We Finally Know The Truth About Bruce Lee's Temper

Bruce Lee was a great many things: A master martial artist, a movie star, BFF's with fellow fighting superstar Chuck Norris, absurdly strong for his size ... the list is endless. The man was a veritable font of lethal one-inch punches and lightning-fast kicks, so it's great that he was such a mellow and restrained individual.

But what if he had a terrible temper? Imagine how horrifying a guy with his skillset would be, should he have a propensity for uncontrollable outbursts. Pretty scary, right?

As it happens, though, we do know the truth about Bruce Lee's temper, because in 2014, his daughter Shannon Lee addressed this exact question in a Reddit Ask Me Anything session.

So... did Bruce Lee have a temper?

Of course he did! He was, after all, still human. In fact, one could argue that because of his own infamous devotion to constant self-betterment, he also didn't suffer fools gladly. Shannon Lee said,

"He was definitely human. He also had a temper. He was also quick to anger. He wanted things a certain way and he had high standards and sometimes he could lose it."

And Lee himself admitted as much once in an interview, saying "I do have a bad temper, a violent temper in fact!"

But Shannon Lee also makes a point of noting that even though Bruce Lee was prone to the occasional outburst, he treated his temper tantrums just like virtually every other thing in his life: As opportunities to improve himself. She said,

"He knew when he had had a blow up and he would recover and reset and apologize and work on doing better next time. That was the thing with him — he was always in process and always self-improving and being the observer of his own behavior and trying to affect change."

Of course, being human, Bruce Lee wasn't an expert at everything — treating things as a learning opportunity doesn't necessarily mean you'll actually learn much. Shannon Lee said that there were some things he was actually quite terrible at, including, quote, "cooking, singing, and handyman type work!"

But he did better with his temper. Though it was often a problem, his temper also led to a lot of self reflection, which helped Bruce Lee developer a personal belief that it was actually gentleness that was key to self growth. As he himself put it,

"A peaceable temper is bred in man that emphasizes nonresistance and the importance of gentleness."

It may seem counter-intuitive, but Lee used his own temperament as a tool to recognize and cultivate the value of gentleness. By objectively looking into himself and his temper, he realized that he would need to develop his gentler side, which he eventually came to see as a cornerstone of his worldview.

"I must give up my desire to force, direct, strangle the world outside of me and within me in order to be completely open, responsible, aware, alive."

It was a lesson he had learned the hard way as a younger man. According to Mental Floss, Lee famously lost his temper in October, 1964, during a martial arts demonstration. When his famous one inch punch somehow went awry and failed to move his target, Lee was subjected to heckling from the crowd. He reportedly lost it, blowing his fuse and flying into a tirade that included challenging anyone in the crowd to fight him and prove he wasn't, quote, "the best fighter in San Francisco."

Even that turned into an opportunity, though. A number of old-school martial arts practitioners became annoyed with Lee's antics, culminating in a fellow Wing Chun master called Wong Jack Man challenging Lee to a duel. That fight has become the stuff of pop culture legend, but
accounts of what actually happened vary widely, ranging from Wong having to hold back to keep from injuring Lee to Lee chasing the terrified Wong around the room in a mindless fury.

Whatever the truth, though, the incident led to Lee abandoning the Wing Chun fighting style to develop his own style, Jeet Kune Do, which he considered to be more efficient and practical.

Learning from anger to become a better person? Now that's a lesson we could all benefit from.

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