Author Guide · Advaita · Non-duality
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Jean Klein was born in Berlin in 1912, grew up in Brno and Prague, and trained in musicology and medicine before he ever taught a word of Advaita. He left Germany for France in 1933, worked secretly with the French Resistance during the war, and afterwards spent about three years in India, where he met his teacher, Pandit Veeraraghavachar Rao of the Sanskrit College in Bangalore. From 1960 he taught in Europe and later in the United States, almost always in dialogue: nearly all his books are transcripts of questions from his audiences and his answers. One of his students, Francis Lucille, went on to teach Rupert Spira. This guide covers his nine key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 9 key books · 1978–2008 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Jean Klein’s best-known books are I Am (1989), Be Who You Are (1978), The Ease of Being (1986) and Who Am I? (1988), all built from dialogues with his students. Start with I Am; read on for the order of the rest and how his teaching reached Francis Lucille and Rupert Spira.
Where to Start with Jean Klein
If you want the clearest introduction
→ I Am (1989) — questions and answers edited by Emma Edwards.
If you want his most popular dialogues
→ The Ease of Being (1986) — seminars in Europe and the United States in the mid-1980s.
If you want where it began
→ Be Who You Are (1978) — his early dialogues, first published in French.
If you want a single long conversation
→ Who Am I? (1988) — interviews with Emma Edwards.
9 Jean Klein Books, in Order
Be Who You Are
One of Klein’s earliest published books, translated from French. Each chapter opens with a short talk and continues with questions and answers, on subjects such as language, yoga and personal problems, which Klein treats only as temporary pointers towards knowledge of the Self. Later editions appeared from Element and Non-Duality Press.
The Ease of Being
Dialogues between Klein and the people who came to his seminars in Europe and the United States in the mid-1980s. His publisher calls it one of his most consistently popular titles. Wikipedia’s article on Klein quotes it for his central point: that only in a spontaneous state of inner silence can we open to our true nature, the “I Am” of pure consciousness.
Who Am I?
A book of interviews with Klein conducted by Emma Edwards, who also edited several of his other books. It was later translated into French by Agnès Lowy as Qui suis-je ? La quête sacrée; the French publisher, Le Relié, presents it as a teaching on fear, which Klein describes as fixed energy to be released rather than resisted.
I Am
Questions and answers compiled and edited by Emma Edwards. Its preface describes it as a complete revision of an earlier book, Neither This Nor That I Am (Watkins, 1981). It was reissued by Non-Duality Press in 2007.
Transmission of the Flame
A collection of Klein’s talks and dialogues from his seminars, published in 1990 at the height of his teaching years in Europe and the United States. Like his other books, it moves from a short talk to the questions of the people present.
Open to the Unknown
Dialogues recorded during meetings Klein held in Delphi, Greece. As in his other books, the questions come from the participants and the book keeps their exchange with Klein.
Beyond Knowledge
Another collection of dialogues, edited by Emma Edwards and later reissued by Non-Duality Press, in the same question-and-answer form as I Am.
Living Truth
Talks from seminars Klein gave in 1988 in the Santa Cruz Mountains in California. They were first published as Mount Madonna Dialogues and later expanded into this book, which was reissued in 2007.
The Book of Listening
Published ten years after Klein’s death in 1998. “Listening” is one of the words he used in his own vocabulary in place of the technical terms of Advaita: an open, unqualified attention which, as he says in The Ease of Being, is multi-dimensional: “the whole body hears”.
In What Order to Read Jean Klein
Klein’s books are not a sequence. Each is a record of dialogues with different audiences, and they return to the same few points from different angles, so you can begin anywhere. Read by format rather than by date: the edited question-and-answer books (I Am, Beyond Knowledge) are the most compact, while the seminar transcripts (The Ease of Being, Living Truth) keep the rhythm of a live meeting.
If you want to see how the teaching changed, read Be Who You Are (1978) next to Living Truth (1995). The Book of Listening (2008) came out after his death and is best read once his vocabulary is familiar.
A reading path
1. I Am (1989)
2. The Ease of Being (1986)
3. Be Who You Are (1978)
4. Who Am I? (1988)
5. Living Truth (1995)
Earlier Versions of Jean Klein’s Books
Beyond the 9 key books: 2 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Earlier editions later revised
2
2 books · 1981–1988
- 1981Neither This Nor That I Ampublished by Watkins; completely revised as I Am (1989)
- 1988Mount Madonna Dialoguesthe 1988 California talks, later expanded into Living Truth (1995); year is that of the talks
The years · 1912–1998
Quick facts about Jean Klein
- Known for
- Jean Klein is known as one of the most eloquent Western teachers of Advaita, or non-duality, in the second half of the twentieth century, and as the teacher of Francis Lucille.
