Bruce Lee Podcast

We are having our first live event tonight, Thursday, July 20th, at 6pm at the Central Library in Downtown Los Angeles. It’s first come first serve with limited seating so try to be there by 5:30pm! This episode marks our one-year anniversary for the podcast! We created this podcast to honor and celebrate Bruce Lee's philosophy and share it with the world. Thank your for listening and going on this journey with us. We wanted to celebrate the one-year anniversary and recognize the 44th anniversary of Bruce Lee’s passing by completing the Bruce Lee Podcast Challenge for two weeks. When we shared the challenge, we worried that people might not participate, but so many of you completed it. We got such an overwhelming response to the challenge that it’s taking us much longer to go through all the entries, and we won’t be able to pick just one winner. Your accomplishments, roadblocks, and leveling up have truly astounded and moved us; you blew us out of the water. We applaud you Bruce Lee Podcast Community! Since w

Gentleness was key to Bruce Lee’s philosophy of life and practice as an artist. Bruce equated gentleness with his idea of emptiness, non-resistance internally, the place in which the moment can happen and where spontaneous action springs from. Gentleness equals life. Gentleness is strength. “The essential unity of the universe, the leveling of all differences, the relativity of all standards, and the return of all to divine intelligence and the source of all things – from all this naturally arises the absence of desire for strife and contention and fighting for advantage. A peaceable temper is bred in man that emphasizes nonresistance and the importance of gentleness.” Gentleness is the coming together, not the coming a part of things. “The assimilation of the tao has its foundation in tenderness and quietness.” Bruce Lee personally struggled with having a temper, but he researched his own experience. He was able to be neutral about examining himself and recognized that he needed to cultivate his gentleness.

What is the meaning of life? “The meaning of life is that is to be lived.” What he means by this is that life is meant to be engaged with, present in, taking action toward; it is not to be conceptualized or only thought about, but actually participated in. Water was Bruce’s metaphor for life, always moving, always changing, always flowing, and you want to be right in the flow of it. “You can never step in the same water twice, my friend. Like flowing water, life is perpetual movement. There is nothing fixed.” “Realize the fact that you simply live and not live for.” “Living exists when life through us- unhampered in its flow, for he who is living is not conscious of living, and in this is the life he lives.” It’s important to fully feel the bad or difficult experiences so that you can let it flow through you and you can let go the negative energy. If you don’t let it flow through you then you end up holding on to and internalizing that pain. “Be pliable, when a man is living he is soft and pliable, when he is

What does it mean to “hack away the unessentials”? “It is not daily increase but daily decrease, hack away the unessential. The closer to the source, the less wastage there is.” Bruce Lee applied this primarily to his martial art, but also in life, heading towards simplicity of movement, thought, and being. “Avoid the superficial, penetrate the complex, go to the heart of the problem, and pinpoint the key factors.” “Do not beat around the bush. Do not take winding detours. Follow a straight line to the objective; simplicity is the shortest distance between two points.” This doesn’t mean take the shortest route, but ask in real life what is unnecessary. “Scratch away all the dirt your being has accumulated and reveal reality in its nakedness.” We accumulate this dirt as protection and security, and it’s not easily shed. There are so many distractions clothed as things to make your life easier, but they distract and clutter instead. “It is not difficult to trim and hack off the nonessentials in outward, physica

The three stages are of learning, technique, and cultivation, have all been touched upon in previous episodes, but this week we dive deeper into each one. The three stages of learning: 1. A punch is just a punch 2. A punch is no longer a punch 3. A punch is just a punch Three Stages of Technique 1. Synchronization of self 2. Synchronization with opponent 3. Under fighting condition “Within all the training thrown to the wind, with the mind perfectly unaware of its own working, with the self-vanishing nowhere, anybody knows where, your art attains perfection.” Three Stages of Cultivation 1. Partiality 2. Fluidity 3. Emptiness “All technique is to be forgotten and the unconscious to be left alone to handle the situation. Technique will assert its wonders automatically or spontaneously. To float in totality, to have no technique, is to have all technique.” “Pride is a sense of worth derived from something that is not organically part of us. While self-esteem is derived from the potentialities and achievements of

