Pesilat Bruce Lee???

Monday, 23 April 2012 14:38

by Guru Scott McQuaid

"Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it”.
--Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee remains the greatest icon in martial arts. He is a key figure of modern popular culture and a pioneer in martial combat. Although his fame is synonymous to kung fu cinema, Bruce Lee was considered a genuine real fighter on and off the screen.

When reviewing Bruce Leeʼs fight accounts we can see how versatile he was as a fighter, a visionary that developed his own style of Jeet Kune Do (way of the intercepting fist) that solidified him as a modern MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter.

One question that still arises within the pencak silat community is, did Bruce Lee practice silat?

Bruce Lee developed a combat system geared towards practicality, flexibility, speed and efficiency. He adapted the formalistic traditional martial art techniques and stripped away the rigid stances.

Chinese Wing Chun kung fu is the base for his Jeet Kune Do system that originated in 1967 when he opened The Jun Fan Institute of Gung Fu. Lee immersed himself in all forms of combat, taking what could be utilized to make up his own art, from the side stance in fencing, to the lose footwork in boxing to the grappling locks and take downs used in judo and wrestling.

It is said that during this period, Lee started to train in silat. Rumors speculate that Bruce Lee was introduced to Guru Willem Reeders by his student Dan Inosanto who is said to have known about Master Reeders expertise in silat. This information has not been verified and is purely a speculation, although Guro Dan did introduce Lee to many martial artists at the beginning of their friendship. Guro Inosanto is an accomplished martial artist in his own right so it is possible that he could have lead Bruce to silat. Guro Dan was exploring many martial art style and during this time his focus was in Kali silat, a style indigenous to his family roots in the Philippines. Guro Dan has always been very focused on his studies of South East Asian fighting arts and particularly the various systems of silat. If Bruce Lee had learnt any silat, I'm sure Guro Dan would have been happy to publicize this to help promote an art form that is close to his heart. But Guro Dan has never released any statement that Bruce Lee learned a particular style of silat.

The story going around is that Bruce Lee invited Master Reeders to California and upon their first meeting Guru Reeders asked to see some of Bruceʼs techniques. It is said that Lee threw a punch at Guru Reeders and that the silat Guru caught Leeʼs punch with his hand in mid movement. Bruce Lee was said to be amazed and wanted to study Kuntao silat under Guru Reeders. It is unknown how much Guru Reeders taught Bruce Lee or in fact if they actually ever met. But there are a number of similar aspects in Jeet Kune Do to Kuntao. Due to the secretive nature of silat Bruce may have been taught Kuntao following the secrecy honor that is a part of the adat (cultural laws) that is continued today in all silat systems. But if we analyse Bruceʼs past experience with kung fu and how vocal he was about teaching it to all cultures going against the kung fu rule at that time of only teaching Chinese, then it's safe to say that Bruce would not have followed protocol in silat and he would not have remained silent about his learning of the art.

Guru Willem Reeders was originally born in East Java. This half Chinese, half Dutch pesilat (silat player) began his training at the age of four and became a student in China at the famous mountain top Shaolin temple. Guru Reeders thirst for combative knowledge was much like Bruce Lee's. He was adept in Tai Chi, Akidio, Ju-Jitsu, Judo, Kendo, Karate, Kung fu and various styles of pencak silat.

Guru Reeders first studied the Serak silat style under Guru Teo Schrijn before later becoming a student of Guru Nes De Vries. This guru would later introduce his student to his nephews, the infamous de Thouars brothers, William, Paul, Maurice and Victor.

Guru Vic de Thouars who studied with Willem Reeders states that in his last conversation with Guru Reeders he asked him if he ever taught Bruce Lee Serak. This meeting is said to have happened in 1989. Guru Vic notes that Guru Reeders mentioned teaching Bruce on and off for over three years. This information comes directly from Guru Vic de Thouars and there is no hard evidence to confirm this conversation. However Guru Vic did teach Guro Dan Inosanto Serak silat for eight years and as any Bruce Lee fan knows, Guro Dan and Bruce both shared martial concepts. Guro Dan later went on to train with Vic's brother Guru Pak Paul de Thouars. However, despite this allegation, Guro Dan has NEVER confirmed that Bruce Lee ever studied in any pencak silat style.

Silat Serak comes from the Badui tribe in Java and the concepts of this style are based on angles and leverage. This mindset would certainly appeal to Bruce Lee as his Jeet Kune Do philosophy was all about gaining the edge in a fight and moving at angles oppose to the linear approach seen in many martial arts systems. The back fist and hammer punches used in this system could relate to Bruceʼs fast hand attacks seen in his home videos and movie fight choreography. However Bruce never remained static and the serak practitioners tend to move off the center line of attack and then counter from a almost fixed position. If we look at the founder of the serak system Pak Serak, it is said that he created this style of silat to work with his physical disabilities as he is said to have an underdeveloped short arm and a club foot. These limitations are perhaps the genius element behind this style as it works on the simplicity of combat, moving when only necessarily, preserving energy which again would appeal to Bruceʼs teachings of keeping the fight basic. But the Jeet Kune Do philosophy is about striking the nearest target from a distance, using your physical long range weapons such as your kick to disable your attacker before they can enter your space. So if Bruce did study Silat Serak, I do not see much influence within his Jeet Kune Do style. If we examine the claim that Guru Willem Reeders may have taught Bruce Kuntao Silat, we have to focus on the Kuntao applications.

