Sep 30, 2014

Krishnamurti - One Definition A Day: On HAPPINESS

Krishnamurti - One Definition A Day
WHAT ARE WE SEEKING?   
Original Title in English
By Author: J. Krishnamurti


Abstract from 'The First and Last Freedom'

WHAT IS IT THAT most of us are seeking? What is it that each one of us wants? Especially in this restless world, where everybody is trying to find some kind of peace, some kind of happiness, a refuge, surely it is important to find out, isn’t it?, what is it that we are trying to seek, what is it that we are trying to discover. Probably most of us are seeking some kind of happiness, some kind of peace; in a world that is ridden with turmoil, wars, contention, strife, we want a refuge where there can be some peace. I think that is what most of us want. So we pursue, go from one leader to another, from one religious organization to another, from one teacher to another.
Now, is it that we are seeking happiness or is it that we are seeking gratification of some kind from which we hope to derive happiness? There is a difference between happiness and gratification.
Can you seek happiness? Perhaps you can find gratification but surely you cannot find happiness.

 Happiness is derivative; it is a by-product of something else. So, before we give our minds and hearts to something which demands a great deal of earnestness, attention, thought, care, we must find out, must we not?, what it is that we are seeking; whether it is happiness, or gratification. I am afraid most of us are seeking gratification. We want to be gratified, we want to find a sense of fullness at the end of our search.
After all, if one is seeking peace one can find it very easily. One can devote oneself blindly to some kind of cause, to an idea, and take shelter there. Surely that does not solve the problem. Mere isolation in an enclosing idea is not a release from conflict. So we must find, must we not?, what it is, inwardly, as well as outwardly, that each one of us wants.
If we are clear on that matter, then we don’t have to go anywhere, to any teacher, to any church, to any organization. Therefore our difficulty is, to be clear in ourselves regarding our intention, is it not? Can we be clear? And does that clarity come through searching, through trying to find out what others say, from the highest teacher to the ordinary preacher in a church round the corner? Have you got to go to somebody to find out? Yet that is what we are doing, is it not? We read innumerable books, we attend many meetings and discuss, we join various organizations - trying thereby to find a remedy to the conflict, to the miseries in our lives. Or, if we don’t do all that, we think we have found; that is we say that a particular organization, a particular teacher, a particular book satisfies us; we have found everything we want in that; and we remain in that, crystallized and enclosed.
Do we not seek, through all this confusion, something permanent, something lasting, something which we call real, God, truth, what you like - the name doesn’t matter, the word is not the thing, surely. So don’t let us be caught in words. Leave that to the professional lecturers. There is a search for something permanent, is there not?, in most of us - something we can cling to, something which will give us assurance, a hope, a lasting enthusiasm, a lasting certainty, because in ourselves we are so uncertain. We do not know ourselves. We know a lot about facts, what the books have said; but we do not know for ourselves, we do not have a direct experience.
And what is it that we call permanent? What is it that we are seeking, which will, or which we hope will give us permanency? Are we not seeking lasting happiness, lasting gratification, lasting certainty?
We want something that will endure everlastingly, which will gratify us. If we strip ourselves of all the words and phrases, and actually look at it, this is what we want. We want permanent pleasure, permanent gratification - which we call truth, God or what you will.
Very well, we want pleasure. Perhaps that may be putting it very crudely, but that is actually what we want - knowledge that will give us pleasure, experience that will give us pleasure, a gratification that will not wither away by tomorrow. And we have experimented with various gratifications, and they have all faded away; and we hope now to find permanent gratification in reality, in God.
Surely, that is what we are all seeking - the clever ones and the stupid ones, the theorist and the factual person who is striving after something. And is there permanent gratification? Is there something which will endure?
Now, if you seek permanent gratification, calling it God, or truth, or what you will - the name does not matter - surely you must understand, must you not?, the thing you are seeking. When you say, ”I am seeking permanent happiness” - God, or truth, or what you like - must you not also understand the thing that is searching, the searcher, the seeker? Because there may be no such thing as permanent security, permanent happiness.
Truth may be something entirely different; and I think it is utterly different from what you can see, conceive, formulate. Therefore, before we seek something permanent, is it not obviously necessary to understand the seeker? Is the seeker different from the thing he seeks? When you say, ‘’I am seeking happiness”, is the seeker different from the object of his search? Is the thinker different from the thought? Are they not a joint phenomenon, rather than separate processes? Therefore it is essential, is it not?, to understand the seeker, before you try to find out what it is he is seeking.
So we have to come to the point when we ask ourselves, really earnestly and profoundly, if peace, happiness, reality, God, or what you will, can be given to us by someone else. Can this incessant search, this longing, give us that extraordinary sense of reality, that creative being, which comes when we really understand ourselves? Does self-knowledge come through search, through following someone else, through belonging to any particular organization, through reading books, and so on?
After all, that is the main issue, is it not?, that so long as I do not understand myself, I have no basis for thought, and all my search will be in vain. I can escape into illusions, I can run away from contention, strife, struggle; I can worship another; I can look for my salvation through somebody else. But so long as I am ignorant of myself, so long as I am unaware of the total process of myself I have no basis for thought, for affection, for action.
But that is the last thing we want: to know ourselves. Surely that is the only foundation on which we can build. But, before we can build, before we can transform, before we can condemn or destroy, we must know that which we are. To go out seeking, changing teachers, gurus, practicing yoga, breathing, performing rituals, following Masters and all the rest of it, is utterly useless, is it not? It has no meaning, even though the very people whom we follow may say: ”Study yourself”, because what we are, the world is. If we are petty, jealous, vain, greedy - that is what we create about us, that is the society in which we live.
It seems to me that before we set out on a journey to find reality, to find God, before we can act, before we can have any relationship with another, which is society, it is essential that we begin to understand ourselves first. I consider the earnest person to be one who is completely concerned with this, first, and not with how to arrive at a particular goal, because, if you and I do not understand ourselves, how can we, in action, bring about a transformation in society, in relationship, in anything that we do? And it does not mean, obviously, that self-knowledge is opposed to, or isolated from, relationship. It does not mean, obviously, emphasis on the individual, the me, as opposed to the mass, as opposed to another.
Now without knowing yourself, without knowing your own way of thinking and why you think certain things, without knowing the background of your conditioning and why you have certain beliefs about art and religion, about your country and your neighbour and about yourself how can you think truly about anything? Without knowing your background, without knowing the substance of your thought and whence it comes - surely your search is utterly futile, your action has no meaning, has it?
Whether you are an American or a Hindu or whatever your religion is has no meaning either.
Before we can find out what the end purpose of life is, what it all means - wars, national antagonisms, conflicts, the whole mess - we must begin with ourselves, must we not? It sounds so simple, but it is extremely difficult. To follow oneself to see how one’s thought operates, one has to be extraordinarily alert, so that as one begins to be more and more alert to the intricacies of one’s own thinking and responses and feelings, one begins to have a greater awareness, not only of oneself but of another with whom one is in relationship. To know oneself is to study oneself in action, which is relationship.
The difficulty is that we are so impatient; we want to get on, we want to reach an end, and so we have neither the time nor the occasion to give ourselves the opportunity to study, to observe. Alternatively we have committed ourselves to various activities - to earning a livelihood, to rearing children - or have taken on certain responsibilities of various organizations; we have so committed ourselves in different ways that we have hardly any time for self-reflection, to observe, to study. So really the responsibility of the reaction depends on oneself not on another. The pursuit, all the world over, of gurus and their systems, reading the latest book on this and that, and so on, seems to me so utterly empty, so utterly futile, for you may wander all over the earth but you have to come back to yourself.
And, as most of us are totally unaware of ourselves, it is extremely difficult to begin to see clearly the process of our thinking and feeling and acting. The more you know yourself the more clarity there is. Self-knowledge has no end - you don’t come to an achievement, you don’t come to a conclusion. It is an endless river. As one studies it, as one goes into it more and more, one finds peace. Only when the mind is tranquil - through selfknowledge and not through imposed self-discipline - only then, in that tranquillity, in that silence, can reality come into being. It is only then that there can be bliss, that there can be creative action.
And it seems to me that without this understanding, without this experience, merely to read books, to attend talks, to do propaganda, is so infantile - just an activity without much meaning; whereas if one is able to understand oneself, and thereby bring about that creative happiness, that experiencing of something that is not of the mind, then perhaps there can be a transformation in the immediate relationship about us and so in the world in which we live.


