# Don't think, feel. Be water, my friend  (Bruce Lee)



## CristianPoow

Hello everyone,

I kind of put lots of phrases together that Bruce said back in the  days. I ended up writing something simple and correctly mixed up. The  problem now is translating it into Mandarin since my studies are very  far from being good. The full sentence goes as follows: "Don't think, feel. Be water, my friend."

The big deal is: first off we are facing an Imperative construction  in a form of suggestion, not an order. As far as I know all Chinese  verbs are infinitive no matter how or when you use it. I know a Chinese guy across the street who helped me to find the right words, and we came out with this:

不想, 感. 是水 (我的)朋友. 

As you can see, I have put the possession the way I can remove it and it will still mean the same "Be water, (my) friend.")

That aside, I  have found the original footage from 1971 with Mandarin subtitles, and  when Bruce says "Be water, my friend." in the subs I see two sinograms I  don't know what the heck they are. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





The problem I  have had with this Chinese guy is that he doesn't get what FEEL stands  for in my mother tongue (Spanish). And he doesn't speak English, so...   that's why I'm here. To find out a good translation for the verb TO FEEL  and end up having a correct translated sentence.

Big thanks in advance.


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## ridgemao

字幕里的汉字翻译过来是： It feels like water, my friend.

Don't think, feel. Be water, my friend
不要想，仅仅感受一下，这是水，我的朋友。


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## CristianPoow

I am not looking for "It feels like water" :/  

Read again my post, please. Thanks.


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## zhg

别想,（用心）感受,(pasue) 像水一样，我的朋友。
In case you are interested, it's very likely that Bruce Lee was borrowing this "water" idea from "laozi".But obviously this is already beyond your request.
In fact I think Lee is largely influenced by Taoism,as well as the martial art thoughts, so maybe you can a better translation from Classical Taoism works.(If I recall correctly, 上善若水 seems to be one of the most well-known quotes of Laozi.)


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## CristianPoow

zhg said:


> 别想,（用心）感受,(pasue) 像水一样，我的朋友。
> In case you are interested, it's very likely that Bruce Lee was borrowing this "water" idea from "laozi".But obviously this is already beyond your request.



Exactly! His state-of-the-art philosophy is mostly taken from Buddhism and Laozi. Here you can watch the moment he starts talking about being formless like water and ends up with the big phrase.
[video link already dead]

It's subbed just in case you can get more to help me out.

Thanks zhg for understanding my request!


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## SuperXW

I didn't watch the video yet, but I'm sure zhg's translation is good enough.
别想，（用心）感受。像水一样，我的朋友。
"Don't think, feel (with heart). Be like water, my friend." 

"Feel" should be translated as 感受 here.

I don't think ridgemao's answer can perfectly fit the original context. And yours: 不想, 感. 是水 (我的)朋友. is not grammatical. Please use zhg's version.


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## CristianPoow

Big thanks SuperXW. Today evening a Chinese guy suggested me not to go with "Be (like) water, my friend". As being for a tattoo, he said it will be corny, naif. And I take martial arts serious so I don't wanna be object of fun to anyone  !  So, he recommended me to go with his first two sentences on the video, right there in 1.20:



"...I said: empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water."

If it's good enough, I will go with that one and that's it. What do you think?


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## SuperXW

If you like the water idea, we do have traditional, elegant, and cool quotes from Laozi (which is also consistent with Bruce Lee's ideologies). For example:
上善若水 Literally: Top Goodness Like Water 
The full sentence 上善若水，水善利萬物而不爭 roughly means: "The greatest thing is just like water. Water can benefits everything but does not contend."
I think 上善若水 would be cool enough to be a tattoo. 
When I have time, I'll take a look at Bruce Lee's video. I also believe some of his own words can make a good tattoo.


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## CristianPoow

So far I am extremely thankful because of your responses. Yeah, actually when people ask "hey, where does that phrase come from?" I can either say Bruce or Laozi. You Chinese people will always know more than me. I already have a "Wushu" tattoo designed by me (that was easy because Wushu is written in Chinese everywhere, I just drew it my way).

