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The Bruce Lee Foundation

The Bruce Lee Foundation, California nonprofit 501 (c)(3), was founded April of 2002 by Bruce Lee's wife, Linda Lee Cadwell and daughter, Shannon Lee Keasler. The Foundation was created to preserve and perpetuate the art, philosophy and legacy of Bruce Lee for generations to come. The Lee Family, together with three original students of Bruce Lee and several hand-picked business professionals form the Board of the new Bruce Lee Foundation

Chief Aim

The chief aim of the Foundation is to serve as a resource for those seeking authentic information about Bruce Lee and his teachings. We endeavor to work at this goal by proactively delivering Bruce Lee's philosophical message and life example to the public through a number of venues. The Foundation wishes to reach out, not only to martial artists and Bruce Lee fans, but also to those who are not yet acquainted with the true Bruce Lee, his struggles, his triumphs and his life methodology.

Objectives of the Bruce Lee Foundation

The Foundation website, bruceleefoundation.com, currently under construction, will offer a description of the organization, its goals and some biographical information about Bruce Lee and his art of Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do®. Up to date announcements of events and projects will be available on the website along with applications and information about our developing Scholarship Program.
The Foundation will create educational materials and programs about Bruce Lee's art and philosophy. A sound list of resources will be provided for the individual seeking authentic information about Bruce Lee. In the near future the website will carry reviews of books on Bruce Lee to help the curious reader to distinguish with publications are informative, exciting and accurate.

Scholarship Program

The year 2003 marks the inaugural year of the Bruce Lee Scholarship and Awards Banquet. The banquet will be the highlight of an evening of inspiration and recognition of excellence where friends, students and family members of Bruce Lee will gather with celebrity guests to award students who demonstrate a passion for education and who exemplify Bruce Lee's qualities of honest expression, forward thought, self exploration and assertiveness. The Bruce Lee Foundation looks forward to growing the scholarship program to include diverse and larger awards.

The Bruce Lee Museum

The most exciting goal of the Bruce Lee Foundation is the realization of a long held dream of Bruce's family and friends, the establishment of the Official Bruce Lee Museum. This will be a place to house the Bruce Lee archives and memorabilia, and exhibition space for the public to be exposed to the many facets of Bruce Lee, and an interactive area for programs and events.

Bruce Lee's Art

During his lifetime, Bruce Lee named his way of martial art Jeet Kune Do which literally translates to mean "The Way of the Intercepting Fist" The Foundation, however, has chosen to refer to Bruce's art as Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do ®. There are several reasons for this:

Since Bruce Lee's passing in 1973, many people have learned and have gone on to teach assorted versions of Jeet Kune Do. However, there are very few people who were left with the necessary knowledge and understanding to teach Bruce Lee's Way properly.

Unfortunately, today a number of controversial styles are labeled "Jeet Kune Do" which have no relation to what Bruce Lee was actually teaching. This is a great disservice to Bruce Lee and the public which has no way of discerning the truth from the imitation. The Foundation seeks to clarify this public misunderstanding by labeling the art that Bruce Lee actually taught as Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do®.

"Jun Fan" was Bruce Lee's given name in Chinese. In fact, in the early days, Bruce called his teaching Jun Fan Gung Fu and his schools were called Jun Fan Gung Fu Institutes. Over time Bruce refined his martial art to the degree that he wanted to apply a more descriptive name, thus " Jeet Kune Do" ~ "The way of the intercepting Fist" was born.

The name "Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do" derives from historical roots and literally means "Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do," or the way of martial arts as developed, practiced and taught by Bruce Lee. Many "JKD" practitioners have tended to dispute the art by separating out the physical side of the philosophical aspects. In Bruce Lee's mind, Jeet Kune Do is all-encompassing in that it combines physical, scientific and philosophical principles.

The Board of the Bruce Lee Foundation is made up of volunteers
who graciously give of their time to ensure that Bruce Lee's message is not lost.