Tao of Jeet Kune Do is a book expressing Bruce Lee's martial arts philosophy and viewpoints, published posthumously . The project for this book began in 1970 when Bruce Lee suffered a back injury during one of his practice sessions. During this time he could not train in martial arts. He was ordered by his doctors to wear a back brace for 6 months in order to recover from his injury. This was a very tiring and dispiriting time for Lee who was always very physically active.
Source: Tao of Jeet Kune Do (1975), p. 12 <!-- Ohara Publications (July 1993) -->
Context: Jeet Kune Do favors formlessness so that it can assume all forms and since Jeet Kune Do has no style, it can fit in with all styles. As a result, Jeet Kune Do utilizes all ways and is bound by none and, likewise, uses any techniques which serve its end.
Variant: In Buddhism, there is no place for using effort. Just be ordinary and nothing special. Eat your food, move your bowels, pass water and when you're tired go and lie down. The ignorant will laugh at me, but the wise will understand.
Source: Tao of Jeet Kune Do
“Using no way as way; Having no limitation as limitation.”
Variant: Using no way as way; Having no limitation as limitation.
Source: Tao of Jeet Kune Do
Source: The Warrior Within : The Philosophies of Bruce Lee (1996), p. 112, "To further emphasize this principle [of transcending all styles and forms], Lee placed Chinese characters around the circumference of his jeet kune do emblem that read"
Variant: All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.
Source: Tao of Jeet Kune Do
The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955)
Source: Tao of Jeet Kune Do
Source: Tao of Jeet Kune Do (1975), p. 25
“All types of knowledge, ultimately mean self knowledge.”
Bruce Lee: The Lost Interview (1971)
Source: Tao of Jeet Kune Do
“Awareness has no frontier; it is giving of your whole being, without exclusion.”
This statement probably derives from a famous one of Jiddu Krishnamurti: "Truth is a pathless land."
Tao of Jeet Kune Do (1975)
Context: Truth has no path. Truth is living and, therefore, changing. Awareness is without choice, without demand, without anxiety; in that state of mind, there is perception. To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person. Awareness has no frontier; it is giving of your whole being, without exclusion.
“When there is freedom from mechanical conditioning, there is simplicity.”
Tao of Jeet Kune Do (1975)
Context: When there is freedom from mechanical conditioning, there is simplicity. The classical man is just a bundle of routine, ideas and tradition. If you follow the classical pattern, you are understanding the routine, the tradition, the shadow — you are not understanding yourself.
“Truth has no path. Truth is living and, therefore, changing.”
This statement probably derives from a famous one of Jiddu Krishnamurti: "Truth is a pathless land."
Tao of Jeet Kune Do (1975)
Context: Truth has no path. Truth is living and, therefore, changing. Awareness is without choice, without demand, without anxiety; in that state of mind, there is perception. To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person. Awareness has no frontier; it is giving of your whole being, without exclusion.
“Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.”
As quoted in Bruce Lee : Fighting Spirit (1994) by Bruce Thomas (1994), p. 44
Source: Tao of Jeet Kune Do