French translation by Anh Tho Andres @YourVietnamExpert.com
Vietnamese translation by Cuong Phan, Kim Hoang, Bich Hong, Bao Han
German translation by Han Dang-Klein
Italian translation by Phan Cong Danh
Japanese translation by Hong Anh



About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com
By -
Labels: , , , , ,

Aug 26, 2014

Krishnamurti - One Definition A Day: Contradiction

Krishnamurti - One Definition A Day
'CONTRADICTION'
Original Title in English
By Author: J. Krishnamurti¨
Abstract from 'The First and Last Freedom'

We see contradiction in us and about us; because we are in contradiction, there is lack of peace in us and therefore outside us. There is in us a constant state of denial and assertion - what we want to be and what we are. The state of contradiction creates conflict and this conflict does not bring about peace - which is a simple, obvious fact. This inward contradiction should not be translated into some kind of philosophical dualism, because that is a very easy escape. That is by saying that contradiction is a state of dualism we think we have solved it - which is obviously a mere convention, a contributory escape from actuality. Read more



French translation by Anh Tho Andres @YourVietnamExpert.com 
Vietnamese translation by Cuong Phan, Kim Hoang, Bich Hong, Bao Han 
German translation by Han Dang-Klein 
Italian translation by Phan Cong Danh 
Japanese translation by Hong Anh 




About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com
By -
Labels: , , , ,

Aug 24, 2014

Carnets de J. Krishnamurti

Original Title in English: Krishnamurti's Notebook published by the Krishnamurti Foundation Trust Ltd, 1976.
French Translation: Carnets de J. Krishnamurti
Translator: Marie-Bertrande Maroger
Publishers: Editions du Rocher, Editor: Jean-Paul Bertrand for the French version (1988)
ISBN: 2268013006

About the Book:
Dans ce compte-rendu quotidien exceptionnel, nous assistons à ce que l'on pourrait appeler le jaillissement même de l'enseignement de Krishnamurti, son éclosion naturelle. Comme il l'écrit lui-même dans ces pages : "Il se produit à chaque fois quelque chose de nouveau dans cette bénédiction, une nouvelle qualité, un nouveau parfum, mais pourtant elle est sans changement"; de même, l'enseignement n'est jamais identique, bien que souvent répété. Tout comme les arbres, les montagnes, les fleuves, les nuages, la lumière du soleil, les oiseaux et les fleurs décrits à maintes reprises sont éternellement nouveaux, puisqu'il les voit chaque fois avec des yeux qui ne s'y sont jamais habitués, chaque jour sa perception est entièrement neuve et il nous la transmet.

Extraits:
pp. 57-58 - Le 3. août 1961
Eveillé très tôt avec ce fort sentiment d'un "otherness"*, d'un monde au-delà de toute pensée; Cela était très intense. Aussi clair et pur que le petit matin, que le ciel sans nuage. L'esprit est lavé de l'imagination, de l'illusion, puisqu'il n'y a pas de durée. Tout est, sans avoir jamais été. Toute possibilité de prolongation s'accompagne d'illusion.
*otherness: bénédiction v. citation plus haut.

pp. 66 - le 11. août 1966
Assis dans la voiture, auprès d'un torrent impétueux, sous un ciel menaçant au-dessus de riches et verts paturages, elle était là, cette incorruptible innocence dont l'austérité était beauté. Le cerveau, parfaitement tranquille, la ressentait.

