No it isn't - the philosophy behind it is, but even that is a an application of existing thought processes (specifically Krishnamurti). JKD is a way of finding truth about yourself and your character through combative means, but even that is largely too estoeric to be of any real tangible benefit to the average practitioner IMO. The problem is that too many "armchair monks" get hold of a bit of oriental whimsy and it seems profound; In reality it isn't unless you want to overcomplicate things - the very antithesis of JKD.
Sorry for any confusion let me clarify. not at all. JKD i honestly think should be the start of ones own path in the life as a martial artist and be carried with you as you grow and experience martial arts. the best thing about JKD is it teaches you to embrace all beneficial aspects of other arts and apply them to what will make best for your self. like ok ill admit for the most part personally i think Tae Kwon Do is a joke as a "fighting style" and is much better as an exercise program. for one way too fancy, two it was designed as a one of five part training cores Tae Kwon Do being the means to kick a man off his horse and shouldn't have been separated like it was. imagine if some one took just what you teach your first rank alone and made that the whole of an art and thousands of people were being taught it world wide and only that no growth no beyond just that, and it was whole heartedly believed by so many that it was the best most hard core art out there, sickening isn't it... now if you place the other 4 with it you have something good, solid and pure. so if you went and started Tae Kwon Do then went to Jutte Jutsu, Seikendo, Tang Soo Do then you would be doing it right and be one hell of a martial artiest then say you finished with Lima Lama you would be amazingly dangerous in a fight. But allot of arts like Tae Kwon Do have instructors who make there students believe that Tae Kwon Do is all they will ever need to know to "become untouchable" as allot of the ones i met say. and its too bad, allot of good potential is wasted that way. But if they would have started JKD or at least took in the concept and used it as a guidance tool it would allow them to grow more than ever to reach that full potential, preventing any narrow visioned instructor from teaching them only one lesson how to be blind just like them. this is not what/who i am so i am sorry if any one took it like that, i will never suggest to any one to take only one martial art every style of fighting has at least one or two things that are good and will work for you. so unlike some of the instructors and schools that teach this i say you must experience every thing you can and push all limitations out of the way. (....sorry im ranting, touchy subject for me gets me all heated, lol. ill stop bashing them now..) what i mean to say is JKD should be a part of you, an extension of your self nothing more. ethically it is a "one stop shop" to a guide on how to conduct your self it the study of martial arts and how one should learn to apply what is best for you and your personal growth to reach the highest potential you can, for some a fighter others teaches. its a beginning with a means to an end, in the end the only thing JKD should be.... wait whats your name?_________, thats what it should be called, or what do you feel your own style represents?________, nice i like it. when one hits that marker that is the only two questions one should ask them self. now im not saying you take JKD and that is because you will never reach that marker if you do that. the whole point is to expand and evolve and evaluation cant happen if you stay in one environment and if you always keep the teachings in mind of JKD then what you develop should keep making new examples creating new islands, Lee made two him self one that was the combination of what he knew then the one that kept him in an evolutionary pattern and taught others to do the same with a whole set of starter tools. its your job to get there JKD is just a how to guide on development. your truth is inside of what is truly you and is never the reflection of another.
