Rare, lesser known Bruce Lee Interview

[Kung Fu Boi]

In the Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do Nucleus newsletter, there is an interview Bruce did for the Taiwanese newspaper back in 1972. Bruce explains how philosophy helped him with martial arts but he does say that jkd is a martial art and never says jkd is a philosophy.

link to interview: https://archive.org/details/jfjkd-newsletter-1/JFJKD Newsletter 1/page/n2/mode/1up

 

[Holmejr]

“Absorb what is useful, reject what is not, add what is essentially your own"
Kinda sounds like a philosophy

 

[Kung Fu Boi]

“Absorb what is useful, reject what is not, add what is essentially your own"
Kinda sounds like a philosophy

That is a quote used by Dan Inosanto and I have found nothing in Bruce’s own articles or interviews mentioning that quote or him using it. Also one quote does not necessarily define something. At best, jkd is a martial art that is guided with philosophy to keep it from becoming too fixed. If jkd is a philosophy then Bruce should have said that during the creation of jkd, or in this interview since half of it was on how he got into philosophy. but he made the distinction that jkd is not a philosophy but an art that adapts.

 

[isshinryuronin]

Lee always claimed JKD was not a style and giving it a name was just a convenience. (This sounds like "the Tao you can describe is not the true Tao.")

Execution-wise, IMO it is indeed a style with techniques being done in a certain way and using certain strategies. I think he meant it more philosophically in that your concept of choosing specific techniques should not be limited, nor how you put them together. That fighting should be like water, conforming to the shape of the situation.

He did write to the effect of that putting your personal essence into practiced technique is what makes one an artist.