self expression or copying

[golden arhat]

do you think that people are really expressing themselves doing jeet kune do or just copying bruce lee i have seen people just copying his mannerisms and just fighting like him when they should be using what works for them rather than what worked for bruce

[couch]

do you think that people are really expressing themselves doing jeet kune do or just copying bruce lee i have seen people just copying his mannerisms and just fighting like him when they should be using what works for them rather than what worked for bruce

There seems to be two schools of thought (as I see it) when it comes to JKD:

1. JKD is EXACTLY what Bruce Lee did. The way he moved and the "moves" he learned and used.

2. JKD is a "concept" about absorbing what is useful and deleting the useless, etc. Take the time to learn something and use what works for you, etc. REC: Research, Experiment, Create.

I'm with the latter of the group. No longer can we just copy, concentrate on one system/idea, and practise without progressive resistance/contact.

Best,
Kenton Sefcik

[Gold_Ultima]

I actually joined just to post in this topic. Although, I plan to post in others as well now. I don't even consider it a style. I consider it in the second school of thought, a concept. Anyone who ever read his books should realize this, as it was one of his primary points. I don't have Tao of Jeet Kune Do with me because I lent it out, so I can't quote any of the parts. He was very clear about it though.

[yenhoi]

Bruce Lee didnt publish the Tao, other people did after he died.

:eek:

[Gold_Ultima]

It is all based upon his notes though.

[yenhoi]

Yeah, well Im sure I can make anyone's note look like a well written book all in order and stuff after they die too. The order I put things in and how I grouped them and what text I decided to leave out or underline or make bold would probably paint an entirely different picture then what the person wanted or was working towards with their "notes."

If someone posted my notes from psycology 101 and 201 after I died, I just might start looking like a smart guy too.

Linda Lee and John Little did themselves a $favor$ - not the rest of us.


:mad:

[yenhoi]

Contrast the "notes" that he himself didnt organize and take to a publisher, with the two "books" that he did - the green James Lee Wing CHun book, and the yellow 'Chinese Philsophical Art of Self Defense.' - and you should end up with a whole new idea of what Bruce lee wanted to explain in plain words and pictures.

On the last page of the Tao, I think, one of his exerpts says something like, use this book as a dustpan

So, who knows anyways. Just remeber those are only his notes that were organized and published by other people, trying to make a buck - and I am not saying there is anything wrong with making a buck!

:eek:

[canglong]

do you think that people are really expressing themselves doing jeet kune do or just copying bruce lee i have seen people just copying his mannerisms and just fighting like him when they should be using what works for them rather than what worked for bruce
From my own experience would have to go with copying a mannerism because so many people are enammered with the technique and not the principle. When people work from the princple level they may not always look the same but the results are always exactly the same. Cause and effect, for every action there is an exact opposite or reaction these are the constants that confine mans struggle know them and use them to your advantage and there will be no need to copy anyone or anything.

[golden arhat]

i agree with yen hoi when he says that people are just out out to make money look at linda lee cadwell she appears on so many tv shows and magazine interviews talking about the same thing about lees life in effect she is making money of her dead husband not that she didnt love him or anything she just always seems have something to say as long as she is being payed this the same with alot of people however i think it says some where in "bruce lee's fighting method" by lee and uyehara that you should use what works for you so everybody has a fair point

[PangQuan]

The answer is repeated several times by bruce lee himself. watch his interviews.

one of the simplest quotes by him that could address this issue:

"In this art, effiecieny is anything that scores"

this does not mean you have to use the same techniques as bruce lee. as long as it works it is useful.

for a slow man, certain techniques will be much more effective than others that a faster man may use.

to simply copy what bruce did is not enough. people are trying to copy HIS STYLE. and by style i mean the way his body moved, based on his muscle memory and what he liked and excelled at.

sure there are ready postures he suggested, but by no means did he create a restriction, he simply gave an idea he found helpful to him.

The idea, or concept of jeet kune do has been around for thousands of years, it is nothing new. bruce lee just reached a point in his training where he understood A truth about fighting arts. In finding this he felt it needed to be expressed and shared to better others, which is one of the great things about martial arts in the first place. helping others.

in conclusion: to simply copy bruce lee's way of movement and fighting, it is the same as using anothers recipie for pasta. It works, and it tastes good, but not everyone has the same taste buds.

do what works best for you, free yourself. do not let yourself become restricted by that which is a guide to help you reach freedom in motion.

the finger and the moon...

[dw3041]

they should be using what works for them rather than what worked for bruce
I think that the question was answered best with the first post. All this talk about who published which books and who makes money off of Bruce is all irrelevant. Watch just one of his intervews and it will be clear to you that the entire point of JKD was to use whatever works best for you. If you don't know this then you don't know JKD. The "two schools of thought" in this case consists only of the right one and the wrong one.

"I have not invented a new style, composite, modified or otherwise that is set within distinct form as apart from "this" method or "that" method. On the contrary, I hope to free my followers from clinging to styles, patterns, or molds. Remember that Jeet Kune Do is merely a name used, a mirror in which to see ourselves."

-Bruce Lee