Le cerveau se nourrit de réaction et d'expérience, il vit d'expérience. Mais l'expérience est toujours limitative et source de conditionnement; la mémoire est le mécanisme de l'action. Il n'est pas d'action possible sans expérience, savoir et mémoire, mais ce type d'action est limité, fragmenté. La raison, la pensée ordonnée, est toujours incomplète; l'idée, réponse de la pensée, est stérile, et la croyance est le refuge de la pensée.Toute expérience ne fait qu'affermir la pensée, en négatif comme en positif.

Toute nouvelle expérience dépend de la précédente, du passé. Il n'y a de liberté que chez l'esprit lavé de toute expérience. Quand le cerveau cesse de se nourrir de la mémoire, de la pensée, quand il meurt à l'expérience, son activité n'est plus égocentrique. Alors il s'alimente ailleurs. C'est cette nourriture qui rend l'esprit religieux.

Au réveil ce matin, au delà de toute méditation, de toute pensée et des illusions nées des sentiments, dans le centre du cerveau et plus loin, au centre de la conscience, de l'être lui-même, brillait une intense et vive lumière qui ne comportait point d'ombre, ne procédait d'aucune dimension. Elle était là, immobile. Et avec elle, cette puissance incommensurable, et une beauté dépassant la pensée, le sentiment.

pp386-388: le 23. janvier 1962
Les arbres étaient nus, chaque feuille tombée, même les tiges fines et délicates se cassaient; trop dur pour eux, le froid les avait achevés; d'autres arbres gardaient leurs feuilles, mais ils n'étaient plus très verts, certains viraient au brun. C'était un hiver exceptionnellement froid; les premiers contreforts de l'Himalaya étaient recouverts de plusieurs mètres de neige et ce grand froit s'était étendu sur les plaines, sur des centaines de kilomètres; le sol était gelé et les fleurs ne s'ouvraient pas, les pelouses étaient brûlées; il restait quelques roses et des pensées jaunes, dont la couleur emplissait le petit jardin. Mais dans les rues et les places publiques, les pauvres gens, enveloppés de chiffons sales et déchirés allaient jambes nues, la tête recouverte, et l'on apercevait à peine leur visage sombre; les femmes vêtues de toutes sortes de tissus sales et multicolores, portaient aux poignets des bracelets d'argent ou d'autres ornements; elles marchaient avec aisance, facilement, avec une certaine grâce, et se tenaient très bien. La plupart étaient des travailleuses, mais le soir, en route vers leur maison, ou plutôt leur hutte, elles riraient, se taquineraient et les jeunes, précédant de loin leurs ainés, parlant fort, s'amuseraient en chemin. C'était la fin d'une longue journée de dur labeur; elles allaient s'user très vite et n'habiteraient ni ne travailleraient jamais dans les maisons et les bureaux qu'elles avaient bâtis. Tous les gens importants passaient par là, dans leur voiture, et ces malheureux ne prenaient même pas la peine de les regarder. Le soleil se couchait derrière quelque bâtiment orné, dans une brume qui avait persisté toute la journée. Il était sans couleur, sans chaleur, et les drapeaux de différents pays pendaient mollement. Ces drapeaux aussi étaient là, ce n'était que des chiffons colorés, mais de quelle importance! Quelles corbeaux se désaltéraient à une flaque et d'autres arrivaient pour avoir leur part. Le ciel pâle se préparait à la nuit.

Chaque pensée, chaque sentiment s'était envolé, le cerveau était absolument immobile; il était plus de minuit, il faisait froid, et le clair de lune entrant par une fenêtre, projetait un dessin sur le mur. Le cerveau était éveillé, observait sans réagir, sans faire d'expérience; il n'y avait en lui aucun mouvement, mais il n'était ni insensible ni engourdi par la mémoire. Et tout à coup, ce fut cette inconnaissable immensité, non seulement dans la chambre et au-delà, mais aussi en profondeur, dans les replis les plus secrets de ce qu'avait été l'esprit. La pensée a une frontière créée par chaque type de réaction, et chaque motif, comme chaque sentiment, lui donne forme; toute expérience vient du passé et tout ce que nous reconnaissons est du domaine du connu. Mais cette immensité ne laissait pas de trace, elle était là, claire, forte, impénétrable et inapprochable; son intensité était un feu qui ne laissait pas de cendres. Avec elle, la joie qui non plus ne laissait pas de souvenir, puisque personne n'en faisait l'expérience. Elle était simplement là, pour venir, repartir, sans poursuite ni évocation.

Le passé et l'inconnu ne peuvent se rencontrer; aucun acte, quelqu'il soit, ne peut les rassembler; aucun pont ne les relie, aucun chemin n'y conduit. Ils ne se sont jamais rejoints et ne se joindront jamais. Le passé doit cesser pour que puisse être cet inconnaissable, cette immensité.
Fin de citations


About the Author

Philosophe indien ayant dépassé toute appartenance religieuse, culturelle et nationale, Krishnamurti est considéré comme l'un des plus grands maîtres contemporains. Son message, aussi limpide que percutant, a fait de lui le pilier intellectuel, spirituel et existentiel de milliers de personnes.

Huitième enfant d'une famille Bramine, fragile et peu enclin aux études, Krishnamurti a très tôt le sens de l'observation et de la charité. A l'âge de 10 ans, alors qu'il vient de perdre sa mère, un éminent représentant de la Société Théosophique reconnaît en lui le Grand Instructeur du Monde attendu par le mouvement. Et, à 16 ans, Krishnamurti est à la tête de l'Ordre international de l'Etoile d'Orient.

