“ Be water, my friend!”—Bruce Lee

1. “Be water, my friend!”—Bruce Lee • “Stiffness is thus a companion of death, flexibility a companion of life” (TTC,76). • “Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it” (TTC, 78).

2. It is because they do not contend that no one can contend with them”---TTC, 22. “The best person is like water...It is because he does not compete that he is without reproach”—TTC, 8 • The ‘way of the intercepting fist’: of attacking but turning the opponent’s energy against him .

3. “Using no way as way; having no limitations as limitation”: This Bruce Lee wore as an insignia medallion for the rest of his short life, his own unique appropriation of the Taoist ideal of actionless action.

4. The experience dramatically transformed his conception of method. He had always been asked if he subscribed to the “Chinese,” “Japanese,” or some other style. After his recovery to competition, he chose to reject all such labels, and to develop his own unique style that developed into a new style of karate; the motto of this new martial art form became “Using no way as way; having no limitations as limitation.”

5. This he wore as an insignia medallion for the rest of his short life. It was his own unique instantiation of the Taoist ideal of actionless action. His approach would not reflect a specific, established ‘style,’ because that would expose limitations to contrasting styles.

6. He ‘strove for nonstriving’ (#63) because “The Way is always uncontrived” (#37). Instead, he would ‘act without contention’ (#81), allowing his movements to be dictated by his opponents style.

7. He would focus himself only on taking the thrust of the other and using it against them; their own commitment to acting in a specific style would be their downfall.