Be Water, My Friend: the Bruce Lee philosophy at heart of Hong Kong protests – and a new book by his daughter
- Shannon Lee was ‘amazed’ to see protesters adopt her father’s famous mantra, which is also the title of her new book
- ‘This is the point of his philosophy, it is to be applied, to help you to figure out how to move through life in a particular way’
Shannon Lee may live in Los Angeles, but she knows just how big a place her father Bruce Lee still has in the hearts of the Hong Kong people.
“I mean, you know, I had nothing to do with that, that was all the adoption of the protesters and when I see things alike that I’m always amazed,” Shannon Lee told SCMP MMA ahead of the release of her new book – Be Water, My Friend: The Teachings of Bruce Lee – on October 6.
“And this is the point really of his philosophy, which is that it is to be applied, it is to help you to figure out how to move through life in a particular way.”
“It’s interesting to me to see those types of adoptions happening completely on their own because he’s beloved, because people know of his work,” Lee added.
“And in particular, I know that my father is just such a huge beloved, adored son of Hong Kong really.”
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The 51-year-old usually travels to the city twice a year for business but has been stuck in the US since March because of the coronavirus pandemic. Though that did give her time to fine-tune another personal creative project.
“This book is about specifically my father’s water philosophy,” Lee said. “If you don’t know the famous quote about being like water, he spoke about that often and it was a main part of his practice and his philosophy.
“It seems to be the one people are most familiar with, so I wanted to use that as the format for discussing his life, my life a bit, his philosophy and how to use the philosophy in your own life.”
“This book is for everyone,” she added. “You don’t have to be a Bruce Lee fan, you don’t have to be martial artist or into philosophy. Even if you’re just a human being that struggles with things from time to time, which I think most of us are, this book is really for you.”
The book is just the latest endeavour for Lee – who is also executive producer on the Cinemax series Warrior, based on an original treatment by her father, and co-hosts the Bruce Lee Podcast – in her mission to spread her father’s legacy and teachings as far as she can.
“It’s definitely been a challenge … I’m not gonna lie – at times it’s been really hard,” she said. “It seems like it should be easy. Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, everybody loves Bruce Lee, who wouldn’t wanna be connected to Bruce Lee?’
“But it’s not as easy as all that, it takes a lot of time and energy. There are a lot of things that have gone wrong and right. But it’s extremely rewarding, it’s amazing for me to be able to do something wonderful for my dad. But beyond that he’s an amazing person with a really valuable message and so that just adds even more goodness to it.”
“I always tell people that if we’re just about making T-shirts and cool posters then it wouldn’t be that exciting for me,” Lee added, laughing.
