Chinese philosophy w/out attribution, passing it off as if he was this bottomless font of ancient hoary wisdom (e.g. - his whole "be like water, my friend" interview); I mean, hey, whatever, he had mouths to feed so he gave people what they wanted...

I believe he did such because he believed in them, rather than simply wrapping his art in Chinese trappings giftwrap.

[bawang]

when i read more about him i think he was a young chinese man living at a time where chinese people werent welcome in america, and wanted to prove himself and change the public perception, showing chienese people as fighters and warriors.

but in the end he failed because wing chun.

[taai gihk yahn]

I believe he did such because he believed in them, rather than simply wrapping his art in Chinese trappings giftwrap.

I'm sure he believed in them - I just think he didn't disabuse people of the perception that he was the one coming up with them...

[Hungfutkune]

Wait, Bruce Lee is dead??
Next you're going to tell me the Beatles broke up

[lance]

Am I the only one willing to admit the classic cliche? I was 5 yrs old and my mom took me along w/ my older brother and sister to see a Bruce flick and i've been a Gung Fu lover ever since.

As for the JKD concepts, I like em. They are all sound ideas. NOT anything that hadn't already existed, but sound concepts put together in a nice package that an individual can personally blossom from.

Gung Fu is hard work. If a JKD guy is working his but off at what he does then he deserves the same respect that other MA's do.

I believe that Bruces hard work and concept put together can help everybody.
However I also believe that only he was the real Pinacle of his "Style" (using the word "style" for lack of a better one)

All the JKD guys train their attributes. But I have not seen any of the big dogs INSPIRE ME w/ the same AWE and raw energy that you could see in Bruce. He was truely a diamond in the rough.

The only guys i've seen come close to his almost supernatural speed and power were a few Shaolin Monks that I had the pleasure of training w/ in 1998 at Sil Lum temple.

I'm not saying Bruce was unbeatable, but who can argue w/ me that he had his moments to inspire us all?

"O"

O , I agree with you too , I mean theres' no question about it he was the greatest martial artist who ever lived . Ofcoarse like you mentioned O you trained with a few shaolin monks who came close to bruces' abilities , but can never be better than bruce , that ' s the way I see too . I ' ve seen his movies many times and documentry DVDs on bruce many times , he was the greatest . Although he ' s already dead , he still inspired people anyway .

[David Jamieson]

He was an actor who unapologetically lifted and used concepts wholesale from Chinese philosophy w/out attribution, passing it off as if he was this bottomless font of ancient hoary wisdom (e.g. - his whole "be like water, my friend" interview); I mean, hey, whatever, he had mouths to feed so he gave people what they wanted...

In all fairness, he happened to be in a time and place when our general culture was eating and drinking at the table of hegemony. Even today you see guys in western culture who identify with several cultures other than their own.

Bruce assisted in forwarding those ideas that were not in the mainstream consciousness at the time.

You, and others like you went deeper, found out more and even sourced some of what Bruce was talking about and found that the font of wisdom was elsewhere.

Well, that's pretty much true of all of us to some extent.

No point in being bitter in hindsight. At least he put some stuff on the table for those who chose to, to dig deeper if they cared to.

It's much like Tony Robbins or Wayne Dyer or any number of other Oprah celebs. They draw on the older teachings and present them with a fresh tongue. Consequently the quirk of celebrity worship causes people to think that these individuals are the source. If they invest the time, they'll come to know different.

It is repulsive, I agree, but everybody is at where they are at.

[lance]

My view of Lee Siu Long (Bruce Lee) is that he is highly over rated. Sure he may have trained hard, but did he train "smart"? Did he know anything about internal training, did he bring anything new to martial arts? It doesn't seem like it.

Because he was the first real martial arts star in the west, he is idolized by many people.

Paul , bruce learned wu style tai chi from his father and he had internal training .
He did train smart , that ' s why he was the greatest . Paul did you write a book before on kung fu ? And Paul if you ever read all the materials like books on bruce all written by people who know him , they ' ll tell you that he was the greatest .