Mais quelques années plus tard, une crise spirituelle et physique le conduit à une expérience d'extase bientôt suivie d'une période de désespoir extrême déclenché par la mort de son frère Nitya. Krishnamurti traverse alors cette fameuse “nuit noire” où l'âme se retrouve sans repères : instant béni où, dans un ultime abandon, libérée de l'ego, elle découvre son altérité au sein d'« un grand amour permanent impérissable, invincible ». « Laissez fleurir votre souffrance » dira alors Krishnamurti, conscient que la libération spirituelle ne peut que résulter d'une dynamique intérieure de “non-agir” qui consiste à vivre l'instant présent sans résister, sans fuir, sans “vouloir être”. Réalisant désormais l'inutilité d'une autorité spirituelle ou morale dans la recherche de la vérité, il décrète en 1929 la dissolution de son Ordre qui compte alors plus de 40 000 membres.

De conférences en entretiens, il va parcourir le monde jusqu'à l'âge de 91 ans, désireux de rendre l'Homme libre de cette peur qui le pousse à se cacher derrière des modèles, des systèmes ou des conditionnements, libre de toutes ces “cages” que sont les croyances, les pratiques, les gourous et les mentalisations, libre de la multitude d'emprises qui le limitent et étouffent l'amour qui est en lui. Et de préciser que cette libération s'accomplit d'elle-même dès lors que nous observons quotidiennement nos conditionnements sans la moindre pensée laissant ainsi l'amour nous guérir et nous guider. Car « seul l'amour est une façon juste de penser », dit-il, seul l'amour nous permet de construire un monde plus uni par la reconnaissance de l'action juste et de la relation intelligente.

C'est tout un art de vivre auquel nous convie Krishnamurti : art de voir et d'écouter avec tout son cœur, art d'interagir avec autrui au-delà de toutes ces interférences qui nous empêchent d'être ce que nous sommes et d'agir en conséquence.

On l'avait compris, Krishnamurti est un être d'ouverture, un être de relation. L'apothéose de l'“éveil au cœur” se situe, selon lui, dans la relation avec l'autre, dans ce regard neuf et immaculé qu'on lui porte. Voilà pourquoi l'école devrait nous communiquer cet art de vivre fondé non pas sur la valorisation de l'ego par le savoir et la compétition mais sur l'éveil de la véritable intelligence : « le monde est ce que nous sommes » nous dit Krishnamurti. Il est heureux que ses théories soient enseignées non seulement dans les écoles qu'il a créées en Inde, aux Etats-Unis et en Angleterre mais dans des centaines de facultés de philosophie, psychologie et sciences de l'éducation...

« Si vous voulez aider quelqu'un à changer, dit-il, soyez comme le soleil. Donnez-lui la compassion, l'amour, l'intelligence et rien d'autre » : Krishnamurti était un soleil. Par sa présence rayonnante, sa sérénité, son regard, sa parole, ses silences, il offrait son énergie. Sans jamais préparer ses conférences, il se donnait sans filet, dans l'instant présent, exhortant chacun à créer à partir du vide, ce vide rempli d'amour…

Laisser l'amour nous envahir à chaque instant est le plus bel hommage que nous puissions rendre à Jiddhu Krishnamurti. (Source: http://www.fraternet.com/magazine/etr0911.htm)


Other French translation of his books

Editions Rocher:
  • Questions et réponses;
  • La Flamme de l'attention;
  • Le Temps aboli;
  • Plénitude de la vie;
  • La Vérité de l'événement;
  • Sur J. Krishnamurti par Louis Nduwumwami: Krishnamurti et l'éducation.
Editions Delachaux et Niestlé
  • Le Vol de l'aigle;
  • De l'éducation;
  • L'Impossible Question;
  • Le Changement créateur.
Editions Stock
  • Se libérer du connu;
  • La Révolution du silence;
  • Première et Dernière Liberté; (traduction vietnamienne)
  • Aux étudiants;
  • L'Eveil de l'intelligence;
  • Tradition et révolution.
Editions Buchet-Chastel
  • Commentaires sur la vie - 1ère série;
  • Commentaires sur la vie - 2ème série;
  • Commentaires sur la vie - 3ème série;
  • Le Journal de Krishnamurti.
Krishnamurti Foundation Trust Ltd
Brockwood Park, Bramdean, Hampshire, SO24-OLQ (UK)
  • Lettres aux écoles, vol. 1 et 2
  • Le Réseau de la pensée 
Association culturelle Krishnamurti
73 rue Fondary, F-75015. Tel. 0033-45.75.15.25.




French translation by Marie-Bertrande Maroger, Editions du Rocher
Vietnamese translation by Cuong Phan, Kim Hoang, Bich Hong, Bao Han
German translation by Han Dang-Klein
Italian translation by Phan Cong Danh
Japanese translation by Hong Anh

About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com
By -
Labels: , , , ,

Krishnamurti - One Definition A Day: Desire

Krishnamurti - One Definition A Day
'DESIRE'
Original Title in English
By Author: J. Krishnamurti¨
Abstract from 'The First and Last Freedom'


FOR MOST OF us, desire is quite a problem: the desire for property, for position, for power, for comfort, for immortality, for continuity, the desire to be loved, to have something permanent, satisfying, lasting, something which is beyond time. Now, what is desire? What is this thing that is urging, compelling us? I am not suggesting that we should be satisfied with what we have or with what we are, which is merely the opposite of what we want. We are trying to see what desire is, and if we can go into it tentatively, hesitantly, I think we shall bring about a transformation which is not a mere substitution of one object of desire for another object of desire. This is generally what we mean by 'change', is it not? Being dissatisfied with one particular object of desire, we find a substitute for it. We are everlastingly moving from one object of desire to another which we consider to be higher, nobler, more refined; but, however refined, desire is still desire, and in this movement of desire there is endless struggle, the conflict of the opposites.

