The system that Bruce Lee personally expressed was his own personal JKD; tailored for himself. Before he could do this, however, he needed to first develop the "JKD Framework" process.
Many of the systems that Bruce Lee studied were not to develop his "Personal JKD" but rather was used to gather the "principles" for incorporation in the JKD Framework approach.
The uniqueness of JKD to Lee is that it was a "process" not a "product" and thus not a "style" but a system, concept, or approach.
Traditional martial arts styles are essentially a product that is given to a student with little provision for change. These traditional styles are usually fixed and not tailored for individuals.
Bruce Lee claimed there were inherent problems with this approach and established a "Process" based system rather than a fixed style which a student could then utilize to make a "tailored" or "Personal" product of their own.
To use an analogy; traditional martial arts give students fish to eat (a product). Lee believed that a martial art should just teach the student to fish (a process) and gain the food directly.
The two branches of JKD differ in what should be incorporated or offered within the "JKD Framework".
The Original (or Jun Fan) JKD branch believes that the original principles before Bruce Lee died are all that is needed for the construction of personalized systems.
The JKD Concepts branch believe that there are further principles that can be added to construct personalized systems.
The value of each Branch can be determined by individual practitioners based on whatever merits they deem important.
- Original JKD is further divided into two points of view. OJKD and JFJKD both hold Wing Chun, Western boxing and fencing as the cornerstones on Bruce's JKD.
- OJKD follows all Bruce's training from early Jun Fan Gung Fu (Seattle period) and focuses on trapping with Wing Chun influence.
- Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do is a signature version of JKD as Bruce taught privately to Ted Wong. This is a later time period and practices a greater emphasis on elusiveness and simplified trapping unique to Bruce's later approach to combat. The focus is with Fencing and Western boxing.
