Jeet kune do problems?

Question

Ok, you see, I want to start jkd after about 3 years of taekwondo. I know it is a philosophy and not a style, but I am getting confused because people keep saying jkd can't be taught because it is not a style.

So is it silly for me to start jeet kune do? If someone asks me which martial art I do, do I say "I study the philosophical aspects of all martial arts", or can I just say "I do jkd"?

ps I also think that jkd HAS become a style, and it is impossible to prevent it since it is unlikely everybody will start studying martial arts philosophy.

pps Now that I think about it, shouldn't I just be able to say "I do jkd" even if it is not a style? Since if jkd=philosophy or jkd=mma or whatever the modern meaning is, saying jkd is the same thing!

By the way, I was wondering, if Bruce Lee didn't mean to make a system, then why did he give it a name?

Answer 1

First of all, technically, JKD is not really a martial arts style. It's more of a sytem of training for martial artists. So to say you are taking up JKD will just be like saying you are taking up a self defense training program. It's basically a complete self defense training program that's customized for you and your body type. You can say you're taking up JKD and still be doing TKD since you can apply JKD principles while studying TKD. You don't stop doing TKD just because you wanna take up JKD, you merely tweak your TKD arsenal and get rid of what you think is useless for you and try to add on other techniques from any other art to supplement your TKD skills and make yourself a well rounded fighter. As for the name, Bruce himself said " 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.........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."


Edit: As to your question of why he bothered to give it a name, you must understand that Bruce Lee was a U.S. born chinese raised in Hong Kong, he spoke cantonese before he learned to speak english, if some one came up to him and asked him what style of fighting he trained in, his first instinct is to answer in cantonese. "Jeet Kune Do" is cantonese meaning "Way of the intercepting fist." So if Bruce had been an american who spoke only english and someone came up to him asking him the same question, his answer would be: "I train in how to intercept fists, you can call it "The way of intercepting fist." Of course he also planned to take on students and teach them his training method so calling it "The Way of the Intercepting Fist" would be too long and not very practical, Jeet Kune Do was shorter and more convenient.

Answer 2

Jeet Kune Do translates to 'Way of intercepting fist'. It is a mixture of all martial arts. What Mr. Lee created was not a set style. He incorporated many things into it. It is true that in this day and era JKD is becoming a style. But that is not what Mr. Lee wanted. JKD was designed to be universal. To take from different MA's and make it your own. But due to the MA's becoming commercialized, the same thing is unfortionatley happening to JKD. For there are only certain people, certified through Mr. Lee himself to teach this way of fighting. Many claim to know JKD, but most of them are knock offs, since they have become commercialized. I have been studying MA's for nearly 15 years now and if I had a chance to study Mr. Lees JKD, I would do it in a heart beat. When looking into studying that, see where the instructors got their certification at.
http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~chenj/brucelee/brucelee.html
http://www.bruceleefoundation.com/index900.html
These 2 sites, especially the 2nd one, should give you all the info you could need on JKD

Answer 3

Bruce Lee once said the biggest mistake was giving it a name. But I believe it has turned into a style although some of the members that teach it that has been taught directly under Lee himself still press the philisophical side about it. They just choose not to add or subtract anything that they know Bruce Lee was training at the time. But you can say you practice JKD, saying that would cover saying you practice both a style and/or a philosophy.

Answer 4

The problem with his idea of a non style was that as soon as someone began to practice using his methods exclusively it becomes a style.
His intent was to take his concepts and apply it to what you were already in to not abandon your style .Many were succesful at this whilew those who professed to teach JKD exclusively dissapeared.
They forget LEE trained for 15 or 20 yrs prior to formulating his ideas.You might say JKD is wing chun using LEE's concepts as he held on to many of the practice methods of that style so he didn't abandon it entirely.