The Kungfu legend

It was Bruce Lee’s birthday yesterday. Bruce Lee (27 Nov 1940 - 20 Jul 1973) was an American-born Chinese or in short we call as ABC. He was born to a Chinese father and Chinese German mother. He is known as one of the most influential and famous martial artist of all time, still widely remembered by all until now. He was an actor as well as an instructor. He was also the father of the Jeet Kune Do and the originator of the Jun Fan Kickboxing.

Bruce had acted in a variety of movies in US since he was baby. His last few movies include The Big Boss (1971), The Fist of Fury (1972), Way of the Dragon (1972) and Enter the Dragon (1973).

His tremendous effort in the martial arts industry has created the future for the later martial arts actors such as Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Both of these actors have brought the martial arts to the international arena. In fact, Jackie Chan was a stunt double for the villain Mr. Suzuki in Fist of Fury and in the film Enter the Dragon, Jackie was one of the henchmen disposed of in the underground lair.

Bruce was married to Linda and had 2 children, Brandon Lee (born 1965) and Shannon Lee (born 1969). Brandon, an actor like his father, died on a movie set while filming The Crow on March 31, 1993. Bruce died while filming Game of Death.

Bruce had fought against Chinese tradition by teaching kungfu to Westerners, and trained with champions from a variety mix of fighting systems. This cultural mix then led to the invention of his own martial art, Jeet Kune Do, in which Lee embraced the philosophical idea of “being like water.” By mimicking the flexibility of water, he avoided set forms and
fluidly adapted the most effective elements of as many fighting techniques as possible — an inspiration to modern mixed martial arts. He was the father in the martial arts industry.

Some of his famous quotes:

“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 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.”

“If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo.”

“Use no way as way; use no limitation as limitation.”

“One great cause of failure is lack of concentration.”

“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.”