Your Jeet Kune Do or Mine?

[Richard Kerr]

Your Jeet Kune Do or Mine?
by the Great Sage

So much has been said about Jeet Kune Do that I think it’s been blown out of context. As a matter of fact, no two Jeet Kune Do are the same. Understand that Jeet Kune Do is an expression of self. It’s a concept, Bruce Lee’s concept and no one else’s. Personally, I don’t buy into the whole idea of “this is Jeet Kune do,” or “this is how it’s done.” For Bruce Lee even stated “I cannot teach you what you must learn.”

Therefore, Tae Kwon Do is my Jeet Kune Do. It’s my expression of the martial-arts, but it’s not REAL Jeet Kune Do, that was Bruce Lee’s expression. It’s hogwash that so many martial-artists are condemning the traditional martial arts. They don’t restrict anymore than any form of mixed martial arts. Traditional styles simply teach fundamentals which every martial arts has. What you do with that is your business. For instance, we all learn how to write, yet no two people write the same.

People who have no understanding of the traditional arts assume that a karate man will automatically start performing kata or start throwing reverse punches in a fight. That’s a mistaken perception. Those are merely tools to shape awareness and good form, the same principles that are applied when you practice anything else. Creative freedom? That’s inherent in everything so Bruce Lee got it wrong. If Jeet Kune Do says that one should have “no way” then why does one need to train at all? For there is a “way” to training. Even Bruce Lee’s methods consisted of pre-arranged techniques to simulate fighting. Isn’t that very much like a form, kata or sparring?

Although I revere Bruce Lee for he was my childhood idol, he was a functionalist and therefore bias against traditional martial arts. In my martial art, spirituality and tradition are as important as the art or function. These days, Bruce Lee has been made up to look like a Christian Jesus. Just as Christians believe there is only one way to do something, so do most JKD afficionados. But as Bruce Lee will point out, there is no right or wrong way, only your way.

Jeet Kune do is like Wing Chun but it is much more aswell. Bruce Lee took what he knew to be the truth and put it all together and named it Jeet Kune Do.

[Richard Kerr]

Your Jeet Kune Do or Mine?
by the Great Sage

So much has been said about Jeet Kune Do that I think it’s been blown out of context. As a matter of fact, no two Jeet Kune Do are the same. Understand that Jeet Kune Do is an expression of self. It’s a concept, Bruce Lee’s concept and no one else’s. Personally, I don’t buy into the whole idea of “this is Jeet Kune do,” or “this is how it’s done.” For Bruce Lee even stated “I cannot teach you what you must learn.”

Therefore, Tae Kwon Do is my Jeet Kune Do. It’s my expression of the martial-arts, but it’s not REAL Jeet Kune Do, that was Bruce Lee’s expression. It’s hogwash that so many martial-artists are condemning the traditional martial arts. They don’t restrict anymore than any form of mixed martial arts. Traditional styles simply teach fundamentals which every martial arts has. What you do with that is your business. For instance, we all learn how to write, yet no two people write the same.

People who have no understanding of the traditional arts assume that a karate man will automatically start performing kata or start throwing reverse punches in a fight. That’s a mistaken perception. Those are merely tools to shape awareness and good form, the same principles that are applied when you practice anything else. Creative freedom? That’s inherent in everything so Bruce Lee got it wrong. If Jeet Kune Do says that one should have “no way” then why does one need to train at all? For there is a “way” to training. Even Bruce Lee’s methods consisted of pre-arranged techniques to simulate fighting. Isn’t that very much like a form, kata or sparring?

Although I revere Bruce Lee for he was my childhood idol, he was a functionalist and therefore bias against traditional martial arts. In my martial art, spirituality and tradition are as important as the art or function. These days, Bruce Lee has been made up to look like a Christian Jesus. Just as Christians believe there is only one way to do something, so do most JKD afficionados. But as Bruce Lee will point out, there is no right or wrong way, only your way.

Jeet Kune do is like Wing Chun but it is much more aswell. Bruce Lee took what he knew to be the truth and put it all together and named it Jeet Kune Do. Sorry but anything worth saying is worth saying twice.

