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Ask any martial artist to name the best-selling martial arts book of all time, and chances are

he or she will say Tao of Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee.

What many martial arts enthusiasts and Bruce Lee fans don’t know is that this landmark book
wasn’t a simple publishing project. In fact, its path to print was a veritable roller-coaster ride.

The following are some of the highlights as reported in Black Belt magazine.

• November 1970 issue — Bruce Lee suspends work on a project he’s been fine-tuning
for years. It was to have been titled Tao of Jeet Kune Do.

• December 1970 issue — “Several years ago, we announced that Bruce Lee was
working on a book called Tao of Jeet Kune Do,” a Black Belt writer says. “Unfortunately,
Bruce got sidetracked from writing it, and even though it was almost completed, he has
decided not to have it published.”
• February 1971 issue — Martial artists launch a letter-writing campaign to convince
Lee to change his mind and have the book published. The effect the letters have on Lee is not
mentioned.

• July 20, 1973 — Bruce Lee passes away in Hong Kong.

• October 1975 issue — The staff of Black Belt, under the leadership of Gilbert Johnson,
puts the finishing touches on the Tao. The first ad for the book is run.
• November 1975 issue — A four-page story in Black Belt reveals how the book was
compiled.

“When Linda Lee introduced Gil Johnson and said he was going to put Bruce’s book together
for publication, we were all a little skeptical,” Dan Inosanto says. “We figured, since he had
studied different styles, that he would interpret everything in terms of what he already knew
and make JKD another style. But he didn’t. He worked out with us, and he was open-minded
all the way. The way he put the book together was fantastic. People need some kind of
organization to relate, to understand what they’re reading, and he gave them that, but he
didn’t limit what Bruce was saying.”

• December 1975 issue — The first Tao ad appears, offering the book for $6.95. History
is about to be made.
• January 1976 issue — An ad campaign for a deluxe edition of the book begins. “If
you’re really a Bruce Lee fan, you will want this distinguished, hardbound edition of his Tao
of Jeet Kune Do,” the text announces. The book sports a hard cover and is “bound in rich
leatherette with a gold stamped signature.” It sells for $9.95.
• January 2007 issue — It’s announced that a limited-edition, hard-cover version of the
Tao will go on sale soon. It comes with a hard cloth slipcase and a numbered certificate
signed by Linda Lee Cadwell and Shannon Lee.

• November 1, 2011 — After extensive consultation with Shannon Lee, Tao of Jeet
Kune Do: Expanded Edition is released as a paper book and an e-book. It includes digitally
enhanced, hand-drawn illustrations by Bruce Lee, never-before-seen Chinese translations,
framed training aids and exercises, a brief history of the book, and other improvements
overseen by Shannon Lee. Go here to order.
(“Bruce Lee” is a registered trademark of Bruce Lee Enterprises LLC. The Bruce Lee name,
image and likeness are intellectual property of Bruce Lee Enterprises LLC.)…

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Classic Interviews: Jeet Kune Do Techniques Expert Ted Wong on Bruce Lee
and the State of JKD (Part 4)

Author Raymond Horwitz

Posted October, 2014

Updated November, 2014







Editor’s Note: The interview from which this


segment is adapted was originally printed in the May 2008 issue of Black Belt magazine. (You
can read Part 1 here, Part 2 here and Part 3 here). At the time, interviewer Bob Landers
wrote, it was “fitting for Ted Wong, the man many consider the foremost authority on Bruce
Lee’s art, to go on the record.” During the course of his interview with Ted Wong — who,
sadly, passed away on November 24, 2010 — Bob Landers’ goal was to “ask the questions
that [had been] on the minds of martial artists but that [hadn’t] been addressed by a person
of Ted Wong’s clout.” Ted Wong, age 70 at the time, was still evolving in his physical and
intellectual understanding of JKD and still “tirelessly toured the world, educating students on
the finer points of Bruce Lee’s legacy and honoring the memory of his teacher and friend.”
And so it is, through revisiting classic interviews such as this, that Black Belt honors the
memory of Bruce Lee’s student and friend — and its own Hall of Fame’s 2006 Man of the
Year — Ted Wong.

You were present at many of James Coburn and Steve McQueen’s lessons —
any interesting stories there?

On occasion, I was with Bruce during their sessions. James Coburn was more philosophically
oriented. Bruce could be very philosophical, and I think this was the main draw for James.