Read more »
By -
Labels: , , , ,

Education and the Significance of Life

Original Title in English
By Author: Jiddu Krishamurti
Book reviews:

The primary premise of the book is that nearly all of the education system (govt. based, religious based, private) fail our children. These systems educate children to be good at techniques or skills, but do not educate them to know themselves.Without knowledge of oneself, children will grow to be conflicted between the reality of their true nature, and the constrictions of conforming to civil society or religious doctrine.

An educational system that truly sought to benefit the children would be staffed by adults who were continually studying themselves, and striving to deepen their own awareness, not just conformists seeking the safety of job, income and leisure. Only when open-minded, self-aware adults teach with true love can children learn to know themselves, and so lead dignified, effective lives.We are far from this vision, but it is worth it for each of us to walk along this path.   
(by Milo, Goodreads)

To quote JK (Jiddu Krishnamurthi): "Conventional education makes independent thinking difficult."

Read more »
By -
Labels: , , , ,

The First and Last Freedom

Original Title: The First and Last Freedom
By Author: Jiddu Krishnamurti
French Translation: La Première et Dernière Liberté
About the book in French
L'autorité de Krishnamurti n'a cessé de grandir. Il apporte une réponse à des questions fondamentales. Son seul souci est de rendre les hommes plus libres. A chacun d'abord de faire la lumière en lui-même, tel est le message de La première et dernière liberté. Si l'on ne se comprend pas soi-même, on ne peut penser vrai. Krishnamurti ne nous enferme dans aucun système. Il cherche à nous libérer par une interrogation, une mise en question permanente. 40e mille.


The First and Last Freedom

Content list

Question and Answers

Other books by same author

English & Vietnamese translation by Anh Tho Andres @YourVietnamExpert.com
German translation by Han Dang-Klein
Italian translation by Phan Cong Danh
Japanese translation by Hong Anh

About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com
By -
Labels: , , , ,

Krishnamurti - One Definition A Day: On 'RELATIONSHIP AND ISOLATION'

Krishnamurti - One Definition A Day
'RELATIONSHIP AND ISOLATION'
Original Title in English
By Author: J. Krishnamurti¨
Abstract from 'The First and Last Freedom'

'RELATIONSHIP AND ISOLATION'

LIFE IS EXPERIENCE, experience in relationship. One cannot live in isolation, so life is relationship and relationship is action. And how can one have that capacity for understanding relationship which is life? Does not relationship mean not only communion with people but intimacy with things and ideas? Life is relationship, which is expressed through contact with things, with people and with ideas. In understanding relationship we shall have capacity to meet life fully, adequately. So our problem is not capacity - for capacity is not independent of relationship - but rather the understanding of relationship, which will naturally produce the capacity for quick pliability, for quick adjustment, for quick response.
Relationship, surely, is the mirror in which you discover yourself. Without relationship you are not; to be is to be related; to be related is existence. You exist only in relationship; otherwise you do not exist, existence has no meaning. It is not because you think you are that you come into existence. You exist because you are related; and it is the lack of understanding of relationship that causes conflict.

Now there is no understanding of relationship, because we use relationship merely as a means of furthering achievement, furthering transformation, furthering becoming. But relationship is a means of self-discovery, because relationship is to be; it is existence. Without relationship, I am not. To understand myself, I must understand relationship. Relationship is a mirror in which I can see myself. That mirror can either be distorted, or it can be 'as is', reflecting that which is. But most of us see in relationship, in that mirror, things we would rather see; we do not see what is. We would rather idealize, escape, we would rather live in the future than understand that relationship in the immediate present.
Read more »
By -
Labels: , , , ,

On 'CONTRADICTION'

Krishnamurti - One Definition A Day
'CONTRADICTION'
Original Title in English
By Author: J. Krishnamurti¨
Abstract from 'The First and Last Freedom'

(contn'd)


Now what do we mean by conflict, by contradiction? Why is there a contradiction in me? - this constant struggle to be something apart from what I am. I am this, and I want to be that. This contradiction in us is a fact, not a metaphysical dualism. Metaphysics has no significance in understanding what is. We may discuss, say, dualism, what it is, if it exists, and so on; but of what value is it if we don't know that there is contradiction in us, opposing desires, opposing interests, opposing pursuits? I want to be good and I am not able to be. This contradiction, this opposition in us, must be understood because it creates conflict; and in conflict, in struggle, we cannot create individually. Let us be clear on the state we are in. There is contradiction, so there must be struggle; and struggle is destruction, waste. In that state we can produce nothing but antagonism, strife, more bitterness and sorrow. If we can understand this fully and hence be free of contradiction, then there can be inward peace, which will bring understanding of each other.
The problem is this. Seeing that conflict is destructive, wasteful, why is it that in each of us there is contradiction? To understand that, we must go a little further. Why is there the sense of opposing desires? I do not know if we are aware of it in ourselves - this contradiction, this sense of wanting and not wanting, remembering something and trying to forget it in order to find something new. Just watch it. It is very simple and very normal. It is not something extraordinary. The fact is, there is contradiction. Then why does this contradiction arise?
What do we mean by contradiction? Does it not imply an impermanent state which is being opposed by another impermanent state? I think I have a permanent desire, I posit in myself a permanent desire and another desire arises which contradicts it; this contradiction brings about conflict, which is waste. That is to say there is a constant denial of one desire by another desire, one pursuit overcoming another pursuit. Now, is there such a thing as a permanent desire? Surely, all desire is impermanent - not metaphysically, but actually. I want a job. That is I look to a certain job as a means of happiness; and when I get it, I am dissatisfied. I want to become the manager, then the owner, and so on and on, not only in this world, but in the so- called spiritual world - the teacher becoming the principal, the priest becoming the bishop, the pupil becoming the master.
Read more »
By -
Labels: , , , ,

Krishnamurti - One Definition A Day: On FEAR

Krishnamurti - One Definition A Day
'FEAR'
Original Title in English
By Author: J. Krishnamurti¨
Abstract from 'The First and Last Freedom'


WHAT IS FEAR? Fear can exist only in relation to something, not in isolation. How can I be afraid of death, how can I be afraid of something I do not know? I can be afraid only of what I know. When I say I am afraid of death, am I really afraid of the unknown, which is death, or am I afraid of losing what I have known? My fear is not of death but of losing my association with things belonging to me. My fear is always in relation to the known, not to the unknown.

