Bruce Lee Podcast

This week we share wisdom from our podcast listeners. We’ve selected a few stories to share about how listeners have incorporated Bruce Lee’s philosophy into their everyday lives and the impact that the philosophy has had on them. Thank you to all of our listeners who write to us sharing the impact that Bruce Lee and this podcast has had on their lives! We love reading how you all are living your lives fully and authentically. We wanted to share these pieces of listener wisdom because they are all interpreting Bruce Lee’s philosophy for themselves and using their own words. These pieces of wisdom resonated with us so we hope they resonate with you too. It is awesome and amazing that you all are taking the Bruce Lee’s philosophies and creating your own recipes for life. Thank you all for listening and working with these philosophies in your own lives. Please continue to share your stories with us!  Go to our show notes at brucelee.com/podcast to read the listener wisdom shared in this episode. Full Notes: Bruc

“The autonomous individual is only stable so long as he possessed of self-esteem. The maintenance of self-esteem is a continuous task which taxes all of the individual’s power and inner resources. We have to prove our worth and justify our existence anew each day. When, for whatever reason, self-esteem is unattainable, the autonomous individual becomes a highly explosive entity. He turns away from an unpromising self and plunges into the pursuit of pride, the explosive substitute for self-esteem. All social disturbances and upheavals have their roots in crises of self-esteem, and the great endeavor in which the masses most readily unite is basically a search for pride.” Bruce Lee had a lot of thoughts around the notion of self-worth and self-esteem. (Many of these quote and thoughts are from The Passionate State of Mind by Eric Hoffer.) Join Shannon & Sharon as they dive into self-esteem, taking action, and feeling worthy. Find our full show notes: BruceLee.com/podcast Check out our Podcast Bundle on the

Disclaimer: Some of the language in this episode includes profanity In this episode Shannon and Sharon were joined on the podcast by special guest Mike Vallely. Mike Vallely is a professional skateboarder, owner of Street Plant, musician, actor, tv personality, stuntman, professional wrestler, and FHL hockey player. Mike shares with us his philosophy on skating, how he first encountered Bruce Lee at flea markets, what it was like growing up as a skater in 1980s New Jersey, and how he first started his family-run company Street Plant. Mike Vallely became obsessed with skateboarding when he was 14. He began skating by borrowing friends’ boards, but finally got his own board for Christmas that year. From there he skated obsessively, even sneaking out at night to go skating. By 1986, Mike had an amateur sponsorship deal with Powell-Peralta Skateboards and his picture was in skateboard magazine Thrasher. After winning the amateur division in the 1986 “Street Attack” contest in Oceanside, CA, Mike Vallely was featu

Bruce Lee referred to the separateness of all the martial arts styles as a “Fancy Mess” or “Organized Despair.” This included the blind devotion of martial arts students who lacked a real sense of individual and personal investigation and growth. Bruce Lee created his own art of Jeet Kune Do which he called the “style of no style.” He was really interested, both combatively and philosophically, in researching one’s own experience and creating what works for you as an individual. Bruce had his own ideas about his own techniques, what worked best and what had efficiency and simplicity when it came to fighting. He passed these ideas along to his students, but he was open to the idea that these ideas could be tested and changed depending on who you were as an individual.  “A Fancy Mess” refers to the rigidity of certain styles of martial arts which require memorization and regurgitation without any deviation from the style. These different styles were often in competition with each other over which was the best.

In this episode Shannon and Sharon sit down with Doug Palmer, a student of and close friend to Bruce Lee. Doug shares with us personal stories and anecdotes about his friendship with Bruce, including how they spent a summer in Hong Kong together and went on double dates when they both still lived in Seattle. Doug first met Bruce Lee when he was in high school in Seattle during the summer of 1961. He first saw Bruce perform a demonstration at a Chinese cultural event in Seattle’s Chinatown and then met him later at a Japanese community festival. Doug was fascinated by gung fu and asked Bruce if he could study with him, and Bruce told him to come to the next class, and if he was still interested after the class they could talk. From there their friendship grew. Bruce Lee became Doug’s teacher and friend, having a lasting effect on Doug’s life. Go to brucelee.com/podcast to see our show notes. Check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

In this episode, we continue our discussion of Bruce Lee’s cards he wrote to his friend and first assistant instructor Taky Kimura. In these cards to Taky, Bruce lays out these principles on how to be a Gung Fu man and how to own and operate a school in the best way without Bruce being there himself. In Part 1 we talked about self-cultivation, no-mind, no-thought, and following nature. Listen to #123 A Gung Fu Man: Part 1 at brucelee.com/podcast. Read Part 2 of the Taky Kimura letter at Brucelee.com/podcast Check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

