Note - The following is the final part of an article I wrote "MAKING BRUCE LEE’S NOTES WORK FOR YOU" which appeared in the August 1999 issue of Martial Arts Illustrated. My goal when I wrote this article was (and still is) to help people to understand how Bruce Lee's notes might be beneficial and helpful to them in their own growth as a martial artist.
Part 3
The third step is to apply what you are studying. Theory without application means nothing. You’ve got to take the material you’re investigating onto the floor and test it. You need to see if, and how well it works under pressure and in realistic situations. Keep in mind, too, that just because you may not be able to do it or use it at that particular moment, doesn’t mean that it’s not valid or that it’s no good. If your instructor shows you how to do a spinning rear kick and then you try it and miss the target completely, don’t immediately respond with, “Oh, that’s stupid. It doesn’t work.”
The final step is evaluation, in which you judge the value of the material for a given purpose. Ask yourself, “Is this particular principle or technique valid or not? How does it relate to me? Does it have application to what I’m doing?” If, for example, the particular style of martial art you practice doesn’t believe in the use of hand immobilization attacks, then sensitivity training such as chi sao may have no application for you. Keep in mind, though, that just because something might not have an application for you, that doesn’t mean it won’t have an application for someone else.
The following are some pitfalls you should try to avoid when studying and/or using Bruce Lee’s notes:
Simply memorizing and regurgitating Lee’s words, ideas, etc. Anybody can repeat
someone else’s words by rote. Remember, it’s not how much fixed knowledge or information you have accumulated, it’s what you can use and apply that counts.
Taking the material in Bruce Lee’s notes to be the “Bible” of martial arts. Some people. approach JKD very dogmatically and with the fundamentalist view that “If it’s not in the Tao of JKD, or if it’s not in Bruce’s writings, then it’s not JKD.” This is the very antithesis of Lee’s teachings. Bruce was a seeker of truth. To him, each thing he wrote down represented a truth, not the truth. No one has a monopoly on truth. There is no “one way.”
Thinking that Bruce Lee’s notes are all there is to his way of martial arts.
Adding your own interpretation to Bruce Lee’s material. I am not saying that you shouldn’t interpret Lee’s material. I am simply reminding you to keep things in proper context. Many times people read something with an eye towards finding support for what they themselves are doing. For example, in Lee’s notes it states, “Investigate into fighting from the ground…develop such mastery that one can fight safely from the ground.” But Lee doesn’t make a point of telling you to study any particular style of ground-fighting or martial art that includes ground-fighting. The point is to hear what Bruce Lee is saying, not what we want him to say.
Solidifying Bruce Lee’s guideposts into laws. Bruce changed his mind about publishing his notes when he came to the realization that trying to encapsulate fighting into words was like trying to capture something on paper that is alive and constantly changing. It was, he concluded, “like attempting to tie a pound of water into a manageable shape.” So don’t calcify what should remain alive and growing.
Starting from a conclusion. Remember, to taste someone else’s tea you must first empty your cup of preconceived ideas, notions, etc. Begin with an open mind.
Bruce Lee’s notes are like an extension of Bruce himself. They describe the direction of his studies and shed light on his own process of intellectual growth and development as a martial artist. As such, they can serve as a pipeline to his way of thinking, feeling, and researching. Bruce’s notes can also act as a navigational guide, like a compass, which can help direct you to where you want to be as a martial artist. If you know how to use a compass, even if the terrain changes, a road becomes blocked, or a detour arises, you can still remain on course toward your ultimate destination. In order to do that, however, you must know where it is that you want to go and whether the goal is physical, mental,
emotional, or spiritual. Once you know that, then you can take all of the information
in Lee’s notes and consider it; debate it, turn it upside down; look at it from your own perspective; refine it to suit you; rearrange it; keep what you think will work for you; and even throw some of it out (just make sure you know why you’re throwing it out).
Don’t allow anyone to simply hand you the truth. It cannot be done. Take an experiential attitude and find out for yourself what works for you. See Bruce Lee’s notes as a literary work in progress, not as something that was finished or completed. Remember, “If you understand it and can use it, it belongs to no one; it’s yours.”
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