Everything about bruce is all comming out into the open , through books and new documentries being produced by the people who really knew about him . I ' m sure you saw his JKD book who did ' nt . His book contained his own research and investigation on his own art . And JKD was around from the time he began to develop it until the day he died . If you don ' t know that , then where were you ?
Just because you don ' t like bruce don ' t condemn him . If you can do better than him lets see it , then we ' ll shut up .

[Dale Dugas]

Bruce Lee is dead, buried and rotten.

Ozzy is still alive as is Keith Richards.

For all the training, talking, etc that Bruce Lee did, he is dead, buried and rotten.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Bruce Lee was the reason I got interested in MA and that goes for countless people.
He was not the reason I stayed of course, but without Him I never would have been interested in it.
It's just that simple.
Beyond that, MA-wise, anyone that downplays what Bruce did as a MA in terms of, well, anything, I question their motives.
Was he the Best? Nope.
Was he good enough that even the likes of Norris, Lewis and others respected Him? YES.
Did his MA legacy out live him? Yes.
Enough said for me.

[lance]

hi all, i'm new
Wwhat do you all think of Bruce, comming from a kung fu and philosophy point of view?. i know that a lot of people don't like his jeet kune do,
anyway jus curious
thanks

fish

This is just my own opinion about bruce lee , he was the greatest martial artist who ever lived . Some people really liked him and some people really hated him .
So we can all leave it at that , because there ' re are books , movies , and documentry DVDs being produced on him . By people who really knew the man like his students and people who hang around him too .

He could ' nt complete his training in wing chun mainly because he was a bad boy and his family was afraid that he would embarrass the families name by getting into trouble all the time . So that ' s why his parents sent bruce to the US from HK to start a new life in the US . Bruce probably was meant to be a martial artist without any rank or certification . He did learn wu style tai chi from his father who was a wu style tai chi master and was also a friend with GM Ip man . Although bruce the tai chi moves did ' nt work for bruce in a fight , bruce practice the tai chi moves privately and that ' s how he had his internal training . From tai chi he learned wing chun . Other than wing chun he did learn other kinds of kung fu like praying mantis from Gin Foon Mark or Sifu Siu hon son . Northern style kung fu from other kung fu masters , he knew . But bruce his kung fu was chop suey because he learned different things from different sifus in general . Like Choy li fut , little bit of hung gar , white crane , tam tui . And as times went by for bruce he evolved and so did his art . From Jun Fan kung fu went into JKD . Other martial artist like what he was doing so they were learning from him , like the students of Ed Parker , bruce also learned the high kicks from TKD .

His Physical conditioning came from training with different kinds of exercise machines and weight training machines . He wanted to be the best so he trained harder in his weight training . He had his own diet like his own protein drink , he also experiemented with meat , eggs , etc. He had an active metabolism , because he was always skinny .

No other martial artist had philosophies that bruce had like absorb what is useful and to reject what is useless , and to keep what is specifically your own . So that ' s why he alone inspired other martial artist too . And soon the whole world .
He had one challenge with Sifu Wong Jack Man , some people said that he won and some people said that the lost . But it does ' nt matter because alot of people today like learning JKD , mainly because of bruce . And 1 man which I do admit can surpass bruce ' s skills , Tommy Carruthers who trained under bruce ' s last student Ted Wong . Overall wheather you like bruce or not he ' ll always be remembered by people , they talk about him , they carry pictures of him , even in magazine article although it maybe other types of magazine , but still have articles written on him . He practically changed the whole world .

If bruce was ' nt the man he was , I would write this thread too , but what else could I say , he was just the greatest no doubt or ? about it . Even Jhoon Rhee the TKD master would ' nt go into the ring with him , because of the fact that he himself might get knocked out , I believe that too .

[bawang]

if bruce lee was so great, why did he marry his student?

[taai gihk yahn]

if bruce lee was so great, why did he marry his student?

doesn't the opportunity for an Asian man to marry a blonde white American woman trump the "do not marry your student" statute of the Kung Fu Code?