Bruce Lee was, of course, an intellectual. He had special insight into life and the martial arts, and the talent to explain and demostrate his ideas in a unique way. The way he gave new life to dead arts was nothing short of amazing. Ed Parker ran a not so close second but is still one of the most important thinkers in martial arts. After that I’d say Rorian Gracie who I think is an underestimated genius.
So with Lee and Parker dead who besides Rorion would you say is the smartest living martial artist?
Of course I’m The Real Original Lucky Louie. Accept no substitutes.
I would say albert einstein cause he could go back in time and whoop your ass. But we all know that gene ching taught him that so my vote for smartest.
Gene Ching
Compared to a cabbage maybe. Mostly he was a movie star, I wouldn’t classify him as intellectual though. Mind you, he did cop a lot of stuff out of confucian, taoist and buddhist teachings and drop them into the western lap as we were all starting to be interested in it.
I think narrowing to a ‘smartest’ thing is too terminilogical. The smartest martial artists probably changes by the moment.
Tbh i never read bruce lee’s writings , but what i did see go through at a friends house like tao of jeet kune do and things like the movie silent flute that he “wrote” its a rip off of zen and taoist stories that i read elsewhere with one guy going through all the stories.
However If you read that jesus and buddah wrote the same things who copied who ? Neither remember gene ching taught them
But you get the gist of what i mean, these things have been around for longer than we can remember.
About being a smart martial artist, i reckon that ashida kim is smart cause he makes lots ofpeople to talk about him. I think wong kiew kit is smart cause he gets people to pay him 1500$ for a couple of days. If that counts
There isnt really a definition for smart i dont think because the above 2 people fought the least and yet made the most cash.
Or maybe tyson is the smartest, that guy fough,t had a good rep and got paid such a phenomenal amount of money for what other people do for free or for 100 times what other people got paid.
Gracie are super smart i mean look what they did, they took an art modified it created their own and then they put it in the right place at the right time and made a whole new genre of martial arts and artists. It could have been pure greco roman wrestling that made that boom.
Funakoshi could be granted smartest he gave a whole series of generations martial arts … up to 28th in the lineage of funakoshi are teaching now adays , and how did he do this , by turning a trad okinawan art only 100 years ago into the very first mcdojo.
Bruce lee acted and i dont really see what you mean by his writings changing martial arts more than anyone else. All he did was adhered by the principal first you learn then you adapt.
And Einstein stood on the shoulders of Newton. BL saw truth in what those others said and took it light years further along. Just because someone invented the Blunderbuss doesn’t mean that Winchester wasn’t a genius with his rifle. Many today forget what a sorry state martial arts were in during the 60’s and 70’s. Bruce Lee saved the martial arts from self destructing by being an iconclast. If master (fill in name here) knew what BL knew then why doesn’t anybody know who master (fill in name here) is? Even the WC people and old kickboxers have to grab onto BL’s coat tails.
Of course I’m The Real Original Lucky Louie. Accept no substitutes. Ask for it by name.
I have to admit about the wc bruce lee comment but i think most of the wing chun guys used it as a marketing tool and nothing more, about the kickboxing which evolved from point karate i dont think this really has much to do with bruce lee if he even competed once or hosted an event i would say ok… Bruce lee used to invite black belts to train with him, so the foundations were already in place.
But in all honesty I dont think bruce lee had that much to do with the spread of martial arts or the evolution for that matter, ok a lot of people felt the kung foo and karate craze but, even if bruce lee wasnt there delegates from japan were in europe and america from all the head japanese styles anyhow for about 20 years before bruce lee. People had so much give n take with martial arts due to the whole japan america ww2 thing.
I mean i can honestly say gracie was responsible for mma to boom with ufc but i cant say that bruce lee did anything near that.
there are many and many smart and innovative practitioners of MA all the time.
Sun Lu Tang studied Xing Yi first. He stressed Kai He in Tai Chi-> Sun style Tai Chi.
Zhang Zhao Dong incorporated Xing Yi into Ba Gua. his student Jiang Rong Qiao in Kuo Shu Guan in the 1930’s promoted Ba Gua thruout China. Jiang’s Ba Gua Zhang book was the most read about the style.
BL may be well known. WC was widely taught by Leung Ting. Just about every southern style will teach WC. WC was the most known and practiced Kung Fu in the world. I believed that BL has something to do with WC propagation.
Chen Chang Xing summaried boxing methods from Chen Wang Ting. Lao Jia Yi Lu and Pao Chui Er Lu. Yang Lu Chan propagated it in Beijing.
Ma Yin Tu in Kuo Shu Guan and Liu Yun Qiao in Wu Tan. They both propagated Ba Ji fist. Their teacher is Li Shu Wen.
Ding Zi Cheng with Liu He mantis (Liu He Mantis is short fist or Duan Chui and mantis together). Zhang Xian San propagated the style in Taiwan. Dang Xian Ling propagated it in China.
And yes, they are no longer with us.
But the contributions and influences are still with us or live on.
I think it’s pretty hard to judge ‘smarts.’ It’s too loose of a definition. You could say who has had the most impact and who is having the most impact, which seems to be the direction everyone is going with the Bruce Lee discussion here. Surely Bruce had the biggest impact because he is the most recognizable to the general population. I’m guessing that worldwide, the only person who might be in that ballpark would be Jackie Chan. Here in America, it would probably go to Chuck Norris, but Jackie is so huge in Asia and no one knows Chuck there. They know Seagal more than they know Chuck, at least in Thailand because he hawks Singha beer, or at least he used to. However, general popularity is no barometer of smarts - case and point - Paris Hilton. I’m not sure how you measure smarts. Care to rephrase the question?
I like all of his earlier movies. Above the Law, Hard to Kill, Under Siege 1. But after those, it’s like he decided he wasn’t going to even try anymore. Seriously, if you watch one of his newer movies, and then watch his older ones, he is a WAY better acter in his first few.
I have only seen one of his new ones that I liked. It was the one that took place in Thailand. Where he fought the cross dresser. I liked it mostly because he added some Tai Chi to his Aikido.
Talking of seagal i think i should start a thread on this, as some of the dumbest things youve heard people tell you who dont know, you know about martial arts.
Some guy was telling me in all seriousness that steven seagal went to japan and learnt from ueshiba, he then shagged ueshibas daughter, and ended up marrying her, and is now the inheritor of aikido.
I think the guy who told me this doesnt actually count as nominee for smartest martial artist…:rolleyes:
Oh, I need to go to the video store to check out his new movies.
on topic: there are many and many teachers that are making impacts.
Adam Hsu: published books and dvd and taught many students. He is the head instructor/coach of Wu Tan. His teacher Han Qin Tang was Kuo Shu Champ from Zhe Jiang province. Han was from Zhe Jiang Kuo Shu Guan.
Su Yu Chang, Ba Ji Tang Lang
Liu Jin Ru, Cheng Ba Gua
Wang Pei Sheng (passed away last Sep), Wu Tai Chi, 3 styles of Ba Gua, Tong Bei etc
I am really stunned that you people hold sigung BL in such low regard. If wasn’t for him there wouldn’t be a Krav Maga, UFC or concept driven martial arts. You people would still be wearing funny clothes, standing in rows and punching nothing. Very, very, very sad.
