Edited by Bruce Lee's long-time friend and student of his martial artistry, John Little, this hefty book was published in 1997 long after Lee’s death. To a non-practioner of the art like me, it doesn’t seem to include anything I couldn't get from Tao of Jeet Kune Do, except John Little’s and Ted Wong’s reflections on the impact Lee made on their lives, plus a short preface by Linda Lee Cadwell, Bruce's widow, telling us that most of his commentaries here were made when he suffered a debilitating back injury from poor weight training technique in 1970, just three years before his unforeseen death.

Having seen his last movie Enter The Dragon not long ago (my review is a few weeks old), I recognized the pictures of him from it that are generously added to highlight what advice or martial arts move he is commenting on. I especially enjoyed this passage he spoke to a student in the opening of his movie:

Truth is the daughter of inspiration; intellectual analysis and partialized debate keep the people away from the truth. It is like a finger pointing a way to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory. Pp 31

Contents

Part 1: Commentaries on the Martial Way
Part 2: Jeet Kune Do—the Fundamentals
Part 3: The Tools of Combat—Part One: The Upper Limbs
Part 4: The Tools of Combat—Part Two: The Lower Limbs
Part 5: On Training in Jeet Kune Do
Part 6: Beyond System—the Ultimate Source of Jeet Kune Do

Besides great pictures of Lee in action, there are many sketches of skill he drew to illustrate stances and moves. They have notes or titles explaining them in conjunction with the printed words on the page. There’s one he started to call The Four Corner Block, but crossed out Block (the k wasn’t fully formed) and wrote Parries, so you know these were meant for himself and not the public.

Everything is written in an organized fashion; either in lists with titles or separated paragraphs of varying lengths. He comments on the motivations for or gives tips on moves that he has found helpful. In his fifth section he outlines how he teaches, complete with what is taught in twelve lessons and the lesson plan.

In the brief last section, Taoism isn’t mentioned at all. Instead he notes that his purpose in developing his ‘no way’ Jeet Kune Do was not to show the weaknesses of other martial art ways. He doesn’t want to create division between the artists and insists several times that he’s still learning and will until he dies. Several pages are devoted to his handwritten notes and quotes like the following:

The ultimate source of jeet kune do: the enlightenment. It is being itself, in becoming itself. Reality in its isness, the isness of a thing. Thus isness is the meaning—having freedom in its primary sense—not limited by attachments, confinements, partialization, complexities. Pp 340

Final Thoughts

The editor John Little really tried to give us the ultimate Bruce Lee book. It's jampacked with everything he could find on his friend's artistry, it seems.

Because of this it wasn’t nearly as interesting as Bruce's own Tao of Jeet Kune Do. In that book there was a haunting, poetic quality that brought Lee’s philosophy to the forefront. It wasn’t just for practioners of his way as this one is, but for fans like myself who wanted to understand the beauty of Lee’s soul. Little's tribute has over a hundred pages more because he is the “only person who has ever been authorized to review the entirety of Lee’s personal notes, sketches and reading annotations.” Yet the quantity of material doesn’t mean quality.

So if you only have time for one book about Lee, this almost 400-page book shouldn’t be it. Enjoy the one actually written by Bruce, Tao of Jeet Kune Do, for the spiritual depth it reveals of the man. Browse through the 1997 commentary one at your library only.


Recommended: Yes