JKD questions

[demon seed]

Hi everyone I'm a bit confused about JKD. First let me say I'm not a student or expert. I've just been exploring it a bit. Everyone seems to say JKD is simple. The individual execution of techniques is simple, that much is obvious. But to me it seems like the circculum is quite complex. The Drills are many to say the least. To me JKD is quite complex.
Something I also don't fully understand is the difference between Drills and forms. Very short routines you see in things like 1&3 step sparring and the very short katas like in certain jujutsu & hapkido styles I can understand them being called Drills. But then why or how are they different than what JKD does with their training Drills? The difference between a full length routine like you see in a wushu demonstration and the afore mentioned "mini katas" is obvious. But I don't understand the difference between short "mini" katas of jujutsu/hapkido and 1&3 sparring and the drill of JKD. Can any one explain please.
One more thing Bruce by all accounts was a philosophical guy. And of course he was at least familiar with things like Taoism,Chi theory of Chinese medicine and the like. So why is it that meditation and things like that are never talked about with Bruce? I know I've seen a picture or two of him meditating. But that aspect of the Martial arts and Bruce is rarely talked about. Why is that? Thank you all for your time and answers. I appreciate it.

 

[Xue Sheng]

JKD, depends on branch.
Meditation and philosophy, Bruce Lee wrote a lot of things, JKD is martial arts and fighting.....

I am not really qualified to answer your questions, I trained JKD only briefly, and I liked it a lot. However there are those on MT that are by far more qualified to answer your questions

 

[JowGaWolf]

But to me it seems like the circculum is quite complex.

Everything is complex when you don't know it. There are very few things in life that are actually complex beyond our capabilities. The better the teacher is the less complex it will seem. The more you practice the less complex it will be.

 

[Danny T]

JKD as per Bruce is simple. Unfortunately most make it complicated because most don’t really understand it as a training philosophy nor understand Bruce’s precepts toward training.

First off, are you asking about learning to use JKD, the philosophy toward training, to develop yourself Or are you asking about learning Bruce Lee’s JKD to train yourself and in time to develop your JKD?

Bruce’s JKD is through the route he took with all the training, researching, practicing he did to get to the point he did. But then that would not be your JKD but you attempting to recreate his within you and according to Bruce that would not be JKD. That would be Jun Fan Gung Fu.

Bruce wrote: “Patterns, techniques or forms touch only the fringe of genuine understanding. The core of understanding lies in the individual mind, and until that is touched, everything is uncertain and superficial. Truth cannot be perceived until we come to fully understand ourselves and our potentials. After all, 'knowledge in the martial arts ultimately means self-knowledge.'

At this point you may ask, "How do I gain this knowledge?" That you will have to find out all by yourself. You must accept the fact that there is no help but self-help. For the same reason I cannot tell you how to "gain" freedom, since freedom exists within you. I cannot tell you what 'not' to do, I cannot tell you what you 'should' do, since that would be confining you to a particular approach. Formulas can only inhibit freedom, externally dictated prescriptions only squelch creativity and assure mediocrity. Bear in mind that the freedom that accrues from self-knowledge cannot be acquired through strict adherence to a formula; we do not suddenly "become" free, we simply "are" free.

Learning is definitely not mere imitation, nor is it the ability to accumulate and regurgitate fixed knowledge. Learning is a constant process of discovery, a process without end. In JKD we begin not by accumulation but by discovering the cause of our ignorance, a discovery that involves a shedding process.

Unfortunately, most students in the martial arts are conformists. Instead of learning to depend on themselves for expression, they blindly follow their instructors, no longer feeling alone, and finding security in mass imitation. The product of this imitation is a dependent mind. Independent inquiry, which is essential to genuine understanding, is sacrificed.”

I believe he is saying JKD cannot be taught but it can be learned and that it is something the individual must experience themselves and that due to every individual’s different perspectives, abilities, experiences, & knowledge everyone’s truth will be different.

For me drills are specific actions performed repeatedly at increasing intensity as one’s ability grows to develop attributes. Drills are not sparring and certainly not fighting though within sparring or fighting one may use a multitude of parts of drills.


As to mediation…Just what does that mean to you?
Bruce said mediation is just being. No particular thoughts, just being in the moment.

JKD is the name of a 'process' of learning about yourself. That process may well be different from others.