Despite fame, Jet Li still seeking answers
We kept circling back to the same questions: What is life? What is pain? What is love? What, at the end of the day, is the point of living? Jet Li, martial arts actor
BEIJING: Martial arts actor Jet Li has it all — fame, wealth, and to a certain measure, health.
But he’s still seeking answers to fundamental questions about the meaning of life.
Jet Li, who appears in a short martial arts also featuring Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma slated to be released tomorrow, said during a wideranging interview: “I realised that in spite of all my wealth, I was still eating the same things I had always eaten and drinking more or less what I had always liked to drink. Now I live in a big home with something like eight bathrooms. That was the grand sum of all my achievements: a different bathroom for each day of the week.
“I used to believe there were only four things that mattered in life: fame, money, power, and love.”
Referring to a recent conversation with Taiji Zen CEO Yang Xingnong, Jet Li said that over the course of two hours, they spoke about everything from movies and martial arts training to charity and altruism.
He added: “Yet kept circling back to the same questions: What is life? What is pain? What is love? What, at the end of the day, is the point of living?”
The 20-minute movie Gong Shou Dao ( GSD) which premieres tomorrow brings together 11 of China’s best-known martial artists and coincides with the eighth annual Singles’ Day shopping event.
Jet Li has mastered several different martial arts styles. On why he chose to base GSD on tai chi, he said: “Jack ( Ma) and I met to talk about his dream of shooting a film to help popularise tai chi. Having practised tai chi for 30 years, he sees it as a symbol of traditional Chinese culture. Two years later, we founded Taiji Zen together. Our shared goal is to get Chinese martial arts — specifically GSD — enshrined as an Olympic event.”
On his current focus, Jet Li said: “These days, I spend my time thinking about how I can help people live better, including through charitable work. Ten years ago, I launched the One Foundation, a charity focused on helping communities recover from disasters, protecting and educating children, peer support, and innovation.
Speaking on his 1982 film debut, Shaolin Temple, and its effect on promoting martial arts, Jet Li said: “I’d like to say that while Shaolin Temple revived interest in martial arts, it failed to capture their essence. The action-packed movie inspired a generation of kids who dreamed of one day being martial artists, but ended up as security guards. My current hope is that Taiji Zen will cultivate a generation of Zen practitioners, thinkers, and warriors — a generation in which everyone has their own thoughts and outlook on life, and everyone is receptive to feedback and willing to support one another.”