Bruce Lee's Books

Of the nearly 2,000 books, pictorials and magazines on Bruce Lee and Jeet Kune Do published in countries all over the world from the 1960s to the present day, there are only ten books originally written by Bruce Lee himself, and all of them are American originals, which are as follows:

1. Basic Chinese Gung-Fu, published in 1963, introduces the overview of Chinese martial arts styles, the philosophy of yin and yang, basic training, and demonstrates the kicking, punching, wrestling, and holding of "Zhen Fan Fist". Overview of Chinese martial arts schools, philosophy of yin and yang, basic training, demonstration of the "Zhenfan boxing" kicking, hitting, wrestling, taking, etc., is the only Bruce Lee's life out of a monograph so far reprinted 2 times, printing more than 20 times.

2. Wing Chun Kung Fu (Wing Chun Kung-Fu) signed Yan Jinghai (Lee's senior apprentice), published in 1972. Introduces Wing Chun hand type, maneuver, step type, footwork, four door blocking method, Xiao Nian Tou, closed hand attack method, and so on. In Hong Kong, there is a Chinese translation of "Illustrated Wing Chun" by Li Shaochang.

3. Tao of Jeet Kune Do, published in 1975. It contains the essence of Bruce Lee's life, martial arts and philosophical theories, including a large number of his manuscripts of martial arts notes, and discusses in detail the technical system of Jeet Kune Do, the principles of Kung Fu and defense, and the ultimate purpose of martial arts philosophy. The book has been printed more than 40 times so far, and there is a translation of "Bruce Lee - Jeet Kune Do" in Hong Kong in the language of Du Zimin.

4. "Bruce Lee's Techniques of Self-Defense. Bruce Lee's Fighting Method: Self Defense Techniques, published in 1976.

5. Bruce Lee's Fighting Method. Bruce Lee's Fighting Method: Basic Training, published in 1977.

6. Bruce Lee's Fighting Method. Bruce Lee's Fighting Method: Skill spin Techniques", published in 1977.

7. Bruce Lee's Fighting Method: Skill spin Techniques. Bruce Lee's Fighting Method: Advanced Techniques", published in 1977.

The above four books are based on a large number of Bruce Lee's 1967 action photos, and have been printed more than 40 times. In China, Zhong Haiming and Xu Haichao combined the four books into a Chinese translation of "Bruce Lee's Technique", published by People's Sports Press in March 1988, which has also been printed more than ten times so far.

8. Bruce Lee: Words of the Dragon (李小龙：猛龙语录), a collection of transcripts of Bruce Lee's talks in various interviews from 1964 to 1973.

9. Bruce Lee: Tao of Gung-Fu (李小龙：功夫之道), which describes the characteristics of Chinese martial arts and Chinese culture as well as the origins and development of Chinese martial arts techniques contained in Jeet Kune Do (截拳道).

10. Bruce Lee: Jeet Kune Do (Bruce Lee: Jeet Kune Do), which contains a large number of Bruce Lee's action photographs, hand-drawn diagrams, and training program plans.

The Origin of Jeet Kune Do

Jeet Kune Do

In order to gain a sense of security, what was once an uninhibited, unlimited, and vibrant behavior became a sort of rigid dogma, confined by a particular pattern. To understand Jeet Kune Do, a person should leave behind all notions, forms, and schools; in fact, he should even leave behind the notion of what is or is not Jeet Kune Do. Can you observe something without naming or defining it? Naming it and defining it will lead to fear.

It is indeed very difficult to face situations simply and plainly - our minds are very complex - it is easy to teach someone to be skillful, but extremely difficult to teach them to think for themselves.

Interceptionalism teaches that there is no form, and in this way it can manifest itself in all forms. Because there is no sect of Jeet Kune Do, it can be adapted to any sect. Therefore, Jeet Kune Do can be utilized in all ways without any restrictions, and likewise all techniques or concepts can be used to achieve one's goals.

Use your will to approach the essence of Jeet Kune Do. Forget victory and defeat, forget pride and pain. Let your opponent bruise your skin while you destroy his muscles; let him destroy your muscles while you crush his bones; let him crush your bones while you take his life! Don't think of retreating safely - lay your life before your opponent!

The greatest mistake of all is to predict the outcome of a fight; you must stop guessing at the end of victory or defeat. Let nature take its course, and your limbs will grapple at the right moment.

Jeet Kune Do teaches us not to look back once we have decided. It sees life and death as no different.

It avoids superficiality, cuts through the clutter, gets to the heart of the matter, and sees the key.

The Way does not bluff. It does not beat around the bush. It follows a straight line to its goal. The shortest line between two points.

The technique of Jeet Kune Do is nothing but simplicity. It is simply faithful to the self; it simply reveals its essence. This means freedom in intuition, without being limited by any external objects, inhibitions, preferences and distractions.

