Black Belt will proudly release the expanded edition of Bruce Lee’s Tao of Jeet Kune Do in October 2011. This redesigned presentation of the classic jeet kune do book will feature an array of enhancements, including translations of Lee’s Chinese script, digital refurbishments of Lee’s original illustrations and sketches, a history of how the Tao came into being, and editorial afterwords from the likes of Linda Lee Cadwell, Shannon Lee, Diana Lee Inosanto, Richard Bustillo, Tommy Gong and other jeet kune do experts.

In this first of an ongoing series of exclusive interview videos, Diana Lee Inosanto (Bruce Lee’s goddaughter), Octavio Quintero (second-generation student under Jerry Poteet) and first-generation Lee student Richard Bustillo share their thoughts on exactly what kind of book Tao of Jeet Kune Do is. The primary question set for this martial arts interview segment was, “Is Tao of Jeet Kune Do a philosophy book? An instruction manual? Or? …”

TAO OF JEET KUNE DO INTERVIEW VIDEO
Diana Lee Inosanto, Richard Bustillo and Octavio Quintero Reflect on the Nature of Bruce Lee’s Famous Martial Text, Tao of Jeet Kune Do

The consensus — between these three martial artists, at least — is that Tao of Jeet Kune Do is primarily a philosophy book.

“I lean toward the philosophy,” Quintero explains, “because there’s a lot of quotes in [the Tao] that have deeper meaning than what it really says.”

Bustillo points out that the book also has aspects of a technical manual, referring to Lee’s diagrams, sketches and terminology development: “It’s a philosophy-type book to back up the techniques that Bruce Lee [was] doing.”

MORE JEET KUNE DO VIDEOS!
See Tim Tackett, Lamar M. Davis II, Richard Bustillo and others demonstrate their jeet kune do techniques in exclusive videos and DVD excerpts!

Inosanto remarks that the book contains text that can seem to change over time as the reader changes: “There’s a passage that you might have read years before, and then you realize it has a completely different meaning. And I suppose it just depends on where the person is in their life in that moment.”

Whatever the case may be — whether Tao of Jeet Kune Do is a philosophy book, instruction manual, collection of notes, a sketchbook … whatever — it is undeniably an iconic text that has influenced millions of people, both martial artists and non-martial artists.

The expanded edition of this iconic text is available now for pre-order in our online store! Get yours today!