Perspective

Bruce Lee begins the Tao of Jeet Kune Do in 1971. He receives a severe back injury that keeps him bedridden and unable to practice martial arts for six months. He is forbidden by his medical doctors from physically practicing the sport to which he has dedicated nineteen years of his life. The author decides to occupy his time while recuperating for six months by writing notes, comments, sketches, and other material for the Tao. He intends the book to be a record of his way of thinking about martial arts.

Bruce begins taking martial arts lessons at the age of thirteen. His initial purpose is for self-defense. According to his wife, over the nineteen years since then he transforms that knowledge into a science and art, a philosophy, and a way of life. He regularly trains his body through exercise and practice and his mind through reading and...