Bruce Lee The Tao of Gung Fu: Commentaries on the Chinese Martial Arts - Softcover

Lee, Bruce

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0804841462 ISBN 13: 9780804841467

Publisher: Tuttle Publishing, 2016

Synopsis

In the months leading up to his death, Bruce Lee was working on this definitive study of the Chinese martial arts—collectively known as Kung Fu or Gung Fu. This book has now been edited and is published here for the first time in its entirety.

Bruce Lee revolutionized the practice of martial arts and brought them into the modern world—by promoting the idea that students have the right to pick and choose those techniques and training regimens which suit their personal needs and fighting styles. He developed a new method of his own called Jeet Kune Do—combining many elements from different masters and different traditions. This was considered heretical at the time within martial arts circles, where one was expected to study with only a single master—and Lee was the first martial artist to attempt this. Today he is revered as the "father" of many martial arts practices around the world—including Mixed Martial Arts.

In addition to presenting the fundamental techniques, mindset and training methods of traditional Chinese martial arts, this martial art treatise explores such esoteric topics as Taoism and Zen as applied to Gung Fu, Eastern and Western fitness regimens and self-defense techniques. Also included is a Gung Fu "scrapbook" of Bruce Lee's anecdotes regarding the history and traditions of the martial arts of China. After Lee's death, his manuscript was completed and edited by martial arts expert John Little in cooperation with the Bruce Lee Estate. This book features an introduction by his wife, Linda Lee Cadwell and a foreword from his close friend and student, Taky Kimura.

This Bruce Lee Book is part of the Bruce Lee Library which also features:

• Bruce Lee: Striking Thoughts
• Bruce Lee: The Celebrated Life of the Golden Dragon
• Bruce Lee: Artist of Life
• Bruce Lee: Letters of the Dragon
• Bruce Lee: The Art of Expressing the Human Body
• Bruce Lee: Jeet Kune Do

About this title

From the Back Cover

This is a book that Bruce Lee began writing in 1964, but never published. While written over 30 years ago, its publication now is truly a landmark event, as it not only offers glimpses into the many martial arts of China but also offers Lee's own interpretations and comments on these arts. Available for the first time, The Tao of Gung Fu includes not only insights into and descriptions of various Chinese martial arts, but Eastern and Western fitness methodologies, the difference between external and internal martial methods, sketches of martial arts and self-defense techniques, a contrast of various gung fu schools in China, Lee's personal scrapbook, and his famous thesis "The Tao of Gung Fu" which he wrote while attending the University of Washington.

About the Author

John Little is considered to be one of the world's foremost authorities on Bruce Lee, his training methods, and philosophies. Little is the only person who has ever been authorized to review the entirety of Lee's personal notes, sketches and reading annotations. Little's articles have appeared in every martial arts and health and fitness magazine in North America including Muscle and Fitness. He is the author of Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living, Bruce Lee: Artist of Life, Jeet Kune Do: Bruce Lee's Commentaries on the Martial Way, Bruce Lee: The Art of Expressing the Human Body, Bruce Lee: The Celebrated Life of the Golden Dragon, and many others. A native of Canada, John is an expert in the fields of martial arts, bodybuilding, and physical conditioning.

About this edition

• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0804841462
• ISBN 13: 9780804841467
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 200
• Editor: Little John