The truth of JKD finally revealed!

[simplicity]

I agree and disagree with this last statement. Yes, Jeet Kune Do is about you discovery you or you looking in a mirror and reflecting on what you see. Now I have trained with many OBLS and I'm a 2nd Generation Instructor. I peronally believe there a sound "Principles" that teaches us the structure of foundation that makes up JKD. The problem is where us Instructor teach "THEIR" third stage of cultvation. Which is dissolving the principles that one has learned. When JKD is learned in this matter, you'll find yourself or the root to your own ignorance. But don't teach your student where "IT" has taking you. Only the first two stages!

1) Learn The Principles
2) Abide By The Principles
3) Dissolve The Principles


Great Training To Everyone, Have A Great Weekend

John McNabney

 

[James Kovacich]

I dont think Jeet Kune Do should even exist...or at least not have been given a name but i guess thats imossible. Its a concept to live your martial art by and someone else trying to teach you THEIR own personal martial arts is...lacking of your OWN content. why put someone elses practices to use if they only work for them? let alone study them religiously..its so hard to find a true martial artist around here. in AUS anyway.....why does there have to be a turth to "JKD" that needs to be revealed. If you wish to reveal the truth of it then study yourself

Being someone with a connection to the Oakland school I can understand "why" in your part of the world "you" see what "you" do. This isn't a shot at you. I just know there is more than meets the eye.

 

[James Kovacich]

I agree and disagree with this last statement. Yes, Jeet Kune Do is about you discovery you or you looking in a mirror and reflecting on what you see. Now I have trained with many OBLS and I'm a 2nd Generation Instructor. I peronally believe there a sound "Principles" that teaches us the structure of foundation that makes up JKD. The problem is where us Instructor teach "THEIR" third stage of cultvation. Which is dissolving the principles that one has learned. When JKD is learned in this matter, you'll find yourself or the root to your own ignorance. But don't teach your student where "IT" has taking you. Only the first two stages!

1) Learn The Principles
2) Abide By The Principles
3) Dissolve The Principles


Great Training To Everyone, Have A Great Weekend

John McNabney

Whats up bro?
James

 

[simplicity]

Whaz up my Brother!


John

 

[Atlanta-Kenpo]

I am by no means a expert on JKD although I do have some (very little)experience with the system since I train and Francis Fongs place for about a year. I am a Ed Parker American Kenpo guy (since 1991) and JKD and EPAK felt the very similar to me during my training. My take on that is that EPAK is what I have always trained in and no matter what I do that muscle memory will always come out in my motion. Dr Ron Chapel has stated on several occasion on the EPAK board that EPAK and JKD are very similar from a concept point of view and to that I agree. That makes sense to me since Bruce Lee and Ed Parker did share quite a bit of training time together. From what I gather about JKD it is all about bringing the best out of yourself and that is no different they any other art.

Anyhow, my point that I am trying to make here is this. JKD and Kenpo do have something even more similar and that it the politics/bs. I have read this entire poost and I could have swore I was on the EPAK board. Some people look at Bruce Lee the same way that they did Ed Parker and just as Bruce Lee taught different people differnt stuff so did Ed Parker Anyhow, I guess now that MMA and BJJ are hip when the Gracies died there will be the same politics within that group as well. It is such a shame because so much more could be gained from ourselves without all the bs.

 

[simplicity]

I agree that there may be BS in both method's, from people in both. But trust me EPAK is nothing like Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do, thats a pretty bold statement there. There were alot of Ed's student that jumped boat to train with Bruce Lee. They call them "Turn Coats" back in the day, Bob Bremer, Dan Inosanto, Jerry Poteet, Peter Jacobs, Steve Golden, Daniel Lee. To name a few. The arts are like night and day. Thought Bruce Lee and Ed Parker were friends that for sure.


Have A Great Weekend and Good Training Too

John McNabney

 

[Zaose]

Going to have to agree with Simplicity - I have a black belt in Kenpo and it isn't at all the same as JKD.

Yes, similar principles on certain things, and some techniques appear to be simililar - but once you understand the underlying structure and principles behind them, you come to realize they are, as Simplicity stated, "Night and day".

 

[James Kovacich]

I think that the similaries they see are the trapping but the trapping isn't the same either. It's good but the footwork messes it up.

 

[angelariz]

For those who haven't read Teri Tom's book, "The Straight Lead: The Core of Bruce Lee's Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do", I would strongly recommend it. She is a board member of the Bruce Lee Foundation and long time student of, and certified instructor under, Ted Wong (the man who spent more personal time with Bruce than any of the other original students).

First a quote from Bruce on JKD: "Only one of 10,000 can handle it. It is complete martial art. Complete offensive attacks. It is silly to think almost anyone can learn it."

