My Kung Fu

People always ask what do I practice, I say "Kung Fu", they say, "what kind of Kung Fu?" Well, that's hard to explain, because it's my own Kung Fu, and because they don't know me, they don't know what I practice unless they get to know me.  Bruce Lee had his Kung Fu, I have my own.  Bruce Lee created the label  "Jeet Kune Do", I created the label "Freddie's Modern Kung Fu​".  But essentially, I am trying my hardest to promote the teachings of the East through my Martial Expression.  I don't want to choose, but if you force me to choose, then I will say I am promoting the Chinese Martial Arts.

Which will include "Bruce Lee, Jeet Kune Do, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Wushu, Jackie Chan, Tai Chi, Wing Chun, Choy Lay Fut, Shaolin, Praying Mantis, Hung Gar, Tao, Lao Tzu, Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Confucius, Mencius, Chuang-tzu, Qigong, Kung Fu Panda, etc.

Although most of my teachings will include aspects from all different cultures, if I was forced to only choose one to promote, I would have to say the Chinese culture would be the most encompassing of the teachings of which I promote.  The wisdom from the Sages of China is the same wisdom you will find from the sages of India and Japan.  The wisdom of the Japanese Martial Artist Musashi is not too different than the wisdom of Bruce Lee.  The wisdom of Buddha is not too different than the wisdom of Lao-Tzu.  The wisdom that is contained from the entire world, can essentially be found in China.

I never wanted to choose, but if you force me to choose, I will promote the Chinese Martial Arts and the Chinese culture.  I can wish to be nameless, but even my parents had to make a final decision on what name they wished to give me.  I understand the true way is No Way, but people just don't understand that teaching, that teaching only comes to an understand after many decades of practice.

Creation is Not Always Good

Creation is Not Always Good

Creation is not always good.  Giving birth to Adolf Hitler is not good.  You may be a good person but if you teach others to be bad, you are no longer a good person.  They say there is no such thing as bad students; there are only bad teachers.  It is up to you whether or not to create a child; nobody can force you to create a child.  Now if you decide to create a child and you do not raise this child right, you are contributing negativity to this world.  If you are not going to raise the child right, you are better off not creating a child to begin with. 

Now this doesn’t just go with creating children.  I see this truth can be applied to teaching in general.  In particular to teaching something that requires great responsibility.  Teaching somebody the alphabet is one thing.  Teaching somebody how to be responsible with a firearm is another.  Teaching someone how to become fit is one thing.  Teaching someone how to be proficient in self-defense or Martial Arts is another.  A bodybuilder with an over inflated ego is one thing.  A fighter with an over inflated ego is another. 

There can be a group of people who are humble and shy.  And because of your teachings, you have trained these same people to be arrogant bullies.  By doing this, you have not contributed goodness to this world; you have made this society worse.  There can be a group of people who stay home to play video games all day.  And because of your teachings, you have taught these same people to go out to the streets and commit crimes.  By doing this, you have not contributed goodness to this world; you have made this society worse. 

Sometimes it is best not to teach, your teachings can make this world worse than it already is.  When the society is mentally sick, when the society is obsessed with violence, sometimes it is better to have fewer guns out in the market.  When the society is mentally unstable and spiritually lost, the way of Martial Arts may be best to be kept private.  The Way of the Martial Arts will be misunderstood, abused, and exploited.  The Way of the Martial Arts may be best to be transformed to Yoga or Tai Chi for the masses.  Yoga and Tai Chi can be a benefit to the masses but the Way of the Martial Arts is never for the masses, it is for the selected few responsible and mature individuals who have the right spiritual readiness for the training. 

The Unknown Starving Martial Artist

The Unknown Starving Martial Artist

You can be a great Martial Artist, you can be a great Martial Arts teacher but that does not ensure that you will be successful in the Martial Arts industry.  It does not ensure that you will own a financially successful Martial Arts Business.  People who are good at Business, are good at making money.  Often times, in order to make the most amount of money, you will have to be comfortable exploiting others for cheap labor.  Often times, in order to make much money, you will have to take advantage of certain opportunities.  Business people know how to make money, that is their realm of expertise.  Artists on the other hand are the creators of Art but they are not necessarily competent in making money.  The ways of business contradict the ways of Art. 

Vincent Van Goah painted thousands of paintings during his lifetime.  He lived poor and died poor, he did not even sell one painting during his lifetime.  But after his death, his paintings are now being sold for millions.  None of these people have created these works of Art, but they are all profiting from the Art of which they did not create.  They may buy one of his pieces of Art for $500,000 and then sell it to someone else for $1 million.  Vincent Van Goah lived and died poor but everybody after his death are profiting off of his paintings. 

