Misconceptions in Jeet Kune Do
Interpretive Problems with Bruce Lee’s Fighting Style
It is apparent through Linda Lee and his Tao of Jeet Kune Do (JKD) that it was not meant to become a topic to be argued about. Bruce Lee remarked that JKD’s purpose was to “discover the cause of ignorance”. Because martial arts have always been tangible as a style to Westerners in the past, people have managed to do awful things with Lee’s work.
Many martial artists claim to practice JKD, naming themselves either physical or theoretical practitioners of JKD. Bruce’s ideas have been used in many clever ways, but sometimes the use of JKD comes dangerously close to what Bruce always meant to avoid. While it is fairly difficult to describe what JKD is, following are some of the things it is definitely not.
Martial Arts Style
Bruce Lee repeatedly states that movements that are practiced over and over, memorized until they could be performed “in your sleep” are dangerous. They ask a person to become mechanical. As a result, JKD outlines places that can be attacked and certain situations. Attempts have been made to compile these “tools” Bruce writes about and make them more mechanical, as something that is learned.
While his writings do include pieces of movement that can be used to close distance, block, or even counter, the point is to see these movements as possibilities, not “pieces of a puzzle”, as several websites remark. The idea of defining movement as a part of a greater whole automatically makes it a necessity. Another way of saying it is a thing that must be “done in a certain situation”; just as a puzzle piece is needed for a specific time and place.
It has been remarked that Bruce said “I have not created a style…”
Form
Many individuals “study” JKD, by practicing a specific slant of JKD.
These people acknowledge that JKD was meant to be without form and adaptable. These practitioners wanted to create a study that had certain elements of what was written in Lee’s work. What they were missing was the idea that JKD is something that adapts with need, and is created by each individual from their personality. Whereas his writings are meant to convey ideas Bruce found useful, they are in no way an instruction manual.
It is okay to take seriously the idea of striking, and using Bruce’s writing to incorporate positive changes in your own style. But what these gentlemen were doing was making rules that “couldn’t be broken” from Bruce’s writing, and practicing them until something that had form emerged.
And while the example used was physical, this difference must be noted theoretically as well.
One Correct Answer
There are groups of people who practice JKD and assume their way is correct, and more pure. JKD is about learning what can be improved, and anytime falsifies this by staking claim to a set way of doing things, this automatically strays from the types of ideas Bruce Lee wanted to instill in his followers.
Entirely Theoretical
Some JKD theorists simply study Bruce Lee’s writing as a philosophy, whereas the he was trying to teach something that was more interactive than simply thought. JKD is about freeing the mind of constraints, and adopting a way of life and using the ideas to take action. This doesn’t necessarily mean that studying JKD is wrong, but it doesn’t follow the intention of JKD.
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