Bruce Lee The Tao of Gung Fu Quotes

“The following week I stayed home. After spending many hours of meditation and practice, I gave up and went sailing alone in a junk. On the sea I thought of all my past training and got mad at myself and punched the water! Right then—at that moment—a thought suddenly struck me; was not this water the very essence of gung fu? Hadn’t this water just now illustrated to me the principle of gung fu? I struck it but it did not suffer hurt. Again I struck it with all of my might—yet it was not wounded! I then tried to grasp a handful of it but this proved impossible. This water, the softest substance in the world and what could be contained in the smallest jar, only seemed weak. In reality, it could penetrate the hardest substance in the world. That was it! I wanted to be like the nature of water. Suddenly a bird flew by and cast it’s reflection on the water. Right then as I was absorbing myself with the lesson of the water, another mystic sense of hidden meaning revealed itself to me; should not the thoughts and emotions I had when in front of an opponent pass like the reflection of the bird flying over the water? This was exactly what Professor Yip meant by being detached—not being without emotion or feeling, but being one in whom feeling was not sticky or blocked. Therefore in order to control myself I must first accept myself by going with and not against my nature. I lay on the boat and felt that I had united with Tao; I had become one with nature. I just laid there and let the boat drift freely according to its own will. For at that moment I had achieved a state of inner feeling in which opposition had become mutually cooperative instead of mutually exclusive, in which there was no longer any conflict in my mind. The whole world to me was as one.”
― Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee The Tao of Gung Fu: Commentaries on the Chinese Martial Arts

“The empty-mindedness of chi sao applies to all activities we may perform, such as dancing. If the dancer has any idea at all of displaying his art well, he ceases to be a good dancer, for his mind stops with every movement he goes through. In all things, it is important to forget your mind and become one with the work at hand. When the mind is tied up, it feels inhibited in every move it makes and nothing will be accomplished with any sense of spontaneity. The wheel revolves when it is not too tightly attached to the axle. When it is too tight, it will never move on. As the Zen saying goes: “Into a soul absolutely free from thoughts and emotion, even the tiger finds no room to insert its fierce claws.” In chi sao the mind is devoid of all fear, inferiority complexes, viscous feeling, etc., and is free from all forms of attachment, and it is master of itself, it knows no hindrances, no inhibitions, no stoppages, no clogging, no stickiness. It then follows its own course like water; it is like the wind that blows where it lists.”
― Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee The Tao of Gung Fu: Commentaries on the Chinese Martial Arts

“QUESTION: What is the best way for a person to learn Chinese gung fu? BRUCE LEE: By being himself. The main thing is teaching a man to do his thing, to just be himself. The individual is more important than the style. If a person is awkward, he should not try to be agile. I’m against trying to impose a style on a man. This is an art, an expression of a man’s own self.”
― Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee The Tao of Gung Fu: Commentaries on the Chinese Martial Arts

“If you would not spill the wine, do not fill the glass too full. If you wish your blade to hold it’s edge, do not try to make it over-keen.”
― Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee The Tao of Gung Fu: Commentaries on the Chinese Martial Arts

“The good man wins a victory and then stops; he will not go on to acts of violent winning, he boasteth not, he will not triumph, he shows no arrogance. He wins because he cannot choose. After his victory he will not be overbearing.”
― Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee The Tao of Gung Fu: Commentaries on the Chinese Martial Arts

“Do not localize your attention Not to localize or partialize the mind is the end of spiritual training. When it is nowhere it is everywhere. When it occupies one tenth, it is absent in the other nine tenths. Let the gung fu man discipline himself to have the mind go on its own way, instead of trying deliberately to confine it somewhere. Therefore, during chi sao, you should have nothing purposely designed, nothing consciously calculated, no anticipation, no expectation. In short, you should be standing there like a dead man. To be conscious is characteristic of the human mind as distinguished from the mind of the lower animals. But when the mind becomes conscious of its doings, it ceases to be instinctual and its commands are colored with calculations and deliberations—which means that the connection between itself and the limbs is no longer direct because the identity of the commander and his executive agent is lost. When dualism (yang against yang) takes place, the whole personality never comes out as it is in itself (letting go itself from itself).”
― Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee The Tao of Gung Fu: Commentaries on the Chinese Martial Arts

“Obviously, if your kick does not commence, his punch will land first, and your defense is useless. Only training can produce results (I can help you with this). If you do not consider a few minutes of training worthwhile, and think the chance of assault is small, you are one of those people who encourages thugs to attack, and no one can help you should an emergency arise.”
― Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee The Tao of Gung Fu: Commentaries on the Chinese Martial Arts

“Sideways force can be broken though by straight force. Straight force can be stopped by sideways force.”
― Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee The Tao of Gung Fu: Commentaries on the Chinese Martial Arts

“Who is there that can make muddy water clear? But if allowed to remain still, it will become clear of itself.”
― Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee The Tao of Gung Fu: Commentaries on the Chinese Martial Arts

“Yielding will overcome anything superior to itself; its strength is boundless.”
― Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee The Tao of Gung Fu: Commentaries on the Chinese Martial Arts

“Insight is not a quality that comes naturally, rather it is a characteristic that is nurtured through intelligent decision-making. It was through the process of applying his intelligence that Bruce developed deep insights into living the Tao of gung fu. He made passionate inquiry into every aspect of living the martial way, he respected traditional beliefs, but was not bound by unexamined tradition, he created his own philosophical outlook on life, and lived it and breathed it every moment of every day—”
― Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee The Tao of Gung Fu: Commentaries on the Chinese Martial Arts