Many people only know Bruce Lee merely as a martial arts film actor in b-grade or C-grade movies from the 1970s.
However, he was much more than that. Mnay martial artists believe that he was the greatest martial artist who ever lived.
Bruce introduced kungfu to the non-Chinese world, breaking Chinese traditions to teach everyone, regardless of ethnicity; and he made martial arts much more popular.
Before he became a world-famous film actor, he developed his own martial arts style - Jeet Kune Do - the style of no-style and every style - utilising all styles, but being bound by none. I.e. the best of "martial arts" and street-fighting combined.
He took whatever worked from any martial art, philosophy, psychology theory, sports science theory, etc., without prejudice, without following traditions (dogmas), and synthesised them into an ever-evolving martial art. This meant that this little man was able to defeat opponents twice his size - big football players, big karate men and big street fighters.
Bruce did not compete in karate tournaments because he saw them as unrealistic. However, when he was a martial arts coach (he preferred that word, rather than "teacher" or "master"), the top 3 karate tournament competitors were all his students.
Bruce Lee is very admired amongst martial artists for the many great things that he achieved; and he has inspired many people in martial arts, physical fitness and so on, even after his death.
I find this documentary inspirational, and you might, too, especially in the area of self-defence and also in personal achievement generally. Also, if you watch this documentary, you might learn some profound truths, "taoist" truths, "zen" truths. ; ) PS, another great film for learning profound truths about martial arts and life in general, is "The Silent Flute" (a.k.a. "Circle of Iron"), which was based on a screenplay written by Bruce Lee.
However, he was much more than that. Mnay martial artists believe that he was the greatest martial artist who ever lived.
Bruce introduced kungfu to the non-Chinese world, breaking Chinese traditions to teach everyone, regardless of ethnicity; and he made martial arts much more popular.
Before he became a world-famous film actor, he developed his own martial arts style - Jeet Kune Do - the style of no-style and every style - utilising all styles, but being bound by none. I.e. the best of "martial arts" and street-fighting combined.
He took whatever worked from any martial art, philosophy, psychology theory, sports science theory, etc., without prejudice, without following traditions (dogmas), and synthesised them into an ever-evolving martial art. This meant that this little man was able to defeat opponents twice his size - big football players, big karate men and big street fighters.
Bruce did not compete in karate tournaments because he saw them as unrealistic. However, when he was a martial arts coach (he preferred that word, rather than "teacher" or "master"), the top 3 karate tournament competitors were all his students.
Bruce Lee is very admired amongst martial artists for the many great things that he achieved; and he has inspired many people in martial arts, physical fitness and so on, even after his death.
I find this documentary inspirational, and you might, too, especially in the area of self-defence and also in personal achievement generally. Also, if you watch this documentary, you might learn some profound truths, "taoist" truths, "zen" truths. ; ) PS, another great film for learning profound truths about martial arts and life in general, is "The Silent Flute" (a.k.a. "Circle of Iron"), which was based on a screenplay written by Bruce Lee.