233. Bruce Lee drinks tea

The Way through Baguazhang - 八卦掌道

☳ Last night I dreamt that I was pouring tea for Masters Bruce Lee 李振藩 and Ip Man 葉問 at an Eastwood, Sydney yum cha restaurant, while Guan Yu 關羽 looked from his alter next to the spirits cabinet that usually is behind the bar. ☵ Which is interesting because the late great Bruce Lee will very soon become one of the first American Shen worshipped formally as a god of martial arts. ☶ Like a lot of western martial artists, I have a clay statue of Bruce Lee at home (or at least of a martial artist doing one of his classic poses with a face that looks very much like him). ☰ And for a lot of us, he was and remains our first conscious link to Chinese martial arts. So love him or hate him, our prayers go out to him because I have recently noticed that he’s been referred to as the Immortal Bruce Lee - Lee Siu Long Xian (李小龍仙) or Lee Siu Long Shen (李小龍神). ☷ And where Bruce Lee and his Jeet Kun Do represents the element of water in his martial arts fluidity, the next in line to be canonised most likely will have to be his shifu Ip Man, Grandmaster of Wing Chun, and the element of wood as represented by his wooden dummy and a certain sense of traditional quiet power that comes with maturity. ☱ Both fighters encompass ideals personified, for that is what a Shen is. ☲ It is an honour to have poured them tea at yum cha, even if it was merely a small dream. ☴ So, while I am not sure of it, I have a gut feeling that Bruce Lee’s nature will make him better suited as an American Chinatown Guardian. Which one, I don’t know for I am not the Jade Emperor. But it won’t be Hong Kong. Hong Kong already has Wong Fai Hong 黃飛鴻 of Hung Gar Quan. And if they had to pick, they would choose Ip Man. Nothing personal - Just a certain degree of spiritual decorum has to be maintained until the appointed Hour of Ascension.