What is Jeet Kune Do?

[Joab]

I have been told by one that Jeet Kune Do is really not a specific system per se, but rather what you have picked up from various martial arts and believe works for you. Is there any truth to this, or is Jeet Kune Do really a specific system with specific techniques just like any other system.

 

[Blindside]

It depends on who you ask.

This is a recurring thread, search the forum for "jun fan" or "jeet kune do concepts."

Or start with the first couple of hits that I had:

http://martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17502&highlight=jun+fan

http://martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=80861&highlight=jun+fan

http://martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78064&highlight=jun+fan

 

[kaizasosei]

I have often discussed this point with friends and we have tried to understand what Bruce meant by this. First, i think that it has to do with the ability to receive a hit and intercept or redirect it. That means, maybe it has to do with controll and effective response. To be able to catch' the attack, so to speak. I think that is what Bruce was getting at. Ultimately it also has to do with controll because in responding to the attack so accurately, there is a feeling of dominating in the very reception of an attack.

Then again, considering the spiritual implications of the words, i did have some issues as it seemed to me that the interception of the fist meant that one is gravitating towards the aggression rather than truly avoiding it if it is avoidable.
On the other hand, this could be seen as a chance for friendship or some kind of agreement.
I don't know. Kindof out there i guess.

 

[ap Oweyn]

I don't think you can say that JKD is just taking what works from various styles. There's more to it than that (though there's nothing particularly wrong with doing that, provided you're not calling it JKD afterward). There are fairly consistent principles to JKD, and any collection of techniques, regardless of how you arrived at it, is either in adherence or out of whack with those principles. How many of those principles, and which ones, you have to be compliant with to call what you do "jeet kune do" is a more complicated matter.

But I'm no expert. This is strictly the view of a casual observer.

 

[jks9199]

There definitely does seem to be a set of underlying principles or philosophies in the two main-line approaches (JKD concepts and Jun Fan, I think is how they describe them) to JKD. Whether there are common techniques is a different question. Whether there's enough commonality to call it a style rather than an training philosophy is also another question...

 

[Chris Parker]

I have been told by one that Jeet Kune Do is really not a specific system per se, but rather what you have picked up from various martial arts and believe works for you. Is there any truth to this, or is Jeet Kune Do really a specific system with specific techniques just like any other system.

Hi Joab,

Jeet Kune Do is the name that Bruce Lee gave to his personal approach to the combative sciences, to differentiate it from his previous training. As I'm sure you're aware, his martial journey began in Wing Chun with Yip Man and his group. He actually didn't complete the system before moving on, and going to the US. When there, he started teaching what he knew, made contacts within the entertainment industry and martial arts world, and used this to expand his understanding. Through various situations (some of which have been blown into almost mythic proportions) he started to question certain aspects of his previous training, and looked outwardly for new answers.

He started to study everything he could, thoroughly testing it as well as he could, and only after experiencing it full and understanding it (note: not just "trying it out to see if he liked it"), Bruce could then determine whether or not it worked for him personally, and he could either disgard it or integrate it into his existing base (based on his early days in Wing Chun).

So essentially, to say that you are studying Jeet Kune Do by just looking around at different arts and taking what you like is to miss the entire point of how and why Bruce came up with it in the first place. So what you have been led to believe in that regard is wrong. It takes a lot more than that.

However, I don't know of an established curriculum for JKD. There are principles which Bruce left which guide the system, but there are quite a few different groups who have different approaches. Some have definate "techniques", others go more for adapting the principles. So that's probably about as close to a complete answer as we can give.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Jeet Kune Do is - The Way of the Intercepting Fist, style without style

It is not fixed or patterned, and is a philosophy with guiding though

I have not invented a "new style," composite, modified or otherwise that is set within distinct form as apart from "this" method or "that" method. On the contrary, I hope to free my followers from clinging to styles, patterns, or molds. Remember that Jeet Kune Do is merely a name used, a mirror in which to see "ourselves". . . Jeet Kune Do is not an organized institution that one can be a member of. Either you understand or you don't, and that is that. There is no mystery about my style. My movements are simple, direct and non-classical. The extraordinary part of it lies in its simplicity. Every movement in Jeet Kune-Do is being so of itself. There is nothing artificial about it. I always believe that the easy way is the right way. Jeet Kune-Do is simply the direct expression of one's feelings with the minimum of movements and energy. The closer to the true way of Kung Fu, the less wastage of expression there is. Finally, a Jeet Kune Do man who says Jeet Kune Do is exclusively Jeet Kune Do is simply not with it. He is still hung up on his self-closing resistance, in this case anchored down to reactionary pattern, and naturally is still bound by another modified pattern and can move within its limits. He has not digested the simple fact that truth exists outside all molds; pattern and awareness is never exclusive. Again let me remind you Jeet Kune Do is just a name used, a boat to get one across, and once across it is to be discarded and not to be carried on one's back.

--– Bruce Lee

 

[Joab]

Hi Joab,



So essentially, to say that you are studying Jeet Kune Do by just looking around at different arts and taking what you like is to miss the entire point of how and why Bruce came up with it in the first place. So what you have been led to believe in that regard is wrong. It takes a lot more than that.

I haven't been "lead to believe" anything regarding Jeet Kune Do. I was told what I was told by one fellow, I never stated I believed his interpretation. If I had been lead to believe what he told me, I wouldn't have bothered asking the question. I wasn't sure what Jeet Kune Do is when I asked the question and I'm still not sure. I haven't been "lead to believe" anything regarding Jeet Kune Do.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Jeet Kune Do

Absorbing what is useful

This is perhaps the least understood and most confusing principle in Jeet Kune Do. This principle does not mean choosing, collecting, compiling, or assembling the best techniques from various diverse styles and slapping them together to form a new style. To do so is to miss the point of Jeet Kune Do. Absorbing what is useful is about immersing oneself in style or system and learning and grasping its essence. It is only through a holistic approach that one learns techniques in their proper context. Styles provide more than just mere techniques; they offer training methods, theories, and mental attitudes to name a few. Learning all of these factors allows a student to experience a system (in what Lee would call) its "totality". It is only through its totality that one can "absorb what is useful". Applying what is learned in real combat training situations is what allows the student to figure what works or doesn't work for oneself. It is at this point that one can "discard that which is useless". The critical point of this principle is that the choice of what to keep is based on personal experimentation with various opponents over time. It is not based on how a technique may look or feel or how well one can execute it. In the final analysis if the technique is not beneficial in combat it is discarded. Lee believed that only the individual could come to understand what worked for oneself based on critical self analysis and by "honestly expressing oneself; without lying to oneself".

If people say Jeet Kune Do is different from "this" or from "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

 

[James Kovacich]

I have been told by one that Jeet Kune Do is really not a specific system per se, but rather what you have picked up from various martial arts and believe works for you. Is there any truth to this, or is Jeet Kune Do really a specific system with specific techniques just like any other system.

You could start by reading Big Seans posts here.
http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3408

And then you can see what was taught in Bruce Lees 3 schools and definately answer your question.