I’ve been an occasional reader of a second-hand book I purchased some time ago. It seems that these days all my reading is occasional, nearly always of second-hand books (thanks to Amazon 1 penny offers and Oxfam Books), but anyway…
This one is “Bruce Lee: Artist of Life” about martial artist, actor and philosopher Bruce Lee (1940 – 1973). It is is a compilation of writings and notes by Lee put together by his biographer, John Little. A voracious reader as well as tireless athlete, Bruce Lee had a remarkable eye for the simple essence of living.
This is an extract, from a section entitled “The Six Diseases”:
“1. The desire for victory.
2. The desire to resort to technical cunning.
3. The desire to display all that you have learned.
4. The desire to overawe the enemy.
5. The desire to play a passive role.
6. The desire to get rid of whatever disease you are likely to be infected with.
“To desire” is an attachment. “To desire not to desire” is also an attachment. To be unattached, then , means to be free at once from both statements, positive and negative. In other words, this is to be simultaneously both “yes” and “no”, which is intellectually absurd. However, not so in Zen!
The undifferentiated center of a circle that has no circumference: the jeet kune do man should be on the alert to meet the interchangeability of the opposites. But as soon as his mind “stops” with either of them, it loses its own fluidity. A jeet kune do man should keep his mind always in a state of emptiness so that his freedom in action will never be obstructed.”
This reminds me of the image used by Alan Watts to illustrate the spontaneity sought by those wishing to be in tune with the Tao, that of the archer releasing the arrow without first saying ‘now’.
How tricky it is for a manager to act in their own field of practice in this way!
Reference:
Little, J, (1999), Bruce Lee: Artist of Life, Tuttle publishing (p. 196)
Jeet kune do was Lee’s term for the martial art process and philosophical approach (he did not call it a style) that he developed
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