Frustrated Incorporated

I think this title accurately describes members of the JKD Concepts group. How could they not feel frustrated when it seems they constantly have to justify what they do and why they do it. No one knows this better than Dan Inosanto. True to his nature, Dan has come forward to clear up the confusion that has clouded Bruce Lee's art of Jeet Kune Do. I think you'll agree, after reading the following letter written by Dan, that this man knows what he is talking about.

Inosanto's Insights by Dan Inosanto

Over the past 3-4 years much has been written on Bruce Lee's art of Jeet Kune Do. Most of these recent articles have been highly inaccurate. Some articles have even attempted to "rewrite" the history of Jeet Kune Do. I can no longer stand by and watch as the public is mislead by certain individuals who have no knowledge or authority to speak on the subject. Briefly, I will state my credentials and by what authority I, and I alone have the right and obligation to clear up the present state of confusion regarding the teachings of my late Sifu, and dear friend, Bruce Lee.

My training with Sifu Lee began in 1964, and continued until his untimely death in 1973. On Feb. 9. 1967 I was made an Instructor by Sifu Lee, at that time Sifu Lee told me that my Seniors, Taky Kimura (Seattle) and James Lee (deceased, Oakland) and I were the only three instructors he had made. Sifu Lee had three arts which he would certify in. "Jun Fan Gung Fu", "Bruce Lee's Tao of Chinese Gung Fu" and "Jeet Kune Do". I have certificates of instructorship in all three. As mandated by Sifu Lee at the time of his death, I became the principle heir and authority on his arts and teachings. As he requested, I shall always acknowledge with the utmost respect my seniors, Si Bak James Lee and Si bak Taky Kimura.

During Sifu Bruce Lee's lifetime, I was the Head Instructor of the "Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute" in Los Angeles, Chinatown. During this time, I was given the authority to hand out rank. If you look at the certificates awarded at the Institute in Chinatown, you will see that Sifu Lee signed his name and affixed my seal (personally given to me by Sifu Lee), on the left hand side. After more than 30 years of teaching Jun Fan and Jeet Kune Do, it seems ridiculous that I have to now prove my authenticity to the martial arts public. At the time of Sifu Lee's death, the privilege and responsibility of teaching, preserving, promoting and protecting these arts became my responsibility, and mine alone to ensure Sifu Lee's contribution would not be "basterdized" and lost. I take this responsibility very seriously and it is for this reason that I would like to address the question of "original Jeet Kune Do" "Jeet Kune Do Concepts", and the difference between the two. There is no difference.

Jeet Kune Do was born out of Sifu Lee's art of Jun Fan Gung Fu. To understand the principles, concepts and strategies of Jeet Kune Do, you must study first Jun Fan Gung Fu. In the beginning, as conceived by Sifu Lee, Jeet Kune Do was a style. Almost immediately, Sifu Lee told me he was sorry that he had ever named or considered JKD a style. He felt that a style was too limiting and confining. Sifu Told me that he as not creating a new style, nor making a composite of different styles, nor modifying other systems or styles to create a new one. As he stated to me, "Jeet Kune Do was to be used as a mirror, in which we could see ourselves". He hoped that JKD would be used as a vehicle to free his students from clinging to styles, systems and patterns. He often quoted to me, "Be not concerned with soft styles verus the hard styles, or kicking styles versus striking styles, or long range styles versus in-fighting styles, or ground grappling versus hitting and kicking". He felt that there was no such thing as "this was better than that" or visa versa. To quote him directly, "should there be one thing we must guard against, let it be partiality that robs us of our pristine wholeness and makes us lose unity in the midst of duality".

To answer the question raised so often by the self-appointed "JKD" authorities writing so many articles today, "Does Dan Inosanto teach Bruce Lee's art or has he mixed, diluted, changed and added other systems and styles to the 'original' art, to such an extent that you can no longer learn what Bruce Lee taught, by training with him?" The answer is the same today as it would have been 30 years ago. When I teach an individual the arts of Jun Fan Gung Fu and the principles, philosophies, concepts, strategies, techniques and methods of Jeet Kune Do, I teach them as they were developed, formulated and taught by Sifu Bruce Lee during the years of 1964 through 1973.

I have often wondered how certain individuals can write about my teaching when they have truly never trained in my classes conducted at my academy in Los Angeles, California. At the Inosanto Academy, classes are taught in individual systems and styles. Each art is taught separately, in part to preserve it's identity, and to ensure a certain level of proficiency for the student. One class offered at the academy does utilize the training methods, principles, concepts and fighting techniques of several systems and styles to familiarize the students in that class with all the avenues which are open to them. When someone attends a seminar I may be conducting and walks in on a section, I may be teaching any one of a number of different arts of which I am certified in. If they were to attend a seminar the following week, it would more than likely be completely different. I see nothing wrong in exposing my students to a variety of different arts, and letting them choose which path they want to follow. During my teaching, I draw many comparisons and analogies, and I will continue to do so if it continues to aid in the understanding of the material presented.

Ask any one of the individuals writing about the Original JKD, to show you the Basic 30 combinations traps, they won't be able to. Ask them to perform the JKD (sets developed by Sifu Lee) exercises on the wooden dummy, they won't be able to. Ask them to perform the Basic kickboxing drills of Sifu Lee and I doubt they would be able to show you. Ask them to perform the 1-2 counter series as taught by Sifu Bruce Lee and I doubt that they would be able to show you.

In some publications, the readers are lead to believe that JKD is unorganized and JKD is "Do anything that you want to do". One publication said Bruce Lee made no instructors. On March 22, 1981, Jun Fan Gung Fu (Jeet Kune Do) was inducted into the official Academy of Chinese Boxing, a division of Taiwan's Repulic of China, Ministry of Education. This Places Sijo-Si Gung Bruce Lee's art on the equivalent terms with Tai Chi Chuan, Shaolin and other such world historic styles.

If that letter doesn't clear up any doubts you may have about Dan Inosanto's authority over Jeet Kune Do, then perhaps this will. The following is a letter from Linda Lee, Bruce's widow, that hangs on the wall at the Inosanto Academy in Los Angeles. She wrote:

"This letter serves to verify that Dan Inosanto was the senior instructor and student of my late husband, Bruce Lee, and that he is the legitimate practitioner and teacher of Bruce’s art of self-defense called Jeet Kune Do. There is no other person who had as close and as long a relationship with Bruce in the study of his art. At the time of Bruce’s death, Dan Inosanto was the one man who had spent the longest and most recent period of time with my husband in the development and refinement of the art of Jeet Kune Do. With Bruce’s passing, Dan became the senior spokesman and authority not only on the physical expression of the art, but also on the underlying philosophy and it’s application to many of life’s pursuits. He has undertaken to continue Bruce’s teachings at the training academy he has set up in southern California."

By now, my point should be painfully obvious. Dan Inosanto is the one and only heir and authority on Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do. For anyone who believes Dan has misrepresented, prostituted or diluted Bruce's teachings, think again. The power of Dan's words are self-explanatory. For my next three posts, I shall include interviews Inosanto did with Black Belt Magazine where he talks about JKD and Bruce Lee.