I saw more of Steve McQueen. One time Bruce took me to Steve’s house in Westwood, Los
Angeles. His house was built like an 18th-century castle. We would work out in the big
courtyard, which had sandstone rock with a rough surface. Steve tripped and cut open his big
toe, and there was this big piece of flesh hanging there. It was a bloody mess, and Bruce said
we’d better stop. Steve said, “No, let’s keep on training.” Steve was tough and very physically
oriented.

Joe Lewis once said you were an old and close friend of his and the only
student of Bruce Lee’s he ever met while Bruce Lee was alive.

Quite often Joe Lewis would come to train with Bruce [while] I was there. Joe was an
excellent martial artist and the top tournament fighter at that time. Bruce was working with
him on how to improve his technique for tournaments, so sometimes I would work with him.
Usually when Joe would come for training, he was very serious, but sometimes he’d be in a
joking mood and we’d have a little fun. Later on, Joe became the full-contact champion.
Some 20 years after Bruce passed away, Joe and I connected again, taught some seminars
together and became very good friends.

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After Bruce Lee passed away, you must have had a void in your life. How did
you go about putting JKD together to the degree that you have?

For me, it wasn’t easy continuing his art after he passed away because I had lost a teacher and
wasn’t sure which way to go. Fortunately, I had my good friend Herb Jackson, who was also a
longtime student of Bruce Lee, so we worked together on what we’d learned — mostly
physical techniques. I managed to stay with what I learned from Bruce and never looked into
other arts.

I also began to research his writings. It took me about 15 years to really understand what jeet
kune do was all about and even more time to develop my skill. I really put a lot of time into it.
Bruce left behind a lot of information, which served as a road map, but you have to study it
and work at it to make it all come together. Through teaching for the past 15 years, I learned a
lot about JKD and myself.

In your studies, did you discover things that Bruce Lee never taught you?

Having spent as much time as I have — 30 to 40 years — studying jeet kune do, I discovered
many things in the art itself which Bruce never taught me. These are things within the
structure of jeet kune do. Innovation is about understanding the inner workings [of the art].
When you understand this, you can further simplify. Everything I learned wasn’t from an
outside source; it was inside JKD. Any discoveries I made were already contained within the
art as Bruce designed it. Bruce’s notes and writings provide a road map, so by sticking to his
principles, it’s still jeet kune do.
Download your FREE glimpse into the …

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Classic Interviews: Jeet Kune Do Techniques Expert Ted Wong on Bruce Lee
and the State of JKD (Part 3)

Author Raymond Horwitz

Posted October, 2014

Updated November, 2014






Editor’s Note: The interview from which this


segment is adapted was originally printed in the May 2008 issue of Black Belt magazine. (You
can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.) At the time, interviewer Bob Landers wrote, it was
“fitting for Ted Wong, the man many consider the foremost authority on Bruce Lee’s art, to
go on the record.” During the course of his interview with Ted Wong — who, sadly, passed
away on November 24, 2010 — Bob Landers’ goal was to “ask the questions that [had been]
on the minds of martial artists but that [hadn’t] been addressed by a person of Ted Wong’s
clout.” Ted Wong, age 70 at the time, was still evolving in his physical and intellectual
understanding of JKD and still “tirelessly toured the world, educating students on the finer
points of Bruce Lee’s legacy and honoring the memory of his teacher and friend.” And so it
is, through revisiting classic interviews such as this, that Black Belt honors the memory of
Bruce Lee’s student and friend — and its own Hall of Fame’s 2006 Man of the Year — Ted
Wong.

Bruce Lee studied wing chun for years. Why do you think he ultimately
abandoned it?

Bruce learned wing chun as a youngster for about four years, so what he taught early on was
basically wing chun. When he came to America, it really opened up his thinking, and he was
able to look into many different martial arts, as well as boxing and fencing. He began looking
into ways to modify wing chun, asking himself, “What is the best way to use two arms and
two legs?”

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Bruce Lee Training Research:
How Boxing Influenced His Jeet Kune Do Techniques

As Bruce evolved, he realized that a lot of wing chun was not functional because of its
limitations and [because] it was very classical and tradition oriented. Classical and traditional
arts have a tendency to not change and do things the way they were done for hundreds of
years. So when he started to take his art more into a boxing and fencing direction, he looked
to science — such as the laws of physics — and realized that wing chun didn’t fit the
direction he was heading.

