This is the final part of a series dealing with numerous misperceptions that exist today with regard to the art and philosophy of Jeet Kune Do. You will note some correlation between several of the various misperceptions, which is to be expected.
JKD is mere 'Eclecticism'
Many people have the misperception that JKD is simply a bunch of separate elements and techniques from various martial styles and systems such as Wing Chun gung fu, Western boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, and other arts loosely conjoined together to create some sort of “chop suey” martial art. They misinterpret what Bruce was doing and claim that he was simply being eclectic. That's not the case at all. Eclecticism in martial arts is simply the random stockpiling of techniques according to an individual’s fleeting fancy or personal tastes. While Bruce Lee may have been eclectic in his approach, he was extremely selective when it came to deciding what to add to his personal martial art arsenal. He didn’t add something simply for the sake of adding it; whatever he chose had to fit into his personal structure -- it had to interrelate to everything else he was doing and serve a useful purpose. If Lee found something that he felt was useful or valid in what he was doing and that he believed enhanced his overall structure and personal performance, he would analyze, test it, and if necessary, modify it before absorbing it. It might be a physical technique, combative principle or some form of training method. Hence one often used to hear Dan Inosanto tell the class such things as, “Keep in mind that while JKD has the element of [hand] trapping in it, you are not a “Wing Chun” person; while it has the element of boxing, you’re not a boxer.”
JKD is all about taking the best from all different martial arts
This relates to the previous misperception about eclecticism. Some people say that Bruce Lee took the “best” of this martial art and the “best” from that art. But again, that’s not what he did. And when it comes to martial art techniques or actions, what exactly is the “best”? What does that mean? What metric does one use in judging or deciding what the “best” is? What might appear to the best strike or armlock or hand immobilization action in one instance may not necessarily be the best in another instance. A technique or action that works well for one person, may, depending on certain factors such as speed, power, flexibility, psychological make-up, be less effective or even non-functional for another. The point is that the so-called “best” is a fixed ideal; something static. However, combat is never fixed or static, but always unpredictable and dynamic.
JKD’s evolution ended when Bruce Lee passed away
Some people have stated in articles and interviews that they feel that JKD stopped evolving when Bruce Lee died or shortly thereafter because he was no longer around to evolve it. Personally, I believe this is more a case that the person making the statement feels JKD did not evolve the way they feel or believe it should have. First, we need to define what we mean by the term “evolve.” According to the dictionary “evolve” is defined as “to develop gradually, especially from a simple to a more complex form… “to change or develop slowly often into a better, more complex, or more advanced state.”
When we discussing ‘evolving’ as it applies to JKD, we’re not talking about the mere accumulation or adding-on of different techniques, or the never-ending studying of multiple different systems or styles of martial arts. Refinement through the removal of non-essentials is also an important element in the evolution of JKD. We’re talking about evolving in terms of staying up to date with modern training methods and increasing one’s knowledge and understanding of various separate elements that exist with the totality of the art such as striking, grappling, etc. We’re talking about evolving by maintaining the same attitude and mindset and using the same rigorous thought processes Bruce applied to his own research and investigation. The fact of the matter is that JKD has always been in a process of evolution (at least for some people that is).
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