New Generation JKD

Goodbye, Old Friend

2012-01-22T16:50:00.000-08:00

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -Mohandes Ghandi

Jerry Poteet spent his time passing on the Art of Jeet Kune Do to others. He was solely dedicated to teaching Jeet Kune Do as it was taught to him by Bruce Lee in the late 60's. If you ever had the opportunity to meet Jerry, you know that he was kind, compassionate and had a very warm heart. His ability to teach was only matched by his ability to put his Art into action.

In my time training with Jerry Poteet I learned a great deal about the martial arts that I will continue to draw from and grow through for the rest of my life. More importantly, I learned that a life dedicated to helping others find themselves is a very rich, honest, and rewarding way to spend your days. I am thankful for the years, the months, days, minutes, seconds that we spent together in person or conversation, even in thought. I am a blessed person to have had such a wonderful friend, teacher and mentor in my life for the time that we had.

A Pointer of the Way, Not the Way

2010-12-15T11:08:00.000-08:00

I was sitting in a restaurant one day when someone asked a waitress where the bathroom was. She pointed to the back and said it's the one on the right. The man walked to the back, went to his right and did his business.

The waitress did not boast, nor did she feel entitled to monetary gain, power or proper title such as Sifu, Sensei or Teacher. Instead, she pointed the person in need in the right direction and left it at that. The man still had to go on the journey and do all the work.

People searching for answers in life deserve guidance from those who can help. I think that we all understand this on a deep level and have at one time or another been the person searching.

If you know the way or have insight that might help someone, then give it. If you are a teacher and that is your vocation, then teach. Empower your students. Help them find their Way and then leave it at that. Take your ego out of the situation. It has no place in a homeostatic situation, it is only an indication of a deep pathology.

I urge all teachers to develop humility and make the student's journey about the student finding their own Way not their teacher's. Take no credit for all the hard work that they have done. All you did was say, "Hey, you're over there". They went on the journey and did all the hard work.

As teachers, our actions point toward the Tao on our best days. We strive to find our Way and live true to that. Lead by example. Love unconditionally all the people of the Earth. Remember that we are not the answer, but one of an infinite number of manifestations of the Tao.

Just a thought...

Bruce Lee

2010-09-09T05:19:00.000-07:00

Each man is defined by his actions, not by his words. The reason that people take to heart what Bruce Lee said is that he put his words into action. Bruce didn't rely on other's accomplishments to move him forward in life. He made his own way by studying others successes and failures accordingly. I can't think of one time where I heard him claim that he was a wing chun man, jeet kune do man, or that he used Yip Man's name like a line of credit. Bruce would simply say, "I am Bruce Lee." And he made that mean something very special to himself and eventually the world.

In living, we all have struggles and things that we are learning from. My suggestion is to make your own way and not live off of the successes of others. Try to learn from them. Making your own way is a piece of your identity. It is a part of the journey that makes your path clear.

You can go to the best school in the world, it doesn't mean you learned a damn thing.

Integrity of the Way

2010-09-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

Developing as a martial artist requires a certain drive and perseverance. It is absolutely necessary at points to imbalance your life and surroundings to gain your true understanding and liberation. We all know that chaos breeds creation. The absolute of anything produces its opposite.

This message is to those who allow their ambition to outweigh their integrity: Don't over reach. You will become like a plant who sees a drop of water on the ground. You will overstretch for instant gratification from your thirst but will then realize that you have pulled your roots out of the ground to obtain one drop of water. You could have just waited for the rain and kept your integrity while drinking.

Don't let your ambition outweigh your integrity. Without integrity, there is no Way.

Being an Artist

2010-09-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

To start at the beginning...let's take a look at dissolving barriers between martial artists, fighters, teachers, philosophers, etc.

When delving into martial science, it is just that, a science. All sciences are a way for an observer to make sense of an environment or function that did not make sense prior. Like any bridge, it has a structure, paradigm, and functions between different elements that vary by environment. It typically fits the environment and experiences that the observer has had prior to making certain rules or principles for the world that he/she lives in.

So, in accordance with science, in martial art we have physical, psychological, and applied sciences. Physical sciences entail learning the mechanics of hitting, moving and then hitting and moving at the same time. Repetition drives efficiency and simplicity of movement aids the attack in being non-telegraphic or unseen. Psychological sciences bring about change through strategy, timing and distance. In essence, how to move with someone to maintain or vary distance to line up the appropriate measure for the tool being applied. It also deals with opening closed lines or closing open lines to gain a clear hit. Once we have these basic principles in place, we take our science into the laboratory with yesterday as the control and the moment as the experiment. In the end, we empty our mind of strategy and any prior occurence and allow the body to hit all by itself with no effort, ego or ambition of any sort. The emptying of the mind is the dissolving of knowledge in the mind into a sense of knowing in the body, mind, and spirit.

If we can see that martial art is just a science until someone expresses their true self honestly, then I think that we can all agree that not only could there be many sciences with differing structures, but that there could be an infinite realm of ways to apply any idea.

There are many painters, but few artists. And I don't remember any stories of artists trying to stunt another artists growth. They are too busy working on their craft and expressing themselves fully to fret if someone else is doing something "right" or wrong". Paint as you will.