After a fight in Oakland, California, with a kung fu man from Hong Kong in 1965, Bruce
realized there were a lot of limitations in wing chun. He felt he should have finished the fight
in a matter of seconds instead of three minutes. This was a real turning point, and he started to
examine more deeply his system as well as his physical conditioning. I think this event led to
the birth of jeet kune do and an even further departure from wing chun. His wing chun base
was acting like a ball and chain to his growth. He began to look for a better way — and that’s
when boxing and fencing came in. When Bruce dropped wing chun and changed the stance,
that’s when he excelled.

Some people insist that Bruce Lee could never really escape his wing chun
roots and that the key to JKD lies in wing chun mechanics.

People who say that have no real understanding of Bruce’s art, or they’re saying that to
promote their own art at the expense of Bruce Lee. The statement is ridiculous because Bruce
had the physical and intellectual ability to change and adapt. The late Ed Parker, who was a
close friend of Bruce’s, once said the first time he’d show Bruce something, Bruce could
perform it as [well as Parker could], and the second time he could perform it better. Bruce
once told me that to become a good fighter, the No. 1 thing is the ability to adapt.

Download your free glimpse into the mind of a man


who studied with both Bruce Lee and Ed Parker!
14 Life Lessons: Kenpo and JKD Expert Dan Inosanto
Remembers His Martial Journey

Most people don’t know that Bruce Lee lived with you for two weeks in your
small apartment. How did you and his Great Dane get along?

The reason Bruce and his family stayed with me was the house he was going to move into
wouldn’t be ready for two weeks and he had to be out of the house he was living in right
away. Bruce told me he was going to have to move his family and dog to the school. I said,
“Why not stay at my place?” Linda and Brandon had my bedroom, Bruce slept on my couch
and I slept on a mattress on the floor. The big dog wanted to sleep with me. I would push him
away, but …

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Classic Interviews: Jeet Kune Do Techniques Expert Ted Wong on Bruce Lee
and the State of JKD (Part 2)

Author Raymond Horwitz

Posted September, 2014

Updated October, 2014







Editor’s Note: The interview from which this
segment is adapted was originally printed in the May 2008 issue of Black Belt magazine. (You
can read Part 1 here.) At the time, interviewer Bob Landers wrote, it was “fitting for Ted
Wong, the man many consider the foremost authority on Bruce Lee’s art, to go on the
record.” During the course of his interview with Ted Wong — who, sadly, passed away on
November 24, 2010 — Bob Landers’ goal was to “ask the questions that [had been] on the
minds of martial artists but that [hadn’t] been addressed by a person of Ted Wong’s clout.”
Ted Wong, age 70 at the time, was still evolving in his physical and intellectual understanding
of JKD and still “tirelessly toured the world, educating students on the finer points of Bruce
Lee’s legacy and honoring the memory of his teacher and friend.” And so it is, through
revisiting classic interviews such as this, that Black Belt honors the memory of Bruce Lee’s
student and friend — and its own Hall of Fame’s 2006 Man of the Year — Ted Wong.

You’re one of three people known to have received a JKD certificate from
Bruce Lee. How did this come about?

It was a very special moment for me. One evening, I walked into Bruce’s house for a lesson.
He pointed to the table and said, “This is for you; you should be very proud of it as I don’t
give many of these out.” I realized it was a certificate in jeet kune do. I felt very proud and
was at a loss for words.

The history of Bruce Lee’s most celebrated book


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What were the private training sessions like?


Often, the private lessons were about working on what he wanted or what he was working on
at that time. He might use me as a sounding board — for example, he might perform a certain
kick and ask me about the speed, power and timing. Sometimes he would work with me on
something I was lacking; I recall working on the side kick for two months. Sometimes we
would work on fun things like movie choreography: timing, selling the shot, reaction and
camera angles. We didn’t do a lot of physical training together, but he did set up a program
for me to work on my strength. It had weightlifting, and sometimes he would show me
specific exercises to work on for punching and kicking strength, and sometimes after the
sessions he would take me running.

Do you recall any social events the two of you shared?

I have many fond memories of Bruce besides training. Many times after training, we would
have a cold drink and discuss martial arts and philosophy. We went to movies and restaurants,
and he liked to make trips to bookstores. He invited me, Herb Jackson and James Lee to visit
him in Hong Kong in December 1972. James Lee was quite ill at that time and couldn’t make
it, so Herb and I took the trip to Hong Kong and stayed at Bruce’s house for a couple of
weeks. One of the funny things was that Bruce asked us to bring training equipment because
he had nothing to train with. So Herb and I packed our suitcases full of training gear and
didn’t pack any clothing or personal items. We figured we would get necessities when we got
there.

