Religion of NO Religion (Alan Watts)

Alan Watts 'Religion of No Religion' | Being in the Way Podcast, Ep. 31 | Host (son) Mark Watts

How Buddhism shaped Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee beats up all the students of the Japanese martial arts school at once | Fist of Fury

What philosophy did Bruce Lee teach?

Intercept the fist to disarm the opponent

Jeet Kune Do (Chinese 截拳道, Jyutping, lit. "Stop Fist Way" or the "Way of the Intercepting Fist," abbreviated JKD) is Bruce Lee's hybrid martial art, which was conceived of, practiced, and taught by Lee.

It centers on the principle of counterattacking an opponent in order to impede that opponent's offense [12, 13].

As an eclectic martial art, it relies on a fighting style heavily influenced by Wing Chun, tai chi, taekwondo, boxing, fencing, and jujutsu [14, 15].

Dead far too young

Asian stardom threatened USA?

How did Bruce Lee die? Only one doctor knows for sure: Dr. Joel Wallach (youngevity.net), who says it was severe nutritional deficiencies due to fad dieting.

One thing that can be said for sure is that Lee was not following the age-old dietary habits of Buddhist Shaolin Temple martial artists, Zen practitioners in Japan, or even well-established Asian customs, any of which could have kept him healthy and still with us.

There's something to be said about a "curse" and foul play since his son, Brandon Lee, also died under mysterious Hollywood circumstances.

Bet I could beat Bruce

MJ White reacts to Floyd Mayweather punching

Hah, Bruce Lee, you're not so tough!

China's "Three Teachings"

Jeet Kune Do, which Lee intended to have practical life applications without the traditional routines and metaphysics of conventional martial arts, incorporates a set of principles to help practitioners make quick decisions and improve their mental and physical health [13, 16].

Lee based JKD on his experiences in unarmed fighting and self-defense, as well as on his eclectic, Zen Buddhist, Confucianist, and Taoist philosophies... More

In a conversation with the abbot of Shaolin Temple, the abbot asks what Lee thinks about when he faces an opponent. "There is no opponent," Lee answers, "because the word 'I' does not exist." That line echoes one of the Buddha's central teachings [anatta, the impersonal nature of all existence and phenomena]. The fixed idea of "me" that "we" [the aggregates] cling to so tightly falls apart the moment you look for it closely [systematically through satipatthana].

Bruce Lee: White men can't fight, Chuck Norris

(Binge Society) Bruce Lee vs. Chuck Norris in The Way of the Dragon (Return of the Dragon)

Did Buddhism shape Bruce Lee’s martial arts philosophy?

Enter the Dragon (Bruce Lee)

(Buddha's Wisdom) 🥋 Was Bruce Lee a secret American Buddhist [partial to China's Three blended spiritual Teachings]?

The man behind the saying, “Be water, my friend” reportedly said he had no religion at all, like most Americans. Yet ZEN, Taoism, [Confucianism] and the Buddha’s teachings (or Dharma) run through his life, his films, and his own blended philosophy he called Jeet Kune Do.

And one famous “Bruce Lee quote” actually traces back to Chinese Zen Buddhist Master Linji (Linji Yixuan), who passed away in the year 866.

Let's follow Bruce Lee from a rowing boat in Hong Kong Harbor, where he punched the sea, to the Oakland, California (next to Berkeley) fight that made him rebuild his art, the back injury that put him in bed for months.

Let's culminate with the Hollywood movie set for Enter the Dragon, where Bruce Lee refused to show up until his Buddhist-Taoist-Confucian philosophy scenes were put back in.

Along the way, we separate what the record shows from what the legend claims.

💡 DISCOVER

• Why Lee punched the sea—and why “Be water” begins with a Taoist image
• How a disputed 1964 fight made him question his fighting style.
• The Buddha’s Parable of the Raft, and how Lee rebuilt his fighting style
• Why Lee insisted on philosophy in Enter the Dragon and the Buddhist image in one of its most famous scenes
• The Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path hidden in Bruce Lee's sickbed notebooks

Fat Happy Budai (Hotei) pointing at the moon

• 

  What, the hand, the hand that points?

