Bruce Lee's philosophies

The man loved reading,started a new martial arts form and he wasn't an intellect? Well a guy reading off the internet might not agree but Im sure his students would..

 

I also disagree with don. I've done quite a bit of research into Lee over the years -- I've gone through his own stuff (such as the collection of notes titled Tao of Jeet Kune Do) but also outside opinions from people like Miller, Thomas and Little. A lot of the material I've read is hopelessly reverent (Little being the main culprit) but there are also refreshing bursts of realism there. From what I understand, I think Lee certainly was at least moderately intelligent -- he had a naturally curious mind, and he had a gift for communicating information in a compact form. It's also true that he had a large ego, and could at times be hypocritical (read his lines on women/marriage and then look over the list of his affairs) but he could never be described as 'void of any wisdom' or 'full of ****'. In fact, in regard to the latter statement, it's the contrary -- he opposed the **** that was posing as martial arts in the time he lived in. He trained Karate champions such as Joe Lewis and Chuck Norris, and he was commonly regarded as an excellent teacher who had a great insight into his field. His status as a FIGHTER is dubious, but not as a coach. He had a good mind.

His impact upon martial arts has been utterly amazing -- he triggered a wave of interest all over the globe. His thoughts on experimenting with all kinds of systems also anticipated the birth of the MMA bouts we see on television now. A lot of his ideas were in evidence far before him, but the point is that he took the messages and popularised them, he used his influence to spread them to a world stage and change the way people perceived martial arts, and even influenced all sorts of people in other areas. A lot of us here know Sugar Ray Leonard, but not everyone knows that Leonard was a massive fan of Lee, and has gone on record as saying that Lee inspired him and fired him up for his own training. Camacho also expressed admiration for him, and those are just two popular examples.