I was wondering if anyone knows what Bruce really thought of Chi. I know he mentions the concept of flowing energy in the one inch punch, but I don't think this is the same concept as Chi and the Dan Tien and all that. The power in JKD (and boxing and many other martial arts for that matter) mainly comes from the coordination of the waist, hips, shifting of weight, breathing, etc. So what exactly is Chi? Is it just hocus pocus? I know for a fact that those Chi demonstrations by the (so-called) Shaolin monks are fake and just parlor tricks. I know many traditional masters say that weight training and muscle building will block the Chi which sounds like a load of crap to me. And since Bruce obviously trained with weights, he didn't subscribe to this way of thinking. Any thoughts?
This is second or third hand account so it could be wrong. Yet I heard that Bruce did learn a little Tai Chi from an uncle? Later his remarks about the existence of chi and the flowing movements of Tai Chi were not favorable. Will look around for some kind of confirmation of that.
In "The Tao of Gung Fu" John Little documents the many styles Bruce trained in and yes, it mentions Tai Chi.
I've also heard this, but to be fair, studying T'ai Chi doesn't equate to placing too much stock in the medicinal/supernatural aspects of "chi". The only thing I can think of is that pg. 41 of "Tao" includes some illustrations of "weak points" that are related to chi-flow theory, specifically the two illustrations at the top of the page. I would imagine a skeptic such as he would have little use for something that wasn't immediately practical.
If Chi appears as a milky silvery vaporous whirl of energy, then I do believe I have seen it on many occasions and possibly discovered a way to train the eyes to see it. At least, that is what I figure I'd call the energy after seeing it (whatever it is...).
You need chi to perform mystical maneuvers, fly, walk on tree tops, see through hot women's clothes, but not to use the search function (most fortunate for a plethora of newbies with newbie questions). Here is a link to my favorite thread on Chi, with the best explanation of it I've seen: http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41151&page=9 Read post 122 specifically.
It is my understanding that TaiJIQuan was Bruce Lee's first MA. Notice the absence of CHI in TaiJiQuan. Chinese-English translation error alert.
Yup. I've always heard it translated as "Grand Ultimate Fist" or "Grand Ultimate Boxing". No reference to the internal energy "chi" in the name, as far as I know.
On many occasions when I was a young college student I too saw milky, silvery vaporous whirls of energy.... wrapped around my bong.
He learned some from his Dad. I haven't heard about it being his Uncle, but he could have learned some from his Uncle as well.