  Buddhist roots of “Don’t think, feel” and the finger pointing at the moon (as in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra)
• Zen master whose words ended up under Lee’s name

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• Matt, Buddha's Wisdom, AI. Oct. 17, 2026; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

Zen end to all addictions: Japanese way

(Presence & Path) The Japanese system to breaking any bad habit | Eastern philosophy

When the heart needs quiet: Japanese Zen music - profound calm - shakuhachi and koto

Five ways to end ANY addiction

1. 

   Write bestseller, get rich quick

   Ikigai (生き甲斐, lit. "reason for being") is a Japanese concept of an individual's definition of the meaning of one's own life [1]. It can be finding a sense of purpose in life [2, 3] as well as holding it as a source of motivation [4]. According to a study by Michiko Kumano, feeling ikigai as described in Japanese is usually the sense of accomplishment and fulfillment that follows when people pursue things they're passionate about [5]. Activities that generate the feeling of ikigai are spontaneous and undertaken willingly, not imposed on an individual, making them personal and dependent on a person's inner [6, 7, 8, 9] sense of an internal locus of control. According to Japanese psychologist Katsuya Inoue, the concept of ikigai consists of two aspects, "sources or objects that bring value or meaning to life" and "a feeling that one's life has value or meaning because of the existence of its source or object." He classifies ikigai into three categories: social, non-social, and anti-social ikigai... More

2. 

   Slow and steady wins the race (Tortoise).

   Kaizen (改善, "[micro] improvements") is a Japanese word that has been adopted outside of Japan as a concept that asserts that significant positive results may be achieved due to the cumulative effect of many small (even trivial) improvements. It is put into action by continuously improving. It is about consistency, not perfection. Kaizen also applies to processes, aiming to eliminate waste and redundancies. It may be referred to as zero investment improvement (ZII) due to its utilization of existing resources [2], a Japanese philosophy frequently applied to business operations. More

3. 

   Corporations hijacked our willpower (Dr. Lustig)

   Hara hachi bu (腹八分目, actually hara hachi bun me) is a Confucianism-inspired [1] teaching that instructs people to eat in moderation -- only until they are 80 percent full [2], never 100%. The Japanese phrase translates to, "Eat until you are eight parts (out of ten) full" [2] or "belly 80 percent full" [3]. There is evidence that following this practice leads to a lower body mass index (BMI) and increased longevity, and it might even help to prevent dementia in the elderly. More

4. 

   You can do it, Duffy Moon

   Ganbaru (頑張る, lit. "standing firm," Romanized gambaru) is a Japanese word that roughly means to slog on tenaciously through tough times [1]. The word is often translated as "doing one's best," but in practice, it means doing more than one's best [2]. The word emphasizes "working with perseverance" [3] or "toughing it out" [4]. Ganbaru means "to commit oneself fully to a task and to bring that task to [its culmination]" [5]. It can be translated as persistence, tenacity, doggedness, [hanging in there like a kitten on a motivational poster], and hard work. The term has a unique importance in Japanese culture [6]. More

5. 

   I keep my mind/heart in the present moment.

   Wabi-sabi ("the art of imperfection")? In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi (侘び寂び) centers on the acceptance of transience and imperfection [2]. It is often described as the appreciation of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete" [3]. It is prevalent in many forms of Japanese art [4, 5]. Wabi-sabi combines two interrelated concepts, wabi (侘) and sabi (寂). According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, wabi may be translated as "subdued, austere beauty" and sabi as "rustic patina" [6]. Wabi-sabi derives from the Buddhist teaching of the Three Marks of Existence (三法印, sanbōin), which are impermanence (無常, mujō), disappointment (苦, ku), and not-self/emptiness, the impersonal nature of all things, devoid of self-nature (空, kū) [7]. Characteristics of wabi-sabi aesthetics and principles include asymmetry, roughness, ruggedness, simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and the appreciation of natural objects and the forces of nature. More

Why are we fat and Japanese thin?