My inquiry now is how to be free from the fear of the known, which is the fear of losing my family, my reputation, my character, my bank account, my appetites and so on. You may say that fear arises from conscience; but your conscience is formed by your conditioning, so conscience is still the result of the known. What do I know? Knowledge is having ideas, having opinions about things, having a sense of continuity as in relation to the known, and no more. Ideas are memories, the result of experience, which is response to challenge. I am afraid of the known, which means I am afraid of losing people, things or ideas, I am afraid of discovering what I am, afraid of being at a loss, afraid of the pain which might come into being when I have lost or have not gained or have no more pleasure.
Read more »
By -
Labels: , , , ,

Krishnamurti - One Definition A Day: On EFFORT


Krishnamurti - One Definition A Day
'EFFORT'
Original Title in English
By Author: J. Krishnamurti¨
Abstract from 'The First and Last Freedom'
FOR MOST OF US, our whole life is based on effort, some kind of volition. We cannot conceive of an action without volition, without effort; our life is based on it. Our social, economic and so-called spiritual life is a series of efforts, always culminating in a certain result. And we think effort is essential, necessary.
Why do we make effort? Is it not, put simply, in order to achieve a result, to become something, to reach a goal? If we do not make an effort, we think we shall stagnate. We have an idea about the goal towards which we are constantly striving; and this striving has become part of our life. If we want to alter ourselves, if we want to bring about a radical change in ourselves, we make a tremendous effort to eliminate the old habits, to resist the habitual environmental influences and so on. So we are used to this series of efforts in order to find or achieve something, in order to live at all.
Is not all such effort the activity of the self? Is not effort self-centred activity? If we make an effort from the centre of the self, it must inevitably produce more conflict, more confusion, more misery. Yet we keep on making effort after effort. Very few of us realize that the self-centred activity of effort does not clear up any of our problems. On the contrary, it increases our confusion and our misery and our sorrow. We know this; and yet we continue hoping somehow to break through this self-centred activity of effort, the action of the will.
Read more »
By -
Labels: , , , ,

Krishnamurti - One Definition A Day: On BELIEF & KNOWLEDGE

Krishnamurti - One Definition A Day
'BELIEF & KNOWLEDGE'
Original Title in English
By Author: J. Krishnamurti¨
Abstract from 'The First and Last Freedom'



BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE are very intimately related to desire; and perhaps, if we can understand these two issues, we can see how desire works and understand its complexities.
One of the things, it seems to me, that most of us eagerly accept and take for granted is the question of beliefs. I am not attacking beliefs. What we are trying to do is to find out why we accept beliefs; and if we can understand the motives, the causation of acceptance, then perhaps we may be able not only to understand why we do it, but also be free of it. One can see how political and religious beliefs, national and various other types of beliefs, do separate people, do create conflict, confusion, and antagonism - which is an obvious fact; and yet we are unwilling to give them up. There is the Hindu belief the Christian belief, the Buddhist - innumerable sectarian and national beliefs, various political ideologies, all contending with each other, trying to convert each other. One can see, obviously, that belief is separating people, creating intolerance; is it possible to live without belief? One can find that out only if one can study oneself in relationship to a bel1ef. Is it possible to live in this world without a belief - not change beliefs, not substitute one belief for another, but be entirely free from all beliefs, so that one meets life anew each minute? This, after all, is the truth: to have the capacity of meeting everything anew, from moment to moment, without the conditioning reaction of the past, so that there is not the cumulative effect which acts as a barrier between oneself and that which is.
Read more »
By -
Labels: , , , ,

Krishnamurti - One Definition A Day 'ACTION & IDEA'

Krishnamurti - One Definition A Day
'ACTION & IDEA'
Original Title in English
By Author: J. Krishnamurti¨
Abstract from 'The First and Last Freedom'


I SHOULD LIKE TO discuss the problem of action. This may be rather abstruse and difficult at the beginning but I hope that by thinking it over we shall be able to see the issue clearly, because our whole existence, our whole life, is a process of action.

Most of us live in a series of actions, of seemingly unrelated, disjointed actions, leading to disintegration, to frustration. It is a problem that concerns each one of us, because we live by action and without action there is no life, there is no experience, there is no thinking. Thought is action; and merely to pursue action at one particular level of consciousness, which is the outer, merely to be caught up in outward action without understanding the whole process of action itself, will inevitably lead us to frustration, to misery.
Our life is a series of actions or a process of action at different levels of consciousness. Consciousness is experiencing, naming and recording. That is consciousness is challenge and response, which is experiencing, then terming or naming, and then recording, which is memory. This process is action, is it not? Consciousness is action; and without challenge, response, without experiencing, naming or terming, without recording, which is memory, there is no action.
Read more »
By -
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Krishnamurti - One Definition A Day: Self-Knowledge

Krishnamurti - One Definition A Day
'SELF-KNOWLEDGE'
Original Title in English
By Author: J. Krishnamurti¨
Abstract from 'The First and Last Freedom'


THE PROBLEMS OF the world are so colossal, so very complex, that to understand and so to resolve them one must approach them in a very simple and direct manner; and simplicity, directness, do not depend on outward circumstances nor on our particular prejudices and moods. As I was pointing out, the solution is not to be found through conferences, blueprints, or through the substitution of new leaders for old, and so on, The solution obviously lies in the creator of that problem, in the creator of the mischief, of the hate and of the enormous misunderstanding that exists between human beings, The creator of this mischief, the creator of these problems, is the individual, you and I, not the world as we think of it. The world is your relationship with another. The world is not something separate from you and me; the world, society, is the relationship that we establish or seek to establish between each other.

