"Absorb what’s useful", a quote from Bruce Lee?

[frank raud62 2]

After doing extensive research in the notes/books, interviews, teachings by Bruce and interviews from Bruce’s students, he never emphasized this quote when learning martial arts or JKD. The original quote came from Mao Zedong: "assimilating what is useful, rejecting what is useless, and adding what is specifically our own." (Problems of Strategy in China's Revolutionary War, #4, the important thing is to be good at learning, December, 1936) PROBLEMS OF STRATEGY IN CHINA'S REVOLUTIONARY WAR

Another quote that is pretty similar from Aristotle: "They say that all men pursue what is useful, reject what is useless." (The Eudemian Ethics (Book VII, Chapter I, pg. 182), Aristotle Works

All my best ideas were stolen by the ancients- Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

[Jazzpurr10]

It’s the first track in my ‘Happy’ playlist! The opening refrain just fills me with joy, for some reason…”Whoa, hoh, hoh, hoooooo”

If I recall correctly, it was from Douglas' album with a title like "Do the Kung-Fu", which I may admit to finding in the early 90s.

 

[Same Trick61 12]

Well, there were ‘new things’ when they were first pointed out. Musashi, Lao Tsu, Shopenhauer, Confucius (my personal favourite) etc made original often pithy observations which is why they are remembered to this day. BL’s observations were not original.

Well, to martial artists, a very small subset of the masses. The real legacy of BL, the first thing the general public think of when you mention his name is shouting “HiiiiiYAH!” and making chopping actions with their hands…maybe that yellow jump suit and distant strains of Carl Douglas singing ‘Kung Fu Fighting’.

Proof that Bruce Lee was an original came with the Bruceploitation of him - Bruce Le, Bruce Li, Bruce Lai…Bruce Lie

https://ultimatepopculture.fandom.com/wiki/Bruceploitation

 

[Gyakuto116 125]

Proof that Bruce Lee was an original came with the Bruceploitation of him - Bruce Le, Bruce Li, Bruce Lai…Bruce Lie

https://ultimatepopculture.fandom.com/wiki/Bruceploitation

Same thing with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnuld Schwarzenegger, Adolfus Schwarzenegger, Alun Schwarzenegger…

 

[Same Trick61 12]

Same thing with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnuld Schwarzenegger, Adolfus Schwarzenegger, Alun Schwarzenegger…

Yeah they made too many robotic clones of him, can’t tell them apart

 

[punisher731]

I'm not sure how fair that is either really. He's drawing from the things he's studied, martial arts and otherwise. Aren't we all? When we practice a form or invoke a passage from Book of Five Rings or do anything else based on sources from the past, we're deriving something. I'm not sure I understand the issue. Lee's inspirations have never been veiled. It's been very clear that he's drawing from Daoism, Krishnamurti, etc. in terms of philosophy. And wing chun, boxing, and fencing in terms of technical approach. He certainly laid claim to his particular presentation of those things, but if that's derivative, he'd hardly be the first high-profile martial arts teacher to be "guilty" of it.

It's not "derivative" when whole passages are copied word for word or drawings copied exactly from other books.

BUT, like I said. It was his PERSONAL notes on subjects he was studying, so he can't be faulted for his wife rushing to have the notes published after his death as Bruce Lee's "own work" when it wasn't.

 

[punisher731]

I was unaware of the posthumous release of that book from ‘Bruce Lee Inc.’

But I haven’t read any of his works and yet I’ve heard quite a few examples of his uncredited, derivative philosophy. I’m not sure from where…perhaps Joe Hyams’s ‘Zen in the Martial Arts’ which itself was hugely derivative (albeit a great read for a young person).

BL was great action movie hero, he seems to have had a great personal physical talent, but I’ve never seen that expertise transferred via JKD, to anyone else, which suggests it was ‘him’ and not the art that was great.

