broomhilda000 Posted June 20, 2003 Posted June 20, 2003 Was Bruce Lee the best martial artist? Or just the most famous? Was his non form of fighting truly the best? Was he prepared for everything he encountered? Could he have been as great as he was seen? Be as a tranquil pool of water in the woods. Calm, collected, reflecting on its surface all that is around it. Make your own mind such a quiet mirror reflecting the mind of the opponent. Even as your partner's impulse to attack passes through his mind it should be reflected in you.The safest battle is the one that is never fought
Kirves Posted June 20, 2003 Posted June 20, 2003 He broke many rules and taboos. He was one of the few who taught white people equally as asians. Many asians didn't like that and the people doing this were often seriously threatened and harassed. He also broke the boundaries of styles and arts. Up till then, different styles were almost at war with each other, it was very common to see in public events how kungfu guys demonstrated their stuff and openly bashed how karate is inferior because of this and that. Then you'd see the karate people do the same thing against kungfu. And so on. Lee came forth and said all arts have some things to offer and started mixing them. Many people, who were still in the old mind-set of studying loyally under one master and then learning ancient secret techniques that would make them invincible, just didn't like Lee's ideas. Lee also tried to get better movie roles than typically given to asians at the time. The full contact champs of the time (Norris, Lewis, Stone...) all trained with Lee and all agree that he was great. Lee's #1 student, Dan Inosanto, has studied dozens of arts and seen thousands of top martial artists during the last decades, and he says Lee was great. Some people say Lee wasn't that great, but always ask "how does he know", was he there too? Was he there fighting among Norris, Lewis, LeBell, Lee and Inosanto and does he then claim that these other people are lyars? Was he the best? I dun't know. I don't think anyone can say for sure. Would he beat the MMA top fighters of today? I doubt it. Why? Because today we just have so much more information. Lee researched lots of arts, but many of today's top arts just weren't available for him back then. Had he lived to see this day, he'd probably be great today, but nobody can say how great, would he have been the best, or just one of the top 1000 fighters, just can't tell.
SaiFightsMS Posted June 20, 2003 Posted June 20, 2003 http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=8307&start=10 There is another active thread that covers this topic.
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