What are Jeet Kune Do & Jun Fan Gung Fu, really?
Oh good, an easy one! ;-)
This is one of those questions where if you ask 100 people you’ll get 120 different answers.
Often when I see JKD people argue amongst themselves, it reminds me of the parable of the blind men and the elephant:
It also reminds me of an old joke in American Kenpo circles:
Q. “How many Kenpo black belts does it take to change a light bulb?
A. “100, one to change the light bulb and 99 to sit around and say “That’s not how Mr. Parker taught me to do it!” (Side note: did you know that many of the original JKD seniors in LA, including Dan Inosanto and Larry Hartsell were American Kenpo black belts? More on that later;-))
If possible, I think JKD practitioners might be even worse; and the funny thing is, Bruce Lee addressed this himself ahead of time;
"If people say Jeet Kune Do is different from this or from that, then
let the name of Jeet Kune Do be wiped out, for that is what it is, just a name. Please don't fuss over it."
-Bruce Lee
You’ll see I’ve started this blog post as a “Part 1”, because this is such a big topic it’s gonna take more than one sitting to explore it (way more!).
My goal here is not to try to tell you definitively what JKD is or is not (remember the Bruce Lee quote?)
Intead, let’s explore some of the commonly held or commonly accepted definitions, and then I’ll tell you what JKD and Jun Fun Gung Fu mean to me… because frankly, it should mean something a little different to everybody, it should be very personal, because, among other things, it’s about personal expression and personal growth.
A parting thought:
Have you ever thought about where the JKD world would be if instead of throwing stones at each other and trying to make themselves feel better about their own opinions, JKD practitioners would actually celebrate their differences and explore each other’s insights?
‘Cause that’s what it’s supposed to be about folks.
Oh, well…
Until next time, Blessings & Aloha,
David
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