Breaking the Chains
Page 28
Bruce was twenty-two when he met Dan Inosanto in the summer of 1964. He invited Mr Inosanto to become his 'fall guy' and promised to train him in his way of fighting. In 1967 Bruce opened the Los Angeles Jun Fan Institute. In 1969 Bruce closed the school down. After that Dan Inosanto held classes in his backyard for a few people. Bruce invited Mr Inosanto to join him in Hong Kong and to be in the movie 'Game of Death'. That was in 1972. Dan says he went to Hong Kong to update his training with Bruce. Some of that training took place on the way to restaurants and cars, and some took place walking up stairs. Mr Inosanto claims that some of the best things he ever learned from Bruce he learned when they were eating Chinese food. At such times Bruce would explain the system so that Mr Inosanto could ' understand it mentally.'
Jeet Kune Do (way of the intercepting fist) grew out of Jun Fan Kung Fu. The impetus to develop JKD may have been generated by an incident at the Oakland Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute. The incident left Bruce with the understanding that he lacked stamina and technique. That was in late 1964 or early 1965. Jun Fan Kung Fu was also taught at Bruce Lee's Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in Seattle. The senior student at the Seattle school was Taky Kimura, and it is clear from interviews given by Taky that at that time Bruce was selling his partial understanding of Yip Man's Ving Tsun under another name. In other words Jun fan Kung Fu could have been called Ving Tsun Kung Fu. Taky Kimura met Bruce in 1959. Bruce would have been eighteen years old, and as he had started training with Yip Man in 1954 he would have had about 4 years of (off and on) Ving Tsun training under Yip Man.
Jeet Kune Do was a term Bruce began using in 1966. It is a term used in connection with Bruce Lee's research into what was useful to him in combat. According to Mr Inosanto, Bruce would 'thumb through styles, seeing if there was anything he could fit into his personal system.' He would also trade information with other martial artists - Ving Tsun for Choy Li Fut, etc. Bruce had a policy of getting to know the second or third in command at any school of martial art he was interested in. He believed that in this way he could quickly get knowledge of a system without spending years training with a master. Bruce said 'Jeet Kune Do utilizes all ways and is bound by none.' Dan Inosanto says 'Once you understand that every system or style can offer you something then you can understand Jeet Kune Do.'
Obviously, JKD should not be difficult for anyone to understand.
According to Linda Cadwell, who met Bruce in 1963, she and some of Bruce Lee's original students met on 10th and 11th of January 1996 to 'explore the meaning…of Jeet Kune Do.' It would seem none of the people who studied under Bruce had a precise definition of Jeet Kune Do. As one Nucleus member (Pete Jacobs) put it: 'To say this is JKD or that is JKD would be impossible unless Bruce were here to say it.' The 'Nucleus' was founded during that 1996 meeting. Dan Inosanto left the Nucleus soon after it was founded. At the time he objected to JKD being organised by a group of people who had not kept up with their training. The Nucleus was meant to be an organization that would promote understanding of Bruce Lee's art through books, videotapes, seminars, and individual instruction.
In his 1971 article 'Liberate Yourself From Classical Karate' Bruce Lee asked the question 'What is Jeet Kune Do?' Elsewhere he answers his own question by stating that Jeet Kune do is 'just a name' which should not be fussed over. Bruce also said 'In JKD we begin…by discovering the cause of our ignorance, a discovery that involves a shedding process.' Linda Cadwell (Bruce Lee's widow) claims that the essential element of Jeet Kune Do is a process of evolving to the greatest height of self-actualisation. She asserts students of JKD can reach a 'stage of alertness' or 'height of simplicity'. When students reach this 'pinnacle' they will have found their own expression of Jeet Kune Do. Ms Cadwell maintains when JKD students reach this pinnacle they will have a 'spiritual awareness'. Ms Cadwell also claims that students of JKD undergo 'spiritual learning.' Dan Inosanto insists that JKD physical training is the main vehicle for learning. He says 'It's through the physical regimen that you get your mental, spiritual and emotional training.' Taky Kimura claims that JKD training 'opens the door to the upper echelon of life.' He places emphasis on self-analysis as a tool for discovering one's 'spiritual essence.'
Plainly, Both JKD factions claim spiritual progress can be made through taking a course of lessons with a JKD teacher. Implicit in Linda Cadwell's comments is the notion that JKD teachers of either faction have achieved the 'greatest height of self-actualisation.' Perhaps the two most respected followers of Bruce Lee are Taky Kimura and Dan Inosanto. Dan Inosanto and Taky Kimura should be the most spiritually developed members of the JKD family. If neither of these two pillars of Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do can honestly claim they have progressed to the 'height of simplicity', and if neither of them can truthfully say they have reached 'the upper echelon of life' or have discovered their 'spiritual essence', what chance does the rest of the JKD community have of making progress in those areas? It should be noted that if no JKD teacher can say they have achieved the 'greatest height of self-actualisation' Ms Cadwell's assertion that the essential element of JKD is a process of evolving to the greatest height of self-actualisation has no logical or realistic basis. There appears to be no tangible evidence to support claims that JKD is a vehicle for spiritual progress. There is no evidence of anyone making spiritual progress through JKD lessons.
Next Page >>