I am wondering from those of you who read the book if it is a good book if i just want to read the basic princibles of JKD. I currently want to apply all forms of martial arts to my current training. Would this be a good book to read, or are there better ones out there?
-Thank you for your time.
I’m a karateka (Shotokan) and I’ve been reading the Tao for about two weeks now, slowly assimilating the info as I go along. Like anything else it’s just another forum to get ideas and perhaps bolster your own style with some of Lee’s ideas. Still, it gives great insight into this man’s mind and thought processes, so I like it on that account. IMO you could do a lot worse than read this book–but read others as well!
'TIMING IS BEST WHEN THE OPPONENT IS
RUSHING IN. THE TAO OF JEET KUNE DO.
ONE OF THE MANY PROFUNDITIES,LUCK.
I’ve heard that Bruce did not write the Tao of JKD in its book form, but rather it was compiled from several of his writtings over the years. This does not disqualify the info contained within, but has anyone else heard this?
Yes, I think the ToJKD may have been compiled post-humously from notes he had made - alot from during the time he was bedridden for months with his back injury.
I haven’t read it in a while. I probably should, because it would make more sense to me now that I’ve had more training and can relate better to what he was talking about.
how Tao of JKD was compiled
it says right at the beginning with the intro by LINDA LEE CADWELL that she and DAN INOSANTO put the book together posthumously from BRUCE’S writings.
excerpt
Karol,
Here’s a little taste of the first chapter. I happened to have this in text.
If you do want to buy the book, you can get a discount
HERE
ON ZEN
To obtain enlightenment in martial art means the extinction of everything which obscures the
“true knowledge”, the “real life”. At the time, it implies boundless expansion and, indeed,
emphasis should not fall on the cultivation of the particular department which merges into the
totality, but rather on the totality that enters and unites that particular department.
The way to transcend karma lies in the proper use of the mind and will. The oneness of all life
is a truth that can be fully realized only when false notions of a seperate self, whose destiney can
be considered apart from the whole, are forever annihilated.
Voidness is that which stands right in the middle between this and that. The void is all-inclusive,
having no opposite–there is nothing which it excludes or opposes. It is living void, because all
forms come out of it and whoever realized the void is filled with life and power and the love of
all beings.
Turn into a doll made of wood: it has no ego, it thinks nothing, it is not grasping or sticky. Let
the body and limbs work themselves out in accordance with the discipline they have undergone.
If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Moving, be like
water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo.
Nothingness cannot be defined; the softest thing cannot be snapped.
I’m moving and not moving at all. I’m like the moon underneath the waves that ever go on
rolling and rocking. It is not, “I am doing this”, but rather, an inner realization that “this is
happening through me”, or “it is doing this for me”. The consciousness of self is the greatest
hinderance to the proper execution of all physical action.
The localization of the mind means its freezing. When it ceases to flow freely as it is needed, it is
no more than the mind in its suchness.
The “Immovable” is the concentration of energy at a given focus, as at the axis of a wheel,
instead of dispersal in scattered activities.
The point is the doing of them rather than the accomplishments. There is no actor but the
action; there is no experiencer but the experience.
To see a thing uncolored by one’s own personal preferences and desires is to see it in its own
pristine simplicity.
Art reaches its greatest peak when devoid of self-consciousness. Freedom discovers man the
moment he loses concern over what impression he is making or about to make.
The perfect way is only difficult for those who pick and choose. Do not like, do not dislike; all
will then be clear. Make a hairbreadth difference and heaven and earth are set apart; if you
want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against. The struggle between “for” and
“against” is the mind’s worst disease.
Wisdom does not consist of trying to wrest the good from the evil but in learning to “ride” them
as a cork adapts itself to the crests and troughs of the waves.
Let yourself go with the disease, be with it, keep company with it–this is the way to be rid of it.
An assertion is Zen only when it is itself an act and does not refer to anything that is asserted in
it.
