Bruce Lee's enlightenment & Jeet Kune Do : PART 1

Bruce Lee's stardom, physical and mental prowess is well known to all his avid fans. Even Bruce Lee as a philosopher is not an obscure identity.

But his spiritual advancement is something extraordinary. He reflected so much maturity and a deep and profound understanding of existence that it is rare to see such wisdom in youth.

The goal of spiritual quest regardless of any religion/scriptures/beliefs, etc. is the experience of non-duality. Everything is energy, only sensed as separated in forms.

The following excerpt shows Bruce Lee's wisdom and the essence of Jeet Kune do. I will be adding another post later describing Jeet Kune do as the essence of spirituality reflected through martial arts. It was an article that i wrote for AIJKDF, Delhi once upon a time during my training period.

So here is Bruce Lee on Jeet Kune do:

...Let it be understood once and for all that I have not invented a new style, composite, or modification. I have in no way set Jeet Kune Do within a distinct form governed by laws that distinguish it from "this" style or that "method". On the contrary, I hope to free my comrades from bondage to styles, patterns and doctrines.

What then is JKD? I am the first to admit that any attempt to crystallize JKD into a written article is no easy task. Do remember, however, that JKD is merely a convenient name. I am not interested with the term itself; I am interested in its effect of liberation when JKD is used as a mirror for self-examination.

Unlike a classical martial art, there is no series of rules or classification of technique that constitutesa distinct JKD method of fighting. JKD is not aform of special conditioning with its own rigid philosophy. It looks at combat, not from a single angle, but from all possible angles. While JKD utilizes all ways and means to serve its end (after all, efficiency is anything that scores), it is bound by none and is therefore free. In other words, JKD possesses everything but is in itself possessed by nothing.

Therefore, to attempt to define JKD in terms of a distinct style - be it kung fu, karate, streetfighting or Bruce Lee's martial art - is to completely miss its' meaning. It's teaching simply cannot be confined within a system. Since JKD is at once "this" and "not this", it neither opposes nor adheres to any style. To understand this fully, one must transcend from the duality of "for" and "against" into one organic unity which is without distinctions. Understanding of JKD is direct intuition of this unity.

Bruce Lee is the first in the list of three legends to whom my first book - I(t) Create(s): 31 Musings and a Satori -  has been dedicated to. Only a few people know that Bruce Lee was himself a poet and a philosopher too. Totally inspiring !

Check out part 2 of this topic on the following link in my blog list: 

SPIRITUALITY & MARTIAL ARTS: (Part 2)Jeet Kune-Do: A Spiritual Mirror