I see the same has occurred with Bruce Lee.  Bruce Lee creates the Art of Jeet Kune Do.  Bruce Lee lived poor and died poor.  But yet there are former students of his whom are profiting thousands if not millions from the Art of which he created.  Bruce Lee had personal writings that were unpublished.  But after his death, his writings are published and profited from by many.  Bruce Lee created films, and after his death, many have profited from the sales of the films.  His images have been turned into action figurines, t-shirts are made, posters, and all sorts of paraphernalia in order to profit.  Interviews are produced, books are written, and all profit is being made off of his name and image.  All this money is being generated after Bruce Lee’s death.  Even material items of which he owned is auctioned off and sold for profit.  So the creator lives and dies poor, but thousands after his death profit from his creativities. 

Bruce Lee was a real Martial Artist that lived and died poor.  Dana White is not a Martial Artist but is a businessman who is a multi millionaire who is profiting off of setting up fights.  Mike Tyson was a great boxer and Don King was the promoter who was making money off of Mike Tyson by simply being the promoter.  The promoter is the businessman.  The promoter many times will end up even richer than the professional athlete.  Rarely do you see instances where you have the athlete who is also the promoter as well, such as Mayweather.  Mayweahter is an amazing boxer as well as a great businessman, rarely is that the case. 

You can have a great Artist, but he is not great in business.  If he is not great in business, he can be unknown for all his life.  Those who are well known are not necessarily great Artists; they just have great marketing and business strategies.  Business and Art is not the same.  Many times it is very difficult for the Artist to become great in business, because in order to become great in business, you will have to sacrifice the integrity of your Art.  A beautiful woman Artist is unknown and makes very little being fully clothed on stage, but if convinced to strip on stage while singing, now she can generate millions, it becomes a dilemma within on whether or not to sacrifice your internal values for profit and fame. 

As a Martial Art teacher you wish to hold up to the integrity of the Martial Arts by only certifying somebody as a “BlackBelt” whom has been trained properly for a couple of decades.  But holding up to this integrity makes the school less profitable, giving in and certifying people to be BlackBelts in less than 1 year will make the business very profitable.  As a Martial Art teacher you may wish to hold up to the integrity of the Martial Arts by not allowing or promoting for any of your students to enter any tournaments of any sort, but once again this will hurt the profit of your school, giving in and promoting tournaments and competition will make the business very profitable. 

Bruce Lee was a strong individual.  Bruce Lee stood up against racism.  He would not allow directors to push him around; he refused to participate in any movies that disrespected the Chinese in anyway.  The directors tried to have him lose a fight to Robin in a scene and he refused.  When teaching Jeet Kune Do before getting into acting, he realized that what he had to offer, the Americans were simply not ready for, his students were not living up to the standards of which he expected, he closed down his schools before going into acting in order to retain the integrity of quality in the Martial Arts.  When he became famous, he purposefully did not publish any of his books instructing people in his ways because he knew that the material was going to be used and abused.  He knew that people would take what he created to profit off of themselves and claim that they were his students when they were not. 

When you become famous, there will be many people that will try hard to take from what you have in order to make money for themselves.  When it comes to business, it is a vicious and dirty game of profit out there.  People will steal your ideas and profit from them.  People will use you as a slave to profit from you, just like Don King was doing to Mike Tyson and what Dana White is doing to all Cage Fighters.  When people see an opportunity to make money off of you, they will be all over you; they will seek to control your life.  When this happens, the integrity of real Art is lost.  Now you are not an Artist any longer, you have become a puppet in the hands of others.  You have become a money making machine.  The Artist is lost; you have become a slave to the Industry. 

Many times, true Artists will live poor, die poor, and die unknown.  It is the sacrifice that true Artists make to live up to the integrity of the Art of which they wish to represent.  

Tae Kwon Do is Jeet Kune Do

Tae Kwon Do is Jeet Kune Do

Tae Kwon Do is Jeet Kune Do.  They even sound similar.  They both end in “Do”, Kwon and Kune both start with the letter K, and both are four letter words.  The pronunciation of Kwon and Kune sound very similar.  Tae Kwon Do means “The Way of the Fist and Foot.”  Jeet Kune Do means “The Way of the Intercepting Fist.”  The meaning is very similar, now if there was another label named “The Way of the Intercepting Fist and Foot”, that would even have greater significance than both labels. 

Bruce’s original idea was to open up a chain of Jeet Kune Do schools across the nation, like how McDonald’s is found all over the world.  Essentially what Bruce planned to achieve, Tae Kwon Do has achieved.  Tae Kwon Do has schools throughout the nation, everybody in America knows of Tae Kwon Do.  Tae Kwon Do was able to achieve in America what Bruce was unable to achieve during his lifetime.  Bruce opened up 3 schools but then his plans changed and he shut down all 3 of his schools and went into acting. 

