Bruce Lee and Miyamoto Musashi

Bruce Lee (1940 – 1973) is becoming a legend in Hong Kong while Miyamoto Musashi (c. 1584 – 1645) has been already long a legend in Japan as well as in the world. There must be somethings in common between Bruce Lee and Miyamoto Musashi in terms of fighting technique and philosophy.

From: www.bruceleequotes.org

“I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.”

 

This reminds me rather of the following Ito Hirobumi quote.

I will not order you to follow my way. If you are so destined, I will not feel sorry even if you become a beggar and will not feel pleased either even if you become rich.

 「お前に何でも俺の志を継げよと無理は言はぬ。持って生まれた天分ならば、たとえお前が乞食になったとて、俺は 決し て悲 しま ぬ。 金持 ちになったとて、喜びもせぬ」

Refer to:http://itohirobumi-sptt.blogspot.hk/2012/04/ito-hirobumi-quotes.html

 

“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

 

In THE WATER BOOK of <A Book of Five Rings >
My translation:  
In strategy your spiritual bearing must not be any different from normal. Both in fighting and in everyday life your spirit should be no difference, without tenseness yet not recklessly, set straight and broad, neither tightened nor slackened, quivered calmly yet quivered constantly. Study this well. Even when your spirit is calm do not let your body relax, and when your body is relaxed do not let your spirit slacken. Do not let your spirit be influenced by your body, or your body be influenced by your spirit. Be neither insufficiently spirited nor over spirited. Pay attention to the spirit, no to the body. Even the spirit on the top appears weak, the spirit at the bottom shall be strong. Do not let the enemy see your spirit.

“Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.”

 

“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.” 

 

From <A Book of Five Rings > 

“Do nothing that is of no use” 

“A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.”

 

“To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.”

 

“The doubters said, “Man can not fly,” The doers said, “Maybe, but we’ll try,” And finally soared In the morning glow While non-believers Watched from below.”

 

“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done. Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal.”

 

“The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.”

 

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

“Don’t fear failure. — Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.”

 

“Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.”

 

“Do not be tense, just be ready, not thinking but not dreaming, not being set but being flexible. It is being “wholly” and quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come.”

 

“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.”

 

“Life is wide, limitless. There is no border, no frontier.”

 

“The great mistake is to anticipate the outcome of the engagement; you ought not to be thinking of whether it ends in victory or defeat. Let nature take its course, and your tools will strike at the right moment.”

 

“Empty your cup so that it may be filled; become devoid to gain totality.”

 

“…if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.”

 

“Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.”

 

“If there is a God, he is within. You don’t ask God to give you things, you depend on God for your inner theme.”

From <A Book of Five Rings > 

“Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help”

“For it is easy to criticize and break down the spirit of others, but to know yourself takes a lifetime.”

 

“Life is never stagnation. It is constant movement, un-rhythmic movement, as we as constant change. Things live by moving and gain strength as they go.”

“In order to taste my cup of water you must first empty your cup.”

 

“Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick.”

 

“To spend time is to pass it in a specified manner. To waste time is to expend it thoughtlessly or carelessly. We all have time to either spend or waste and it is our decision what to do with it. But once passed, it is gone forever.”

 

“A good teacher protects his pupils from his own influence.”

 

“Time means a lot to me because you see I am also a learner and am often lost in the joy of forever developing.”

 

“Be self aware, rather than a repetitious robot”

 

“Art calls for complete mastery of techniques, developed by reflection within the soul.”

 

“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.”

 

“Now I see that I will never find the light Unless, like the candle, I am my own fuel, Consuming myself.”

 

The knowledge and skills you have achieved are meant to be forgotten so you can float comfortably in emptiness, without obstruction.”

In  the book of the Void of <A Book of Five Rings >
My translation:

By void I mean that which has no interior and no entrance. Attaining principle means departing from principle. In the Way of strategy you naturally appreciate the freedom and power, knowing rhythm in any situation, you will be able to hit the enemy naturally and strike naturally. All this is the Way of the Void. I intend to show how to enter naturally the true Way of true in the book of the Void.

 

“As you think, so shall you become.”

 

“The spirit of the individual is determined by his dominating thought habits.”

 

“Self-knowledge involves relationship. To know oneself is to study one self in action with another person. Relationship is a process of self evaluation and self revelation. Relationship is the mirror in which you discover yourself – to be is to be related.”