- 1912
- Born in Berlin
- 1933
- Leaves Germany for France
- 1955
- Non-duality becomes “a living reality”
- 1960
- Begins teaching in Europe
- 1989
- I Am
- 1998
- Dies in Santa Barbara, California
- Born
- 19 October 1912, Berlin, into a Jewish family; childhood in Brno and Prague
- Died
- 22 February 1998, Santa Barbara, California, aged 85
- Trained as
- Musicologist and physician, studying in Vienna and Berlin
- War years
- Moved to France in 1933; worked secretly with the French Resistance
- Teacher
- Pandit Veeraraghavachar Rao, Sanskrit College, Bangalore; also influenced by Atmananda Krishna Menon
- Taught
- Europe from 1960, later the United States
- Students
- Francis Lucille, from 1975; through Lucille his teaching reached Rupert Spira
The red mark is 1989: I Am, the edited question-and-answer book most often used as a way into his teaching.
How Jean Klein Writes: Dialogue, Not Doctrine
Klein did not write treatises. Almost every book is a transcript of meetings: a short talk, then questions from the room and his answers, edited by students such as Emma Edwards. The pattern is set in Be Who You Are, where each chapter opens with a discourse and turns into a dialogue, and it holds through Living Truth, built from talks he gave in California in 1988.
He kept away from the technical language of Advaita Vedanta. Andrew Rawlinson, in The Book of Enlightened Masters, noted that Klein rarely uses its Sanskrit terms or cites other teachers, and instead uses words of his own, such as “listening” and “transparency”. He also taught yoga in the Kashmir tradition, which his student Billy Doyle later described in Yoga in the Kashmir Tradition: The Art of Listening.
His approach is what later teachers call the direct path. Francis Lucille, who met Klein in 1975 and stayed with him until his death, passed this approach on to Rupert Spira; see Books by Rupert Spira for where it went next.
Frequently asked questions about Jean Klein’s books
How many books has Jean Klein written?
Nine are the key books on this page, from Be Who You Are (1978) to The Book of Listening (2008). Two earlier books, Neither This Nor That I Am (1981) and Mount Madonna Dialogues, were later revised into I Am and Living Truth. Almost all of them are edited transcripts of his dialogues rather than books he sat down to write.
What are Jean Klein’s books in order?
Be Who You Are (1978), The Ease of Being (1986), Who Am I? The Sacred Quest (1988), I Am (1989), Transmission of the Flame (1990), Open to the Unknown: Dialogues in Delphi (1993), Beyond Knowledge (1994), Living Truth (1995) and The Book of Listening (2008).
Where should I start with Jean Klein?
I Am (1989), a book of questions and answers edited by Emma Edwards, is the most compact introduction. The Ease of Being (1986) is the best choice if you prefer the feel of a live seminar.
What is Jean Klein’s most famous book?
I Am and The Ease of Being are the titles most often associated with him; his publisher calls The Ease of Being one of his most consistently popular books.
Did Jean Klein write in French or English?
Both. He lived in France from 1933, and early books such as Be Who You Are were translated from French. Later books, such as Who Am I?, were made in English with his students and then translated into French (Qui suis-je ? La quête sacrée). French readers also know him through titles such as La Joie sans objet, L’Ultime Réalité and Sois ce que tu es.
Who was Jean Klein’s teacher?
Pandit Veeraraghavachar Rao, a scholar at the Sanskrit College in Bangalore, whom he met during the roughly three years he spent in India after the Second World War. He is also linked with the teaching of Atmananda Krishna Menon.
How did Jean Klein influence Francis Lucille and Rupert Spira?
Francis Lucille met Klein in 1975 and remained his student until Klein’s death in 1998. Lucille in turn taught Rupert Spira, who describes his own teaching as the direct path he learned from Lucille, drawing on Klein and Atmananda Krishna Menon.
Is Jean Klein still alive?
No. He died on 22 February 1998 in Santa Barbara, California, at the age of 85. The Book of Listening was published after his death, in 2008.
What is the yoga that Jean Klein taught?
Yoga in the Kashmir tradition, approached through the same “listening” attention as his dialogues. His student Billy Doyle wrote about it in Yoga in the Kashmir Tradition: The Art of Listening.
Footnotes
- Jean Klein (spiritual teacher) — Wikipedia
- Jean Klein — Stillness Speaks
- The Direct Path: Jean Klein — advaita.org.uk
- Francis Lucille — Omega Institute
- I Am, catalogue record — Marmot Library Network
- Qui suis-je ? La quête sacrée — La Procure
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“The ‘eternal present’, our theme in these meetings, lies within the depth of ourselves.”
— Jean Klein, Be Who You Are (1978)
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