In Buddhism, there is no place for using effort. Just be ordinary and nothing special. Eat your
food, move your bowels, pass water, and when your tired go lie down. The ignorant will laugh
at me, but the wise will understand.
Establish nothing in regard to oneself. Pass quickly like the non-existent and be quiet as purity.
Those who gain will lose. Do not procede others, always follow them.
Do not run away; let go. Do not seek, for it will come when least expected.
Give up thinking as though not giving it up. Observe techniques as though not observing.
There is no fixed teaching. All I can provide is an appropriate medicine for a particular ailment.
Buddhism’s Eight-Fold Path
The eight requirements to eliminate suffering by correcting false values and giving true
knowledge of life’s meaning have been summed up as follows:
Right views (understanding): You must see clearly what is wrong.
Right purpose (aspiration): Decide to be cured.
Right speech: Speak so as to aim at being cured.
Right conduct: You must act.
Right vocation: Your livelihood must not conflict with your therapy.
Right effort: The therapy must go forward at the “staying speed”, the critical velocity that
can be sustained.
Right awareness (mind control): You must feel it and think about it incessantly.
Right concentration (meditation): Learn how to contemplate with the deep mind.
ART OF THE SOUL
The aim of art is to protect an inner vision into the world, to state in aesthetic creation the
deepest psychic and personal experiences of a human being. It is to enable those experiences
to be intelligible and generally recognized within the total framework of an ideal world.
Art reveals itself in psychic understanding of the inner essence of things and gives form to the
relation of the man with nothing, with the nature of the absolute.
Art is an expression of life and transcends both time and space. We must employ our own souls
through art to give new form and a new meaning to nature or the world.
An artist’s expression is his soul made apparent, his schooling, as well as his “cool” being
exhibited. Behind every motion, the music of his soul is made visible. Otherwise, his motion is
empty and empty motion is like an empty world–no meaning.
Eliminate “not clear” thinking and function from your root.
Art is never decoration, embellishment; instead, it is work of enlightenment. Art, in other
words, is a technique for aquiring liberty.
Art calls for complete mastery of techniques, developed by reflection within the soul.
“Artless art” is the artistic process within the artist; its meaning is “art of the soul”. All the
various moves of all the tools means a step on the way to the absolute aesthetic world of the
soul.
Creation in art is the psychic unfolding of the personality, which is rooted in the nothing. Its
effect is a deepening of the personal dimension of the soul.
The artless art is the art of the soul at peace, like moonlight mirrored in a deep lake. The
ultimate aim of the artist is to use his daily activity to become a past master of life, and so lay
hold of the art of living. Masters in all branches of art must first be masters of living, for the soul
creates everything.
All vague notions must fall before a pupil can call himself a master.
Art is the way to the absolute and to the essence of human life. The aim of art is not the
one-sided promotion of spirit, soul and senses, but the opening of all human capacities –
thought, feeling, will – to the life rhythm of the world of nature. So will the voiceless voice be
heard and the self be brought into harmony with it.
Artistic skill, therefore, does not mean artistic perfection. It remains rather a continuing medium
or reflection of some step in psychic development, the perfection of which is not to be found in
shape and form, but must radiate from the human soul.
The artistic activity does not lie in art itself as such. It penetrates into a deeper world in which all
art forms (of things inwardly experienced) flow together, and in which the harmony of soul and
cosmos in the nothing has its outcome in reality.
It is the artistic process, therefore, that is reality and reality is truth.
The Path To Truth
SEEKING AFTER TRUTH
AWARENESS OF TRUTH (and its existence)
PERCEPTION OF TRUTH (its substance and direction – like the perception of
movement)
UNDERSTANDING OF TRUTH (A first-rate philosopher practices it to understand it –
TAO. Not to be fragmented, but to see the totality – Krishnamurti)
EXPERIENCING OF TRUTH
MASTERING OF TRUTH
FORGETTING THE TRUTH
FORGETTING THE CARRIER OF TRUTH
RETURN TO THE PRIMAL SOURCE WHERE TRUTH HAS ITS ROOTS
REPOSE IN THE NOTHING
JEET KUNE DO
The art of Jeet Kune Do is simply to simplify.