I dig your brand new phrase, it sounds nice. I really want something related to water and what water itself express in life, always related to Martial Arts (in this very case, we are actually talking about Tai Chi philosophy).


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## SuperXW

CristianPoow said:


> That aside, I  have found the original footage from 1971 with Mandarin subtitles, and  when Bruce says "Be water, my friend." in the subs I see two sinograms I  don't know what the heck they are.


像水一样吧，朋友。
This subtitle literal means "Be like water, friend." You don't have to recognize each character. Some of the characters have grammatical or emotional functions so it's hard to explain.

The thing is, when we read a quote in a Chinese tattoo, we expect to see a "traditional/written/literary style". while Bruce Lee's talk has put those into modern English words. Being translated back, the translator used "vernacular/intelligible style", which is generally different to what we expect to see in a Chinese tattoo...

So, sadly, no matter which sentence you pick from the subs, it may make some Chinese feel strange.

Since the original Bruce Lee's quotes was in English, better make a English tattoo, OR, use idioms like 上善若水 which many Chinese people would appreciate. If you use the vernacular translation, few Chinese would recognize those were from Bruce Lee. They would become some random words of yourself. If people don't know the context, it would be hard to catch your idea.


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## Jerry Chan

Hi CristianPoow,

I think the translation given is good enough, though I'd probably delete '你的'(your) to make it more catchy.
You can go for it.

If I were to make such a tattoo, I'd probably use words more 'martial-art-sque', something not like a translation. Such as:
心無旁騖, 柔若流水, 無形無相


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## CristianPoow

Then I'd rather go with Laozi's quote in direct Chinese instead of a translation from English. I will tattoo another things in the future and you're right, if my body spreads "Be water my friend" in English - people worldwide will get it better.


Jerry Chan said:


> If I were to make such a tattoo, I'd probably use words more 'martial-art-sque', something not like a translation. Such as:
> 心無旁騖, 柔若流水, 無形無相



Hi Jerry, thanks in advance. Can you please translate and explain me that new sentence/phrase?  I actually can go on with a tattoo with a phrase from Bruce Lee, Yip Man (I don't think he have had known ones), Huo Yuanjia, Kung Fuzi, Laozi, Dr. Wong Fei Hung, or even Boddidharma.

As well as to already have the Wushu tattoo, I think my new tattoo shall express better my love to martial arts and Chinese culture, hence, YOUR culture!


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## SuperXW

Jerry Chan said:


> If I were to make such a tattoo, I'd probably use words more 'martial-art-sque', something not like a translation. Such as:
> 心無旁騖, 柔若流水, 無形無相


These are also very nice and extremely cool! 
Yeah, Jerry, you should have translated them for our friend. 

Apparently Jerry is not free now, and I have nothing better to do, so I'm here to explain them.
Those four-character cool words definitely fit what I called "traditional/written/literary style". It's hard to explain every character. Some has deep Taoist and Buddhist background. I'll just try to give you the general meaning.
心無旁篤: Concentrate, focus.
柔若流水: As soft/flexible as flowing water.
無形無相: No fixed form.


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## Jerry Chan

Hi SuperXW, your explanation is clear, thanks.
But note that it should be "騖" (meaning unrealistic pursuit) 
An alternative will be  心無雜念

Hi CristianPoow, you can see that my version has more or less the same meaning as the original one.
While 清空思緒 has a similar meaning as 心無旁騖, it's just too 'modern' and I can't picture a traditional master saying it to a student.

And for your information, there are two sets of Chinese characters:
心無旁騖, 柔若流水, 無形無相 < Traditional characters
心无旁骛, 柔若流水, 无形无相 < Simplified characters


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## SuperXW

Sorry for writing the character wrong. You are right.

In addition, I want to advise CristianPoow to use the traditional characters for a tattoo.


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## CristianPoow

Hi you guys.

Apparently, the whole phrase is what Bruce said so there's no doubt where he took his water-philosophy from. I like it -  My Wushu tattoo is written in Simplified Chinese, the syllable "shu" in Traditional wasn't good when I was making the design. I can show you if moderators don't mind.

