1. Jeet Kune Do is a concept that does not have tangible techniques.
This is a very prevalent myth that is largely kept alive by “JKD Concepts” and the misinterpretation of “Using no way as way.” Bruce Lee’s JKD does, in fact, utilize specific concepts and value sets in the art of combat. The approach emphasizes liberation from the confines of “style”, however one must keep in mind that it was Bruce Lee’s martial art and therefore, the specific techniques he was practicing and developing provide the tangible foundation of his fighting method.
The idea of creating a hodgepodge of techniques from various martial arts and deciding that “this is what works for me”, then calling it JKD is absolutely preposterous. It is true that my Jeet Kune Do will look different from your Jeet Kune Do, but this is not necessarily due to any difference in technique, but rather to a difference in the way that those techniques are utilized. For example, someone with a longer reach may prefer to stay at a distance using long range weapons and elusive footwork whereas a person with a stockier build may prefer to close the gap and blast away at short range.
Giving credit to the founder’s efforts, there is a certain universality of human biomechanics and combative psychology that keep the JKD techniques and strategies from requiring much further, if any, modification.
2. Jeet Kune Do is a form of modified Wing Chun.
Much like the first myth, this misunderstanding of JKD is largely based on Bruce Lee’s early Jun Fan Gung Fu days when his fighting methodology was primarily based on his Wing Chun background. As his understanding and experience increased, Bruce Lee continued to shave away at the Wing Chung base of his approach, evolving his martial art into something entirely different keeping only very simplified vestiges of the Wing Chun influence.
An additional point of confusion here can be seen in the corroborated reports of his private students, in that the material being taught to his “backyard” class was quite different from the heavily Wing Chun based training at his schools. Although we may never know why he did this, I presume it is because he was using his private students as part of his Jeet Kune Do laboratory and therefore chose not to publicly teach his prototypical stuff that was still in development.
3. Jeet Kune Do is a blend of Western Boxing, Fencing, Wing Chun and other martial arts.
This myth stems from the fact that Bruce Lee was researching and analyzing different martial arts in order to broaden his own understanding. The Tao of Jeet Kune Do along with his other posthumously published works make numerous references to various fighting systems. Bruce Lee was very methodical and to say that JKD is an early mixed martial art is like saying that humans are a blend of various apes. Sure, humans may share a large amount of genetic material and a prehistoric ancestry with apes, but we evolved separately much like JKD shares certain elements with other fighting arts, but evolved separately.–
Nhan-Esteban Khuong, L.Ac.
www.SGVJeetKuneDo.com
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