Jeet Kune Do & Wing Chun
Jeet Kune Do is the martial art philosophy developed by Bruce Lee. It means the "Way of the Intercepting Fist". The book, "The Tao of Jeet Kune Do" is a collection of Bruce Lee's personal notes and thoughts on life and martial arts.
Bruce Lee trained in Wing Chun under Yip Man in Hong Kong. He also trained with fellow Wing Chun students Wong Shun Leung and William Cheung. At first, Bruce Lee called his art, and what he taught, Chinese Gung Fu. Later, he renamed it Jeet Kune Do.
Wing Chun has become known as the name of the style that Bruce Lee learned when he was young and later threw away to move onto Jeet Kune Do. But don't let others fool you - Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do is really his version of Wing Chun.
People have confined Wing Chun into the finite... exactly what I've come to realize that it isn't. What people don't understand is that its purpose is to be formless and shapeless, just as Bruce Lee wrote about in his book, The Tao of Jeet Kune Do. The art I know as Wing Chun takes the form of that which the situation demands. What our minds can not grasp, we have the need to confine. We take the infinite and try to put it into a label... confining it to our own preconcieved notion of what we think it to be.
The problem with much of today's Jeet Kune Do is that it has lost its foundations. Much of Jeet Kune Do today doesn't have this firm base that the original Jeet Kune Do (JKD) had and as Bruce Lee meant it to be practiced. It is the same problem that much of today's Wing Chun has, it has lost its grounding. Many schools of Jeet Kune Do and Wing Chun have become extremely diluted. People don't follow the principles or have mistranslated them. As teachings are misinterpreted by students they are told in a different way and then in turn told to their students and so on.
I firmly believe that Jeet Kune Do needs to return to its roots. It needs to take a hard look at the original principles through the study of Wing Chun. With out that, today's JKD is going to continue to become more diluted.
In fact, to those that new to martial arts and trying to choose between studying Jeet Kune Do or Wing Chun, I advise Wing Chun. In my opinion, a firm foundation in Wing Chun will take you much further.
© Adam Williss Martial Arts & Wellness - Orange County
AKA: Orange County Martial Arts, San Clemente Martial Arts, Wing Chun Orange County, Orange County Street MMA, Orange County Kung Fu, Orange County Qigong / Chi Kung, Orange County Tai Chi, Orange County Yoga, Orange County Classes, Martial Arts Orange County