(Joseph Everett - WIL) How Japan escaped obesity while USA got fat

• Presence & Path (video); Yamato Zen Relaxing (music video); Joseph Everett - WIL (weight video); CC Liu, Pfc. Sandoval, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edits

Real Halloween in Japan: spooky, scary

The dark side of living in Japan nobody sees! - 3 Things You'd Never Expect to See in Tokyo

(CoolVision) Tokyo: A Buddhist city that feels like another planet

(Buddhism in Japan)

10 supernatural haunted places in Japan

(Japanese Estate) 10 haunted supernatural places in Japan no one dares visit

(Hollow Japan) 13 Creepiest Hotels in Japan that tourists book without knowing any better

Halloween display in Saitama, Japan

Halloween arrived in Japan mainly as a result of American pop culture. As late as 2009, it was celebrated mainly by expats [36]. The wearing of elaborate costumes by young adults at night has since become popular in areas such as Amerikamura in Osaka and Shibuya in Tokyo, where, in October 2012, about 1,700 people dressed in costumes to take part in the Halloween Festival [37].

Blame it on The Simpsons

Celebrations have become popular with (sex and dating obsessed) young adults as a costume party and club event [38]. Trick-or-treating for candy-loving Japanese children has taken hold in some areas.

By the mid-2010s, Yakuza (Japanese mafia members) were giving snacks and sweets to children [39]. However, in recent years, authorities in Tokyo have tried to discourage street drinking on Halloween [40]. More: Halloween in Asia

• Due to the worldwide syndication of The Simpsons, American Halloween traditions are spreading everywhere, like Australia that got Halloween-fever ten years ago, but Buddhist Japan is creepy for all its old Shinto kami and yokai-obsessed folk ways
• The Geography of Halloween

Japanese mafia: underworld Yakuza

10 places in Kyoto the Yakuza used to control

9 ways to get to sleep the Japanese way

(Hidden Japan Life) I applied 9 Japanese sleep rules for 30 days: Here's what changed

• Japanese nemuri ("sleep") no ("of") shimatsu ("not creating waste"), similar to mottainai, means putting everything available to good use...

Quality over quantity is the best way to sleep

What is "Zen" (Chan) Buddhism?

(Let's Talk Religion) What is Zen Buddhism?

• China's Chan Buddhism
• Zen Buddhism (primarily in Japan)

What is jhana or "meditation" ("meditative absorption")?

• Bodhisattva (ideals) vows
• Śhūnyatā: "emptiness" (impersonal, interdependent)

We cannot get free alone but only by noble friendship

(Zenith Zen) Rather than running away, what if we were to stay to help just as we have been helped by others through countless lives?

Should we teach others, Friend, even females, or just lock ourselves up in a cloister? - Teach.

.

Teach us what you know, Bhante

It is unclear if this is an authentic Zen tale, but it is certainly true what the historical Buddha's position on "noble friendship" (kalyāṇa-mittatā) was.

For once when his attendant said, "Venerable sir, it seems to me that friendship is half the monastic life in this Doctrine and Discipline" [in Buddhism].

The Buddha rebuked and admonished him, "Do not say so, Ananda, do not say so!"

Ananda was baffled. Surely, friendship is a vital thing to the practice of Buddhism, to ever even hearing the Dharma (the path to liberation). It is so important that it is surely half the struggle in life, now that we have heard the path. Friends teach us, encourage us, inspire us, tell us what they have heard, what they have understood. But the Buddha, possibly shaking his head, continued.

This monk is my good friend, encouraging me to temporarily ordain as a Buddhist novice.

.

I dunno if I can continue. - Of course you can!