[white devil]

i know..

i have the best definition for Jeet Kune Do,

after reading the tao,Bruce Lee's fighting methods vol:1-2-3-4,the textbook by Tim Tackett,countless posts and after studying the art for about 3 years now..i realized:

Jeet Kune Do is just something that nobody seems to understand perfectly.

at my JKD school,we are taught chi sau and wing chun techniques while perfectionning our thai boxing skills,we are also taught kali silat and ground fighting...and now ive had enough of this..

ive had enough of beeing a puppet of the master..every school teach what they THINK is JKD..now all we are learing is how to mix the 4 martial arts i mentionned(or any others) ...thats not what the book was all about..hell thats not what Bruce meant at all..
what we r taught is MMA ..not JKD..we didnt even spend more than a few minutes on the philosophy for the 2 years ive been training

so now..i must suggest..very disapointed..that JKD shouldnt be taught at all...at least not by someone who is not under direct lineage of Lee or Inosanto..

This message is for Mr.Tackett: Please..tell us what you think about the situation ..the disapearance of true JKD that is..the fact that it is misinterprated by most of the schools nowadays

[Tant01]

You think?

Your thread header read "I know" And then starts out with "i have the best definition for Jeet Kune Do,
after reading the tao,Bruce Lee's fighting methods vol:1-2-3-4,the textbook by Tim Tackett,countless posts and after studying the art for about 3 years now..i realized:

Jeet Kune Do is just something that nobody seems to understand perfectly.


LOL So, do you know really?

[Richard Kerr]

Your thread header read "I know" And then starts out with "i have the best definition for Jeet Kune Do,
after reading the tao,Bruce Lee's fighting methods vol:1-2-3-4,the textbook by Tim Tackett,countless posts and after studying the art for about 3 years now..i realized:

Jeet Kune Do is just something that nobody seems to understand perfectly.


LOL So, do you know really?

No one knows it all and therefore knowone is perfect. Hence if you think you know it all your a dumb ass.

[Tant01]

If....

No one knows it all and therefore knowone is perfect. Hence if you think you know it all your a dumb ass.

I never claimed to know it all nor am I perfect. Perfection is the goal....

Jeet Kune Do is what happens when you put it all together...

[Kungfoolery]

Who's better than who is a lame argument. People should train with whom and where they want. If the instruction isn't to their liking, they'll leave.

[robertlee]

As you develop in your JKD training you have to make it your own. that does not mean adding or taking away but just let it become something you do in the way you do it. Then it becomes JKD for you. people do not get this part as they want to look at the name rather then the action from the name JKD is based on your performance of how you have grown to use what you have learned. Thats the procsess No different then walking after you learn to walk you just walk not thinking about left or right but just walk

[elitecombatives]

well put....

As you develop in your JKD training you have to make it your own. that does not mean adding or taking away but just let it become something you do in the way you do it. Then it becomes JKD for you. people do not get this part as they want to look at the name rather then the action from the name JKD is based on your performance of how you have grown to use what you have learned. Thats the procsess No different then walking after you learn to walk you just walk not thinking about left or right but just walk

Very well put....

[thtackett]

All I know is when I learned JKD, it was called JKD. I even have a certificate that has Jeet Kune Do on the top of it signed by Dan Inosanto dated 1973. In truth anyone who got a certificate from the L.A Chinatown school really got a certificate in JKD. The certificate says that "...having fulfilled the necessary requirements is promoted to the rank of...". Since the requirements were learning to do JKD, then really all the certificates are in JKD. Bob Bremer has the rank of 2 and 1/2. What the Chinatown rank meant was how many years the student trained. After the 3rd year of the Chinatown school, Bruce closed it and stopped giving out certificates. We started using the term Jun Fan to call our art after we started doing the seminars and Dan opened the Kali Academy. After Dan started the backyard school, he promised Bruce not to teach JKD to the general public.
As for JKD, it has a basic structure. If you study a lot of different arts you either have to:
1. Learn many different structures.
or
2. Keep 1 structure and only add that which is better than what you have or adds something that you are lacking but fits the structure.
If you no longer have the JKD structure, can what you are doing be called JKD or even Jun Fan?

