Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3

Liberate Yourself From Classical Karate
By Bruce Lee
First published in the September 1971 issue of Black Belt magazine

I am the first to admit that any attempt to crystallize Jeet Kune Do into a written article is no easy task. Perhaps to avoid making a 'thing' out of a 'process'. I have not until now personally written an article on JKD. Indeed, it is difficult to explain what Jeet Kune Do is, although it may be easier to explain what it is not.

Let me begin with a Zen story. The story might be familiar to some, but I repeat it for its appropriateness. Look upon this story as a means of limbering up one's senses, one's attitude, and one's mind to make them pliable and receptive. You need that to understand this article; otherwise, you might as well forget reading any further.

A learned man once went to a Zen teacher to inquire about Zen. As the Zen teacher explained, the learned man would frequently interrupt him with remarks like, "Oh, yes, we have that too...." and so on.

Finally, the Zen teacher stopped talking and began to serve tea to the learned man. He poured the cup full, and then kept pouring until the cup overflowed. "Enough!" the learned man once more interrupted. "No more can go into the cup!"

"Indeed, I see," answered the Zen teacher. "If you do not first empty the cup, how can you taste my cup of tea?" As stated here, this parable makes no sense. The teacher is actually saying, “To taste my tea, you must pour out what I have already poured into your cup so I may pour more into your cup.” In other words, to learn from me, you must forget all I have previously taught you.

I hope my comrades in the martial arts will read the following paragraphs with open-mindedness leaving all the burdens of preconceived opinions and conclusions behind. Does this mean we must empty our minds of all we know as true, so we may accept Lee’s reasoning without considering its truthfulness.

This act, by the way, has in itself liberating power. After all, the usefulness of the cup is in its emptiness. Bull! The usefulness of a teacup is in its ability to hold and transport tea to the mouth so one may drink the tea; one cannot drink from an empty cup and one need not empty the cup of any remaining tea before refilling the cup. One can learn and evaluate new things without emptying ones brain; in addition, the brain never fills and overflows with too much knowledge. Lee and his ilk stress that you must forget all you have learned before you may accept their way of doing things; the reason being, if you do not, you will see the illogic in their reasoning and will not accept what they say as they truth. In their view, if you do not accept their reasoning, it is your fault.

Make this article relate to yourself, because though it is on JKD, it is primarily concerned with the blossoming of a martial artist not a "Chinese" martial artist, a "Japanese" martial artist, etc. A martial artist is a human being first. Just as nationalities have nothing to do with one's humanity, so they have nothing to do with martial arts. Leave your protective shell of isolation and relate 'directly' to what is being said. Return to your senses by ceasing all the intervening intellectual mumbo jumbo. Is not this article itself intellectual mumbo jumbo? Remember that life is a constant process of relating. Is it? Remember too, that I seek neither your approval nor to influence you towards my way of thinking. I will be more than satisfied if, as a result of this article, you begin to investigate everything for yourself and cease to uncritically accept prescribed formulas that dictate "this is this" and "that is that." If this was the goal of the article, then Lee has accomplished his goal since I do not uncritically accept his ideas.

ON CHOICELESS OBSERVATION 

Suppose several persons who are trained in different styles of combative arts witness an all out street fight. I am sure that we would hear different versions from each of these stylists. This is quite understandable for one cannot see a fight (or anything else) "as is" as long as he is blinded (blinded, apparently Lee considers other arts bad since they blinds you to his truth) by his Gojoseon point of view, i.e. style, and he will view the fight through the lens of his particular conditioning. Fighting, "as is," is simple and total. It is not limited to your perspective conditioning as a Chinese martial artist. Instead of fighting, let us apply this same logic to cross-country running. Since every cross-country run is different due to the terrain, using Lee’s logic, when you view a cross-country race you should not use your training and experience to evaluate the techniques used by the runners because it will limited your understanding of the race. True observation begins when one sheds set patterns and true freedom of expression occurs when one is beyond systems. Bull! No one may observe without filtering what is seen though ones experience, knowledge, and training. You cannot cease being who you are.

Before we examine Jeet Kune Do, let's consider exactly what a "classical" martial art style really is. To begin with, we must recognize the incontrovertible fact that regardless of their many colorful origins (by a wise, mysterious monk, by a special messenger in a dream, in a holy revelation, etc.) styles are created by men. Everything that is not created by nature has been created by humans. A style should never be considered gospel truth, the laws and principles of which can never be violated. True. Man, the living, creating individual, is always more important than any established style. What does this mean?

It is conceivable that a long time ago a certain martial artist discovered some partial truth. During his lifetime, the man resisted the temptation to organize this partial truth, although this is a common tendency in a man's search for security and certainty in life. After his death, his students took "his" hypotheses, "his" postulates, "his" method and turned them into law. Impressive creeds were then invented, solemn reinforcing ceremonies prescribed, rigid philosophy and patterns formulated, and so on, until finally an institution was erected. So, what originated as one man's intuition of some sort of personal fluidity has been transformed into solidified, fixed knowledge, complete with organized classified responses presented in a logical order. In so doing, the well-meaning, loyal followers have not only made this knowledge a holy shrine, but also a tomb in which they have buried the founder's wisdom. Perhaps Lee was a prophet, since this is what has happened to Jeet Kune Do. Lee’s students have made him the holy see of Jeet Kune Do.

But distortion does not necessarily end here. In reaction to "the other truth," another martial artist, or possible a dissatisfied disciple, organizes an opposite approach--such as the "soft" style versus the "hard" style, the "internal" school versus the "external" school, and all these separate nonsense's. Soon this opposite faction also becomes a large organization, with its own laws and patterns. A rivalry begins, with each style claiming to possess the "truth" to the exclusions of all others. I agree. In addition, some styles claim to be a compilation of all other styles.

At best, styles are merely parts dissected from a unitary whole. Say what! All styles require adjustment, partiality, denials, condemnation, and a lot of self-justification. All styles? What a gross assumption! Lee is assuming all styles are bad. The solutions they purport to provide are the very cause of the problem, because they limit and interfere with our natural growth and obstruct the way to genuine understanding. They do? Divisive by nature, styles keep men 'apart' from each other rather than 'unite' them. Unite them in what? It appears Lee thought that there should only be one martial art, Jeet Kune Do.

Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3