Jeet Kune Do

Martialartist · White Belt

Well, I just read the last topic, which said that JKD is a style. Not true. Anyways, I thought I would go ahead and put down some Bruce's quotes, to explain what JKD actually is. I hope this helps in its understanding.

"One can function freely if he is "beyond system." The man who is really serious, with the urge to find out what truth is, has no style at all. He lives only in what is"

"If any style teaches you a method of fighting, then you might be able to fight according to the limit of that method, but that is not actually fighting."

"If you meet the unconventional attack, such as one delivered with broken rhythem with your chosen patterns of rhythimical classical blocks, your defense and counter attack will always be lacking pliability and aliveness."

""""JET KUNE DO FAVORS FORMLESSNESS SO THAT IT CAN ASSUME ALL FORMS AND, SINCE IT HAS NO STYLE, JEET KUNE DO FITS WITH ALL STYLES. AS A RESULT, JEET KUNE DO USES ALL WAYS AND IS BOUND BY NONE AND, LIKEWISE, USES ANY TECHNIQUE OR MEANS WHICH SERVES ITS END. IN THIS ART, EFFICIENCY IS ANYTHING THAT SCORES""""

"""""IF PEOPLE SAY JEET KUNE DO IS DIFFERENT FROM 'THIS' OR 'THAT,' THEN LET THE NAME OF JEET KUNE DO BE WIPED OUT, FOR THAT IS WHAT IT IS, JUST A NAME. PLEASE DON'T FUSS OVER IT."""""

Those are some of Bruce's quotes that I think best expain JKD.

Shotokan_Fighter · Green Belt

read the book tao of jeet kune do, that is a good book
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"When I fight, I fight with my heart,and soul. My heart, and soul is Shotokan Karate."
Shotokan_fighters creed
"karate has to come natural in a fight, if you have to think about using karate in a fight, you will loose the fight"

3rd kyu brown belt - shotokan karate

sansoouser · Purple Belt

what exactly is JKD?
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The amateur shoots his hands out ferociously, but lacks any true power. A master is not so flamboyant, but his touch is as heavy as a mountain.

Prodigal Son · Orange Belt

Is it just me, or are so many of the quotes from Tao Of JKD bursting with Eastern Promise, nominalisations and fantastic vagueness ? Not the ones in that Martialartist posted btw, which I thought were very well chosen...

Maybe I'm just stupid, but so much of that book can be taken in whatever way works for the reader on the day. Perhaps that's the point of it, I dunno. I'm not saying that it's not a good book with plenty of good info (before I get burnt at the stake here for such heresy), but lots of it means whatever you want it to mean. Blah blah. Anway...

So what IS JKD ?
The problem that I have seen with several of the JKD fighters who have crossed my path, is that they seem to think that an absence of solid training is an advantage. They stay stuff like "I'm not bound by the rules (of actually KNOWING anything), and so I can fight without restrictions..."

Maybe so - but then why do they always get slapped when they come to our class ? The reason JKD worked for Bruce is that he ALREADY knew enough about Wing Chun (and whatever else) to bend the rules and get away with it.

Once you completely understand the way that, for example, a San Soo fighter works, then it is easy enough to beat him. But if you don't know, then you will be at his mercy - because you will only find out how he works by getting some horrible punishment.

I feel that JKD is an excellent ideology for those who are already advanced fighters within their own styles, but for those who take it on as an 'art' in itself, it seems to me to be a hotchpotch of partial knowledge which gives them a dangerous false sense of security. "Bruce did it, so it must work..." Yes - but Bruce knew so much more about so much more LONG before he wrote Tao of JKD, and that background is essential to making JKD work against real fighters.

Don't forget that most good martial arts work very well indeed against those who don't understand them. Go on the mat with an Aikido master, knowing less than he does, and be 'unrestricted'. And trust me, he will smash you up - in a very peaceful and aesthetic way, of course ;-). It is what the opponent does not know that ultimately allows us to destroy him.

Once again folks, just an opinion - no offence to anyone intended. :-)

You must know it ALL before deciding what can be ignored. (Prodigal Son)
>>>PS<<<
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Self-defense is only an illusion, a dark cloak beneath which lurks a razor-sharp dagger waiting to be plunged into the first unwary victim. Sifu Wong.

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