Eckhart Tolle. Your opinion?

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SarathW
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Re: Eckhart Tolle. Your opinion?

Post by SarathW »

I was sort of convinced that he is an Instagram era Jiddu Krishnamurti.
It is funny you saying this asI felt the same.
I take him also in line with Sadhguru.
Both of them are nice people and a good help to a beginner.
Even Buddha had to go through many different teachers.
Last edited by SarathW on Tue May 05, 2020 7:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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binocular
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Re: Eckhart Tolle. Your opinion?

Post by binocular »

beanyan wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 2:57 am
binocular wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 1:24 amIt's "easy to dismiss him" on account that he didn't come to his "attainment" by doing what he teaches, but due to posttraumatic growth that followed his psychological breakdown.
If you read the autobiographical suttas about how Gotama practiced Jain asceticism and then Yoga jhanas to become enlightened, and then after enlightenment switched to teaching no self (and in Mahayana emptiness) instead, you could say the same about him, if you believe he really taught that stuff afterwards.
It's a scary thought!
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No_Mind
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Re: Eckhart Tolle. Your opinion?

Post by No_Mind »

binocular wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 1:24 am
I am sharing one of his videos. You would have to watch quite a few (each no more than few minutes) to realize that it is not easy to cut him off at the knees (metaphorically).

But why would one need to "cut him off at the knees"?
Because then I would not have to cut him off at the knees (literally). :lol:

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Crazy cloud
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Re: Eckhart Tolle. Your opinion?

Post by Crazy cloud »

No one knows if he is actually a liberated being, so "cutting him off" makes no sense or is an act of skillfulness
If you didn't care
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And I didn't care for you

We would zig-zag our way
Through the boredom and pain
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Wondering which of the
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seeker242
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Re: Eckhart Tolle. Your opinion?

Post by seeker242 »

No_Mind wrote: Mon May 04, 2020 4:56 pm
It is not easy to dismiss him.
Why not? He's not Buddhist, therefore dismissed! Seems easy enough to me. :smile:
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rhinoceroshorn
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Re: Eckhart Tolle. Your opinion?

Post by rhinoceroshorn »

I have read his famous book. It is quite interesting but I don't think it was very helpful to me. Ok, present moment, present moment, and then what? I don't see a big picture in his teachings like I see in Buddhism. In Buddhism there is a bigger reason to be in the present.
Eckhart Tolle's teachings didn't reverberate in me, too. I hardly remember any passage of his book. On the other hand, I remember I read The Heart Sutra in 2017 and kept remembering it for a long time. :popcorn:

Also, he is not a monk and I don't see him renounce. He also has a wife, Kim Eng. I can't escape seeing it as a bad thing. If you are enlightened, I don't think that keeping a normal life as anyone else is the best example to give. :toilet:
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No_Mind
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Re: Eckhart Tolle. Your opinion?

Post by No_Mind »

rhinoceroshorn wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 1:24 pm Ok, present moment, present moment, and then what? I don't see a big picture in his teachings like I see in Buddhism. In Buddhism there is a bigger reason to be in the present.
Yes. I feel exactly the same way about his teachings. Instagram Buddhism I call it.

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Sam Vara
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Re: Eckhart Tolle. Your opinion?

Post by Sam Vara »

rhinoceroshorn wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 1:24 pm Ok, present moment, present moment, and then what?
It's always present moment, rhino! :sage:
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Re: Eckhart Tolle. Your opinion?

Post by rhinoceroshorn »

Sam Vara wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 2:51 pm
rhinoceroshorn wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 1:24 pm Ok, present moment, present moment, and then what?
It's always present moment, rhino! :sage:
:rofl:
Eyes downcast, not footloose,
senses guarded, with protected mind,
not oozing — not burning — with lust,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Sutta Nipāta 1.3 - Khaggavisana Sutta
Image
See, Ānanda! All those conditioned phenomena have passed, ceased, and perished. So impermanent are conditions, so unstable are conditions, so unreliable are conditions. This is quite enough for you to become disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding all conditions.
Dīgha Nikāya 17
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Crazy cloud
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Re: Eckhart Tolle. Your opinion?

Post by Crazy cloud »

The thinking mind makes numerous present moments out of dimensionless now. And ET talks mostly about now. So those who hasn't heard him this way, has missed the point completely.