Intuition is often described as your “gut feeling,” but Bruce Lee defined intuition in many different ways--as body feel, the root, the creative tide in us, natural instinct, guidance, and free movement of spirit. “What we are after is the root and not the branches. The root is real knowledge; the branches are surface knowledge. Real knowledge breeds “body feel” and personal expression; surface knowledge breeds mechanical conditioning and imposing limitation and squelches creativity.” “The superior man lets himself be guided.” “Don’t think – feel. Feeling exists here and now when not interrupted and dissected by ideas or concepts. The moment we stop analyzing and let go, we can start really seeing, feeling – as one whole.” A truly awake person is using their mind, body, and heart all at once. “Here is natural instinct and here is control. You are to combine the two in harmony. If you have one to the extreme, you will be very unscientific; if you have another to the extreme, you become a mechanical man and no

Meditation has been around for thousands of years, but it’s recently become popular with a broad audience. Modern people need it to create peace from a frenzied world with unrelenting distractions and demands. Typically, mediation is thought of as the practice of sitting still in the crossed leg position, for an extended period of time to quiet the mind. Bruce Lee practiced meditation through movement, such as running, practicing punching, on his exercise bike, or just walking around his backyard in quiet contemplation. He used natural movement as a way to meditate and connect to himself. “It is not a technique of introversion by which one seeks to exclude matter and the external world, to eliminate distracting thoughts, to sit in silence emptying the mind of images, and to concentrate on the purity of one’s own spiritual essence. Meditation is not a mysticism of “introversion” and “withdrawal.” It is not “acquired contemplation.” To think that this insight is a subjective experience “attainable” by some kind

The Art of Soul is about living the artist’s life and mastering the art of living as a whole human being. “The ultimate aim of the artist is to lay hold of the art of living. Be a master of living for the soul creates everything.” Bruce had a clear vision about what it took to be an artist of life: “Requirement to be an artist – purity of heart.” “The aim of art is to state in aesthetic creation the deepest psychic and personal experiences of a human being.” “An artist’s expression is his soul made apparent. Behind every motion, the music of his soul is made visible.” Bruce Lee believed that we are each artists of our own lives. We don’t have to create creative artifacts or achieve the status of an artist in society in order to be an artist. “Art is the way to the essence of human life. The aim of art is not the one-sided promotion of spirit, soul and senses, but the opening of all human capacities – thought, feeling, will – to the life rhythm of the world of nature.” This is about co-creating your life with

The six diseases of the mind are obstacles that you will confront on your path to wholeness and fluidity. The Six Diseases: The desire for victory The desire to resort to technical cunning The desire to display all that has been learned The desire to awe the enemy The desire to play the passive role The desire to get rid of whatever disease one is affected by All of these diseases occur when we seek outside validation. The desire for victory is the desire to win at all costs, usually at the cost of someone else. Wanting to win is not a bad thing, but when it overtakes you and blinds you to everything else is when it becomes a problem. It becomes not about the victory itself, but about coveting and becoming attached to that outcome. The desire to resort to technical cunning is the desire to outsmart, to be overly clever, to the exclusion of other tools of success. This is being showy, flamboyant and attached to form. The desire to display all that has been learned this is the desire to appear super knowledgeab

“The mind is a fertile garden – it will grow anything you wish to plant – beautiful flowers or weeds. And it is with successful, healthy thoughts or negative ones that will, like weeds, strangle and crowd the others. Do not allow negative thoughts to enter your mind, for they are the weeds that strangle confidence.” Bruce Lee had a really strong practice of planting seeds of beautiful flowers in the fertile mind. Often we have people come into the office to look through Bruce’s journals and they wonder where his writings on his doubts and struggles are, and Shannon tells them that these don’t exist. Bruce had a regimented practice of keeping his mind on the things that he wanted instead of the things he didn’t. Bruce would turn anything that did not feel like success into a learning moment, converting it into something that would lead towards success. He would keep focused on the things that he wanted saying: “You will never get anymore out of life that you expect.” Optimism takes effort, it is a practice, es