Click here to read Part 3.

About the Author:


A longtime student of the late Ted Wong, Bob Landers teaches a jeet kune do group in Tulsa,
Oklahoma.

Related Martial Arts Books, E-Books,


DVDs and Video Downloads

Bruce Lee: The Evolution of a Black Belt Magazine: The Chinese Gung Fu: The
Martial Artist Bruce Lee Collection Philosophical Art of Self-
Defense — Revised and
Updated

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Classic Interviews: Jeet Kune Do Techniques Expert Ted Wong on Bruce Lee
and the State of JKD (Part 1)

Author Raymond Horwitz

Posted September, 2014

Updated October, 2014






Editor’s Note: “A lot happened in the jeet kune do


world during the past 10 years,” as Bob Landers wrote in his introduction to the printed
version of this interview, originally published in the May 2008 issue of Black Belt magazine.
At the time, Bob Landers wrote, it was “fitting for Ted Wong, the man many consider the
foremost authority on Bruce Lee’s art, to go on the record.” During the course of his
interview with Ted Wong — who, sadly, passed away on November 24, 2010 — Bob Landers’
goal was to “ask the questions that [had been] on the minds of martial artists but that
[hadn’t] been addressed by a person of Ted Wong’s clout.” Ted Wong, age 70 at the time,
was still engaged in enhancing his physical ability and intellectual understanding of JKD. In
fact, his lifetime of contributions got him inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame as the
2006 Man of the Year. At the time of this interview, Ted Wong still “tirelessly toured the
world, educating students on the finer points of Bruce Lee’s legacy and honoring the memory
of his teacher and friend.” And so it is, through revisiting classic interviews such as this, that
Black Belt honors the memory of Bruce Lee’s student and friend, Ted Wong.
What was your life like before you met Bruce Lee?

I was very busy making a living and raising a family. I was interested in martial arts from an
early age. I later became interested in boxing, which I watched on TV quite regularly. When I
compared boxing to martial arts, I felt boxing was more realistic. I no longer had an interest in
learning martial arts — until I met Bruce Lee.

In 1967 you trained at Bruce Lee’s Los Angeles school and with him privately.
Shortly thereafter, you began training exclusively at his home. How did that
come about?

When I started training at the Chinatown school, I had no prior experience in martial arts.
Bruce Lee saw that I was short on skill and knowledge, but I think he recognized that I had
heart, that I was dedicated and hardworking. He felt sorry for me because I was the guy that
had little knowledge and skill compared to the rest of the group — some of them were black
belts and boxing champions. Also, he found that I came from Hong Kong, and we spoke the
same language. That’s another reason we became good friends.

You’ve stated that the two of you shared an interest in old-time boxing from
the 1920s.

One time, Bruce was reading an encyclopedia of boxing, and he would ask me questions out
of it — trivia questions, like the nicknames of champions. He was surprised that I knew the
answers. Even though I had no experience in boxing, I had a lot of knowledge of boxing. I
read a lot of magazines that had to do with it and knew the history of the champions. This was
another reason he took me in. Later on, I found out that boxing was one of the subjects that
Bruce was heavily interested in. JKD evolved along the lines of boxing and fencing.

What do Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis have to do with JKD?


Find out in in this FREE Guide!
Bruce Lee Training Research:
How Boxing Influenced His Jeet Kune Do Techniques

Was the material taught at the school different from what he taught you
privately?

It was quite different from what he taught me privately, mainly because the school had a set
curriculum, a lesson plan. The school’s material was a little more wing chun oriented. I
discovered during the private sessions that what he taught me was what he was working on at
that time. It was quite a departure from the more classical teaching offered at the school. The
private teaching was more of the jeet kune do he was evolving into.

Related Martial Arts Books, E-Books,


DVDs and Video Downloads
Bruce Lee: The Evolution of a Black Belt Magazine: The Chinese Gung Fu: The
Martial Artist Bruce Lee Collection Philosophical Art of Self-
Defense — Revised and
Updated

Specifically, how was the art evolving?

In 1967, the early stages of JKD, there was still a heavy wing chun influence in his art. Then
he refined and simplified what he was doing, especially the stance. If you look at the stance in
1967 and then in 1971, you can see how he had streamlined it and made it more efficient. In
1967 his art was still wing chun oriented, and the stance was more square and open to allow
for traps such as pak sao, lop sao and so on. As he evolved, he realized trapping wasn’t that
efficient and didn’t fit his …

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