What is JKD?

[JOHNNY]

A QUOTE FROM B/L

"IF people say Jeet Kune Do is different from "this " or "that", then let the name of Jeet Kune Do be wiped out, for that is what it is, just a name. Please don't fuss over it." Bruce Lee (Johnny, No Belts and No BS)

[Socrates]

Hi there,

JKDman said:

'Socrates, If you will be so kind as to reread my posts, you will see truly what I am saying. I will summarize my point. JKD is just an idea and ergo shouldn't be subject to the political bs that has befallen it. Nor can an idea (or at least should an idea) be divided into camps. We as JKD Men and Women should truly understand this and respect it. The idea of JKD is "simply to simplify," and we have made it complex. Let us do away with the camps and politics and just strive for JKD in its purity.'

All I'm saying is why is everyone so concerned with those three letters 'JKD'.

You say lets get rid of all the politics etc. well why not just get rid of those three letters 'JKD'?

This is my point. I'm not so sure people are actually concerned about constantly evolving as martial artists and people. As I said before I think that people are more interested in the name 'JkD' because it is directly related to Bruce Lee.

Bruce was trying to liberate us from more than just Karate, he was trying to liberate us as human beings, indviduals.

From what? I hear you ask. Well as understand his writings he was trying to liberate us from the conditioned thinking that the majority of us suffer from.

Just read Krisnamurti and you'll see what I'm saying. Oh yeah, don't just read 'Freedom from the known' get some of his other books like 'Education And Significance Of Life', 'Life ahead' etc.

'Keep your eyes and your minds open, change is the only constant'
Unknown.

Look forward to your thoughts on this.

Until the next time.

Socrates

'There is no such thing as freedom of thought. It is sheer nonsense'
J. Krishnamurti, Freedom from the Known

[JKDMAN]

Socrates,
I am extremely concered with evolving and moving to higher levels. I do wish we could do away with the name JKD, however, we can not. The name JKD is simplier than saying everytime " I study a series of concepts, ideas and philosophies that I, using my own personal slant and drawing of my background, beliefs and the situation at hand formulate into the necessary techniques to appropriately deliver the correct response for the altercation." There are also people out there that confuse being eclectic with doing the same thing that Bruce intended, so the term JKD serves to different us fom those people that do not strive to uses ideas to make what works for them, but study different styles to have a large number by ther name " I am john who has studied _______ arts in _____ years." People do need to realize that is just a name and even the application of it JKD changes. Jeet Kune Do is "way of the intercepting fist." However. if you intercept a Kick you are now doing Jeet tek do." Forgive me if i mispelled that my books are in the other room. If you are not intercepting than technically you are not doing any form of Jeet Kune/Tek Do. However we are still applying the concepts Bruce and Dan and others have taught us. The name JKD or JTD only applies to one instant in the fight. Ergo like Socrates, gungfuhero and myself have been trying to say, Don't get caught in that one moment. The moment of the JKD and just unite and grow. Study what works, Learn from anyone with insight, knowledge, and at least some skill, and let the arguing be done. No sides, No Camps, Just people following some common ideas.

[Socrates]

Hi JKDman,

Just read your post and found it extremely interesting.

Can I ask a few questions?

For what particular reason do you think it important to define what you do as 'JKD'?

Is it not possible to practice Judo/Jujutsu, boxing etc, yet still be using the concept of absorbing what is useful etc without having to use the name JKD?

What do you think about my point regarding Bruce Lee's philosophy being something more than to just liberate us from the martial arts?

Look forward to hearing from you.

Socrates

'Know thyself'
Thales

[Socrates]

Hi there,

Just a few quotes for you guys to check out, all of them, I feel, are relevant to this post in some way.


