"Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own."
- Bruce Lee
"Bruce Lee is the father of Mixed Martial Arts in the USA."
- Dana White | UFC
Authentic Jeet Kune Do
In the past, many have tried to define Jeet Kune Do in terms of a distinct style, i.e. Bruce Lee's Kung Fu, Bruce Lee's Karate, Bruce Lee's Kickboxing or Bruce Lee's system of street fighting. To label JKD as "Bruce Lee's martial art" is to completely mistake Bruce Lee's and JKD's meaning. Jeet Kune Do concepts simply cannot be confined within a single system. To understand this, a martial artist must transcend the duality of "for" and "against" reaching for that point of unity which is beyond mere distinction. The understanding of JKD is the direct intuition of this point of unity. According to Bruce Lee, knowledge in the martial arts ultimately means self-knowledge.
It must be emphasized that Jeet Kune Do is merely a name, a mirror reflecting ourselves. There is a sort of progressive approach to JKD training, but as Lee observed, "To create a method of fighting is like putting a pound of water into wrapping paper and shaping it." Structurally, many people mistake JKD as a composite style of martial art because of its efficiency. At any given time, Jeet Kune Do can resemble Thai boxing or Wing Chun or wrestling or karate. Its weaponry resembles Filipino Escrima and Kali. in long-range applications, it can resemble Northern Chinese Kung Fu or Savate. According to Lee, the efficiency of any style depends upon circumstances and the fighting range of distance, for example the soldier employs a hand grenade at 50 yards, but he chooses a dagger for close-quarters combat. A staff, to take another example, is the wrong weapon to take to a fight in a telephone booth; a knife would again be the most appropriate weapon.
Jeet Kune Do is neither opposed nor unopposed to the concept of style. We can say that it is outside as well as inside of all particular structures. Because JKD makes no claim to existing as a style, some individuals conclude that it is neutral or indifferent to the question. Again, this is not the case, for JKD is at once "this" and "not this."