Bruce Lee often carried notes to himself or affirmations on notecards in his wallet. One of these read: “Be aware of our conditioning. Drop and dissolve inner blockage.” “Inner to outer – we start by dissolving our attitude not by altering outer conditions.” We are all raised in a culture, whether it is a family, community, or national culture. We all have a way we view the world depending on how we entered or experienced it as a child. When Bruce says, “Be aware of our conditioning,” he is saying that it is good to acknowledge and be aware that we are not bias free. Drop and dissolve inner blockage by freeing yourself from things having to be a certain way. This returns to the concept: “Using no way as way, having no limitation as limitation.” We start by dissolving our inner attitude, not by altering our outer conditions. “Do not have an attitude; Open yourself and focus yourself and express yourself. Reject external form that fails to reject internal reality.” One of our current dominant cultures is the wo

This week we sit down with journalist Charles Russo, author of “Striking Distance: Bruce Lee & the Dawn of Martial Arts in America.” His book covers Bruce Lee’s early years as a young martial artist in San Francisco and his polarizing effect as a brash upstart in the Bay Area martial arts scene of the 1960’s. Charles Russo’s interest in Bruce Lee started with his fascination of the history of the Bay Area (San Francisco, CA.) Russo was sitting in his photojournalist class and another student was sharing images of Chinatown, including a picture of the Chinese Hospital stating that that was the hospital where Bruce Lee was born. Russo says, “It blew my mind…how come no one had every told me that Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco?” It instantly made San Francisco that much cooler and interesting, but he was indignant that no one was celebrating that fact. So he decided to look into that story. Once Charles started looking into the story of Bruce Lee and San Francisco, he found a treasure trove of forgotten

Bruce Lee often carried around philosophical ideas written on small index cards as reminders throughout his day. One of these was: “Inwardly, psychologically, be a nobody.” To him, this meant, get the ego out of the way, have some detachment, and be a blank slate--a human being first. That way you can approach each situation anew with fresh eyes. Be as neutral as you can be. “Establish nothing in regard to oneself. Let things be what they are. Move like water, rest like a mirror, respond like and echo, pass quickly like the nonexistent, and be quiet as purity.” As an active person with big goals, Bruce often encountered obstacles throughout his day and quotes like this helped center him and maintain his flow. “I must give up my desire to force, direct, strangle the world outside of me and the world within me in order to be completely open, responsible, aware, alive.” This is not to say you should not exercise your willpower, it’s to say that your willpower should be connected to your essence and your heart. “

Bruce Lee played many characters that were unassuming and didn’t want to get into fights, but then could kick everyone’s butt in 10 seconds when he needed to. As a small Asian man, no one expected that sort of power from him. Because of the characters he played, many people think of Bruce Lee as an Underdog who became a Top Dog through dedicated training. He gave everyone who felt underestimated or undervalued hope and strength. In this episode, we talk about Bruce Lee’s broader philosophical ideas of The Underdog and the Top Dog. An Underdog is a person thought to have little chance of winning a fight or a contest; a person who has little status in society. And the Top Dog is usually an aggressive Alpha-type person. Bruce called the Top Dog and the Underdog the "two clowns" of our personality. “The Top Dog usually is righteous and authoritarian; he knows best. He is sometimes right, but always righteous. The top dog is bully and works with “you should’ and “you shouldn’t.” The top dog manipulates with demand

Bruce Lee lived his life as a human being who was connected to all of humankind—one unified family on this planet. He said, “You know how I like to think of myself? As a human being. Because under then sky, under the heavens, there is but one family.” What we need, especially in these divided times, is a message of unity and connection. Bruce Lee has a way of uniting people, and his fans are global. We continue to hear stories of how Bruce has affected so many different people from all around the world. One such story is about the town of Mostar in Bosnia, After years of enduring a violent civil war, they finally reached peace and wanted to build a monument that symbolized this new peace. They decided to construct a statue of Bruce Lee as a “symbol the whole community could rally behind” and a “monument to the idea of universal justice, one idea having that justice, knowledge, honesty, good intentions can fight against corruption, evil, ignorance.” To many people around the world, Bruce Lee symbolizes an ener