"Friendship is not the HALF of the high life [of intensive practice of the Dharma]; it the whole of it. For because of friendship, one hears the Dharma. And by hearing it, one practices it [with help, inspiration, and encouragement from good companionship with noble ones, which refers to people along the four stages of enlightenment]. And by practicing it, one becomes free and a friend to many others. Indeed, noble friendship is the whole of this path."

These are not exact quotes but the gist of what Ananda said and what the Buddha said back to further exalt the value of noble friendship in Buddhism. - Wisdom Quarterly

What did Bodhidharma say about Zen?

(ECHOES OF LOST KNOWLEDGE) Seek nothing [suññata?]: Bodhidharma's radical Zen (Chan) teaching | Buddhist wisdom

Hairy brown man saves China

Bodhidharma is a semi-legendary Buddhist monk who is said to have lived during the 5th or 6th century CE [1].

Bodhidharma [lit., "Enlightenment-Teaching"] is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China and is regarded as its first Chinese patriarch [a].

Bodhidharma is also popularly regarded as the founder of Shaolin kung fu [2, 3, 4, 5], an idea popularized in the 20th century [2, 4, 5] and based on the 17th-century Yijin Jing and the Taoist association of taoyin gymnastics with Bodhidharma [2, 3, b, c].

I cut off my eyelids to stare at a wall.

Little contemporary biographical information on Bodhidharma exists, and subsequent accounts are layered with lofty [and often absurd] legend and unreliable details [6, d].

According to the principal Chinese sources, Bodhidharma came from the Western Regions [7, 8], which typically refers to modern-day Xinjiang and Central Asia [such as Buddhist Afghanistan, Gandhara, the historical Buddha's homeland, territory of the Sakas, Scythians, Shakyas]. But it can also include the Indian subcontinent.

Shaolin kung fu? I wish I had done more yoga!

Bodhidharma is described as either a "Persian [Iranian Aryan] Central Asian" [7] or a "South Indian...the third son of a great Indian king" [8, e].

Aside from the Chinese accounts, several popular traditions also exist regarding Bodhidharma's origins [Note 1].

Throughout Buddhist art, [the idea, legend, or personification of] Bodhidharma is depicted as an ill-tempered, large-nosed, profusely bearded [often obese], wide-eyed non-Chinese man. The accounts also differ on the date of his alleged arrival. More

• ECHOES OF LOST KNOWLEDGE, Oct. 10, 2026; CC Liu, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

How to train the mind in Zen ☯️

(Presence & Purpose) How to train the mind to obey instantly | Miyamoto Musashi

Miyamoto Musashi 宮本無三四

Miyamoto Musashi (宮本 武蔵, circa 1583–June 13, 1645) [2] was a Japanese artist (who painted Hotei/Budai below watching a cockfight), swordsman, strategist, and writer who became renowned through Zen stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship and undefeated record in his 62 duels [3, a].

He is considered a kensei ("sword saint") of Japan [4]. He was the founder of the Niten Ichi-ryū (or Nito Ichi-ryū) style of swordsmanship.

In his final years, Miyamoto Musashi authored The Book of Five Rings (五輪の書, Go Rin No Sho) and Dokkōdō (獨行道, The Path of Aloneness). Both documents were bequeathed to Terao Magonojō, Miyamoto Musashi's most important student, seven days before Musashi's death.

On the one hand, The Book of Five Rings [b] focuses on the character of his Niten Ichi-ryū school in a concrete sense, his own practical martial art and its generic significance.

