allowing outside things to entangle this mind; in other words, outward changes do not move the mind. Its function lies in suppression of the senses, and on reduction of desire.
A gung fu man rests therein, and because he rests, he is at peace. Because he is at peace, he is quiet. One who is at peace and is quiet, no sorrow or harm can enter; therefore his inner power remains whole and his spirit intact.
—The nature of water is that if nothing is mixed with it, it remains clear; if nothing ruffles it, it remains smooth.
Definition:
1. To be one thing and not to change, is the climax of STILLNESS.
2. To have nothing in one that resists, is the climax of EMPTINESS.
3. To remain detached from all outside things is the climax of FINENESS.
4. To have in oneself no contraries, is the climax of PURITY.
“NO MIND” “NO THOUGHT”
Discard all thoughts of reward, all hopes of praise and fears of blame, all awareness of one’s bodily self. And, finally closing the avenues of sense perception and let the spirit out, as it will.
The highest skill operates on an unconscious level.
Sincere thought means thought of concentration (quiet awareness). The thought of a distracted mind cannot be sincere. Man’s mind and his behavior are one, his inner thought and outer expression cannot contradict each other. Therefore a man should set up his right principle and this right mind (principle) will influence his action.
Bruce Lee with Taky Kimura (left) and Charlie Woo (right)
If you look within yourself and are sure that you have done right, what do you have to fear or worry about? You require only to perform your own mission in life without any thoughts of aggressiveness or competition. Follow the will of nature and coordinate your mind and your will to become one with nature, and nature will protect you.
Yielding
Yielding will overcome anything superior to itself; its strength is boundless.
The yielding will has a reposeful ease, soft as downy feathers-a quietude, a shrinking from action, an appearance of inability to do (the heart is humble, but the work is forceful). Placidly free from anxiety one acts in harmony with the opponent’s strength. One does not move ahead but responds to the fitting influence.
One should be in harmony with, and not rebellion against, the strength of the opponent. Such art will “preserve ourselves” by following the natural bends of things.
Nothing in the world is more yielding and softer than water; yet it penetrates the hardest. Insubstantial, it enters where no room is. It is so fine that it is impossible to grasp a handful of it; strike it, yet it does not suffer hurt; stab it, and it is not wounded.
One should be in harmony with, and not rebellion against, the strength of the opponent. Such art will “preserve ourselves” by following the natural bends of things; consequently, we achieve immortality because we do not wear ourselves out. This theory is illustrated in Taoism, [in the story] about the perfect butcher whose carving knife remains perpetually sharp because it always goes between the bones and tissues and never meets any resistance.
To Rest in Weakness Is Strength
“Alive, a man is supple, soft; in death, unbending rigor. All creatures, grass and trees, alive are plastic, but are pliant, too, and [in] death all feeble and dry. Unbending rigor is the mate of death, and yielding softness, [the] company of life. Unbending soldiers get no victories; the stiffest tree is readiest for the ax. The strong and mighty belong to the bottom, the soft and yielding rise above them all.
The strongest is he that makes use of his opponent’s strength—be the bamboo tree which bends toward the wind; and when the wind ceases, it springs back stronger than before.
To Bill Evans2
Posted from Oakland, California, on September 2, 1964
Dear Bill,
I am sorry to inform you that the articles have to be delayed because I am at present on a tour demonstrating gung fu.
I’ve just got back from Los Angeles not too long ago and I’ll have to start again in San Francisco. In a week or so I’ll have to fly to New York.
However, I’ll try to find time in between to finish the articles. By the way, there should be a coverage of the last tournament at Long Beach, and when will the next Black Belt be out?
For your information the symbol in the seal of the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute is the symbol of Yin and Yang in which the Yin & Yang (black [passive] & white [active]) are two interlocking halves of one WHOLE, each containing within its confines the qualities of its complementaries (not opposite!). Instead of [being] mutually exclusive, they are mutually dependent and are a function each of the other.
When I say “the heat makes me perspire,” the heat and perspiring are just “one” process as they are co-existent and one could not exist but for the other. Just as an object needs a subject, the person in attack is not taking an independent position but is acting as an assistant. After all, you need your opponent to complete the other half of a whole.
Thus gentleness/firmness is one inseparable force of one unceasing interplay of movement. If a person riding a bicycle wishes to go somewhere, he cannot pump on both the pedals at the same time or not pump on them at all. In order to move forward he has to pump on one pedal and release the other. So the movement of going forward requires this “oneness” of pumping and releasing, and vice versa, each being the cause of the other.
This “oneness” is just a basic idea in the symbol. Then there is moderation without going to either extreme, the wonder of the ordinary....In general, however, the idea is that—if gung fu is extraordinary, it is because of the fact that it is nothing at all special—it is simply the direct expression of one’s feeling with the minimum of lines and energy. The closer to the true Way, the less wastage of expression there is.
Please pardon my incoherence and poor penmanship.
Bruce Lee
To William Cheung, Hughes, A.C.T., Australia3
Posted from Oakland, California, on October 30, 1964, at 9:00 PM
October 30, 1964
Dear William,
Our correspondence has always been like this: a mountain stream—it meets and parts. Anyway, I’m writing again after not too long an absence, considering the previous length of time.
It has been a year since I’m back from Hong Kong,4 and as you have noticed on this letter cover that I’ve moved from Seattle to Oakland, California. It has been a few months now that I’m here and things are coming along