[Tant01]

...As for JKD, it has a basic structure. If you study a lot of different arts you either have to:
1. Learn many different structures.
or
2. Keep 1 structure and only add that which is better than what you have or adds something that you are lacking but fits the structure.
If you no longer have the JKD structure, can what you are doing be called JKD or even Jun Fan?

If anybody here knows what JKD IS, it's you! Thank you very kindly Mr. Tackett!

[robertlee]

Very well said Tim JKD indeed has a format of learning. And from there the part of taking what has been learned and apply it to what you can do with it. Some people believe it means most anything is JKD but the process is making JKD your own. Missing that part it becomes confused when its no different then another M/A that a person has found useful that they do. But except JKD is the method of the training and its delivery is the persons in the end. With that said I feel that is why some think that making it your own, Means it can be anything rather then seeing that any M/A is made a persons own when they apply it . As long as people think of JKD is what you do after JKD is what you have trained .Then they will know how they made it there own and that is not by mixing this with that and give it the JKD name. But agin it will be said that JKD is not a structure of learning that has its methods no end to the politics that surounds it.

[Kungfoolery]

Here is my two cents. Cross training and learning different arts is good. Also, cross training n various supplemental exercises is good too. That is, running, plyometrics, kettlebells. There are basically three ways to cross train. The MMA way, where the cross training is done all at the same time combined with a ton of attribute development and sparring so that if the knowledge base in the various arts lacks the depth of say, someone with twenty years experience, the physical attributes make up for it. 2nd, is to just train in martial arts a long time. If you look at a lot of people who have been around ten+ years they generally have a very high skill level in several arts because ten years is a long time and you surely learn something if you are training properly. For example, there are long time kickboxers who are great in boxing, thai boxing, savate and PKA style kickboxing because they've been doing it a long, long time and spent a great deal of specialization in one area while, not discontinuing their trainging in another area. The third way to crosstrain is the worst way and its the way most people crosstrain. Someone opens a school and offers many arts in a series of one hour classes. Boxing, wrestling, BJJ, Thai boxing. A student with zero experience signs up for 'unlimited' classes' and bounces around every class with no rhyme of reason. one week its two hours boxing, three hrs BJJ, no thai boxing, 2 hrs wrestling. The next week its 4 hrs bjj and nothing in anything else. next week its no bjj and thai boxing but 4 hrs boxing and 1 hr wrestling. How can anyone learn anything doing that? Yes, it's crosstraining, but is it GOOD cross training?

The better way to do that is pick one art and spend most of your time on it.
Say, boxing 3 hrs a week. Then, 1 or 2 hrs a week alternating the other classes. That way, you are learning and specializing in boxing and developing actual skill. As for the crosstraining of the other arts in the one or two hrs, you may not develop a high level of skill that way, but who cares? You're becoming a skilled boxer with vague familiarity in the other three arts. Then, when you want to learn more of the other arts, at least you've been going through the motions.

If you're not into it for the long haul, you won't develop effectively in other arts. 99.9% of the beginners who try to cross train haphazardly off the bat stay beginners, even if they train for 4 years. Why? Haphazard crosstraining as opposed to proper application of crosstraining.

[Kungfoolery]

For a second, I thought my thread response didnt go through. The forum logged me out while I was typing. That happen to anyone else?

[Tant01]

But is it JKD? No...

Here is my two cents. Cross training and learning different arts is good. .....
...
Boxing, wrestling, BJJ, Thai boxing. ....


...99.9% of the beginners who try to cross train haphazardly off the bat stay beginners, even if they train for 4 years. Why? Haphazard crosstraining as opposed to proper application of crosstraining.

.02 c. is right... Cross training is fine for your Mixed Martial Arts guy. Even a "pure" amateur wrestler can pick up some tricks from Judo or your Judo man might take some boxing lessons cross training. BJJ, MT, Savat all good stuff but don't blend your own style and say it's JKD. Even if you mix all your stuff with Gong-Fu it's not going to be Jun Fan JKD. There is no "your's or mine" There is only Jun Fan or not...