Dr. Beasley

Dr. Beasley,
I have nothing against you or your being here on this forum. The general tone of your posts are on touch with the rules and here therefore I have left them all intact. However, advertisement is not allowed. This isnt a highway full of billboards it is a "classroom" to share ideas and information. Most posters here know by now who you are and if they wish to learn more about any of your products then a simple link in your profile will serve that purpose. One on every post is not required or tolerated Im afraid. Thank you for your cooperation. Chen

Chen Zen

Let me mention also I appreciate the fact that I have experienced no "trols" on your site. As for selling, I may have mentioned that Panther Productions owns all rights to my videos sold through Century. I receive no profit at all. Therefore if I recommend my JKD series it is completely non-profit motivated. In fact I would only recommend the series for individuals interested in sparring.
As for books the profit margin for writers is pennies after the first year. Here again no motivation to sell, except that I contribute all profits from the sale of books to a local non-profit charity. Finally I do not teach a JKD program. I no longer recruit for JKD camp attendants. I make no attempt nor do I have any desire to profit from JKD.
I have only recently entered the forums to contribute the information I have collected regarding JKD.
My forte is JKD philosophy. I hope I will be able to assist members in developing a better understanding of the intent of JKD not as a physical art but as a means to gain liberation from classical martial arts.
JB

Dr.Beasley

OklahomaGreg posted a website address regarding an 18 page essay by Bruce Lee. It eloquently puts forward his personal philosophy. I have seen the material before. I hope many of you visit it for a refresher or an introduction to his ideas.
I have a question that I'd like you to tackle if your interested. To what degree do you feel Lees work was original. I don't mean to imply in anyway thet it is plagerized. I mean to what degree is it a reflection or synthesis of recognized philosophies, i.e. Daoism, Zen, Confusium,and monastic spiritual practices of the east and west.
Specifically do you feel that his work or his ideas could be articulated as a maifestation of the principle referred to as Shu ha ri in classical arts?
Sincerely,
-
oldman

JB,
I also am grateful that there is no trolling here. It has been a problem on other forums of this site but not here. You posts here have lead me to believe that you are more educated on JKD than Ive seen credit given to you. However my personal feelings have nothing to do with the site owner's rules. I simply enforce them so that I may have my space here. Im sure you understand. Thanks for that.
Chen

Oldman,
A lot has been written regarding the originality of Lee's work. My conclusion is that Bruce applied the philosophy of Kristamurti/Watts to his understanding of martial arts and came up with the "no way as way" slogan. In this regard he was brilliant. While the rest of us in the 1960's were content to fall in to the same old way of thinking about style Lee attacked it. Crammed and distorted by the classical mess we thought a better way meant developing a new kata or changing a kick/punch and calling it a new style. How did we recognize one style from another? The other style was the one with a different set of limitations. A master of shotokan could spend hours drilling you on the one and only best way to perform the reverse punch. Go to a goju master and he had a different set of limitations. The wing chun sifu owned still another passage way to bondage. Bruce said enough!
In my style we will use all of those ways and we will be bound by none. JKD can fit in with both kung fu and karate. JKD can resemble TKD and kickboxing. We use no (particular/specified) way as the (only) way. In this art of JKD effeciency is anything that scores.
Bruce's art of JKD was based on the performance he provided on that particular day as a result of specific needs. I have used the term "Woo factor" to better describe JKD. Woo means "window of oppurtunity". Some arts spend much time creating impossible skills that have a very low window of oppurtunity/woo factor. When can you use the jump 360 degree spinning axe kick? It has a very low Woo. Agree? In JKD woo determines the skills to be studied and mastered. Use what works ( means use techniques with a high woo factor). If a skill does not work or has a low woo toss it out . Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless. What may work for me may not work for you. My "art" ( what works best for me) may not be your "art". JKD becomes a very personal way of developing a series of skills that best reflect the attributes of the individual. JKD may be used to set the classically trained player free. JKD is self expression.
The problem is with all this freedom how do you progress? Difficult. Choose to work with arts that allow for room to expand. Boxing, kickboxing and wresteling are examples of arts/ways/methods that can be adapted to the individual and may be changed to reflect improvement. Muhammad Ali had a very different style from Joe Frazier yet they were both boxers.
To find the truth in combat you must engage in combat. Box the boxer, wrestel the wrestler. You can not learn to swim on dry land. Get wet. Most people would prefer to learn a secret technique. One interpretation of JKD encourages the practitioner to investigate different arts. Instead of a secret techinique thay have a "new art". Bruce instructs us that after we have mastered tha truth we must forgret the carrier of the truth. Abbandon your bondage to an art. Do not flow from one art to the next. Float in the totality of all that you know. Thus you are free to express only your own. JKD is the "thusness".

