Jeet Kune Do is defined as the complete body of technical and philosophical knowledge that was studied and taught by Bruce Lee during his lifetime. It is concerned solely and exclusively with Bruce Lee's personal evolution and process of self-discovery through martial arts, as supported by written record and oral recollections (by those students who spent time with and/or studied under him).
A distinction is made between this body of work (Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do), and the individual student's own personal process of self discovery through the martial art, as each student is free to use all, some or none of Bruce Lee's teachings to assist him. Jeet Kune Do accepts you as you are and is not about setting up restrictions or "Ways" of doing things - it seeks to be a source of inspiration and delight for those who possess an interest in Bruce Lee, and the martial viewpoints that he created.
For our modern day purposes, Jeet Kune Do is the name we now use to describe those techniques and strategies that Bruce Lee developed and more important, employed, over his lifetime. Of course, he would have continued to improve on the Jeet Kune Do arsenal, modifying certain things, discarding others. But that is not for us to decide.
As a further delineation and for historical purposes, to preserve Bruce Lee’s art and the contributions he made to the fighting arts, those techniques that originated from the source - Bruce Lee - now fall under the Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do name.
In the following scene from "Longstreet" (1971), Jeet Kune Do is lucidly explained by its founder, the late Bruce Lee himself.
Core Concepts
The core concepts of Jeet Kune Do are:
- Simplicity
- Directness
- Non-classical
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| The need for Bruce Lee to refer to his martial process in a concrete way led to the birth of Jeet Kune Do. |
Combat Realism
Jeet Kune Do is training and discipline towards the ultimate reality in combat. This focus differentiates Jeet Kune Do from "sport-oriented" martial arts that gear towards point systems. Bruce Lee believed that these systems were "artificial" and did not accurately reflect real world situations, since these sports incorporated too many rules that could disastrously handicap a martial artist in an actual self defense situation.
Interception
The essence of Jeet Kune Do, interception, is to reply an opponent's attack with an attack of your own instead of a simple block. This strategy is an essential component of European épée fencing. In Jeet Kune Do, interception is expressed in the form of stop hits and stop kicks. These tools utilize the principle of economy of motion by combining attack and defense into one movement, thus minimizing the "time" element.
The Four Ranges of Combat
- Kicking
- Punching
- Trapping
- Grappling
The Five Ways of Attack
Towards the later years of his life, Bruce Lee began to teach and make notes on combative techniques that he termed as the "Five Ways of Attack":
- Simple Angular Attack (SAA)
- Immobilizing Attack (IA)
- Progressive Indirect Attack (PIA)
- Attack by Combination (ABC)
- Attack by Drawing (ABD)
The techniques and the nomenclature were heavily influenced by Lee's research into fencing. They are categories which help
Jeet Kune Do practitioners organize their fighting repertoire.
A Style Without Style
"I have not invented a 'new style', composite, modified or otherwise that is set within distinct form as apart from "this" method or "that" method. On the contrary, I hope to free my followers from clinging to styles, patterns, or molds.
A Jeet Kune Do man who says JKD is exclusively JKD is simply not with it.
He is still hung up on his self-closing resistance, in this case anchored down to reactionary pattern, and naturally is still bound by another modified pattern... He has not digested the simple fact that truth exists outside all molds; pattern and awareness is never exclusive... Jeet Kune Do is just a name used, a boat to get one across, and once across it is to be discarded and not to be carried on one's back."
- Bruce Lee, on the process of creating Jeet Kune Do.
