What were Bruce Lee's achievements in martial arts?

Answer 1

One of the many things that Bruce Lee contributed was his vision of Martial Arts and taoist world view. Taoism reflects the natural way of things and universal balance. Bruce observed that the most powerful form was no form. He made the following comment; "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." Bruce Lee

Answer 2

Bruce Lee is important because of one of the reasons is he was in action movies. He created his own style called Jeet Kune Do, and he invented the 1 inch punch. After destroying his evil self in his nightmares he somehow created more power or energy. He was known as The Father of the Dragon, his style is the greatest style to learn.

Answer 3

From official historical sources; 1) He is considered by UFC president Dana White to be the "father of MMA." Far as modern cultural relevance that is his most significant and noteworthy achievement. 2) He changed China's image from basically a "has been" "third world" country, to a country with a respectable culture and traditions. Well beyond martial arts, Lee got people the world over interested in China, and all things Chinese. 3) Together with Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather," he changed the way movies were made. Prior to "The Godfather," film had not yet come into its own style. By that I mean, prior to that movie, most Hollywood films were basically filmed stage plays, barely different from stage theater plays in terms of style and narration. In fact, prior to "The Godfather" you could consider Hollywood's "classical" era, to be "stage plays without the audience." The movie "The Godfather" changed all that; it gave film its own unique, distinct style. Because of that, Coppola is a living historical Hollywood relic, a walking museum piece. The four men, who changed the face of film, and gave film its modern form, its modern style were; Coppola, Lucas, Lee, and Scott. Coppola gave film its modern style with "The Godfather," the most significant film in all of Hollywood movie history. George Lucas, answered the question as to whether art, could also be entertainment, prior to that the two were considered separate. Bruce Lee, introduced elements of Chinese opera into movies, which effectively blended the whole notion of "morality tales" with entertainment; prior to that, unless it was a Bible film or a toga epic, movies were not at all concerned with morals or ethics of any sort. Kung Fu flicks by Lee, changed all that. Finally there was Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner," whose film style has been imitated, many times, but never duplicated. Thus, the most significant movies in Hollywood history, whose influence made "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy possible were; "The Godfather," "Enter The Dragon," "Star Wars," and finally "Blade Runner." Those four films, together, gave movies their present form. This is significant, because, being Chinese, in 1960's and 70's Hollywood, that was not exactly an assett. Lee not only overcame prejudice, he also made Hollywood history. Of course he could not have done it without the help of his native city of Hong Kong, which gave him his rise to stardom; he was not born there, but he spent all of his formative years there. 4) He kept the secrets of Chinese martial arts safe from western knowledge. This one is not an official historical source, its my own opinion but please read on; the fear of the Chinese, was that westerners would misuse martial arts on them. See Kung Fu's benefits, go well beyond simply self defense; they instill a sense of discipline, they can balance the mind, and frequent practice will in fact have an effect on the mind that will improve all areas of life. For example, here in northern Idaho were I live, there are a lot of brainless drivers. I also practice Shotokan Kata, as well as Tai Chi Chuan; on many occassions, because of the faster reflexes I developed from Tai Chi and Karate Kata, I was able to prevent some very ugly car wrecks. Had I reacted only a split second later, several lives could have been lost, and thousands of dollars as well not to mention time on what would have ended up being a messy court battle. Martial art benefits, go beyond simply just fighting; out on the highway they actually saved my life. Chinese people, because westerners had mistreated them, did not feel like sharing martial art's hidden benefits with them. Yes, its true, then there is also the issue that most westerners are physically bigger than the Chinese people who live here. Note the key words there; the Chinese people who LIVE HERE. Nevermind the ones in north central China, the origin of the Han. The Han civilization, grew up around the Yellow river, in ancient times, what is now "China" was