Principles of Living · Bookplate

Jiddu Krishnamurti

@jiddu-krishnamurti

“Jiddu Krishnamurti was an Indian philosopher, speaker, and writer who became one of the most influential spiritual teachers of the 20th century. He is known for rejecting organized religion and guru authority, teaching instead that self-inquiry and freedom from conditioning are essential to understanding truth.”

Principles

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The manifesto · 27 principles

Live with inward freedom, because outward change without inner change is incomplete.
Do not use belief to escape uncertainty, loneliness, or fear; face them directly.
Be compassionate without motive, expectation, or reward.
Educate the whole human being, not just the intellect; intelligence includes sensitivity and compassion.
Understand that relationship is a mirror for self-knowledge and reveals the mind’s patterns.
Listen deeply to others without prejudice, projection, or self-centered interpretation.
Accept that transformation comes through insight, not through gradual effort to fit an ideal.
Value inquiry over answers, because fixed answers can prevent real understanding.
Do not divide life into sacred and profane, spiritual and worldly; see the wholeness of life.
Recognize that freedom is not an end goal but the immediate understanding of conditioning.
Be choicelessly aware of what is, rather than what should be.
Use intelligence, not conformity, to meet life’s challenges.
Live simply and without psychological attachment to possessions, status, or identity.
End violence in yourself by understanding anger, hatred, and fear at their root.
Do not pursue happiness as an ideal; understand suffering and its causes directly.
Avoid comparison, competition, and the need to become someone; they breed conflict and suffering.
Let love be free of possessiveness, attachment, and fear.
Do not seek security in certainty; truth cannot be found in fixed conclusions.
Be attentive to how conditioning from family, society, religion, and culture shapes your mind.
Live with awareness in the present moment rather than escaping into the past or future.
See that the observer is not separate from the observed; inner conflict arises from this illusion of division.
Watch the movement of thought, fear, desire, and belief without judgment.
Understand yourself deeply, because self-knowledge is the beginning of wisdom.
Be free from psychological dependence on others for guidance, salvation, or meaning.
Seek truth through direct observation, not through secondhand knowledge or spiritual systems.
Question everything, including your own beliefs, assumptions, and conditioning.
Do not follow any authority, guru, ideology, or tradition blindly; think and observe for yourself.