# Jiddu Krishnamurti **Domain:** Philosophy / Education / Contemplative Inquiry **Doc Type:** Person Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Overview **Jiddu Krishnamurti** (1895–1986) was an Indian philosopher and speaker whose work examined psychological conditioning, fear, authority, attention, relationship, and the division between observer and observed. Krishnamurti rejected the role of spiritual authority prepared for him by the Theosophical movement and repeatedly argued that truth could not be reached through dependence on an organization, teacher, ideology, or fixed method. ## Corpus Context In [[journal/2023-06-12 - Silence and Non-Observation|Silence and Non-Observation]], his inquiry provides a way to ask whether the apparently independent observer is itself composed of memory, desire, fear, and inherited judgment. ## See Also [[wiki/Observation|Observation]] · [[wiki/Consciousness|Consciousness]] · [[wiki/Cognitive Liberty|Cognitive Liberty]] · [[wiki/Silence|Silence]] ## Truth Is a Pathless Land On August 3, 1929, at the Ommen Star Camp in the Netherlands, Krishnamurti dissolved the Order of the Star, an organization built around him, before about 3,000 members, declaring that truth is a pathless land. In 1980, asked by his biographer Mary Lutyens to state the core of his teaching, he wrote that it "is contained in the statement he made in 1929 when he said Truth is a pathless land." ## Ojai Krishnamurti first came to [[wiki/Ojai|Ojai]], California, in 1922 with his brother Nityananda, and his houses on McAndrew Road remained his home until 1986. They now form the Krishnamurti Foundation of America's campus, including the [[wiki/Krishnamurti Retreat|Krishnamurti Retreat]] at Arya Vihara. ## Bryant McGill and Krishnamurti - **August 31, 2012:** Bryant McGill spent time at Krishnamurti's former home in Ojai; see [[photo journey/2012-08-31 - Bryant at Krishnamurti's Former Home in Ojai|Bryant at Krishnamurti's Former Home in Ojai]]. - **Writing:** the *Simple Reminders* book quotes Krishnamurti on the self as both teacher and pupil, in the section "You are the student and teacher" of [[books/Simple Reminders Book (2014-2018)|Simple Reminders Book (2014-2018)]]. - **Journal:** [[journal/2023-06-12 - Silence and Non-Observation|Silence and Non-Observation]]. ## Relationships - **lived in:** [[wiki/Ojai|Ojai, California]] (1922–1986). - **former home:** [[wiki/Krishnamurti Retreat|Krishnamurti Retreat]] (Arya Vihara). - **concept:** [[wiki/Observation|Observation]]; [[wiki/Silence|Silence]]. - **personal history:** [[photo journey/2012-08-31 - Bryant at Krishnamurti's Former Home in Ojai|2012-08-31 - Bryant at Krishnamurti's Former Home in Ojai]]. ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > “I think it is essential sometimes to go to retreat, to stop everything that you have been doing, to stop your beliefs and experiences completely, and look at them anew, not keep on repeating like machines whether you believe or do not believe. You would then let in fresh air into your minds.” > **— Jiddu Krishnamurti**, *Madras, first public talk, January 5, 1952* [[reminders/Renewal/A Retreat Lets Fresh Air Into the Mind by Jiddu Krishnamurti|A Retreat Lets Fresh Air Into the Mind by Jiddu Krishnamurti]] > “This place [of retreat] must be of great beauty, with trees, birds and quietness, for beauty is truth, and truth is goodness and love.” > **— Jiddu Krishnamurti**, *as quoted by the Krishnamurti Foundation Trust for the Krishnamurti Centre, Brockwood Park* [[reminders/Design/Beauty Is Truth, and Truth Is Goodness and Love by Jiddu Krishnamurti|Beauty Is Truth, and Truth Is Goodness and Love by Jiddu Krishnamurti]] > “Truth is a pathless land. Man cannot come to it through any organization, through any creed, through any dogma, priest or ritual, not through any philosophical knowledge or psychological technique. He has to find it through the mirror of relationship, through the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection.” > **— Jiddu Krishnamurti**, *The Core of the Teachings, written in 1980 at the request of his biographer Mary Lutyens* [[reminders/Self-Knowledge/Truth Is a Pathless Land by Jiddu Krishnamurti|Truth Is a Pathless Land by Jiddu Krishnamurti]] ## Sources / Provenance - [Order of the Star in the East | Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Star_in_the_East), consulted 2026-10-23: the August 3, 1929 dissolution at Ommen, about 3,000 members present. - [The Core of the Teachings | J. Krishnamurti](https://web.archive.org/web/20250104035945/http://www.jkrishnamurti.org/about-core-teachings) (archived copy of the Krishnamurti Foundation page), consulted 2026-10-23: written in 1980 at Mary Lutyens's request. - [Krishnamurti and the Ojai Valley | Ojai Valley Museum](https://www.ojaivalleymuseum.org/ojai-history-blog/krishnamurti-and-the-ojai-valley) and [Krishnamurti Retreat | Krishnamurti Foundation of America](https://www.kfa.org/krishnamurti-retreat/), consulted 2026-10-23: Ojai from 1922, the McAndrew Road houses.