System and philosophy Jeet Kune Do

bruce lee , teacher yip man

jkd survives since then—if 1 views refined product, not process—is left @ time of lee s death. result of lifelong martial arts development process lee went through. lee stated concept not add more , more things on top of each other form system, rather selects best thereof. metaphor lee borrowed chan buddhism of filling cup water, , emptying it, used describing lee s philosophy of casting off useless . used sculptor s mentality of beginning lump of clay , removing material constituted unessentials ; end result considered bare combat essentials, or jkd. dominant or strongest hand should in lead because perform greater percentage of work. lee minimized use of other stances except when circumstances warranted such actions.

although on-guard position formidable overall stance, no means one. acknowledged there times when other positions should used. lee felt dynamic property of jkd enabled practitioners adapt constant changes , fluctuations of live combat. believed these decisions should made within context of real combat and/or out sparring , in environment practitioner deem technique worthy of adoption.

lee believed real combat alive , dynamic. circumstances in fight change millisecond millisecond. thus, pre-arranged patterns , techniques not adequate in dealing such changing situation. antidote line of thought, lee once wrote epitaph read: in memory of once fluid man, crammed , distorted classical mess. classical mess in instance lee thought of not alive way of classical kung fu styles .