KMS-JKD Article-Why JKD Isnt

Sometimes it�s easier to tell people what they want to hear rather than what they need to know. While the overall concept or idea of JKD may be great, like any other system of philosophical belief or practice, it isn�t suited for everyone.

Bruce Lee lived, breathed, and dreamed martial arts. It was the love of his life, his passion. While the average person may work out anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or so every day, Bruce immersed himself in martial arts totally, almost twenty-four hours a day. In his television interview with Canadian journalist Pierre Berton, he stated, �As an actor, as a martial artist, as a human being, all these � I have learned from martial art.�

Lee was a martial artist, an athlete, and a scholar. As a martial artist he physically investigated numerous combative systems, methods and techniques, noting their strengths and weaknesses, finding counter-movements to be used against various defences and attacks, testing things things to see if and how well they worked: adapting, modifying and rejecting. As an athlete he was a walking example of superb physical fitness, exhibiting strength, power, speed and flexibility. As a scholar he spent hour upon hour reading and studying about the human body, all forms of combative arts and all types of philosophy, ancient and modern, oriental and occidental.

If Lee�s understanding evolved from these countless hours of rigorous training and study, how can a person who works out two or three times per week for an hour or so each time, and who does nothing or very little the rest of the time, ever hope to truly understand JKD? By understand, I don�t mean merely having an intellectual comprehension of it (theoretical knowledge). Rather, I mean a functional, working knowledge (understanding based upon experience).

Jeet Kune Do is about the total growth of a martial artist; physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Self-knowledge is its foundation. A JKD person needs to know themselves inside out. But not everybody really wants to expend the time and energy necessary to truly know themselves. It�s a heck of a lot of work, and some of it is not comfortable. Coming face to face with ourselves, while it can be liberating, is not always a happy experience. Some people think that they know themselves but in reality only know their strong or good points, refusing to see their weak or bad points. Self-knowledge is a continual process and goes hand-in-hand with self-help. One only has to look around today to see the proliferation of self-help materials available. There are books, tapes, and seminars that are filled with great concepts, ideas, and philosophies on how people can liberate themselves to grow. Yet there are many people out there who are not growing. Why? The answer is simple. Some people aren�t ready or willing to help themselves. They won�t even read or listen to any of this material at all. Others will read or listen, but won�t take any action. And still others will take action, but not enough to be of any real use.

In JKD, one is supposed to develop a �discerning mind�. However, some people prefer to develop a �dependent mind.� It offers them a feeling of security. My instructor, Dan Insoanto, often used to use the analogy, �If you give a man a fish you feed him for one day. But if you teach him how to fish you feed him for life.� The problem is that there are many people who don�t want to learn how to fish for themselves. They prefer to be given a fish every day. Their attitude is, �I don�t want to be told that I have to think for myself, look to myself for the answers, or find the cause of my ignorance. That�s what I pay an instructor for.

Lee stated that one of the reasons he disbanded all of the organised schools of Jeet Kune Do was that he felt that it was very easy for a student to mistake the agenda as the truth and the program as the way.

In order to truly understand and get the most out of Jeet Kune Do, it�s necessary for you to be a martial artist, an athlete, and a scholar, just like Lee. As a martial artist you should study the physical body and all kinds of combative motion. As an athelete you have the responsibility of maintaining a high level of physical fitness. And as a scholar you should explore, research and investigate what has been said and done in the past. The sign of an educated mind is not that one has the knowledge, but that one knows how and where to find the knowledge if one needs it. More than simply reading, however, you should try to apply what you learn in your daily life. It�s important too that you know what your goals and objectives are in the martial arts. Lee knew where he wanted to be physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. If you go into it with vague objectives, you have neither the opportunistic freedom of being able to change direction and follow a different avenue of exploration, nor the firm route planning that will lead you a specific destination.

Some people do not want to see the truth, be it in themselves or the martial arts. JKD is a path to self-liberation, but it is not an easy path. It asks a lot from an individual. As a conceptual approach to martial arts and a philosophy, JKD�s fullest usage can only be realized by someone willing to reach further and delve deeper.