 

“Life is better lived than conceptualized. — This writing can be less demanding should I allow myself to indulge in the usual manipulating game of role creation. Fortunately for me, my self-knowledge has transcended that and I’ve come to understand that life is best to be lived — not to be conceptualized. If you have to think, you still do not understand.”

 

“Defeat is not defeat unless accepted as a reality-in your own mind.”

 

“Fear comes from uncertainty; we can eliminate the fear within us when we know ourselves better. As the great Sun Tzu said: “When you know yourself and your opponent, you will win every time. When you know yourself but not your opponent, you will win one and lose one. However, when you do not know yourself or your opponent, you will be imperiled every time.”

 

“Choose the positive. You have choice, you are master of your attitude, choose the positive, the constructive. Optimism is a faith that leads to success.”

 

“Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water.”

“Using no way as a way, having no limitation as limitation.”

 

“The meaning of life is that it is to be lived, and it is not to be traded and conceptualized and squeezed into a patter of systems.”

 

“If you want to learn to swim jump into the water. On dry land no frame of mind is ever going to help you.”

 

“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one”

 

“Be happy, but never satisfied.”

 

“Many people dedicate their lives to actualizing a concept of what they should be like, rather than actualizing themselves. This difference between self-actualization and self-image actualization is very important. Most people live only for their image”

 

“Boards don’t hit back.”

 

“The stillness in stillness is not the real stillness; only when there is stillness in movement does the universal rhythm manifest.”

 

“Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one’s potential.”

 

“Everything you do, if not in a relaxed state will be done at a lesser level than you are proficient. Thus the tensed expert marksman will aim at a level less than his/her student.”

“Flow in the living moment. — We are always in a process of becoming and nothing is fixed. Have no rigid system in you, and you’ll be flexible to change with the ever changing. Open yourself and flow, my friend. Flow in the total openness of the living moment. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo.”

 

“A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.”

 

“It’s not what you give, it’s the way you give it.

 

“The moment is freedom. — I couldn’t live by a rigid schedule. I try to live freely from moment to moment, letting things happen and adjusting to them.”

 

“When one has reached maturity in the art, one will have a formless form. It is like ice dissolving in water. When one has no form, one can be all forms; when one has no style, he can fit in with any style.”

“Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system.”

 

“Life itself is your teacher, and you are in a state of constant learning.”

 

“I am not teaching you anything. I just help you to explore yourself.”

 

“The second-hand artist blindly following his sensei or sifu accepts his pattern. As a result, his action is and , more importantly, his thinking become mechanical. His responses become automatic, according to set patterns, making him narrow and limited.”

 

“Art is the way to the absolute and to the essence of human life. The aim of art is not the one-sided promotion of spirit, soul and senses, but the opening of all human capacities – thought, feeling, will – to the life rhythm of the world of nature. So will the voiceless voice be heard and the self be brought into harmony with it.”

 

“If you don’t want to slip up tomorrow, speak the truth today.”

 

“Forget about winning and losing; forget about pride and pain. Let your opponent graze your skin and you smash into his flesh; let him smash into your flesh and you fracture his bones; let him fracture your bones and you take his life! Do not be concerned with escaping safely- lay your life before him!!”

 

“Showing off is the fool’s idea of glory.”

 

“The More we value things, the less we value ourselves”

 

“Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later the man who wins, is the man who thinks he can.”

“Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.”

 

“Knowledge will give you power, but character respect.”

 

“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.”

From <A Book of Five Rings > 

“there is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself.”  

 

“Those who are unaware they are walking in darkness will never seek the light.”

 

“Real living is living for others.”

 

“After all, all knowledge simply means self-knowledge.”

 

“Do not deny the classical approach, simply as a reaction, or you will have created another pattern and trapped yourself there.”

 

“To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person.”

 

“But neither can you condemn nor justify and yet be extraordinarily alive as you walk on. You can never invite the wind but you must leave the window open.”

 

“The possession of anything begins in the mind.”

“The world is full of people who are determined to be somebody or to give trouble. They want to get ahead, to stand out. Such ambition has no use for a gung fu man, who rejects all forms of self-assertiveness and competition”

 

“Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own.”

 

“To me, the extraordinary aspect of martial arts lies in its simplicity. The easy way is also the right way, and martial arts is nothing at all special; the closer to the true way of martial arts, the less wastage of expression there is.”

