{"id":680317,"date":"2026-05-19T07:21:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T07:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/680317\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T07:21:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T07:21:16","slug":"jet-lis-toughest-fight-yet-according-to-his-memoir-finding-inner-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/680317\/","title":{"rendered":"Jet Li\u2019s toughest fight yet? According to his memoir, finding inner peace"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:\u00a0 Keeping you in the know, Culture Queue<\/a> is an ongoing series of recommendations for timely books to read, films to watch and podcasts and music to listen to.\n<\/p>\n

\n Jet Li\u2019s work has always carried some degree of risk. Performing many of his own stunts, the martial arts star has fought opponents on shaky bamboo ladders (\u201cOnce Upon a Time in China\u201d), leapt from tall buildings (\u201cRomeo Must Die\u201d) and dodged fireball explosions (\u201cHigh Risk\u201d).\n <\/p>\n

\n But no amount of training could have prepared him for his real-life brushes with death.\n <\/p>\n

\n Li was vacationing with his young family in the Maldives when tsunami waves triggered by the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake<\/a> suddenly hit the beach. \u201cI have my wife and two daughters in that moment,\u201d he recalled, saying they all felt \u201cvery close to death.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe water is here,\u201d he said, gesturing to his chin. \u201cIf it was a little bit higher, 20 inches, then I would have died.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The 63-year-old martial arts star was speaking candidly about his near-death experiences in a video call from LA, where he had been promoting his new memoir \u201cBeyond Life and Death: The Way of True Freedom.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n A year after the tsunami, Li had another scare when he fell from a 12-foot-tall tower while filming \u201cFearless,\u201d leaving him with internal injuries. A few months later, he suffered from severe altitude sickness at a remote monastery in Sichuan, China.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cEach time I survived,\u201d he writes in the book, \u201cmy desire to become truly free became stronger.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n By \u201cfree\u201d Li means \u201czizai\u201d (in Mandarin Chinese). The Buddhist term is a combination of \u201czi,\u201d meaning \u201cself,\u201d and \u201czai,\u201d which translates as \u201cto be.\u201d Together, the words mean being content with whatever life throws at you or, as Li writes, \u201cthe liberation from the need to control anything.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Part-autobiography part-philosophy, the actor\u2019s story is told via 10 \u201cinsights\u201d acquired through his study of Tibetan Buddhism, including mantras like \u201cseparate the bitterness from the pain\u201d and \u201cbe a grandson to the world.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n He\u2019s hoping to impart wisdom to readers from his ongoing quest for ultimate inner peace.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think a lot of people in the world today know how to train their body: be healthy, lose weight, exercise,\u201d he told CNN, while adding that it\u2019s also important to train the mind.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cHappy is mental, healthy is the body. There are two parts. You need to find a way to balance them.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"At<\/p>\n

\n Now more focused on charity work and his spiritual journey than making movies (this year\u2019s \u201cBlades of the Guardians\u201d was his first film in six years), Li doesn\u2019t care much about fame these days. Still, he was pleasantly surprised earlier this month when a crowd at LA\u2019s Gold Gala<\/a> \u2014 which celebrates Asian Pacific talent \u2014 rose to its feet as he walked on stage to accept one of the event\u2019s special honors.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt really moved me,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes when I\u2019m in China\u2026 people just say, \u2018He is old; he cannot make movies,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought a lot of people had already forgotten who Jet Li is.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But who could forget? Li is revered as one of cinema\u2019s great martial arts actors, appearing in epics like Zhang Yimou\u2019s \u201cHero\u201d (2002) and Hollywood blockbusters \u201cLethal Weapon 4\u201d (1998) and \u201cRomeo Must Die\u201d (2000). The latter two movies helped \u201copen the door to the world,\u201d he said, following early successes in Hong Kong\u2019s storied but comparatively small martial arts film industry.\n <\/p>\n

\n Born in Beijing, Li was recruited by a state-run sports school at the age of 8 to train in wushu, or Chinese martial arts. By 12, he had won the first of five consecutive national champion titles, sometimes beating opponents twice his age.\n <\/p>\n

\n His acrobatic skills helped him land his first movie role, in \u201cShaolin Temple\u201d (1982), in which he played a young man seeking refuge at a monastery to master kung fu and avenge his father\u2019s murder, ultimately becoming a warrior monk. (The movie ignited a martial arts movement across China).\n <\/p>\n

