Читать книгу Bruce Lee Artist of Life. Inspiration and Insights from the World's Greatest Martial Artist онлайн

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So neither gentleness nor firmness holds any more than half of a broken whole, which, fitted together, forms the true Way of gung fu. Gentleness/firmness is one inseparable force of one unceasing interplay of movement. They are conceived of as essentially one, or as two coexistent forces of one indivisible whole.

If a person riding a bicycle wishes to go somewhere, he cannot pump on both pedals at the same time or not pump on them at all. In order to go somewhere he has to pump on one pedal and release the other. So the movement of going forward requires this “oneness” of pumping and releasing. Pumping is the result of releasing and vice versa, each being the cause and result of the other. The movement will then truly flow, for the true fluidity of movement is in its interchangeability.

Any practitioner of martial art should consider both the gentleness and the firmness of equal importance, and not as being independent of one another. The rejection of either gentleness or firmness will lead to separation, and separation runs to extremes.