To be fair, if I am quoting something famous to an audience that is familiar with the quote there is an assumption that they know I am quoting without having to give the original source in a lecture/talk (obviously, writing would be different).

Much of what we have of Bruce Lee are "soundbites" that sound good of his quotes and we usually don't have the full talk or context as to what he was talking about or if he did say the source.

There are quite a few successful "JKD" people that can and do apply it quite well. But, and I wish I could find the exact quote, Bruce Lee said something along the lines that only about 1 in 100,000 people were capable of doing his JKD. A lot of it was heavily attribute based and is not going to work for someone without those attributes.

 

[ap Oweyn19]

It's not "derivative" when whole passages are copied word for word or drawings copied exactly from other books.

BUT, like I said. It was his PERSONAL notes on subjects he was studying, so he can't be faulted for his wife rushing to have the notes published after his death as Bruce Lee's "own work" when it wasn't.

Which is what I would have said if you hadn't already done so. I'm agreeing with you, and have done all along.

 

[Gyakuto116 125]

There are quite a few successful "JKD" people that can and do apply it quite well. But, and I wish I could find the exact quote, Bruce Lee said something along the lines that only about 1 in 100,000 people were capable of doing his JKD. A lot of it was heavily attribute based and is not going to work for someone without those attributes.

1/100,000 will find JDK works for them? 0.001%? If you reach 80 yrs old, the chances of being struck by lightning are 1/15,300.

Can JKD, therefore, really be called a ‘system’? Surely the systemisation of a set of techniques/principles is to allow the majority of those who learn it to become at the very least, competent? No doubt BL meant 1/100,000 would be as good as him or something equally unfalsifiable

I no doubt appear to be unfairly critical of BL. He was a hammy actor, in some admittedly great action films and their choreographed fighting scenes were very entertaining indeed. His premature death has led to the exaggeration of him as a philosopher, martial artist and actor by, in the main part, those who know little about combat sports, philosophy or acting and by Bruce Lee Inc. who have monitized his legacy. If JKD is a worthy combat pastime now, it’s probably due to those who, through hard work, further evolved the art in the years after his death.

Jackie Chan is a better actor and action hero than BL by many magnitudes. His films and action scenes are many magnitudes better and entertaining than BL’s. I believe BL receives a disproportionate amount of attention due to his early death in the same way as Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, River Phoenix…

 

[Same Trick61 12]

Jackie Chan is a better actor and action hero than BL by many magnitudes. His films and action scenes are many magnitudes better and entertaining than BL’s. I believe BL receives a disproportionate amount of attention due to his early death in the same way as Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, River Phoenix…

is it because he was a better fencer, most famous fencer, he actually fenced not just chopping air ?

Bruce Lee fencing - Bing

Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you.

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Bruce Lee - The World’s Most Famous Fencer? - Academy of Fencing Masters

 

[isshinryuronin5 5]

is it because he was a better fencer, most famous fencer, he actually fenced not just chopping air ?

Bruce Lee fencing - Bing

Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you.

cn.bing.com

Bruce Lee - The World’s Most Famous Fencer? - Academy of Fencing Masters

With his speed and quickness, Lee could have been an excellent fencer had he devoted himself to it (not much fame or money in it, though). His short reach would have been a liability in high level competition however.

As far as the posted article goes, much fencing terminology and similarity that appears in his art and book is not unique. A lot can be found in other TMA where exposure to European fencing was non-existent. Many fighting arts share elements of common combat principles. I think the article (from a fencing website) oversells the importance of fencing in Lee's style.

Still, it's good to be exposed to a variety of fighting systems to see one's own in better perspective and gain insights to their own style.

 

[Same Trick61 12]

With his speed and quickness, Lee could have been an excellent fencer had he devoted himself to it (not much fame or money in it, though). His short reach would have been a liability in high level competition however.

