Legacy of Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee's life story has always been worthy of myth. His influence has managed to endure leaving behind a timeless legacy that has become the stuff of martial art legend. In many respects the world is still recovering from his loss considering the fact that he died so young in 1973. New martial artists like Donnie Yen have stepped up to inherit the legacy of Bruce Lee. In many respects his legacy is like the water from his famous philosophical quote.

You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend. -Bruce Lee

His legacy is like water, it continues to flow, transform and change shape. One could argue that martial artist Donnie Yen has inherited Bruce Lee's spirit by playing Bruce Lee’s iconic teacher Yip Man in the iconic Ip Mantrilogy of films. Donnie Yen managed to bring the world’s attention to Wing Chun, the martial arts that was developed by Yip Man. In many respects this is almost like the flows of tidal karma coming full circle. Bruce Lee learned his incredible martial arts skills from Yip Man.

Bruce Lee incorporated Yip Man's Wing Chun into his own pioneering martial art of Jeet Kung Do. But the torch of martial arts superstar was passed on to Donnie Yen, whose Ip Man films managed to rekindle interest in the amazing man who's teachings defined Bruce Lee. So the cycle of master and student continues on echoing in an endless karmic cycle.

The Wizard of Ahs

If you were to combine the personal contributions of all other martial artists the world over, the results probably wouldn't even come close to the impact Bruce Lee achieved in popularizing the martial arts. Between 1970 and 1973, he created a global industry of martial arts films where there was none, while earning the world's applause as its supreme showman. Incredibly, Bruce did all of this before his untimely death in just four movies and a single TV show.

Bruce's extraordinary influence is still evident today. Thousands of career martial artists across the world started their own training when they first saw Bruce in television's The Green Hornet (1966–67) or in his later movies, particularly Enter the Dragon (1973), still the all-time martial arts classic. Lee has been imitated by scores of stars in dozens of entertainment situations–from Eddie Murphy in Trading Places to the robot Johnny Five in Short Circuit to a Joe Piscopo Miller Lite commercial. Perhaps the greatest example of Lee's influence on a professional fighter is Sugar Ray Leonard, the five-time boxing world champion who earned $15 million per fight and who admittedly emulated Bruce's cinematic stylishness in his ring performances.

Bruce Lee Einstein of Martial Arts

Technically, Bruce Lee was to the martial arts what Albert Einstein was to physics. His strategic and scientific approach to his art was light years ahead of his peers. There was, for example, his abstract futuristic experiment in 1972 in which he used sounds to create a state of relaxation, a state he would later recapture during the the filming of fight scenes to induce faster reflexes. His technical genius in martial artists remains unrivaled.

Bruce Lee's enduring stardom was captured in a screen bio of his life entitled Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. The producers carried out a massive worldwide casting search for someone to play Bruce. Jason Scott Lee ultimately landed the role, and left us stunned as he embodied the martial arts icon. The performance leaves everyone wondering the same thing, "What would have happened to the genre had its founding godfather lived to guide it into the 21st century.