I am now waiting for my tattooist to confirm me the price for the whole tattoo (or for each sinogram) in order to decide which phrase to design. You guys are convincing me, I think with that Laozi statement I can make Chinese people like me better than having a Bruce Lee quotation translated, which would be extremely weird.

About "what masters would teach to students", is it even better, isn't it? Given that Masters relay quite a lot on old Masters and big Chinese personalities of all time. I am trying to go that way, I even started stuyding a little bit of Mandarin but for talking, as well as to try to understand the basics of Cantonese (I watch so many movies repeatedly and I really learn!). But again, this topic is actually deeper than "conversational Chinese" so I am going to learn far more and mi tattoo will express just what I needed thanks to both of you!


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## xiaolijie

CristianPoow said:


> My Wushu tattoo is written in Simplified Chinese, the syllable "shu" in Traditional wasn't good when I was making the design. I can show you if moderators don't mind.


Show us, if you like!
We also want to see if the calligraphy looks good, since if the tattoo is done by people who don't know Chinese, a few things could go wrong


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## CristianPoow

I have been about 1 week checking types of writing "Wu shu" to choose which one could suit the best for me. I decided to go with a simplified "shu", then I drew it and modified digitally a little bit.
So there you go, this is me.



So far NO problems at all, I've been in the Chinese New Years back in February (Chinatown is just 5 blocks far from home) and everyone's been looking like "wow, an argentinean knows what Wushu is". If I would have tattooed "Kung Fu" I would be a total dummy - as Wushu is a word that puts all Martial Arts together and that's what I wanted to go with in first place. The only problem I would face now is when I come to the Argentinean Wushu Club, I don't wanna look like I'm bragging because I'm not. Through Wushu/Taiji/Chi Kung I've found my path after training Japanese Martial Arts for several years back in school time. I mean, all of my tattoos won't be in vain.

Thanks Moderator for letting me get through all this topic!


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## xiaolijie

It looks good and very well done, Cristian!


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## CristianPoow

Therefore, I've just sent my tattooist this design!  To be finally written and designed by hand. What do you guys think? I am using Traditional as you recommended. "martial-art-sque".


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## SuperXW

Very cool, man!


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## CristianPoow

Thanks! How about my previous post, with a "photoshopped" design of the brand new tattoo?


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## SuperXW

It's good! But since you've asked, here are my opinions:
1. Your font is what we recognized as computer or printed style, while some Chinese including me prefer a calligraphic style on this kind of tattoo. (Not sure if your tattooist can do the styles well though. We've seen some bad-looking Chinese tattoos... )
2. I don't like the 一〇一 part very much. I think it takes too much space. Can you simplify that? It looks like the Chinese writing of 一〇一, which means 101.
Anyway, these are just my personal opinions. You don't have to follow if you like your current design. 

It will be off-topic if we keep discussing tattoo styles. We can chat though private message if you have any further question.


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## CristianPoow

Yes, it's just the 1st test using a font with Chinese characters. I will design the tattoo myself in a calligraphic style as in my Wushu tattoo. And the lines with the "o" in the middle are to be smaller. Of course we can discuss that in private, the thing was whether you give me the okay with that phrase as well as that way of vertical writing.


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## Jerry Chan

Nice, man


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## CristianPoow

BIG THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!

Just in case letters get to be very small - may I cut any of the 3 sentences? if so, which one? the 3rd, right?


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## Jerry Chan

The first one is independent, while the second and third are related.
So it's better to keep 柔若流水, 無形無相


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## CristianPoow

Excellent. I'll keep that in mind. Since the tattoist will charge a lot for those tiny syllables I prefer not to be cheated and get quite a good tattoo!

Thanks again.


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## HYCHIN

When Bruce said "empty you mind", did he mean "be concentrated"?


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## xiaolijie

It's very likely that he meant something else, but to pursue this would take us off-topic. So, we'd better stick to the thread's title


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## CristianPoow

To be finishing this thread, let me show you the tattoo!


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## SuperXW

I love it!


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## CristianPoow

Oh thank God it's all fine! Nice calligraphy, ah? 

I have also tattooed a Bagua in my right triceps.


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## CristianPoow

xiaolijie said:


> It looks good and very well done, Cristian!