In this episode we discuss some cards that Bruce Lee sent in 1964 to his best friend Taky Kimura. Taky was Bruce’s best friend, he was the best man in Bruce and Linda’s wedding, and Taky was Bruce’s first assistant instructor in Bruce Lee’s first school in Seattle at the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute. In 1964, Bruce Lee left Seattle and moved to Oakland to open a second school with James Lee. When Bruce moved he wrote these cards and gave them to Taky, who was now going to run the school in Seattle, as a way to prepare Taky to step into the role of teacher and to be a Gung Fu Man. An excerpt from the cards: “Self-Cultivation The point where to rest being known, the object of pursuit is then determined; and, that being determined, a calm unperturbedness may be attained too. To that calmness there will succeed a tranquil repose. In that repose there may be careful deliberation, and that deliberation will be followed by the attainment of the desired end.” Read Part 1 of the Taky Kimura letter at Brucelee.com/podcast

Bruce Lee’s The Tao of Jeet Kune Do was published posthumously in 1976 and the very first section is titled “On Zen.” While the Tao of Jeet Kune Do is an instructional book, it is not structured that way as it begins and ends with sections on philosophy. This chapter “On Zen” was made the first section of the Tao because it is supposed to orient the practitioner to this mindset and also to infuse the practitioner with the importance of the philosophical approach to the art and not just the physical. This chapter orients the reader into having the right intention going into this practice. Like how the Be Water quote begins with “Empty your mind,” the chapter “On Zen” orients the reader in a similar way. Zen has become slang for feeling peaceful and relaxed, or anything with an Asian aesthetic. In modern culture, zen has developed an insubstantial meaning. However, zen is a very substantial practice. For the Japanese Buddhist monks who practice zazen, which is the practice of sitting meditation, zen is a very d

Bruce Lee had a giant library and read voraciously. He would annotate his books, and it’s evident that these books helped influence his philosophies and approach to living life. We think it’s important to share these books because they help illuminate the process of Bruce Lee becoming himself and how he used the insights gained from his reading and molded them to fit himself. In this episode we return to the Bruce Lee Library to discuss his annotations of the book, Great Ideas from the Great Books by Dr. Mortimer J. Adler, Director for Philosophical Research, Answers drawn from the wisdom of the past to the problems about which we are most concerned in the world today. Bruce Lee was a philosophy major in college, so it makes sense that he was in exploration of all the great philosophers in the world. He had a wonderful harmony of Eastern philosophy and Western philosophy. Check out our full show notes at Brucelee.com/podcast to see what Bruce Lee annotated in this book. Help support the Bruce Lee Podcast &

This episode features a letter that Bruce Lee wrote to his good family friend Pearl Tso when he was 21. Pearl was around Bruce’s age, and her mother was Bruce’s favorite auntie who was a mentor and good friend to him. Bruce wrote this letter after he had left Hong Kong and had been living in the United States for around three years. The reason we have this letter is because Bruce Lee liked to present a beautiful finished product and would create drafts of letters. This version of the letter that we have has cross-outs, corrections, and edited notes. After his practice draft, Bruce would write out a finished letter in his beautiful handwriting on nice paper. This letter is phenomenal and packed with a lot of Bruce Lee’s ideas and philosophies. Bruce talks about his dreams, his practical approaches to these dreams, and his measure of success for himself. He sat down and thoughtfully expressed himself through this letter to his dear friend. We are lucky and thankful to have this letter because in the digital age

“Be water, my friend.” This is one of Bruce Lee’s most famous quotes, but how did the idea first come to Bruce? In this episode we share and discuss an essay that Bruce wrote around his epiphany on the nature of water. When Bruce first had his epiphany on water he was 18 and this essay is him reflecting back on that time. When Bruce was 18, he had been studying wing chun gung fu with his sifu Yip Man for about four years. Being a teenager, Bruce was filled a fiery dragon energy, and was set on beating his opponents. During his training his teacher Yip Man continually tried to get Bruce to be more in tune with nature and his opponent instead of being so concentrated on winning. It was not until a solitary boat ride that Bruce’s connection to nature was realized. Bruce’s epiphany on the nature of water shifted his perspective forever on both gung fu and life. Read the full essay at brucelee.com/podcast Help support the Bruce Lee Podcast & check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Bruce

This week we have one of our favorite guests back on the show, Shannon’s mom, Linda Lee Cadwell! Linda joins Shannon and Sharon to talk about the making of Enter the Dragon. With rare insights into Bruce Lee’s process and experience on the set of Enter the Dragon, Linda shares behind the scenes stories, discusses how important this movie was to Bruce Lee, and talks about the lasting impact Enter the Dragon has had in action films. It is always wonderful having Linda on the Bruce Lee Podcast, and we are grateful every time she can join us for an episode. Thank you Linda for sharing these behind the scenes stories on the making of Enter the Dragon! We’d love to hear from you! Please write to us at hello@brucelee.com or tag us on social media @BruceLee #BruceLeePodcast. Help support the Bruce Lee Podcast and check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store!

