With the release of the newly refurbished and expanded Tao of Jeet Kune Do coming up in October 2011, Black Belt sat down with three members of Bruce Lee’s jeet kune do lineage to get their thoughts on the nature of Lee’s iconic martial arts book in this second interview compilation in our Tao of Jeet Kune Do video series. Their three perspectives — one as a first-generation student under Lee, one as a second-generation student under Ted Wong and one as a second-generation student under Bob Bremer — offer a textured look at the text as a compendium of knowledge from multiple sources.

“When [Tao of Jeet Kune Do] was put together, it was put together joined from everything that Bruce had studied because he studied philosophy when he was in school,” first-generation Lee student Jerry Poteet explains. “And that, when applied to his art, is what you saw in the book.”

TAO OF JEET KUNE DO INTERVIEW VIDEO
Jerry Poteet, Tommy Gong and Tim Tackett Reflect on the Nature of Bruce Lee’s Famous (and Newly Refurbished and Expanded) Martial Arts Book, Tao of Jeet Kune Do

“In a lot of ways, you see elements of many different things in [Tao of Jeet Kune Do],” says Tommy Gong, who studied under the late first-generation Lee student and jeet kune do master Ted Wong. “You see philosophy, you see techniques, you see kinesiology in there, you see boxing, fencing — strategies from fencing, for example. So [Tao of Jeet Kune Do] is really all those things but not yet all those things.”

And second-generation student Tim Tackett, who studied under Lee student Bob Bremer, chimes in to describe Tao of Jeet Kune Do in his own inimitable fashion: “Well, one thing it isn’t — it isn’t a book that Bruce Lee wrote. OK? Bruce Lee had a collection of notes — lots of notes. … He would look at something he found interesting and maybe he wanted to think about it later, he’d write it down.”

LEARN MORE ABOUT BRUCE LEE’S JEET KUNE DO THROUGH BOOKS AND DVDS!
Black Belt proudly presents a collection of books and DVDs by and about Bruce Lee, his art and his philosophies! Learn from students in Lee’s lineage, including Tim Tackett, Lamar M. Davis II, Ted Wong, Richard Bustillo and others — as well as from the master, Bruce Lee — by visiting our online store today!

Gong describes Tao of Jeet Kune Do as some of Lee’s last writings on the martial arts. “[Tao of Jeet Kune Do] shows really where his mind was going, where his research was going in the martial arts … the latest parts of his evolution in the martial arts.”

Tackett backs up Gong’s opinion, noting, “Bruce Lee was a work in progress, so you have to look at the Tao as Bruce’s pathway to getting where he is. So you have to look at it as not necessarily a guide to jeet kune do but a guide to what Bruce was interested in, what he’s looking at, and that’s why I find it fascinating.”

But reading Tao of Jeet Kune Do is ultimately, as Poteet says, “like looking into a mirror.” The reader takes his own journey and finds his own path over a long period. Start your own journey by pre-ordering the refurbished and expanded edition of Tao of Jeet Kune Do today!