It's been a long time since this latest reply, sorry and big thanks. I am now needing the words in pinyin, if anyone can write it that way.

*心無旁篤: Concentrate, focus.
柔若流水: As soft/flexible as flowing water.
無形無相: No fixed form.*


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## Jerry Chan

I'm sure many websites can help you do that CristianPoow.
I can't help you because, like Bruce Lee, I speak Cantonese and am not good at Mandarin pinyin at all.


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## 枫十二

maybe in this way:
心无旁骛 xin(1)wu(2)pang(2)wu(4)
柔若流水 rou(2)ruo(4)liu(2)shui(3)
无形无相 wu（2）xing(2)wu(2)xiang(4)

I am a English learner, I have a suggestion to your translation too,And I think your version is already very beatuful.
but this Chinese word(明镜止水) came to my mind when I saw your question.
明镜：clear mirror.    if you are in front of the mirror,you can "see" the real you of yourself.I think it is as same as "feel" the insight of yourself.
止水：quiet water.   only the water is very quiet you can feel all the things.
but if you use the meaning of "心如明镜，又若止水"，the meaning has a slight difference with your sentense.
it means your heart need to be like mirror or water,(then you can feel all the things!)


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## CristianPoow

Thank you, feng12. If you read the complete thread, I ended up tattooing that phrase right in my arm. I forgot the full pinyin pronounciation, so I don't play a fool in front of the Chinese community here in my town.

As for the changes you propose, well for the tattoo it is too late. Whether it still means the same thing, I am open to learn the little differences or concepts according to the Chinese letters used. I was looking for the Bruce Lee's concept of "being formless / shapeless; like water."  and these guys helped me out with these old words I finally wrote in my arms


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## 枫十二

Thank you,CristianPoow,I learned a lot from your explanation of "be water".I don't know about Bruce Lee And my Engish isn't well enough to read thougtful things like that.It's just a humble suggestion and I am very glad that you replied it!


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## BartaVSV

Hi Everybody
I want to make a tattoo of famous Bruce Lee words "Don't think, feel. Be water, my friend" but I want to make it Horizontal
Can anybody shows me how it supposed to be good

Thank you


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## kenanDC

Hi All,

I know it's been a while, but i was wondering it you guys could help becasue i want to get a similar tattoo.

I also want to get a take to based on Bruce Lee's saying, "be like water". Basically, the consensus in the thread for that part of the quote is to write 柔若流水, but i am wondering if you guys think that can be a standalone tattoo? As in, only tattooing "柔若流水" which I read "flexible like water".

Another idea is to simply write 若水。

Any ideas?


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## SuperXW

I would say, both 柔若流水 and 若水 are cool ideas which can convey Bruce Lee's meaning. Yes, they can be standalone tattoos.


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## Skatinginbc

(兵無成勢,) 水無定形
韌如水 (柔韌如水)
柔似水 (柔情似水)

I don't like 柔若流水, in which 流 has potential for adding unintended connotations (e.g., the 流水 in 流水桃花; also 流水無情, 付諸流水, 落花流水, 流水不腐, 流水游龍) to the mix.  It occupies a space and yet contributes little to the intended meanings (i.e., "be like water", "be flexible", "be formless"), to say the least.


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## SuperXW

Yes. 流水 may not be the perfect match as you said, but it will still do. I failed to notice the difference if you don't say.


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## kenanDC

Thanks both SuperXW and Skatinginbc. I also feel 流 is out of place. I only want to convey "be like water" so perhaps 若水 is the best option.


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## Skatinginbc

CristianPoow said:


> he starts talking about being formless like water and ends up with the big phrase...





> Don't think, feel. Be like water


Don't think (inside the box).  Feel (the conditions and environment that you are dealing with).  Be like water(, which is not constrained to a fixed shape or form).
别(依成規)思考，(用心)感受(所處環境與條件)，要像水一樣沒有定形定相，也就是要達到兵法上所說的「兵無成勢，水無定形」的境界.

水無定形 ==> 要像水一樣沒有定形，能隨環境條件的改變而應變，不被積習常規所拘束.


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