Kuntao literally means ʻway of the fistʼ. The art was created by the Chinese community of South East Asia particularly in the Indonesian archipelago and the Malay Peninsula. There are two basic elements in Kuntao Silat to be successful in combat: the entry and the body manipulation to throw. Although Bruce was all about manipulating your opponent to gain the upper hand in conflict, he certainly was not known for his throws or pushing techniques. Kuntao does teach long range offensive attacks, to attack what is attacking, using kicks to close the gap to close range. This ideology to combat is very much Bruceʼs principals and can be seen in footage of him demonstrating at seminars and even in his movies. Once a Kuntao practitioner has closed the distance they work on loose traps to follow up with elbows and knees. Almost all silat forms make heavy use of their elbows and knees because these tools are short based power strikes that are compact enough to deliver damage on the inside. But Bruce Lee never displayed many elbow or knee techniques. Although his teaching in his Tao of Jeet Kune Do book does touch upon these applications, he himself was rarely seen using these parts of the body to strike.

Bruce Lee was a huge admirer of Muhammad Ali, the three time world heavyweight champion boxer. He admitted to mimicking Aliʼs dancing shuffle leg tactics, keeping the movement fluid and loose. Ali was known for his speed and elusive footwork, he was never regarded as a big puncher as almost all his knockout victories would be a result of breaking down his opponent over the fifteen rounds.

Ali was the very essence of the first lesson in boxing, hit and move. Bruce Lee was much like a boxer striking from a distance and rarely closing the gap, even Wing Chun elements worked at a mid-distance, using arms length so he could make use of his power to travel some distance before reaching its target.

Most pencak silat styles use the template of the triangle for their footwork; the L step is used to dodge the attack while closing the distance. Pesilat flanks on either side of their opponent's body, allowing them to strike and manipulate their attacker's body from an angle, surprising their enemy and making vital opening targets for them to hit. The L step technique is very common in almost all silat styles and there are little traces of this footwork technique in Bruce Leeʼs style.

Another famous Bruce Lee silat related rumor that I feel needs to be addressed is the story of Bruce fighting a Malay silat master that many Malaysians believe caused his death.

Maha Guru Meor Abdul Rahman is a Malaysian silat master that is said to have founded the Seni Gayong Silat style that is synonymous with Malaysia. He is a decent from the Sumatran Bugis tribe. Guru Rahman is noted as starting his silat training at the age of twelve, learning family systems that had been passed down from generation to generation.

There is a very entertaining story about Guru Rahman receiving his authorization ritual by none other than the Malay legendary warrior Hang Tuah from the 16th century. Guru Rahman claims that in 1936 Hang Tuah came to him in a meta-physical (spiritual) state that he describes like a dream whereby Guru Rahman was given all the secrets and knowledge of silat by Hang Tuah. This event even notes a location, on a large black rock by the river Hutan Menam which is now Southern Thailand.

Maha Guru Meor Abdul Rahman became very famous in Malaysia for his Seni Gayong silat style and so the story goes, during a stop over flight from London to Hong Kong in 1973 Guru Rahman met and fought Bruce Lee. Apparently Guru Rahman was on his way back to Malaysia after visiting family members in England. While waiting for his following flight back to Kuala Lumpur, Bruce Lee appeared and greeted him. The story then notes Bruce Lee arrogantly challenged Guru Rahman and during the fight Guru Rahman hit Bruce to the side of his head with a move known as ‘Kipas Senandung’ that is noted as being some kind of death touch strike. Then the story goes on to say that Bruce fell down and conceded. The end to this tale is that seven days after this encounter Bruce Lee mysteriously died in Hong Kong.

If such an incident occurred then security camera footage would have been made available by now. Hong Kong security cameras were installed in its original airport Kai Tak international on January 5th 1973. This record of installation is noted on any basic Google search on the internet. Not to mention what was security doing, why these martial artists were fighting and why there are no witnesses that have come forward to support this event. Remember, Bruce Lee was the biggest star in Asia by 1973 so if he had made an appearance at the airport he would have been mobbed by fans.

Another big hole in this story is how did Bruce Lee know that Guru Meor Abdul Rahman would be on a stop over flight on that day. From what we know about Bruce Lee, he was not a guy that went around challenging martial artists at random. In fact it was others that were continuously challenging him wanting to stake their claim as the person who beat Bruce Lee.

There are so many stories on how Bruce Lee died. Some say the Triads killed him, others say it was the ‘dim mak’ (death touch) by a rival kung fu master, others say that he’s still alive and that he slippered away from the spotlight. The fact remains that doctors document Lee’s death as being caused by an acute cerebral edema due to a reaction to compounds that were present in the combination medication known as Equagesic which is a type of pain killer that he took an hour before his death.

Many celebrities have died from prescription drugs such as Marilyn Monroe, Jim Hendrix, Elvis Presley, Keith Moon, Steve Clark, Heath Ledger, Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston.

Despite the huge gaps in this urban legend, silat instructors from all over the globe will re-tell a version of this story with absolutely no evidence to support that this incident ever took place. However, this wild accusation continues to thrive amongst Malaysian silat practitioners.

Many martial artists have their own story about Bruce Lee linking him to either their teacher or style of combat. It is shameless to use this visionary in this way. He was simply a dedicated, gifted innovator that helped the martial arts community become what it is today. Perhaps he did learn some pencak silat; he may have been reworking some of the techniques into his Jeet Kune Do as this was an ongoing project that he was continuing to develop.

We will never know and we don’t really need to know as it will not make any real significant change to the man and his fighting art. There will always be those that will want to associate themselves or their art to something historic, but silat in itself is of great worth. As a practitioner, you will be measured by your own feats and not who you know.

I would like to thank Maha Guru Pak Vic de Thouars for the information provided for this article debate. The article has been put together through stories, there is no evidence or fact to support these theories and accounts. It is an exclusive publication for Black Triangle Silat website.