 

“As long as I can remember I feel I have had this great creative and spiritual force within me that is greater than faith, greater than ambition, greater than confidence, greater than determination, greater than vision. It is all these combined. My brain becomes magnetized with this dominating force which I hold in my hand.”

 

“Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system.”

 

“Take no thought of who is right or wrong or who is better than. Be not for or against.”

 

“It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.”

 

“All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.”

 

“‎The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.”

 

“The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.”

“Its like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.”

 

“Obey the principles without being bound by them.”

 

“A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough.”

 

“Preparation for tomorrow is hard work today.”

 

“You cannot force the Now. — But can you neither condemn nor justify and yet be extraordinarily alive as you walk on? You can never invite the wind, but you must leave the window open. Sourced, Striking Thoughts (2000) p. 13”

- Bruce Lee, Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee’s Wisdom for Daily Living

“If you think a thing is impossible,you’ll only make it impossible.”

 

“Because one does not want to be disturbed, to be made uncertain, he establishes a pattern of conduct, of thought, a pattern of relationship to man etc. Then he becomes a slave to the patter and takes the pattern to be the real thing.”

 

“The consciousness of self is the greatest hindrance to the proper execution of all physical action.”

 

“Don’t think. FEEL. It’s like a finger pointing at the moon. Do not concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all of the heavenly glory.”

- Bruce Lee, Enter the Dragon (1973); In a training session with one of the temple students.

“A fight is not won by one punch or kick. Either learn to endure or hire a bodyguard.”

 

“Linda and I aren’t one and one. We are two halves that make a whole — two halves fitted together are more efficient than either half would ever be alone!”

 

“The word “superstar” is an ilusion”

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Other quotes from <A Book of Five Rings >
www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1318780-go-rin-no-sho

“Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world” 

“You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain” 

“from one thing, know ten thousand things” 

“Get beyond love and grief: exist for the good of Man.” 

“Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye.” 

“If you wish to control others you must first control yourself” 

“The ultimate aim of martial arts is not having to use them” 

“It is difficult to understand the universe if you only study one planet” 

“You should not have any special fondness for a particular weapon, or anything else, for that matter. Too much is the same as not enough. Without imitating anyone else, you should have as much weaponry as suits you.” 

My translation:

You should not have a favorite weapon. To become over-familiar with one weapon is as much a fault as not knowing it sufficiently well. You should not copy others, but use weapons which you can handle properly. It is bad for commanders and troopers to have likes and dislikes. These are things you must learn thoroughly.

“You can only fight the way you practice” 

“The primary thing when you take a sword in your hands is your intention to cut the enemy, whatever the means. Whenever you parry, hit, spring, strike or touch the enemy's cutting sword, you must cut the enemy in the same movement. It is essential to attain this. If you think only of hitting, springing, striking or touching the enemy, you will not be able actually to cut him.” 

“Do not regret what you have done” 

“If you do not control the enemy, the enemy will control you” 

“Do not sleep under a roof. Carry no money or food. Go alone to places frightening to the common brand of men. Become a criminal of purpose. Be put in jail, and extricate yourself by your own wisdom.” 

“Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.” 

“Whatever the Way, the master of strategy does not appear fast….Of course, slowness is bad. Really skillful people never get out of time, and are always deliberate, and never appear busy.” 

“All man are the same except for their belief in their own selves, regardless of what others may think of them” 

“The true science of martial arts means practicing them in such a way that they will be useful at any time, and to teach them in such a way that they will be useful in all things.” 

“You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.” 

“The only reason a warrior is alive is to fight, and the only reason a warrior fights is to win” 

“To become the enemy, see yourself as the enemy of the enemy” 

“Know your enemy, know his sword.” 

“To know ten thousand things, know one well” 

“It is difficult to realize the true Way just through sword-fencing. 
Know the smallest things and the biggest things, the shallowest things and the deepest things.” 

“No man is invincible, and therefore no man can fully understand that which would make him invincible” 

“The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy's useful actions but allow his useless actions” 

“When you decide to attack, keep calm and dash in quickly, 
forestalling the enemy...attack with a feeling of constantly crushing the enemy, from first to last.” 
----- 

I cannot find many things in common actually. This is because
Bruce Lee was basically a modern movie star and a marshal artist while Miyamoto Musashi was a real samurai or in the battle fields a solder or a sward/javelin fighter who was not allowed to make a mistake to survive and would be killed when making a fatal mistake. This is not a matter of good or bad but a distinctive difference.

sptt