As far as the posted article goes, much fencing terminology and similarity that appears in his art and book is not unique. A lot can be found in other TMA where exposure to European fencing was non-existent. Many fighting arts share elements of common combat principles. I think the article (from a fencing website) oversells the importance of fencing in Lee's style.

Still, it's good to be exposed to a variety of fighting systems to see one's own in better perspective and gain insights to their own style.

I can understand BL’s greatness, I myself started with fencing at age of 6

 

[Gaucho]

Paul the Apostle wrote to the Thessalonians, in the first Testament: Examine all things; hold fast to that which is good.

 

[Buka31 5]

I teach a good sidekick, but not once ever credited whoever originally came up with a sidekick. Never knew who that was anyway.

In writing, what’s odd about the plagiarism rules is, you can get sued for it even if it’s completely by accident with no knowledge of the other work and with no intent whatsoever.
Which kind of sucks.

 

[HighKick]

I teach a good sidekick, but not once ever credited whoever originally came up with a sidekick. Never knew who that was anyway.

In writing, what’s odd about the plagiarism rules is, you can get sued for it even if it’s completely by accident with no knowledge of the other work and with no intent whatsoever.
Which kind of sucks.

Like you, I have no idea who ‘created’ the side kick. When asked before, I said it could have easily been called the ‘happenstance’ kick because it was likely thrown out of necessity, in happenstance to the angle of the attack and the kickers relative position.

 

[isshinryuronin5 5]

Like you, I have no idea who ‘created’ the side kick.

I heard it was Chuck Norris.

 

[Gyakuto116 125]

I teach a good sidekick, but not once ever credited whoever originally came up with a sidekick. Never knew who that was anyway.

A side kick is not a technique/concept that you claim you invented and refined. It is ‘commonly known’ that you teach this technique as do millions of others and is publicly owned. If I sing ‘Yesterday’ and teach others to sing it, nobody would assume I wrote it (unless they’re were in that nice film, ‘Yesterday’) because of it’s ubiquity.

That Bikram bloke (Hot Yoga) tried to copyright yoga asana…postures practised for thousands of years. He was unable to due to him not being able able to prove he’d significantly modified them to make them unique to his system. Instead he did manage to copyright the narrative spoken during the performance of the ancient asana…”this asana connects your medulla to your oblongata”

In writing, what’s odd about the plagiarism rules is, you can get sued for it even if it’s completely by accident with no knowledge of the other work and with no intent whatsoever.

These trials tend to revolve around proving whether the accused actually had no knowledge of the ‘stolen’ property and/or made reasonable attempts to ensure their new ideas were original and not inadvertently plagiarised before going ahead and monetising it.

Which kind of sucks.

If you’ve ever been involved in trying to protect one’s intellectual property, you’d be happy about the safeguards the law puts in place.

The side kick was invented by Chuck Norris and he used it, in part, to kick away those who claimed they’d invented it!

 

[Xue Sheng109 26]

These trials tend to revolve around proving whether the accused actually had no knowledge of the ‘stolen’ property and/or made reasonable attempts to ensure their new ideas were original and not inadvertently plagiarised before going ahead and monetising it.

Not necessarily in the USA

 

[Buka31 5]

These trials tend to revolve around proving whether the accused actually had no knowledge of the ‘stolen’ property and/or made reasonable attempts to ensure their new ideas were original and not inadvertently plagiarised before going ahead and monetising it.

If you’ve ever been involved in trying to protect one’s intellectual property, you’d be happy about the safeguards the law puts in place.

That is not the case here in the States.

 

[Gyakuto116 125]

That is not the case here in the States.

I really think Britain needs to take ownership of America again. We’d soon have you driving on the correct side of the road, have your armed forces marching correctly, ‘dissipate’ your social media influencers and reality show ‘celebrities’ and hugely wealthy lawyers who’s motivation is to prolong trials for their financial gain…oh and we’d restore democracy and freedom too…you really need those two…but not too much freedom because it can be difficult to manage