Muddy 👂
If you didn't care
What happened to me
And I didn't care for you

We would zig-zag our way
Through the boredom and pain
Occasionally glancing up through the rain

Wondering which of the
Buggers to blame
And watching for pigs on the wing
- Roger Waters
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No_Mind
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Re: Eckhart Tolle. Your opinion?

Post by No_Mind »

Crazy cloud wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 3:17 pm The thinking mind makes numerous present moments out of dimensionless now. And ET talks mostly about now. So those who hasn't heard him this way, has missed the point completely.

Muddy 👂
Not that I created this thread to criticize him but he has a rather weird approach to spirituality which consists of doing nothing (not even washing dirty plates) and just watch now, now, now, now .. as he puts it "being conscious but not thinking."

While that sounds cool it is not possible to adhere to. Even the Buddha did things .. as long as we have a body we shall do things ..

But ET sat on a park bench for two years, drifted through life .. until he made his first million .. and now charges $1500 per retreat (exclusive of lodging, travel and food) ..

He is worth millions. That is not doing nothing.

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Crazy cloud
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Re: Eckhart Tolle. Your opinion?

Post by Crazy cloud »

No_Mind wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 4:53 pm
Crazy cloud wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 3:17 pm The thinking mind makes numerous present moments out of dimensionless now. And ET talks mostly about now. So those who hasn't heard him this way, has missed the point completely.

Muddy 👂
Not that I created this thread to criticize him but he has a rather weird approach to spirituality which consists of doing nothing (not even washing dirty plates) and just watch now, now, now, now .. as he puts it "being conscious but not thinking."

While that sounds cool it is not possible to adhere to. Even the Buddha did things .. as long as we have a body we shall do things ..

But ET sat on a park bench for two years, drifted through life .. until he made his first million .. and now charges $1500 per retreat (exclusive of lodging, travel and food) ..

He is worth millions. That is not doing nothing.

:namaste:
He says the exact same thing as skilled Ajahn's do, and that is to watch the mind all the time, and that means doing it NOW since there are the only way to see reality as it is. He has his style, and one can like it or not. He sat on a park bench and let the world pass through his being, which was "being now", and that might seem like nothing, but one can also say that it was ALL ... Or, being whole. And I haven't understood him saying one should not do anything, but more saying that if one act's out of being now, one is more creative. If one acts, as usual, one isn't creative but recreate, and that means being reborn in a Buddhist sense, as far as I understand. His fee is not my business, and there is no such thing as free lunch, even in the Buddhas monastery.

But it's a sure thing that spirituality is big business, and that might be caused by greater suffering in the so-called advanced world of today.
If you didn't care
What happened to me
And I didn't care for you

We would zig-zag our way
Through the boredom and pain
Occasionally glancing up through the rain

Wondering which of the
Buggers to blame
And watching for pigs on the wing
- Roger Waters
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rhinoceroshorn
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Re: Eckhart Tolle. Your opinion?

Post by rhinoceroshorn »

I can not buy those new-age/self help things anyone. They LACK a broader system to fit in. :rofl:
People like Eckhart Tolle cut pieces of Buddhism and try to make sense out of them. Surprise? It does not work. :rolleye:
Eyes downcast, not footloose,
senses guarded, with protected mind,
not oozing — not burning — with lust,
wander alone
like a rhinoceros.
Sutta Nipāta 1.3 - Khaggavisana Sutta
Image
See, Ānanda! All those conditioned phenomena have passed, ceased, and perished. So impermanent are conditions, so unstable are conditions, so unreliable are conditions. This is quite enough for you to become disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding all conditions.
Dīgha Nikāya 17
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TLCD96
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Re: Eckhart Tolle. Your opinion?

Post by TLCD96 »

Yeah, it really seems like his teachings have been helpful for a lot of people who burden themselves with thinking. I remember I found them super helpful when I first started getting into "spirituality"; his teachings were soothing and made a lot of sense at that time. Better than fault-finding, that's for sure. ;)
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Re: Eckhart Tolle. Your opinion?

Post by Dhammanando »

No_Mind wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 4:53 pm He is worth millions. That is not doing nothing.
Indeed. That Eckhart fellow is always doing things. If one's looking for a guru who's skilled at doing nothing, I should think that the Croatian Braco (Josip Grbavac) would be the best option.

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