Ted Wong asked Bruce what he meant in that quote. Bruce said that most people lack the discipline to learn the simple techniques found in JKD, and keep practicing those techniques over and over and over again, knowing that you will never achieve true perfection. Bruce said the average martial arts student is more confident in learning stances, punches, and set patterns of attack and defense. But when it comes time to use this in a real fight, they are defeated by their own "classical mess".

Here are some things from the book that reveal the truth of JKD. After reading, you will understand that most of the schools claiming to teach JKD today are completely bogus. In fact, in reading the first statement you can see that one of the most famous JKD "instructors" has bastardized Bruce's system.

"JKD is NOT kali, escrima, or "27" arts"

For over 30 years, certain so-called JKD instructors have been teaching techniques that were never developed or practiced by Bruce Lee. In some cases, they have taken certain arts like kali and escrima, and misrepresented them as JKD. Nowhere in Bruce Lee's writings will you find notes on kali or escrima techniques. In fact, nowhere in Bruce Lee's private notes will you find an in-depth analysis of any arts other than Western fencing and boxing, and in earlier years, Wing Chun. If he briefly mentioned other arts, it was to understand their strengths and shortcomings, so that he could find ways to defeat them. There is no such thing as "JKD blend", as some instructors have claimed.

"JKD is not Wing Chun"

JKD is NOT a modified version of Wing Chun, as some have misrepresented it. Yes, Bruce initially studied Wing Chun. But remember, this was early in his development as a fighter. Anyone who's seen backyard training footage of Bruce knows that, by the late 60's, he'd traded his Wing Chun dummy for the heavy bag.

As noted in a letter to William Cheung (note: she is referring to a letter mentioned in an earlier part of the book), Bruce had stopped practicing Wing Chun by 1967. Some Wing Chun instructors like to claim that Wing Chun is the foundation of Jeet Kune Do and that Bruce merely expanded upon it. WRONG! He had all but abandoned it. Its shortcomings are what forced him to look for a completely different way of fighting. All of this is clearly documented in Bruce's letter to Cheung. JKD is different from Wing Chun structurally, mechanically, the footwork, etc.

"JKD is not boxing"

While Bruce may have discarded Wing Chun for the western arts of fencing and boxing, JKD is not a simplified version of those arts either. To the untrained eye, it may appear as though Jeet Kune Do is nothing more than a fancy name for boxing or kickboxing. This is a common misconception not helped by the fact that, for years, certain people have been teaching what is essentially kickboxing and passing it off as JKD. A few of the things seperating JKD from boxing/kickboxing is the stance, strong side forward, thumbs up punching techniques, range of fighting, etc.

"Having No Form" versus Having "No-Form"

Over the years many have misinterpreted Bruce's words regarding "no way as way". They practice and teach whatever and then call it JKD. As a result, the actual techniques that Bruce developed are being lost. Failure to master the basic laws of leverage, body position, balance, footwork, and so forth is what Bruce termed "having no form". In other words, ignorance. "No-form", on the other hand, is that level of executing techniques to such perfection that doing so no longer requires thought. (As in the quote from Enter The Dragon..."when there is an opening, I do not hit, it hits all by itself").

JKD is both a philosophy AND a system that Bruce continued to refine until his untimely death. Over the years, some have misinterpreted Bruce's words regarding personal expression to mean "anything goes"-that by taking a little bit of this and a little of that from many different arts, they are then practicing JKD. Ironically, this leads to the very surface knowledge and mechanical conditioning that Bruce was railing against.

And for further evidence of Bruce being against the incorporation of other arts into his JKD system, refer to page 50 of Commentaries on the Martial Way and read the tale of X and Y. That was taken from a letter written by Bruce to his student Jerry Poteet, who wanted to mix JKD drills with kenpo karate. Obviously, Bruce objected.

Terri Tom wrote one book most of the guys didn't read..
Guro Dan has written volumes that all jkd players study. Terri Tom goes by TW JKD. Ted Wong only learned what Sijo taught him. He didn't explore other arts. Therefore in my opinion this post is disrespectful to people like my Sifu Paul Vunak that went out and fought fought fought, real street fights and encouraged us to explore arts with other coaches and fight many people.
Who did Terri Tom fight? Where did she put her *** on the line in the streets ?

Sifu Paul Vunak put in work and has a real street rep. Ask anyone that rolls or has rolled with PFS. I take my history of JKD from Guro Dan's students and PFS instructors world wide that test the systems against other arts like BJJ, Catch Wrestlers, Boxers, Judo, Karate, Japanese Ju Jutsu, Eskrima, Kali, Fencing....yes we train against and learn from players of many disciplines because the truth of combat is NOT FOUND in Terri Tom's book. It comes from training and fighting with fighters.