Jeet Kune Do is the way of the enlightened mind. It is the way of life, the movement towards willpower and control, although it needs to be guided by intuition.

In training, the student needs to be energized. But in actual combat, his mind must be calm and clear without panic. He must feel as if no danger were occurring. As he advances, his footwork should be brisk and smooth, and his eyes should not be fixed furiously on his opponent. All his behavior should be the same as his usual routine, with no change in his expression, and nothing in his face to indicate that he is engaged in a battle of life and death.

The limbs, your natural weapons, serve a dual purpose:

1 To destroy the enemy before you - to eliminate obstacles on the path to peace and tranquility, fairness and justice, humanity and fraternity.

2 Destroy the impulses within you that are triggered by the instinct of self-preservation. Destroy anything that bothers your mind. Do not harm anyone, but overcome your own greed, anger and ignorance. The Way of the Interceptor is directed straight at the ego.

Punching and kicking are both tools for eliminating self-consciousness. It is a tool that embodies the power of intuition and instinct, and unlike the rational intellect and the complexity of self-consciousness, it does not divide the self and prevent freedom. It is a tool for moving forward without looking back.

By virtue of the purity of mind and the ethereal consciousness to which man is endowed, the limbs take on the same character and function with the greatest possible freedom. This instrument, as an external symbol of the invisible spirit, gives full vitality to the mind, body, and limbs.

To be free of old-fashioned, unchanging techniques means to be whole and free. All behaviors and movements are used.

It is the natural nature of man not to be rooted in external attachments. In accordance with this nature, thought moves on endlessly, and there is a continuous flow of past, present, and future thoughts.

Not to be dogmatic about any thought means not to be limited by thought in the process of thinking, not to be disturbed by external things, and to think with an empty mind.

Keep the mind in a sharp focus and keep it alert, so that it can perceive the omnipresent Truth quickly by intuition and instinct. The mind must be freed from old habits, prejudices, limited thinking, and even ordinary thought itself.

By leaving all thoughts behind, your life will accumulate and reveal itself in its true color, nature, and form. This is what Buddhism calls emptiness.

Empty your cup before you can fill it up again.

Desperate Stereotypes

Throughout the long history of the martial arts, the instinct to blindly follow and imitate seems to be inherent in most martial artists, instructors and students. This is partly due to human nature and partly due to the very irrational tradition of conformity behind the various styles. Therefore, it is very rare to find a mentor who is constantly pioneering, innovative and highly accomplished. This is similar to the need for a "signpost".

Everyone belongs to a school of thought, and each school of thought claims to have the truth to the exclusion of all others. Each of these sects is a separate entity according to its own interpretation of the Way, dividing and isolating stability and harmony, while devising elaborate schemes to serve as its own specific and exclusive system of techniques.

Instead of confronting the essence of combat, most martial arts schools have accumulated "fancy footwork" that distorts and restricts the practitioner from the original simplicity and pragmatism of combat. Fancy routines (desperate stereotypes) and contrived techniques do not get to the heart of the matter, but are merely programmed exercises to mimic real combat. As a result, martial artists cannot "fight" in actual combat, but can only "fight" in a way that "looks" like actual combat.

Even worse, (as emphasized by many schools), supernatural spirituality and various so-called spiritual ideas have been blended together in such a way that the practitioner slips further and further into the realm of the mysterious, the delusional, the abstract, and the inexplicable. This is an ineffective effort to grasp and adapt to the ever-changing realities of combat, and to study and analyze them as if they were cadavers.

When you take a moment to experience it, you will realize that actual combat is not static, but "alive". The flowery, ineffective forms that turn the fluidity and flexibility of the martial arts into rigidity and limitation are nothing more than blind enthusiasm for a systematic waste, a routine of exercises and useless performances when you look at it from a practical point of view.

When real feelings, such as anger or fear, arise, will the person who belongs to a faction express them in the traditional form, or will he call out for them in his own way? Is he a living, breathing human being with feelings, or is he a stereotyped, manipulated robot? Will he just go with the flow, or will he resist the constraints imposed on him? A fixed model will erect a barrier between him and his opponent, hindering the relationship between the "whole" and the "flexible".

Those who belong to a certain school of thought do not see the essence of things directly, but can only blindly follow the forms (theories) and make themselves fall deeper and deeper into the confusion, until they put themselves in an inescapable abyss.

They do not see things as they are, because they have been taught to distort the truth. Training must face things as they are and follow their natural order.

Maturity does not mean being a prisoner of ideas. Maturity is the realization and actualization of our own inner depths.

When we are free from the mechanized training, we can achieve simplicity and simplicity. Life is a holistic and unified "relationship".

A clear and simple person does not hesitate to choose. What is is what. Behavior based on a certain idea is clearly a choice, and this behavior is not free and liberating. On the contrary, it creates deeper resistance and contradiction. It turns into an unassertive consciousness.