Sorry I may have got carried away. I don't think Bruce was to attatched to any one author or one form of religious expression. Zen, Taoism may have had a passing influence but was not a determing factor. Others may disagree. Lee's brilliance in his unique concept of martial art was mattched only by his extrordinary physical skill and precence.
In any competition, sport, game three factors come in to play. They include strategy ( your plan of action), attributes ( your ability to carry out your plan) and chance. Chance is luck. Bruce was a lucky guy. He put it all together, for a while.
Jerry Beasley

Aikia,
Thank you Sir. I very much appreiciate your response. I don't feel that you got carried away in the least. I have always felt to a certain degree that Lee's process of searching and personal growth was fascinating but not completely unique. I in no way mean to diminish Lee's legacy . I find his work inspiring in the same way I find the work of the painter Seurat or the music of say oddly enough, Eminem inspiring. It may seem odd to compare a visual and musical artist but heres my point. They each used the discipline of an established art, Seurat/painting, Eminem / rap, hip hop,and Lee /martial arts to explore and express the truth about life. They did this in a way that was remarkable and personal. I've heard others remark about expeiriencing the truth "in fighting". Sometimes people use the phrase" What is" to discribe the expirience. I believe this is where we begin to rise to the level of art or spiritual practice. I don't mean religious practice but the area of expeirience that become difficult if not impossible to articulate using the limitations of language. It reminds me of the of a book "The cloud of unknowing " from the western monastic tradition wher one must unlearn what one has learned to progress.
Whether or not we practice JKD,TKD,MMA karate, Piano or painting we are moving through life with all it's different turns. If we are fortunate we will grow in ways that benefit ourselves as well as others. I have heard it said that a persons maturity, either personal or spiritual is determined by " how much reality a person can bear without turning away". I think there is alot of truth in that.
On the forum I enjoy many peoples contributions. It may not see like it to him but I'm fond of Kogas's work. John if your reading this I value your approach and expieriece. I tend to be more conflict averse where as you like a good arguement, but I think I'd enjoy doing 2or3 reps of 12 oz. curls with you.
I find Lees work inspiring not because it is so extraordinary but because it is available to so many. Not only through the practice of JKD but through the sincere practice of any "art" or craft be
it Pugilism,painting or plumbing.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Aikia:
Oldman,
A lot has been written regarding the originality of Lee's work. My conclusion is that Bruce applied the philosophy of Kristamurti/Watts to his understanding of martial arts and came up with the "no way as way" slogan. In this regard he was brilliant.
[/QUOTE]

Brilliance often lies in recognizing brilliance. There are no new thoughts. There is nothing new under the sun.

Bruce was brilliant because he recognized simple truths.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Aikia:

Bruce's art of JKD was based on the performance he provided on that particular day as a result of specific needs. I have used the term "Woo factor" to better describe JKD. Woo means "window of oppurtunity". Some arts spend much time creating impossible skills that have a very low window of oppurtunity/woo factor. When can you use the jump 360 degree spinning axe kick? It has a very low Woo. Agree? In JKD woo determines the skills to be studied and mastered. Use what works ( means use techniques with a high woo factor).
[/QUOTE]


Excellent! I always used the expression "high percentage" or simply HP, though it means the same thing.


[QUOTE]Originally posted by Aikia:

If a skill does not work or has a low woo toss it out . Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless. What may work for me may not work for you. My "art" ( what works best for me) may not be your "art". JKD becomes a very personal way of developing a series of skills that best reflect the attributes of the individual. JKD may be used to set the classically trained player free. JKD is self expression.

The problem is with all this freedom how do you progress? Difficult. Choose to work with arts that allow for room to expand. Boxing, kickboxing and wresteling are examples of arts/ways/methods that can be adapted to the individual and may be changed to reflect improvement. Muhammad Ali had a very different style from Joe Frazier yet they were both boxers.
[/QUOTE]

Exactly! You see the same thing in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Any two blackbelts can, within the same art, have completely different games, such as Rigan and Jean Jacques Machado.


[QUOTE]Originally posted by Aikia:

To find the truth in combat you must engage in combat. Box the boxer, wrestel the wrestler. You can not learn to swim on dry land. Get wet. Most people would prefer to learn a secret technique.
[/QUOTE]

Exactly! That's why combat sport is so important for one's training. Yet, this is scoffed at by many -- just like always. It was back in Lee's day. You'd think that some 30 years later that there would be SOME evoluation, but it appears that MOST of the martial arts world does in fact want the "secret techniques". There's a strong need to believe in fantasy that exists within the martial arts world.


Excellent post Dr. Beasley!


-John