JKD Phillosophy and art

[John McNabney]

"Because Lee felt the system he called Jun Fan Gung Fu was too restrictive, it was transformed to what he would come to describe as Jeet Kune Do

Sorry but this is not a true statement as fact. Bruce Lee never called what he did "Jun Fan Gung Fu", his school had that name. Guro Dan Inosanto called it that after Bruce Lee's untimely death. This was because he promised not to teach it to the general public...

[tel]

i believe that you should learn jfjkd as a base, then you can add other arts.
tho this is no longer jfjkd, but your expression of jkd, and therefore should be named something different

[g-bells]

modern JKD practitioners tend to forget that toward the end of his life Bruce was phasing out the use of the term Jeet Kune Do.

"Because Lee felt the system he called Jun Fan Gung Fu was too restrictive, it was transformed to what he would come to describe as Jeet Kune Do or the Way of the Intercepting Fist, a term he would later regret because Jeet Kune Do implied specific parameters that styles connotate whereas the idea of the martial art was to exist outside of parameters and limitations."

That's off wikipedia, not the most reliable source i know but i just wanted something quick to quote. i've read this same thing in other biographies, and it was mentionned in a great biography the history channel did on him.

he spent so much of his time telling people to do it the way that worked for them, then he died and everyone yells "let's all do it like Bruce used to!"

his principals that he developed needed to be called something for others to be able to relate to. there is a stance, ways of attack, the use of your stronger side, use of your closest weapon towards your opponent, etc...
that being said it's up to each individual to develop from there in his/her own way, but the foundation needs to be clear, and any repitable instructor will incourage that and in my oppinion thats what bruce would've expected out of his art

[The_Judo_Jibboo]

modern JKD practitioners tend to forget that toward the end of his life Bruce was phasing out the use of the term Jeet Kune Do.

"Because Lee felt the system he called Jun Fan Gung Fu was too restrictive, it was transformed to what he would come to describe as Jeet Kune Do or the Way of the Intercepting Fist, a term he would later regret because Jeet Kune Do implied specific parameters that styles connotate whereas the idea of the martial art was to exist outside of parameters and limitations."

That's off wikipedia, not the most reliable source i know but i just wanted something quick to quote. i've read this same thing in other biographies, and it was mentionned in a great biography the history channel did on him.

he spent so much of his time telling people to do it the way that worked for them, then he died and everyone yells "let's all do it like Bruce used to!"

[g-bells]

thats the misconception of alot of people, no offence to you , but just because you apply his philosiphy doen't mean that you are doing jkd.
jkd does have a foundation and it's from there were you make it your own, find your own way not the way of your instructor or even bruce lee. one needs to find what works best for him/her and apply it to their training. it may take a life time to find your way, but the journey will be beautiful

[Tim McFatridge]

Hey im wondering would somone be considered following jeet kune do if they followed the principles but never trained in the art? Like bruce allways said being confined to one art isnt good but isnt that what JKD is? One art? But yeh my question, is following the principles and ideas good enough to say that you are learning as how bruce was teaching? I was thinking of it while reading some stuff about bruce lee and thinking of all the arts i've personnally trained in and what i've done with them. well yeh all thoughts appreciated.

The answer to your question in short...NO. You may follow Bruce Lee's philosophy and you may apply his philosophy to your own art or arts that you train in or have trained in...BUT this does not mean that you follow, train in or do JKD. It may be your JKD but it is not the JKD that Bruce Lee taught, created or trained. There is only one way to be considered a follower of Bruce Lee's JKD and that is to train and study JKD. Bruce Lee's JKD consist of more than one art. In the early years you had Bruce Lee's Chinese Gung Fu, then later you had Jun Fan Gung Fu (Bruce Lee Gung Fu) which is a mixture of the arts that Bruce studied while in China and the arts he studied here in America. After Bruce was in America he studied Western Boxing, Kickboxing and Grappling (under Wally Jay and Gene LeBell), then you had Jeet Kune Do (L.A. years).

You can not completely understand JKD unless you train in Bruce Lee's art and first learn and understand Jun Fan as the base/core of JKD. In Jun Fan/JKD everything has economy of motion and everything has a reason behind why they are done.

[The_Judo_Jibboo]

Like bruce allways said being confined to one art isnt good but isnt that what JKD is? One art?

yup, an irony that was not lost on Bruce.
if you're using Bruce's philosophy to train, you can certainly say you're following his teachings, but not necessarily that you're doing JKD.

[kanik]

Hey im wondering would somone be considered following jeet kune do if they followed the principles but never trained in the art? Like bruce allways said being confined to one art isnt good but isnt that what JKD is? One art? But yeh my question, is following the principles and ideas good enough to say that you are learning as how bruce was teaching? I was thinking of it while reading some stuff about bruce lee and thinking of all the arts i've personnally trained in and what i've done with them. well yeh all thoughts appreciated.