On the other hand, The Path of Aloneness deals with the ideas that lie behind it, as well as his life's philosophy in a few short aphoristic sentences. More

• Miyamoto Musashi fights Sasaki-Kojiro at Ganryujima Ukiyo-e

Four 'altered states' (jhanas, meditations)

(Buddha's Wisdom) The first four jhanas ("meditations," meditative absorptions): from rapture (piti) to perfect equanimity

Ecstatic bliss (piti) becomes more and more refined through the absorptions

• (Vancouver Dharma and Gnosis) The 4 Jhanas
• Getting beyond the Five Hindrances to meditation
• Pa Auk Sayadaw: the great sayadaw of Pa-Auk Forest Monastery (Abbot Venerable Bhaddanta Āciṇṇa, Theravada scholar-practitioner from Burma)
• Ajahn Brahm (British monk trained in Thai Forest Tradition by Ajahn Chah, now abbot in Australia)
• Leigh Brasington (excellent lay American teacher trained by the accomplished German Jewish Buddhist nun Ayya Khema, who trained in Sri Lanka)
• Leigh Brasington on enlightenment and the jhanas

'The Gateless Gate' and Satori: Alan Watts

(Official Alan Watts Archive) Alan Watts: Don't be afraid of NOTHING | nothingness

The enso is the Zen zero or circle symbol

The Gateless Gate (Mandarin Chinese 無門關, Wúménguān, Japanese 無門関, Mumonkan), sometimes translated as The Gateless Barrier, is a collection of 48 Chan (Zen) koans ("public cases" popularly but mistakenly thought of as insoluble riddles).

It was compiled in the early 13th century by the Chinese Master Wumen Huikai (無門慧開, Japanese Mumon Ekai, 1183–1260) during the Song Dynasty.

The title has a double meaning and may also be understood as Wumen's Barrier because Wumen's name, which literally means "no gate," is the title's first two characters.

Then I knew intuitively, innately by instinct!

Wumen's preface indicates that the volume was published in 1228. Each koan is accompanied by a commentary and verse by Wumen.

A classic edition includes a 49th case composed by Anwan in 1246. Wuliang Zongshou also supplemented the volume with a verse of four stanzas composed in 1230 about the three barriers of Chan Master Huanglong Huinan.

Since the Southern Song Dynasty, the Chinese Buddhist canon has not included The Gateless Gate, but Wumen's disciples brought the work to Japan, where it has been reprinted many times.

It is collected in volume 48 of the Taishō Tripiṭaka [1]. Along with the Blue Cliff Record and the oral tradition of Hakuin Ekaku, The Gateless Gate is a central work much used in Rinzai Zen School practice.

Five of the koans in the work concern the sayings and doings of Zhaozhou; four concern Ummon. The common theme of the koans and Wumen's comments is the inquiry and introspection of dualistic conceptualization. (See Mahayana-Hinduism's nondualism or Advaita Vedanta).

The Gateless Gate

(Anima Creativa) 30 minutes of pure genius: Alan Watts on The Gateless Gate (rare talk)

Awakening

• Satori (Japanese 悟り) is a Japanese Zen Buddhist term for "awakening," "comprehension," "understanding" [1], or "insight" (an epiphany, a sudden moment of "clear-seeing" or vipassana, liberating insight). The word derives from the Japanese verb satoru [2, 3]. In the Zen Buddhist tradition, satori refers to a deep experience of kenshō [4, 5], "seeing into one's true nature" [that true nature being the Three Marks of Existence that lead to enlightenment/bodhi in Theravada Buddhist terms]. Ken means "seeing," shō means "nature" or "essence" [4]. Satori and kenshō are commonly translated as "enlightenment," a word that is also used to translate bodhi, prajñā ("wisdom"), and Buddhahood. More

To suddenly see clearly into the nature of things

Each koan epitomizes one or more of the polarities of consciousness that act like an obstacle or wall to the insight.

The student is challenged to transcend the polarity that the koan represents and demonstrate or show that transcendence to the Zen teacher.

Structure and contents

The text was originally prepared by Wumen as a record of his teaching during a monastic training period held at Longxiang Temple (now Jiangxin Temple in Wenzhou) in the summer of 1228.

Wumen selected the 48 koans and commented on and added a verse for each koan. As was customary in China at the time, an edition might have additions of text inserted by a subsequent owner or publisher.

The best-known version of the text is from the Japanese woodblock edition made from the 1246 manuscript edition that contains the following sections. More

• Anima Creativa; Official Alan Watts Archive; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit