Jeet Kune Do (JKD) is the martial art created by Bruce
Lee (Li Jun Fan/Siou Lung). JKD or Way of the Intercepting Fist may be
classified as a form of modern martial art. Although Jeet Kune Do is
primarily inspired from Chinese gung fu, Western fencing and boxing it
is more accurately, Bruce Lee's martial art. Lee felt that a real fight
was unpredictable and that most classical styles emphasized dead
patterns instead of live and spontaneous training. Lee also came to the
conclusion the MA was Universal and that "unless there is a being with
more than two arms and two legs, that there is only one style of
fighting, the human style". So, Lee conceptualized martial art as a
whole and embarked upon a scientific course. Not one that blended styles
but one that was born of the idea of non-style, geometry and physics.
One as he described as "simple, direct and non-classical". At the same
time that Lee was creating his martial art he was also very much into
philosophy. One source of philosophy was Zen. One of the primary tenants
of Zen is detachment or more clearly, non-attachment. The tenant of
non-attachment can be a paradox for most. However for Bruce Lee, it may
have been the perfect vehicle of understanding (enlightenment) that he
needed to create his Jeet Kune Do. While non-attachment is a mental
state, non-engagement is its physical counterpart. In the sense of
fighting attachment or engagement imputes struggle. So with
non-engagement through the use of physical science, our goal is
non-struggle or to fight with the least amount of struggle.