A visit to Bruce Lee's Grave

People may or may not know that Bruce Lee is buried in Seattle, Washington. Recently while in Seattle I had the opportunity to pay my respects. It was a beautiful day. I was visiting an old friend of mine and luckily he knew exactly how to get to the graveyard. We arrived there shortly before the cemetery closed for the night. The sun was setting behind the grave stone so the first picture is a little washed out. 

There is a bench facing the grave with an inscription from Bruce Lee's wife Linda Lee and his daughter Shannon.

Bruce Lee's son, Brandon Lee, is buried next to his father. Both died at a young age. Below are the graves of Bruce and Brandon Lee.

Last year while in Hong Kong I went to visit Bruce Lee's martial art instructor's (Ip Man) grave. There is another posting on this blog about that here: A Visit to Ip Man's Grave

East Earth Travelogues: A Visit to Ip Man's Grave

Ip Man (sometimes spelled "Yip Man," Mandarin: Ye Wen) has gone down in history as one of the most skillful proponents of Wing Chun Kung Fu. He produced a number of highly skilled Wing Chun practitioners, including Wong Shun Leung, William Cheung, Duncan Leung, and Moy Yat. His most famous student, though, was Bruce Lee.

When I was in Hong Kong in August 2012, I went to pay my respects at his grave.

Ip Man's grave is located on a hillside behind the Fung Ying Seen Koon temple in Fanling, Hong Kong. At the time, I was staying in Kowloon, and Fanling was quite a distance away. Fortunately, Hong Kong has an excellent subway system that is easy to use. I left my hotel early one morning and walked 15 minutes to the subway station. It was quite hot and humid, and I was a bit sweaty by the time I reached the station. Fortunately, it was much cooler in the subway. From my starting point, I had to make two transfers on the subway to get to the train to Fanling. The ride was moderately crowded, and at some point, the subway train came above ground, allowing a view of the outlying area.

When we arrived at the Fanling station, I got off the train and walked on the overpass to the Fung Ying Seen Koon temple, which is nearby. Ip Man is buried in a graveyard behind the temple. There’s a path leading to the graveyard, and along the way, there are a couple of markers pointing you toward his grave. On this particular day, the paths were covered in branches and leaves left by a typhoon that had passed through Hong Kong two days before. The debris on the path made it feel like I was hiking in the jungle, and the high humidity and mosquitoes added to that effect.

Other than the few signs pointing in the right direction, there’s nothing to indicate when you’ve arrived at the grave. Ip Man's gravesite was noticeably larger compared to the others, and it was swept clean. All the other graves were covered in leaves. I got the impression that someone goes there regularly to take care of it.

Here are some pictures from the trip.

Fung Ying Seen Koon temple

The starting point

 The path blocked by bamboo and littered with leaves.

A sign pointing the way.

More leaves on the path.

Ip Man's grave

 A closeup of Ip Man's grave

Ip Man's picture on his grave.

Bruce Lee Plays Ping Pong

This is fun! See: Bruce Lee Plays Ping Pong with nunchucks

As an update it turns out this video was created for an advertisement. They used a Bruce Lee look-a-like and made the film look old. It is still fun to watch though.