Truth was an important concept to Bruce Lee and it shows up often in his journal entries. But the way he used the word “truth” was not to describe a fact or to be the opposite of a lie. He wrote about a deeper, more of a philosophical, spiritual definition of truth—a concept close to the Tao. It’s why we’re calling it The Real Truth. “The word Tao has no exact equivalent in the English language, to render it into way, principle, or law, is to give it too narrow of an interpretation. Although no one word can substitute for its meaning, I have used the word truth for it.” Bruce understood Truth to be the Tao or the way of the universe. Truth is nowhere and everywhere at the same time, and there a little bits of Truth in all things. This is the way of nature. “Truth is a pathless road, a road that is not a road. It is total expression that has no before or after. How can there be methods and systems by which to arrive at something that is living? To that which is static, fixed, dead, there can be a way, a defini

Taky Kimura once wrote Bruce Lee a letter saying that the students at Bruce’s Gung Fu studio were asking for more techniques. Bruce wrote back that they didn’t need “more” but to go deeper into the practice and expand the students’ imagination: “First and foremost I would like to impress a most important rule of teaching in your mind and that is the economy of form. Follow this rule and you will never feel like you have to add more and more so-called sizzling techniques to keep your students interested.” “I hope I have impressed in your mind a most important rule of our style. Stick to the program I have given you, use variety, and do not worry too much that your student need more and more to stay with you. True only if they can do perfectly all that you’ve taught them. Remember, the idea that one has to come in thousands of times in order to perfect one judo throw. And of course, use your own experience and imagination, and you will do well. I have faith in you, Bruce.” Bruce was trying to communicate the di

Bruce Lee embodied so much confidence both onscreen and off that you might have assumed that he was born that way. But in fact, self-confidence was a trait he practiced and cultivated with clear intention and a daily ritual. “I know, through the principle of auto-suggestion that any desire I persistently hold in my mind will eventually seek expression through some practical means of attaining the object. Therefore, I will devote ten minutes daily to demanding of myself the development of self-confidence. I have clearly written down a description of my definite chief aim in life, and I will never stop trying until I shall have developed sufficient self-confidence for its attainment.” In these 10 min, Bruce would reference his daily affirmations and visualize succeeding, and then he would take action. Another part of his confidence practice was not being dependent on the approval of others or letting their criticism hold him back. “The spiritual power of man’s will removes all obstacles.” “Action is a high road

“Being a real human being” is a concept that comes up often in Bruce’s writings, he didn’t want to be considered just an actor or a martial artist, but as a human being who was growing, evolving and creating. “The function and duty of a quality human being, is the sincere and honest development of potential and self-actualization.” “Do you know how I like to think of myself? As a human being. Because under the heavens, under the sky, there is but one family.” There is a unifying quality to Bruce Lee that connects us on a human level. This unifying philosophy is needed now because of the divisiveness among people in the world. “The simple truth is that these opinions on such things as racism, are traditions which are nothing more than a formula that was laid down by elder peoples experience. As we progress and time changes, it is necessary to reform this formula. I, Bruce Lee, am a man who never follows these formulas of the fear mongers. So no matter if your color is black, or white, red or blue, I can still

Gung fu translated means: discipline and training toward the mastery of some skill. It is applied to martial arts but it can be applied to anything. Ultimately, Gung fu is a pathway toward mastery and a deeper understanding of yourself and life. Yin Yang is the basic structure of Gung fu. This is expressed with the Law of Harmony: “One should be in harmony within and not rebellion against the strength and force of opposition.” “The law of harmony thus fits in with the law of non-interference with nature, which teaches a Gung fu man to forget himself and follow his opponent. He does not move ahead but responds. So the basic idea is to defeat the opponent by yielding to him and using his own strength against him.” “No-mindedness is not a blank mind that excludes emotions, nor is it simply a calm or quiet mind. It is the “non-graspiness” of the mind that constitutes the principle of no-mindedness. A Gung fu man employs his mind as a mirror, it grasps nothing, it refuses nothing, it receives but does not keep.” “