So you and I are the problem, and not the world, because the world is the projection of ourselves and to understand the world we must understand ourselves. That world is not separate from us; we are the world, and our problems are the world's problems. This cannot be repeated too often, because we are so sluggish in our mentality that we think the world's problems are not our business, that they have to be resolved by the United Nations or by substituting new leaders for the old. It is a very dull mentality that thinks like that, because we are responsible for this frightful misery and confusion in the world, this ever-impending war. To transform the world, we must begin with ourselves; and what is important in beginning with ourselves is the intention. The intention must be to understand ourselves and not to leave it to others to transform themselves or to bring about a modified change through revolution, either of the left or of the right. It is important to understand that this is our responsibility, yours and mine; because, however small may be the world we live in, if we can transform ourselves, bring about a radically different point of view in our daily existence, then perhaps we shall affect the world at large, the extended relationship with others.

As I said, we are going to try and find out the process of understanding ourselves, which is not an isolating process. It is not withdrawal from the world, because you cannot live in isolation. To be is to be related, and there is no such thing as living in isolation. It is the lack of right relationship that brings about conflicts, misery and strife; however small our world may be, if we can transform our relationship in that narrow world, it will be like a wave extending outward all the time. I think it is important to see that point, that the world is our relationship, however narrow; and if we can bring a transformation there, not a superficial but a radical transformation, then we shall begin actively to transform the world. Real revolution is not according to any particular pattern, either of the left or of the right, but it is a revolution of values, a revolution from sensate values to the values that are not sensate or created by environmental influences. To find these true values which will bring about a radical revolution, a transformation or a regeneration, it is essential to understand oneself. Self-knowledge is the beginning of wisdom, and therefore the beginning of transformation or regeneration. To understand oneself there must be the intention to understand - and that is where our difficulty comes in. Although most of us are discontented, we desire to bring about a sudden change, our discontent is canalized merely to achieve a certain result; being discontented, we either seek a different job or merely succumb to environment. Discontent, instead of setting us aflame, causing us to question life, the whole process of existence, is canalized, and thereby we become mediocre, losing that drive, that intensity to find out the whole significance of existence. Therefore it is important to discover these things for ourselves, because self-knowledge cannot be given to us by another, it is not to be found through any book. We must discover, and to discover there must be the intention, the search, the inquiry. So long as that intention to find out, to inquire deeply, is weak or does not exist, mere assertion or a casual wish to find out about oneself is of very little significance.

Thus the transformation of the world is brought about by the transformation of oneself, because the self is the product and a part of the total process of human existence. To transform oneself, self-knowledge is essential; without knowing what you are, there is no basis for right thought, and without knowing yourself there cannot be transformation, One must know oneself as one is, not as one wishes to be which is merely an ideal and therefore fictitious, unreal; it is only that which is that can be transformed, not that which you wish to be. To know oneself as one is requires an extraordinary alertness of mind, because what is is constantly undergoing transformation, change, and to follow it swiftly the mind must not be tethered to any particular dogma or belief, to any particular pattern of action. If you would follow anything it is no good being tethered. To know yourself, there must be the awareness, the alertness of mind in which there is freedom from all beliefs, from all idealization because beliefs and ideals only give you a colour, perverting true perception. If you want to know what you are you cannot imagine or have belief in something which you are not. If I am greedy, envious, violent, merely having an ideal of non-violence, of non-greed, is of little value. But to know that one is greedy or violent, to know and understand it, requires an extraordinary perception, does it not? It demands honesty, clarity of thought, whereas to pursue an ideal away from what is is an escape; it prevents you from discovering and acting directly upon what you are.

The understanding of what you are, whatever it be - ugly or beautiful, wicked or mischievous - the understanding of what you are, without distortion, is the beginning of virtue. Virtue is essential, for it gives freedom. It is only in virtue that you can discover, that you can live - not in the cultivation of a virtue, which merely brings about respectability, not understanding and freedom. There is a difference between being virtuous and becoming virtuous. Being virtuous comes through the understanding of what is, whereas becoming virtuous is postponement, the covering up of what is with what you would like to be. Therefore in becoming virtuous you are avoiding action directly upon what is. This process of avoiding what is through the cultivation of the ideal is considered virtuous; but if you look at it closely and directly you will see that it is nothing of the kind. It is merely a postponement of coming face to face with what is. Virtue is not the becoming of what is not; virtue is the understanding of what is and therefore the freedom from what is. Virtue is essential in a society that is rapidly disintegrating. In order to create a new world, a new structure away from the old, there must be freedom to discover; and to be free, there must be virtue, for without virtue there is no freedom. Can the immoral man who is striving to become virtuous ever know virtue? The man who is not moral can never be free, and therefore he can never find out what reality is. Reality can be found only in understanding what is; and to understand what is, there must be freedom, freedom from the fear of what is.

To understand that process there must be the intention to know what is, to follow every thought, feeling and action; and to understand what is is extremely difficult, because what is is never still, never static, it is always in movement. The what is is what you are, not what you would like to be; it is not the ideal, because the ideal is fictitious, but it is actually what you are doing, thinking and feeling from moment to moment. What is is the actual, and to understand the actual requires awareness, a very alert, swift mind. But if we begin to condemn what is, if we begin to blame or resist it, then we shall not understand its movement. If I want to understand somebody, I cannot condemn him: I must observe, study him. I must love the very thing I am studying. If you want to understand a child, you must love and not condemn him. You must play with him, watch his movements, his idiosyncrasies, his ways of behaviour; but if you merely condemn, resist or blame him, there is no comprehension of the child. Similarly, to understand what is, one must observe what one thinks, feels and does from moment to moment. That is the actual. Any other action, any ideal or ideological action, is not the actual; it is merely a wish, a fictitious desire to be something other than what is.

