Choiceless Awareness
Episode 60 of the Bruce Lee Podcast covers "choiceless awareness."
A simple Google search shows an entire Wikipedia entry on choiceless awareness:
Choiceless awareness is posited in philosophy, psychology, and spirituality to be the state of unpremeditated, complete awareness of the present without preference, effort, or compulsion. The term was popularized in mid-20th century by Jiddu Krishnamurti, in whose philosophy it signifies a main theme.
The first post for this blog also cited the same philosopher.
The Bruce Lee Podcast makes no mention of Jiddu Krishnamurti, although numerous articles discuss his influence on Bruce Lee's personal philosophy. For example:
Bruce Lee and Krishnamurti: The Dragon and the Retired Messiah
Jiddu Krishnamurti’s Influence on Bruce Lee and Popular Martial Arts Culture
Bruce Lee's September 1971 Black Belt magazine article, Liberate Yourself from Classical Karate, contains a section titled "choiceless observation."
The podcast contains several quotes attributed to Bruce Lee, but belonging to Jiddu Krishnamurti. As in my previous blog, I bold words which match completely.
The podcast notes say:
Bruce Lee often relates this idea of Choiceless Awareness to being in tune with “what is.”
“There is what is, only when there is no comparison at all. And to live with what is, is to be peaceful.”
Jiddu Krishnamurti wrote:
"There is what is only when there is no comparison at all, and to live with what is, is to be peaceful."
The podcast notes say:
“Require not just a moment of perception, but a continuous awareness. A continuous state of inquiry in which there is no conclusion.”
Jiddu Krishnamurti wrote:
"To understand what is knowledge and go beyond the partial, the limited, to experience that which is creative requires not just a moment of perception but a continuous awareness, a continuous state of inquiry in which there is no conclusion - and this, after all, is intelligence."
The podcast notes say:
“To understand and live now, there must be dying to everything of yesterday. Die continually to every gained experience be in a state of choiceless awareness of what is.”
The theme of "dying to yesterday" appears in Jiddu Krishnamurti's works as well. For example:
"To drop opinion, belief, attachment, greed, or envy is to die — to die every day, every moment...To die every day to every problem, every pleasure, and not carry over any problem at all; so the mind remains tremendously attentive, active, clear."
In brief, the Bruce Lee podcast should have at least mentioned that Jiddu Krishnamurti was responsible for introducing Bruce Lee to the idea of choiceless awareness. The podcast should also have attributed the two word-for-word quotes I cited earlier.
A simple Google search shows an entire Wikipedia entry on choiceless awareness:
Choiceless awareness is posited in philosophy, psychology, and spirituality to be the state of unpremeditated, complete awareness of the present without preference, effort, or compulsion. The term was popularized in mid-20th century by Jiddu Krishnamurti, in whose philosophy it signifies a main theme.
The first post for this blog also cited the same philosopher.
The Bruce Lee Podcast makes no mention of Jiddu Krishnamurti, although numerous articles discuss his influence on Bruce Lee's personal philosophy. For example:
Bruce Lee and Krishnamurti: The Dragon and the Retired Messiah
Jiddu Krishnamurti’s Influence on Bruce Lee and Popular Martial Arts Culture
Bruce Lee's September 1971 Black Belt magazine article, Liberate Yourself from Classical Karate, contains a section titled "choiceless observation."
The podcast contains several quotes attributed to Bruce Lee, but belonging to Jiddu Krishnamurti. As in my previous blog, I bold words which match completely.
The podcast notes say:
Bruce Lee often relates this idea of Choiceless Awareness to being in tune with “what is.”
“There is what is, only when there is no comparison at all. And to live with what is, is to be peaceful.”
Jiddu Krishnamurti wrote:
"There is what is only when there is no comparison at all, and to live with what is, is to be peaceful."
The podcast notes say:
“Require not just a moment of perception, but a continuous awareness. A continuous state of inquiry in which there is no conclusion.”
Jiddu Krishnamurti wrote:
"To understand what is knowledge and go beyond the partial, the limited, to experience that which is creative requires not just a moment of perception but a continuous awareness, a continuous state of inquiry in which there is no conclusion - and this, after all, is intelligence."
The podcast notes say:
“To understand and live now, there must be dying to everything of yesterday. Die continually to every gained experience be in a state of choiceless awareness of what is.”
The theme of "dying to yesterday" appears in Jiddu Krishnamurti's works as well. For example:
"To drop opinion, belief, attachment, greed, or envy is to die — to die every day, every moment...To die every day to every problem, every pleasure, and not carry over any problem at all; so the mind remains tremendously attentive, active, clear."
In brief, the Bruce Lee podcast should have at least mentioned that Jiddu Krishnamurti was responsible for introducing Bruce Lee to the idea of choiceless awareness. The podcast should also have attributed the two word-for-word quotes I cited earlier.
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