Now why did Bruce shut down all of his 3 schools and trash the idea of creating chains of Jeet Kune Do schools across the nation?  Well if you look into Tae Kwon Do and it’s reputation in the Martial Arts world in America, it will tell you why.  The problems associated with Tae Kwon Do in America is that it is extremely watered down and corrupted in regards to living up to its original integrity and standards of which you may find in some of the real Tae Kwon Do schools in Korea.  If you see the real Tae Kwon Do schools in Korea, you will see Black Belts that are really Black Belts.  They are the real deal, right before your eyes, they are performing demonstrations that will put you in awe, they are like armies of Bruce Lee’s.  Like the Shaolin Monks in the Shaolin Temple.  But that type of intense training in the Martial Arts, does not exist in America. 

Come to America and one Bruce Lee is a big deal.  Go to China or Korea and some other countries where they practice the real Martial Arts, there are hundreds of Bruce Lee’s that are just as capable or even more capable but only difference is they don’t have the name, the reputation, the individuality, that America brings.  They are just seen as a nameless “Chinese” or “Korean” guys that are super talented.  The name “Bruce Lee” sells tickets, the random Chinese guy in China that is super talented does not sell tickets because people don’t know who he is. 

Mike Tyson used to sell tickets, but now no longer.  Mayweather sells tickets.  America knows how to build on a name to sell tickets.  But America doesn’t know how to build real talent and skill.  Real talent and skill comes from real genuine hard work.  Not like the American Lance Armstrong who wants to cheat his way to fame.   No, real Kung Fu is somebody who works extremely hard everyday till death for little to no pay, like these Chinese factory workers who are making 50 cents per hour making the products of which we enjoy. 

America has little to no talent, that is why Bruce gave up on teaching Jeet Kune Do to Americans and decided to go into acting.  Bruce knew that if he continued on with opening more and more Jeet Kune Do schools, the less and less quality of each school would be the result and ultimately it would lead into the fate of what Tae Kwon Do has become in America.  Which is pretty much a style of Martial Art that has become a joke compared to the real Tae Kwon Do schools in Korea.  Selling Black Belts for profit, not because the student has earned it but because he has paid his dues on time.  Giving somebody a Black Belt and over inflating his ego when he has only trained for 1 year!  I can understand if a person gets a Black Belt in 20 years, but in 1 year, no way! 

Imagine if you had a Brain surgeon who only went to medical school for one year.  Imagine if you can become a lawyer in just one year of being in law school.  Imagine a couple who has only been together for one year.  Even if they spend every single day together, how well do they really know one another?  How strong is their relationship really?  There is a big difference between a couple who has been together for 1 year and a couple who has been together for 20 years. 

Imagine if all it took to raise your own child is just a 1 year commitment!  No, in order to raise a child the proper way, it is a life time commitment!  True Martial Arts is a lifetime commitment.  To replicate another Bruce Lee, it will take at least 32 years of training because Bruce Lee died at 32 years.  If Bruce Lee died at 65, then it would take 65 years of training to replicate Bruce Lee.  As a Martial Artist, every day you are living, you are learning or unlearning.  There is no end to your training, only death is the end. 

Bruce knew that if he continued to teach Jeet Kune Do in America, it would end up being poorly represented just as how these American Tae Kwon Do schools are poorly representing the real Tae Kwon Do in Korea.  You think Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James,   Mohammed Ali, and Floyd Mayweather can be duplicated in just one year of training!?  No way, it takes close to 30 years or more training to get to their level of perfection. 

America doesn’t have the patience to train in real Kung Fu or real Martial Arts.  The American mindset is too corrupted.  As a whole America will never be ready to develop into real Martial Artists, it goes completely against all the values of which they stand for. 

You tell American’s not to compete, but they are born and raised to compete.  You tell American’s to be patient, but they are born and raised to be impatient.  You tell American’s to not strive towards any goals but to just be in the present moment, but they are born and raised to strive towards endless goals.  You tell American’s not to fight even though you are training them how to fight, but they are born and raised to be violent. 

When you train an American to become a Martial Artist, you are essentially teaching the American to not be American.  Now this is something that will never happen on a mass scale, this goes against patriotism.  You are teaching the American to value the Chinese or Korean cultures and ways of life above the corrupted ways of America.  If the American does not realize that his own ways are corrupt , then he will not be open to learning.  If he is not open to learning, there is no hope.  And that is why, real Martial Arts will never exist on a mass scale in America, it will always stay underground as long as America is America.