To understand what is requires a state of mind in which there is no identification or condemnation, which means a mind that is alert and yet passive. We are in that state when we really desire to understand something; when the intensity of interest is there, that state of mind comes into being. When one is interested in understanding what is, the actual state of the mind, one does not need to force, discipline, or control it; on the contrary, there is passive alertness, watchfulness. This state of awareness comes when there is interest, the intention to understand.

The fundamental understanding of oneself does not come through knowledge or through the accumulation of experiences, which is merely the cultivation of memory. The understanding of oneself is from moment to moment; if we merely accumulate knowledge of the self, that very knowledge prevents further understanding, because accumulated knowledge and experience becomes the centre through which thought focuses and has its being. The world is not different from us and our activities because it is what we are which creates the problems of the world; the difficulty with the majority of us is that we do not know ourselves directly, but seek a system, a method, a means of operation by which to solve the many human problems.

Now is there a means, a system, of knowing oneself? Any clever person, any philosopher, can invent a system, a method; but surely the following of a system will merely produce a result created by that system, will it not? If I follow a particular method of knowing myself, then I shall have the result which that system necessitates; but the result will obviously not be the understanding of myself. That is by following a method, a system, a means through which to know myself, I shape my thinking, my activities, according to a pattern; but the following of a pattern is not the understanding of oneself.

Therefore there is no method for self-knowledge. Seeking a method invariably implies the desire to attain some result - and that is what we all want. We follow authority - if not that of a person, then of a system, of an ideology - because we want a result which will be satisfactory, which will give us security. We really do not want to understand ourselves, our impulses and reactions, the whole process of our thinking, the conscious as well as the unconscious; we would rather pursue a system which assures us of a result. But the pursuit of a system is invariably the outcome of our desire for security, for certainty, and the result is obviously not the understanding of oneself. When we follow a method, we must have authorities - the teacher, the guru, the saviour, the Master - who will guarantee us what we desire; and surely that is not the way to self-knowledge.

Authority prevents the understanding of oneself, does it not? Under the shelter of an authority, a guide, you may have temporarily a sense of security, a sense of well-being, but that is not the understanding of the total process of oneself. Authority in its very nature prevents the full awareness of oneself and therefore ultimately destroys freedom; in freedom alone can there be creativeness. There can be creativeness only through self-knowledge. Most of us are not creative; we are repetitive machines, mere gramophone records playing over and over again certain songs of experience, certain conclusions and memories, either our own or those of another. Such repetition is not creative being - but it is what we want. Because we want to be inwardly secure, we are constantly seeking methods and means for this security, and thereby we create authority, the worship of another, which destroys comprehension, that spontaneous tranquillity of mind in which alone there can be a state of creativeness.

Surely our difficulty is that most of us have lost this sense of creativeness. To be creative does not mean that we must paint pictures or write poems and become famous. That is not creativeness - it is merely the capacity to express an idea, which the public applauds or disregards. Capacity and creativeness should not be confused. Capacity is not creativeness. Creativeness is quite a different state of being, is it not? It is a state in which the self is absent, in which the mind is no longer a focus of our experiences, our ambitions, our pursuits and our desires. Creativeness is not a continuous state, it is new from moment to moment, it is a movement in which there is not the `me', the `mine', in which the thought is not focused on any particular experience, ambition, achievement, purpose and motive. It is only when the self is not that there is creativeness - that state of being in which alone there can be reality, the creator of all things. But that state cannot be conceived or imagined, it cannot be formulated or copied, it cannot be attained through any system, through any philosophy, through any discipline; on the contrary, it comes into being only through understanding the total process of oneself.

The understanding of oneself is not a result, a culmination; it is seeing oneself from moment to moment in the mirror of relationship - one's relationship to property, to things, to people and to ideas. But we find it difficult to be alert, to be aware, and we prefer to dull our minds by following a method, by accepting authorities, superstitions and gratifying theories; so our minds become weary, exhausted and insensitive. Such a mind cannot be in a state of creativeness. That state of creativeness comes only when the self, which is the process of recognition and accumulation, ceases to be; because, after all, consciousness as the `me' is the centre of recognition, and recognition is merely the process of the accumulation of experience. But we are all afraid to be nothing, because we all want to be something. The little man wants to be a big man, the unvirtuous wants to be virtuous, the weak and obscure crave power, position and authority. This is the incessant activity of the mind. Such a mind cannot be quiet and therefore can never understand the state of creativeness.

In order to transform the world about us, with its misery, wars, unemployment, starvation, class divisions and utter confusion, there must be a transformation in ourselves. The revolution must begin within oneself - but not according to any belief or ideology, because revolution based on an idea, or in conformity to a particular pattern, is obviously no revolution at all. To bring about a fundamental revolution in oneself one must understand the whole process of one's thought and feeling in relationship. That is the only solution to all our problems, not to have more disciplines, more beliefs, more ideologies and more teachers. If we can understand ourselves as we are from moment to moment without the process of accumulation, then we shall see how there comes a tranquility that is not a product of the mind, a tranquility that is neither imagined nor cultivated; and only in that state of tranquility can there be creativeness.


About YourVietbooks.com

YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Business & Management. Titles are available in English, French, German and Vietnamese. YourVietBooks is a Division by Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd - Singapore. Find out more about our translation and consulting services under YourVietnamExpert.com
By -
Labels: , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)