Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system. – Bruce Lee

Jeet Kune Do (JKD), “Way of the Intercepting Fist”, is the name Bruce Lee gave to his combat philosophy in 1967. On the JKD emblem, the Chinese characters around the Yin and Yang symbol indicate “Using no way as way” and “Having no limitation as limitation”. The arrows represent the endless movement and change of the universe.

Before 1967, Bruce Lee’s conception of martial arts went through two preliminary stages. From 1959 to 1962, in San Francisco and Seattle, Bruce Lee taught the Tao of Chinese Gung Fu. The use of the center line, vertical punching and forward pressure came principally from traditional Wing Chun, which Bruce Lee practiced in his formative years in Hong Kong under grand master Yip Man.

From 1962 to 1967, in Seattle and Oakland, Bruce Lee taught Jun Fan Gung Fu (literally, Bruce’s Gung Fu). Jun Fan Gung Fu is a complete martial art that includes the four ranges of combat (kicking, punching, trapping and grappling) and is based on scientific principles of bodily movement. It uses direct lines and angles of attack, and operates on the principles of adaptability, simplicity, interception and economy of motion.

Jun Fan Gung Fu resulted from Bruce Lee’s extensive research of diverse fighting systems, including Northern and Southern styles of Chinese Gung-Fu (Preying Mantis, Eagle Claw, Hung Gar, Choy Lay Fut), Western Boxing and Fencing, Thai Boxing, French Savate, Judo and Jiu Jitsu. Lee’s criterion in the study of every possible form of combat was: “Absorb what is useful; disregard that which is useless.”

From 1967 until his death in 1973, Bruce Lee taught Jeet Kune Do. Instead of tradition or repertoire, he stressed the importance of personal evolution in martial arts – finding one’s ownway and meaning through research, experimentation and experience, in place of empty imitation or regurgitation. While Jeet Kune Do is Bruce Lee’s philosophy of combat and expression, Jun Fan Gung Fu is the technical nucleus of JKD instruction.

In Switzerland, the Martial Institute Geneva is the only school that offers certified instruction in Jun Fan Gung Fu / Jeet Kune Do in French and English, following the curriculum of Sifu Dan Inosanto, Bruce Lee’s official successor and the only instructor certified by Bruce Lee to teach Jeet Kune Do.