What is Jeet Kung Do ? One Man's answer I hope you enjoy!

The Real meaning of Jeet Kung Do!!




The Tao of Jeet Kune Do Film Presented by Alessandro Sorbello http://www.alessandrosorbello.com The Tao of Jeet Kune Do is a book expressing Bruce Lee's martial arts philosophy and viewpoints. It was published posthumously (after Bruce Lee's death in 1973). The book was not written by him; instead it was assembled by various people based upon a core set of writings and disparate notes that were left behind after Lee's death. The project for this book began in 1970 when Bruce Lee suffered a back injury during one of his practice sessions. During this time he could not practice martial arts. He was ordered by his doctors to lie flat on his back for 6 months in order to recover from his injury. This was a very tiring and dispiriting time for Lee who was always very physically active.




It was during his convalescence that he decided to compile a treatise on the system or approach to martial arts that he was developing; which he called Jeet Kune Do. The bulk of these writings would become the "core set of writings". Many of these writings were done during a single session which provided natural continuity. Lee had also kept various notes throughout the development of his combat philosophy and these would become the disparate notes used in the book.



Many of these notes were "sudden inspirations" which were incomplete and lacked any kind of a construct. The combination of the "Core set of writings" and the "disparate notes" would be known as the text "The Tao of Jeet Kune Do".



In 1971 it was Lee's intent to finish the treatise that he had started during his convalescence. However, his film career and work prevented him from doing so. He also vacillated about publishing his book as he felt that this work might be used for the wrong purposes. Lee's intent in writing the book was to record one man's way of thinking about the martial arts. It was to be a guidebook not a set of instructions or "How to" manual to learn martial arts.



In 1975, after Bruce Lee's death his widow Linda Lee Cadwell decided to make available the information her husband had collected. Lee's untimely death changed the perspective of releasing the information that Bruce Lee had vacillated about. The "core writings" and various notes were put together in a logical fashion by various editors. The main editor was Gilbert L. Johnson. Johnson along with Linda Lee, Dan Inosanto and other students of Bruce Lee helped him understand Jeet Kune Do well enough to editorialize and organize Lee's material into a coherent text.



The book is dedicated to: The Free, Creative Martial Artist. Linda Lee Cadwell holds the copyright to the book. The book is attributed to Bruce Lee as his notes and work were used to compile the book. It is important to understand that although Lee's material was utilized it was NOT organized by him; therefore Bruce Lee was not strictly its author.



2006 edition - In 1975 this book was available in Hardback; subsequent editions have been available in paperback form only. Hardback editions have been scarcely available from such sources as eBay which typically fetch high prices and usually do not include the much sought after dust jacket. In 2006, Black Belt Magazine offered this book in hardback form, on a 500-copy Limted Collector's Edition; the book is personally signed by Bruce Lee's widow Linda Lee Cadwell and their daughter Shannon Lee.



Jeet Kune Do "Way of the Intercepting Fist"), also Jeet Kun Do or JKD, is a martial arts system developed by martial artist and actor Bruce Lee.



In 2004, the Bruce Lee Foundation decided to use the name Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do to refer to the martial arts system that Lee founded. "Jun Fan" was Lee's Chinese given name, so the literal translation is "Bruce Lee's Way of the Intercepting Fist."



Jeet Kune Do (JKD) is the name Bruce Lee gave to his combat philosophy in 1967. Originally, when Lee began researching various fighting styles, he gave his martial art his own name of Jun Fan Gung Fu. However not wanting to create another style that would share the limitations that all styles have, he instead gave us the process that created it.



JKD as it survives today --if one wants to view it "refined" as a product, not a process -- is what was left at the time of Bruce Lee's death. It is the result of the life-long martial arts development process Lee went through. Bruce Lee stated that his concept is not an "adding to" of more and more things on top of each other to form a system, but rather, a winnowing out. The metaphor Lee borrowed from Chan Buddhism was of constantly filling a cup with water, and then emptying it, used for describing Lee's philosophy of "casting off what is useless". He also used the sculptor's mentality of beginning with a lump of clay

and hacking away at the "unessentials"; the end result was what he considered to be the bare combat essentials, or JKD.





Jeet Kune Do vs. Kung fu (Traditional)

Jet li fight...using Jeet Kune Do ( Bruce Lee style) with a other fighter using traditional Kung fu