in fact primarily around the area of the Yellow river, surrounding it, where various barbarian tribes and further south, in what is now Southern China, there were separate kingdoms and some of them, were under the sway of the empire that once ruled Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. The empire that ruled over Cambodia etc, had an ambition to expand its power further north, towards the kingdom of the Han. Also, they nearly won that war; this was a significant turning point in Chinese history because, culturally, China would be south east asian right now. Whatever the case; the ancient Han, had not yet mixed with the surrounding peoples, nor with the peoples of the south, who, physically, in terms of stature, were much shorter than them. Archaelogical digs of ancient Han remains have shown that ancient Han Chinese, many of the men had 6 foot tall bodies, some, were even 7 feet. A lot of the women were often 5'10. The majority of models and super models in China, ethnically speaking, all derive from the Han. In some Chinese provinces, the ancient Han blood is still very strong, so the people there still grow tall. Moving back to the martial arts discussion, the fear that "you can't teach white people Kung Fu 'cause they're bigger!" is largely unfounded; the truth is, China has never had a shortage of tall, powerfully built men. You do not see very many, because "pure" Han Chinese, are China's highest social class, even to this day, even after the Communist cultural revolution. In fact, you will observe that, the more prestigious a college or university is in the United States, the taller the Chinese people who attend, tend to be. I've heard a rumor once, that almost none of the Chinese students who attend the Ivies are short; almost all of them are tall. If the rumor is true, that is probably because they are Han, China's highest social class. The Daoist saint Shang Sang Feng, the founder of Tai Chi Chuan, from the most reliable traditions, was said to have stood at 6'4, of a slender but muscular build, and virtually all depictions of him, even the hyper deformed ones, he is shown as having had thick limbs and broad shoulders. A far cry from the racist stereotype of the "little Chinaman." Now, how did Bruce Lee protect Chinese martial art secrets? See, with his philosophy, he in fact did so much damage, so many people misunderstood, that the majority of westerners will never make sense of the intellectual confusion, the sheer mess, Lee made of things, and although he is recognized as a skillful fighter by most, in the end most people atribute that to "natural talent" and not the training methods of Kung Fu. In other words, most westerners are not even interested, and the few that are, I do not mean to get into racist Chinese thinking here, are too "arrogant and lazy to ever master Kung Fu." Racist Chinese, consider westerners to be "hairy, arrogant, lazy beasts." Make no mistake, some in Chinese society have had no qualms about returning the racist insults. What does a Chinese father, say to his Kung Fu expert son, interested in teaching Kung Fu in America? "Go ahead and teach them son; most of them are too arrogant, stupid and lazy to ever master it anyway, so it doesn't matter, they will never be as skilled as the martial artists we have here (in China)....." In other words, ironically enough, racist stereotypes are the primary reason, most Chinese don't care anymore, if westerners know Kung Fu or not. Now, an incident in New York involving a Shaolin monk was the exception to the rule; so much Kung Fu has been taught to westerners, most of China wanted to keep Shaolin Chinese. Personally I think that is kind of a stupid mentality because the man who invented Shaolin Kung Fu wasn't even Chinese, he was Indian. A HAIRY, DARK SKINNED, HEAVILY BEARDED, Indian, by the name of Bodhidarma. See in China, like elsewhere in east asia white people are portrayed as lazy, hairy barbarians when the man who invented Kung Fu, was a very hairy Indian guy. Moreover, Bodhidarma had blue eyes; although extremely rare, and even though they in fact have a racial genetic mutation far older than European ones, blue eyes are not unheard of in India. What I'm trying to say is, a Tamil Indian prince could have absolutely no European in him, and still have blue eyes; in India this is not unheard of. Whatever the case, serious case of answer overkill dude my answer stops here. [[User:67.148.120.72|67.148.120.72]]stardingo747

Answer 4

He is known as the best martial arist ever in world history! He is also the creator of Jeet Kune Do.

Answer 5

Bruce lee had created a new martial arts called kung fu

Answer 6

He is an inspiration to all fighters,he had his own way of fighting

Answer 7

Bruce Lee taught a creation of his own, called Jeet Kune Do.