\n He worked steadily over the next two decades, establishing himself as a major star in Asia. Then Hollywood came knocking. In the late 1990s, he accepted the role of a ruthless triad gang member in \u201cLethal Weapon 4,\u201d an antagonist to Mel Gibson\u2019s rule-breaking cop character, Martin Riggs.\n <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n It was the first time in Li\u2019s career that he had played a villain, a decision he wrestled with. His then-girlfriend (and now wife), the actor Nina Li Chi, found the script \u201cinsulting\u201d to Chinese people and urged him to turn the role down, even threatening to break up with him, he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n But despite his reservations, Li knew the opportunity could be life-changing. \u201cGive me one chance,\u201d he recalled thinking. \u201cI can break the door. Give me one chance. I will try my best to change their thinking.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The risk paid off. And Li said he shaped the role into something more palatable, influencing everything from costumes to fighting style.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIn the beginning, the character was terrible. Terrible,\u201d he said. According to Li, the movie\u2019s Chinese actors were going to look \u201clike Qing dynasty people,\u201d in \u201creally traditional 1930s Chinatown.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI said, \u2018No, no, no, listen. If you want me to play today\u2019s Asian, whether they are a good guy or bad guy, they\u2019re modern. They drink wine, they talk gently. You don\u2019t know if they\u2019re bad or good,\u201d Li said.\n <\/p>\n

\n He went on to star in 2000\u2019s \u201cRomeo Must Die,\u201d which, despite mixed reviews, grossed over $91 million worldwide on a $25 million budget. This time, he played the hero, a likable ex-cop, opposite the late singer and actor Aaliyah.\n <\/p>\n

\"Jet<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n Nearly two dozen movies followed in quick succession, but in the past decade his film career has slowed.\n <\/p>\n

\n In 2009, Li was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, or an overactive thyroid. His case was particularly severe, and at times, left him looking frail due to weight loss, though it\u2019s now \u201cfinally under control.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Li has also had to face the effects of physical aging \u2014 a challenge for any actor but a particularly confronting one for someone who made their name through physical prowess.\n <\/p>\n

\n Filming fight scenes for \u201cBlades of the Guardians\u201d in 2024 proved difficult at times. \u201cI used to do 10 moves in one second; now I need 10 seconds to do one move,\u201d he acknowledged in his book.\n <\/p>\n

\n But Li continues to be guided by \u201czizai,\u201d which he describes as embracing a \u201cso be it\u201d mindset.\n <\/p>\n

\n So is Li now free?\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhen people tell you \u2018I\u2019m zizai\u2019 that means that people are not zizai, right?\u201d he said. \u201cSo I\u2019m still on the journey.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cBeyond Life and Death: The Way of True Freedom by Jet Li\u201d is out now.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\n WATCH: \u201cPerfect Days\u201d<\/a> (2023)\n <\/p>\n

\n Koji Yakusho won Best Actor in the 2023 Cannes Film Festival for this meditative slow burn directed by German filmmaker Wim Wenders. The Japanese actor plays a public toilet cleaner locked in the same mundane routine every day. Nonetheless, he never ceases to find joy in the tiniest things around him.\n <\/p>\n

\n READ: \u201cThe Book of Boundaries: Set the Limits That Will Set You Free\u201d<\/a> (2022)\n <\/p>\n

\n Wellness expert Melissa Urban lays out suggestions on how to set clear boundaries \u2014 the failure of which, she argues, often leaves people depleted as they find themselves entangled in others\u2019 needs ahead of their own. She equips readers with language to deal with everyone from colleagues to family members, friends, neighbors and more, leaving readers empowered to feel more secure and at ease.\n <\/p>\n

\n READ: \u201cThe Year of Less\u201d<\/a> (2019)\n <\/p>\n

\n Perhaps the ultimate answer to self-contentment is have less, not more. Author Cait Flanders documents her extreme experiment of shredding 70% of her belongings and buying only essentials for a whole year. Her journey leads her to discover that the less she consumes, the more fulfilled she becomes.\n <\/p>\n

\n READ: \u201cThe Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness\u201d<\/a> (2007)\n <\/p>\n

\n This New York Times bestseller about meditation and its benefits comes highly recommended by Jet Li himself. In a recent YouTube<\/a> video he encourages his daughter Jada to read it as she interviews him about his memoir and spiritual journey. Li is also a student of the book\u2019s author, master of Tibetan Buddhism Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche.\n <\/p>\n

\n LISTEN: \u201c10% Happier\u201d<\/a> (2016 \u2013 current)\n <\/p>\n

\n In this podcast, former ABC News anchor Dan Harris explores how to navigate life better by drawing on a mix of Buddhist teachings and science on a range of topics, from combating anxiety to improving productivity.\n <\/p>\n

\n LISTEN: \u201cSecular Buddhism\u201d<\/a> (2015 \u2013 current)\n <\/p>\n

\n Hosted by Noah Rasheta, a marketing director with a keen interest in Buddhism, this bi-weekly podcast explores how you can apply Buddhist philosophies in your day-to-day life, even if you aren\u2019t a devout follower.\n <\/p>\n