“Thinking is rehearsing in fantasy for the role you have to play to society. And when it comes to the moment of performance, and you’re not sure whether your performance will be well received, then you get stage fright. This stage fright has been given by psychiatry the name “anxiety”. “What will I have to say on the examination?” “What will I say in my lecture?” You meet a girl and you think, “What will I wear to impress her?” And so on. All this rehearsing for the role you play.” Anxiety has become a part of our culture and it can cause us to reach an impasse in our lives. What is The Impasse? What roles are we rehearsing? Are we living in the moment? In this week’s episode Shannon and Sharon discuss Bruce Lee’s essay on “The Impasse.” Full notes: BruceLee.com/podcast Help support the Bruce Lee Podcast & check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

“The ego boundary is the differentiation between the self and the other. It is not a fixed thing. If it is fixed, then is becomes a character or an armor like the shell of a turtle. The two phenomena of the ego boundary are identification and alienation. Inside the ego boundary, there is generally cohesion, love, cooperation; outside the ego boundary there is suspicion, strangeness, unfamiliarity.” – Bruce Lee Join Shannon and Sharon as they discuss the ego boundary and the polarity between inside the boundary and outside the boundary. How are we denying parts of ourselves? Why is it bad to ignore our dissatisfaction? Explore all this and more in this episode of the Bruce Lee Podcast. Full notes: BruceLee.com/podcast Help support the Bruce Lee Podcast & check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

In a special gathering to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Bruce Lee’s passing, Emmy Award-winning comedian and author W. Kamau Bell, Bruce Lee biographer and cultural critic Jeff Chang, Bruce Lee’s daughter Shannon Lee, along with moderator and cultural anthropologist Sharon Ann Lee held a discussion on Bruce Lee’s long-lasting legacy and how he became an unexpected icon for Afro-Asian unity. This special event was hosted by AloudLA in July 2018. AloudLA is a series of dynamic conversations, readings, and performances that take place at the historic Central Library in DTLA. AloudLA is presented by the Library Foundation of Los Angeles which supports the Los Angeles Public Library.  You can watch the video of the event here: https://lfla.org/media-archive/bruce-lee-afro-asian-culture-connection-video/ Full notes: BruceLee.com/podcast Help support the Bruce Lee Podcast & check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

What would Bruce Lee Do? This is a question that many of our podcast listeners have wondered. Over the course of this podcast, people have written us with different life questions asking what would Bruce Lee do if he were in their situation. In this special episode of the podcast, Shannon and Sharon answer listener questions based on their personal opinions, life experiences, and their knowledge of Bruce Lee, his life and his philosophy. Full notes: BruceLee.com/podcast Help support the Bruce Lee Podcast & check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

How did Bruce Lee become a philosopher? Bruce wrote an essay on why he got interested in philosophy and what he hoped to do with it. Bruce Lee majored in philosophy at the University of Washington. At the beginning of this essay Bruce addresses the question people kept asking him after the completion of Big Boss: “What was it that made me give up career in the States and return to Hong Kong to shoot Chinese films?” Bruce writes: “Perhaps the general feeling was that it was all hell to have to work on Chinese films since the Chinese film industry was still so underdeveloped. To the above question I find no easy explanation except that I am Chinese and I have to fulfill my duty as a Chinese.” “The truth is, I am an American-born Chinese. That I should become an American-born Chinese was accidental, or it might have been my father’s arrangement. At that time, the Chinese inhabitants in the States, mostly from the province of Kwangtung, were very much homesick: nostalgia was held towards everything that was assoc

This topic comes from an essay that Bruce Lee wrote about how to choose a martial arts instructor, but the advice can be applied in general to mentors, teachers, or guides. “I sincerely give this advice to all who are about to take up martial arts. Believe only half of what you see and definitely nothing that you hear. Before you take any lessons from any instructor, find out clearly from him what his method is and politely request that he demonstrate to you how some techniques operate. Use your common sense and if he convinces you, then, by all means go ahead.” Full notes at BruceLee.com/podcast Help support the Bruce Lee Podcast and check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

The invention of an empirical self that observes itself Viewing one’s thoughts as a kind of object or possession, situating it in a separate, isolated part of itself – I “have” a mind The striving to wipe the mirror These three faults are the mistakes and obstacles that we make in our seeking for consciousness. Fault 1 is about ego-consciousness and our identification with our egos and our intelligence. Fault 2 is about giving too much power to our thoughts and our cleverness. Fault 3 is about believing we can attain enlightenment through outwitting reality and possessing an empty mind. Join Shannon and Sharon as they discuss the Three Faults, and how they affect our journey towards enlightenment. Full notes at BruceLee.com/podcast Help support the Bruce Lee Podcast and check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

As we have mentioned before, Bruce Lee was an avid reader and pursuer of knowledge. Bruce had a passionate intensity around his desire to learn. He had an extensive library and would annotate many of his books. After reading these books, Bruce would write journal entries about what he had read. Bruce would read these books and synthesize the ideas, he would take the bits he liked, and you’ll notice that he used similar language in his own writings. Now we have those books as a part of the Bruce Lee Archive. This week we share another book from the Bruce Lee Library, Commentaries on Living 1st Series by Jiddu Krishnamurti. Jiddu Krishnamurti (11 May 1895 – 17 February 1986) was a philosopher, speaker and writer. His subject matter included psychological revolution, the nature of mind, meditation, inquiry, human relationships, and bringing about radical change in society. He constantly stressed the need for a revolution in the psyche of every human being and emphasized that such revolution cannot be brought abo