'Be that Change that you wish to see in the world'
M.Gandhi

'Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth'
Henry David Thoreau


'I had blind faith in him. My faith in Elijah Muhammad was more blind and more uncompromising than any faith that any man has ever had for another man. And so I didn't try and see him as he actually was.'
Malcolm X,Audubon Speech, 15 Feb. 1965


'Absorb venerable traditions into Aikido by clothing them with fresh garments, and build on classic styles to create better forms'.
M.Ueshiba

Until the next time.

Socrates.

'Self knowledge and practice is just as important as physical training'
Dan Inosanto

[mighty marr0w]

I agree with the gungfu hero and mushin master. Socrates, to claim jkd a style is again missing the whole point. you can perhaps call it the "styleless style" if you really want to attach the word style to an art that rejects all bounding restrictions imposed by forms and formality and emphasizes according to Bruce" is a concluding, established, solidified somthing". you are bound to a style's criterior by being restricted to only performing the set ways of the style(ex. THe karate punch pasted to the waist.), whereas "jkd uses all ways or any means which serve it's end(foot stomp, bite,eyegouge)efficiency is anything that scores". JKD is freedom of expression, and "freedom of expression occurs when one is beyond systems". it is one's personal development and continual growth as a martial artist. A style concludes(after one gets a blackbelt and a couple of degrees is he complete?mission over?) Jkd is about the growing humanbieng. It is SO SIMPLE, using no way as way, absorb what is useful, discard what is useless. If that pasted to the hip karate punch doesn't work for you, throw it out, hack away the unessentials, man or else your cup is gonna overflow. You may find the thai kick or savate foutte to be useful for you, well toss it in your martial arsenal, you may or may not use it in a fight, because we know combat as is is everchanging and unpredictable. ANd that is the problem with all these styles. None address the TOTALITY of combat. Punchers better learn how to kick and grapple, wrestlers better learn some boxing, kicking,submissions or whatever etc. ANd it's not just knowing how to do certain techniques from different disciplines, you better learn how to flow,man. A JKD punch is not the straight right lead, the haymaker or the pasted to the hip karate punch, it is the punch that hits, intercepts, baffles or even knocks out your opponent, with efficiency. jkd is beyond styles or systems and is bound by none.
Marr0w

[mighty marr0w]

ooops, pardon socrates, i just realized that your thread is 4 pages long and i responded to the first page, eeeps. JKD is not a style.
marr0w

[gungfuhero]

JKD has no end...but it does have a beginning (i.e. Jun Fan). JKD is the maturation of Jun Fan into the practitioner's style of no style. It's just important to remember that their are many paths to the formlessness, Marco Ruas is an excellent example of someone who isn't technically doing JKD but has found the same truths of "no form."

[mighty marr0w]

Good Point, Gungfu hero. Is that why you are the Gungfu hero?

[gungfuhero]

That's why they pay me the big bucks...

[gungfuhero]

Okay, there are no big bucks...but at least I have my training and my ethics.

[aseepish]

Quotations

Originally posted by Socrates
Just a few quotes for you guys to check out, all of them, I feel, are relevant to this post in some way.


'Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth'
Henry David Thoreau

"You want the truth Henry? I'm leaving you because you're broke."
Mrs. Thoreau

[myosimka]

Gungfuhero--liberate yourself from classical karate?

You made reference to this an earlier post. I was just wondering what you were referring to. You have this in quotes. Is it an article, a chapter of a book,...? Who wrote it and where does it appear?

[Ryu (JKD?)]

It was Bruce's original article in Black Belt magazine.
"Liberate yourself from classical karate" was the name of the article printed.

Ryu

[Alex]

The name 'JKD'

To JKDMAN-
The name JKD does translate into 'way of the intercepting fist', however that is because the word 'combat' or 'fight' is represented by the symbol for fist in Cantonese. "Way of the Intercepting Fist" is a direct translation, but is not necessarily exactly what was intended.

In one interview Bruce was asked "So Jeet Kune Do is the way of the intercepting fist?" and Bruce interjected "...or foot, or elbow, or what have you..."

-Alex