h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello there!
I do a type of martial arts myself. (It's called APG and you can visit the homepage under http://www.apg-kampfsport.de)
I'm afraid that - at least in Berlin, Germany where I live - the name of Jeet Kune Do is misused just to make a lot of money out of Bruce Lee's good name. As you said it in Jeet Kune Do things like spontanity, creativity but also physical fitness are of great importance. A friend of mine visited a Jeet Kune Do-school in Berlin and it hasn't much to do with the original idea of Jeet Kune Do. The instructor was more fat than fit, the students did one punch for a whole lesson. And there was nothing like changing the techniques to make them work for you. It was more like standing and punching without thinking about what you're doing.
I don't think that Bruce Lee would have wanted something like that. But - most worse - these instructors have licenses to teach Jeet Kune Do. So it's really just making money, I think!

Sorry for the delay, I'm on holiday at the moment, so I wasn't anywhere near the net for some time....

Anyway, you're absolutely right about the misuse of Bruce Lee's name...there are always fools who see opportunities to make money out of someone else's hard work...

The last sentence of the "Tao of Jeet Kune Do" is something to the effect that Jeet Kune Do is just a name, and if it's going to be misused, then let the name be destroyed, for that's all it is-a name!
The true expression is from within oneself, since you are the art as well as the artist!

On my way to your site by the way!

Hi Omnicron!
So... how is your holiday ?

I understand what you mean by saying the name is just a name. But I think this is not the way it works in society.Most people do things - no matter if it is sport or art or something else - just because it sounds cool. You know, to make them look good in front of their friends. That's at least the experience I made. I just told you that I'm learning APG. It's a new type of martial arts and in some ways it's like Jeet Kune Do. But we are very few pupils because most people want to do something like Karate or Taekwando just because people know that sports. So I'm afraid what counts for most people is only the name and not what it's all about.
But maybe these people wouldn't understand the idea behind something like Jeet Kune Do even if they were doing it.

Anyway, do you practise Jeet Kune Do yourself ? Or how do you know so much about it ?
Lena

Hello fellow martial artists.
I am a student of Jeet kune do in the u.k in kettering.
I would like to say that as martial arts go jeet kune do is the most beneficial.
In my school the name of bruce lee's jeet kune do is not at all misused. We respect bruce's teachings and follow his principals.
But we also use what works for us. We do not do exactly what bruce did because that worked for bruce and may not work for me.
The basic principals are still there. We incorporate many styles including wing chun, muay thai, savate, brazilian jui jitsu and eskrima to name but a few.
As with a lot of martial arts there good and bad points and we generally absourbe the useful and discard the useless.
I agree that the name jeet kune do is just a name. it is really what works most efficiently for the artist.That is JKD.
It doesnt mean you have to scream like bruce did, this was his way of doing it.
My instructor is quite good friends with Richard bustillo, danny inosanto, and ted wong to name just a few.
He says that they all have there own way of practising, their styles of JKD are all different but the basic foundations are there. They use what works for them, what they find most effective.
I am very lucky to have my instructor (His name is Andy Gibney) as he does not abuse the name JKD, like a lot of people are doing these days.
I see jeet kune do as a journey. Not everyone will follow the same path like a lot of styles do, Each person is different, and it is that uniqeness that makes JKD so effective and enjoyable.
I hope some of you have seen my point.
I look foward to a reply with more intersting points that i may have missed.
Justin

in kettering?? i go to oakham school, which is kind of near there. I was considering taking it up, but wasn't sure what i'd be getting into. Could you give me some idea of how it all works, and who i should contact if i wanted to get into it. What sort of money are we talking as well, cos i'd be paying 4 it myself. cheers.

Hi all,

I myself am a student of JKD under Sifu Dave Carnell in Stoke-on-Trent. What I find unique (and why I have stayed with JKD) is that you do come out of a lesson thinking about what you have learnt, and I think that is the most important thing. I am fortunate to have a school so close to me.

Regards,

Steven

I am a big fan of Bruce Le's teachings, but have never taken lessons, more read the Tao and have it to hand as a useful tool of instruction.

I think the JKD way (Bruce never intended it to be a singular style, unlike most other martial arts) was the prelim to a lot of today's MMA, for better or worse. It was a brave thing for Bruce to do, as bickering between arts, and even internal bickering between masters and schools about "who was best" was a constant wall in the way of martial arts evolution, and Bruce made a point of developing a system of training where no one style or art was exclusive to the student - now seen more and more in contemporary martial arts as "mixed martial arts" fighters.

The JKD way, as far as I interpret it anyway, was for the individual to take what works for them from whichever system, sytle or art they like, and ignore what doesn't. There are some amazing exponents of these ways that fight in no holds barred and UFC championships, which I agree is good for the fighter, but the not the baying cavemen in the audience (shoudl I count myself in on that as a TV viewer?), who only want to see blood - the only way to know how good you are is to pit yourself against someone else of equal calibre; but always remain humble and respectful of your opponent.

Of course the ultimate reason for learning a martial art is how to avoid getting into a fight in the first place. Turning the other cheek and walking away from idiots is always a better alternative than fighting; no one gets hurt. Of course, if you are cornered then you are trained to deal with the situation where the last resort is violence, adn if comes to that, the minimum needed to avoid injury to either party.

Hollywood movies, TV violence and the mass media should all be blamed for the bad name of martial arts as the stronghold of "psychos" and "nutters", but as a paradox no-one whould know about them and Bruce Lee may never have had the impact he had were it not for them. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

So you ask "who the hell are you to tel me all this?". The answer - well, nobody really, these are just opinions, and others will disagree, some will never agree, but without opinion there is no evolution.

As to what I have studied; I am a 1st Dan Shotokan Karate, 10+ years of Muay Thai, 1 year studying Ju-Jitsu (but never grading - after my karate stint as a young teenager I came to dislike the idea of grading) and have a splattering of Capoeira, 2+ years of western boxing and kick boxing and about 2 months worth of Wing Chun Kung Fu. Bit of a mixed bag.

im a huge bruce lee fan and i read his jkd book
jkd can be best described as this:
bruce lee took a bunch of martial arts, mixed em up
and simplified his mixture into nothing
therefore nothing can be everything

be like water my friends!