Jeet Kune Do words the superficial, penetrates the complex, goes to the heart of the problem
and pinpoints the key factors.
Jeet Kune Do does not beat around the bush. It does not take winding detours. It follows a
straight line to the objective. Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points.
Jeet Kune Do favors formlessness so that it can assume all forms, and since Jeet Kune Do has
no style, it can fit in with all styles. As a result, Jeet Kune Do utilizes all ways, and is bound by
none, and likewise uses any techniques or means which serves its end.
Gary Hoyd
http://www.geocities.com/ghoyd/
MIDWESTERN JUN FAN FIGHTING ALLIANCE
JKD Books
If you are interested in a book about JKD that
unlike the Tao is actually worth reading you
should pick up the Artist Of Life the answer
to Jeet Kune Do is in that book.
Re: The Tao
The first time I read the Tao I thought it was
mess and it still was a mess when I was looking
at it just a couple of years ago. Artist Of Life
does have that feel to it as well but John Little
did take some care in preparing the book for publ
ication. More than was ever done with the Tao.The
Tao is a text that was produced solely for the wa-
nt of profit any benefit to the reader is purely
accidental.
iceman
all i can say to that is
opinions are like assholes,
everyone has one and they usually stink.
Well I can see how the Tao would confuse people. When I first got the book I was totally lost. I would definatly not recomend the book to a beginer looking to see what JKD is all about. The book is a collection of notes by Bruce that he was going to make a book out of. He died before he could finish the book so they published his notes.
That being said it has been about five years since I first got the book and I can say without a doubt it is one the most powerful books I have ever read. It has changed my life in many ways!! Its not so much a martial arts book as it is an outlook or a way of life.
Hope that helped. 
Tao Of Jeet Kune Do
Sct82abn
You must be an intellectual giant
Nice book, the Tao of Jeet Kune Do.
I find it more interesting to see the manner in which Lee sees things as opposed to the actual lessons themselves.
well
Its really helpful in understanding how JKD fighters think, and has enabled me to beat them easily in tournament. I think a lot of the philosophy is misunderstood or mis-applied with regard to the “traditional” systems.
In context
In the book itself it is stated that “he did not intend it to be a how-to book… he intended it as a record of one man’s way of thinking and as a guide, not a set of instructions.” It is more a collection of notes than a book, so don’t treat it as a cover-to-cover read. More than anything, take what is in the pages as inspiration, and a basis for your own thoughts and ponderings. Do not look for principles, rather, look for suggestions. My suggestion - read it, and any other book that people strongly suggest. Knowledge is priceless - if you gain nothing else out of it, at least you will have an impressive looking library 
My copy of the Tao is at least 10 years old. And just about every page has at least one caption highlighted. Every time I read this book I find something that either I missed or didn’t make sense or interested me at previous readings. I agree that the book is not easy to read. But it gives a glimpse into the simplistic views on the martial arts that Bruce Lee had. No fancy pictures, just hand drawn illustrations, etc. So, even though I for one am getting tired of all the coverage that Bruce Lee continues to get in the magazines and on the web, this book is and should be a must for all martial artist regardless of styles 
Stickfighter
Tao of Jeet Kune Do
I’m thinking of buying the Tao of Jeet Kune Do. Does anyone here have it? Is it any good? All information is welcome.
Yes. Buy it.
Its written by John Little.
:eek:
it’s a very good book. Lots of good info and quotes in there.
Ooops… clicked on the wrong forum
Sorry to burst any bubbles, but it really is rubbish.
It takes about ten minutes to look through the whole thing. Its basically a collection of notes - your much better off going back to the original sources - pick up a good boxing book (try haislet), a good judo book, and one of bruce’s other books he liked to quote - tao te ching, krishnamurti or sun tzu.