I’ve started reading lately as a personal development habit. I try to put in at least 20 minutes every day. Bruce Lee’s famous book, The Tao of Jeet Keen Do, has always been on my “to read” list so, I finally crossed it off. It was a little hard to stay with but, it was everything I expected and not at all what I expected at the same time. Let’s talk about The Tao of Jeet Keen Do.
Anybody who knows anything about martial arts culture knows the name Bruce Lee. There are as many Bruce Lee impersonators in the film world as there are Elvis impersonators in the music world. His workout routines, his diets, and his training routines are the subject of countless debates, YouTube videos, etc. He is a figure of legend. What would have happened if he would have been at the Tate party that Manson’s goonies showed up to? Who would win between him and Mohammad Ali, Mike Tyson, and the list goes on. To top all of this off, there is only one piece of footage of Bruce sparring someone, unless you consider his fight with Chuck Norris in Return of the Dragon to be real – yet another legend. It goes without saying that a martial arts book by a man like this is a Bible in the field.
I was expecting his book to be a collection of mind-blowing information about how to fight. It’s there in this book – It’s just hidden inside a bunch of philosophical passages. Reading this book took me back to Clemson to those classrooms with hardwood floors listening to Philosophy professors beg the class for input. Of course, these were of an Eastern nature being that Bruce was Chinese. These foreign ideas compounded with his genius made a challenging read at times. Something I found strange in this book was that he mentions kicking very rarely and focuses more on boxing. From what I know about Bruce’s life and training, he learned Chinese Boxing (Wing Chun) from the famous Ip Man. Being that his roots were in this system, this boxing focus makes sense. It’s strange though because he is so well known for his ability to use his legs.
My favorite section of the book was the end. Not because I was glad to be finished but, because it made the most sense. Here he talked about the style and how it was no style and to not give it names. This section was more straight forward in my opinion, and I was able to follow him very well. The other sections, mainly focused on boxing, kept me lost most of the time. I also expected a lot more pages with drawings of what he was talking about but, there is very little of this. Most martial arts manuals are structured with a lot of pictures of the different moves broken into series or steps. The Tao of Jeet Keen Do had very few pages that included this and they were crude sketches from Bruce’s personal notebooks. This was a cool add though. He obviously journaled regularly. I would love to sit down and look through those.
I had a friend whom I studied American Freestyle Karate with tell me that Bruce had said to read the book and throw it away. I couldn’t find this passage, and I don’t throw books away. I did highlight several passages that I plan to revisit and think on, but I will not be reading this book again any time soon. It will be a nice decoration for my bookshelf, a “win” in my life for having completed a goal, and a reference that I will pick up though. If you are into martial arts, really into them, read this book. If you’re just a fan of martial arts, watch his movies. Regardless of what side of the myths and legends you are on, this man was awesome and 100% dedicated and disciplined in what he did. The world lost something when Bruce Lee passed away. He is gone but will certainly never be forgotten.