"Relationship" is awareness and understanding. It is a process of self-awakening. "Relationship is the mirror through which you discover yourself - our existence is the creation of Relationship.

Fixed patterns are not adaptable or flexible, but simply provide a better cage. Truth is outside all patterns.

Forms are vain repetitions that allow you to escape with grace and dignity the introspection and self-knowledge of the real enemy.

The accumulation of forms is a self-enclosure in the midst of obstacles, which are strengthened by tricks.

The stickler for tradition knows only to stick to stereotypes, concepts and conventions. When he performs an action, he can only approach each flexible moment from a stereotyped and old-fashioned point of view.

Knowledge is relatively fixed in a certain period of time, in contrast to the quest for knowledge is continuous. Knowledge comes from information, from accumulation, from conclusions, while the search for knowledge is a process of activity.

The process of accumulation is simply the addition of mechanical rigidity of memory. Learning is never a simple accumulation, but the activity of knowledge, this activity has no starting point, but also never-ending.

In martial arts training, there must be a sense of freedom. A mind limited by conditions is never a free mind. Conditioning will confine one to the framework of a particular discipline.

To express yourself freely, you must leave behind the past. From the "old" you get security, from the "new" you get flexibility and flow.

To realize freedom, the mind must learn to look at life as a broad, expansive process of movement that is not bound by time, and freedom as something that transcends consciousness. Look and see, but do not stagnate and delude yourself, "I am free" - (when you think that) you are already immersed in memories of the past that have faded away. In order to understand and experience the present, you need to leave behind everything of yesterday.

Freedom from knowledge is extinction, and then you are born again. Eliminate right and wrong within. There is no right or wrong in the realm of freedom.

When a man is unable to express himself, he is no longer free. Therefore, he begins to struggle, and that struggle leads to the emergence of a system of patterns. Subsequently, he no longer reacts to the nature of things, but conforms to the pattern system as his echoing response.

A grappler must be unattached and focused on one thing - the grappling - without looking back or looking to the right or looking to the left. He must clear all obstacles in his path, whether emotional, physical or rational.

When a person is outside the "system", he can act freely and completely. A person who has a strong desire for truth is not bound by "formalism" at all. He is only interested in the substance.

If you want to realize the truth in martial arts, and to have a clear insight into each opponent, you must leave behind the concepts of styles and schools, prejudices, likes and dislikes, etc. Then your mind can stop. Then, your mind can cease all disturbances and return to tranquility. In this silence, you will be able to see everything completely, clearly and brightly.

If a school teaches you a certain way of fighting, then you may fight to the extreme of that way, but it is not really fighting.

If you are faced with an informal attack, such as a disruptive attack, your defense and counter-attacks will always be maladaptive and inflexible if you choose a pattern from a rhythmic, traditional blocking style.

If you follow a traditional pattern, all you know is stereotypes, traditions, and shadows - you don't know yourself.

How can one respond to the whole in parts and pieces?

Simply repeating fixed rhythms, rigid movements, will deprive true combat movements of their "vitality" and "substance" - this is a fact.

The accumulation of forms will only bring about a change, an anchor that drags and binds downward in only one direction - downward.

The form will add obstacles; it is only a rigid rehearsal of a given movement. Begin a movement by looking into its essence, not by creating obstacles; do not be judgmental or agreeable - unchosen perceptions will allow you to understand your true opponent as a whole and to harmonize with him.

Once accustomed to a biased approach, once isolated in a closed pattern, the wrestler faces his opponent through a barrier. He is just "performing" his stylized defense, he can only hear his own shouts, but he can't see what his opponent is really doing.

We are so y bound by our fixed routines, our traditional patterns of offense and defense!

If you want to adapt to your enemy, you have to know him straight away. If you take the attitude that there is only one way, you will increase the obstacles and lose the ability to see straight through.

Having "wholeness" means being able to respond to "such-and-such," because "such-and-such" is in constant motion, constantly changing. If a person is confined by a particular conception, he will not be able to adapt to the rapid changes in the "so and so".

Hooks and swings are part of a person's style, and no matter what you think of them, there is no perfect defense. They are used by almost all untrained fighters. For the martial artist, it will enrich his attack. His hands must be able to attack from any position.

In a traditional sect, the system is more important than the individual! The individual can only follow in the footsteps of the sect's system!

Where are the teachings or sects that lead to flexibility and vitality? There is a way to static, fixed, rigid directions with clear paths, but there is no way to flexibility and vitality. Don't turn reality into static and then invent a teaching to reach it.

The so-called truth is the relationship with the adversary, which is constantly in motion, flexible and changing, never static.

Truth has no track. Truth is flexible and therefore changing. It has no static parts, no fixed forms, no systematized dogmas, and no philosophical systems. When you understand this, you will realize that you are also so flexible and changeable. Through static, piled-up forms, through imitative movements, you will not be able to express yourself and will lose your spiritual vitality.