Let´s inquire together

For a very long time, I was bewildered by Krishnamurti, the anti-guru or perhaps anti-guru-guru of fallen Theosophy Messiah fame. However, I recently had a higher realization of sorts, and finally grokked the man. Yes, his message of non-theism, no-soul, individual liberation and instant enlightenment is a modernist form of Buddhism, perhaps of Zen Buddhism. At the very least, there is an obvious family likeness with such school. 

However, one thing still confused me until the other day. What on earth is K´s *method*, his "yoga", so to speak? I got the answer after carefully listening to his interminable, meandering speeches. He constantly uses the term "inquire" and often accuses his interlocutors of "not inquiring anymore". It then dawned on me that "inquire" must be a technical term. It refers to Krishnamurti´s own speeches. Krishnamurti´s long-winding satsangs *are* the method. We are supposed to become instantly (no less) enlightened by listening very carefully to his talk, and "inquire" together with him. This strikes me as strange, since the goal of the inquiry is to end discursive or conceptual thinking. But how can you end discursive thinking by discursive speech? Speech is, almost by definition, discursive and conceptual. Somehow, K wanted to short circuit our discursive mind...by discursive speech! Many minds probably have been short fused by this annoying character, but has anyone actually become any wiser?

That K´s method often blew up in his face is obvious from the discussion "Death" (available on YouTube through the link above, or in the book "Can Humanity Change?"), where it´s painfully obvious that everyone in the room understands perfectly what Krishnamurti is saying, and even agree with him. Yet, Krishnamurti can´t have this. It means that nobody is "inquiring" anymore, so he constantly pretends as if the other participants have misunderstood him, shouting "No, no", repeating himself over and over like a broken record, and frankly coming across as Mr Chance in that old Peter Sellers movie. It´s embarrasing to watch. Still, there is a bizarre logic at work here: Rahula, Bohm and the others understand Krishnamurti, but of course that´s a "conceptual" understanding rather than the non-conceptual satori K wants to induce, forcing him to continue the "inquiry" indefinitely, in the hope that somebody will ultimately get it and "break with the stream" . And disappear into mid air?

K´s supporters (who are clearly still down here, swimming around along with the rest of us) love to hate Rahula, but it´s obvious that the Lankan Buddhist scholar is on to something. First, he is right that Krishnamurti´s message *is* very similar to Buddhism. Second, his method is meditation. Now, I don´t claim to know if vipassana or jhana will take you anywhere closer to enlightenment, but presumably they can at least empty your mind of concepts and discursive thinking (including Krishnamurti´s discourses). K´s inquiry doesn´t seem to have this effect...

It´s been a fascinating week of inquiry.