Quote: Does any authoritative Buddhist body recognize Tolle officially regarding anything?

Response: A quick search finds that American Buddhist which is dedicated to the furtherance and exploration of American Buddhism (including Canada and Mexico) has promoted Tolle's teachings and lectures.

csp:

Please provide the link to the site that specifically and officially endorses Tolle as an authoritative Buddhist body.

It's interesting to read your posts regarding Tolle.

They fit will within a pattern, which is very familiar to many members of this message board.

1. Tolle has no meaningful credentials and no objective proof to demonstrate the validity of anything he claims about himself or anything.

2. If the practices encouraged by Tolle fail, it's your fault.

3. Tolle encourages practices that can be seen as little more than trance induction/self-hypnosis, which practitioners may use to escape reality by retreating into an altered state of consciousness.

Blaming your wife's suffering on her state of mind is a sad and false conclusion.

Cancer is a physical illness, which is painful, regardless of the sufferer's state of mind.

An oncologist can explain this to you.

Thank you for the opportunity for discussion on this subject, but I'm going to have to take a permanent leave of absence from this forum.

csp:

This is also a familiar pattern on the message board.

When people come here for the purpose of apology and feel they are not doing well, they leave.

Fair enough.

Anyone can quit and leave the board whenever they wish.

But those reading this thread should note that much of what you have stated here was never supported with objective facts, e.g. a link to demonstrate that an authoritative Buddhist body officially endorsed Tolle and/or his teachings.

And you claimed some sort of professional standing, education and credentials, but never really supported those claims specifically either.

Goodbye and good luck.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/2008 02:41AM by rrmoderator.

I have not found the Apologists for Eckhart Tolle convincing in the least. As a matter of fact, they seem to take the Tolle Tactic of word-reframing as their main defense.
Just like Eckhart Tolle when he says..."When Jesus said ________, he meant ______".
Well, says who?
Thus Spaketh Eckhart Tolle?

I doubt many people would have a problem with Eckhart Tolle if he wrote a couple of small, humble books, where he tried to summarize some basic ideas like, Meditate, Breathe, detachment, stay in the moment, relax, etc. (but you don't make millions doing that!).

But Tolle is not doing that.
He is trying to unify all of the religions of the world under the personality of Eckhart Tolle.
There are many on Amazon who can't believe his arrogance and egomania. The guy thinks he has the answer to every question on earth, and the new earth too.

Tolle is not a Buddhist.
Besides, there are many Buddhist sects that are damaging, and even classified as "cultlike" like SGI. Soka Gakkai [www.culteducation.com]
Seem like Eckhart took some organizing ideas from SGI, in terms of having the followers meet at their own homes. But Tolle made it one better by mandating that only Tolle can Speak, by DVD. Can you imagine? Tolle is going to enlighten you by DVD.
What is happening is he is just putting you into self-hypnosis before and after his Induction DVD's.
Sadly, lots of people are going to buy into his tactics.

"CSP" has made a lot of incorrect statements about Tolle, mainly just playing semantic word-games, which is par for the course.
- Tolle's methods can be very damaging to certain people, there are even some reports at this forum, although some of those hurt find it too painful to even write about. Eckhart doesn't talk about that, does he? All the people who utterly screw up their lives by messing around with their "Ego"? Some people can go off the rails of reality, and some can even go suicidal...does Tolle tell people who are suicidal to seek medical help? No, he claims his methods can heal them. Who is going to pick up the pieces for those who need MORE Ego-Strength to cope with life? (Tolle knows that, but must not care what happens to these folks, remember, you can't even contact the guy).

- Tolle does claim to be "enlightened" but of course does so in a tricky wordy way.
- Tolle is not teaching Mindfulness, and he has no method, and no way to measure what is happening.
- Tolle does not look in good physical shape, with a hunched spine, etc. That could be genetic, could be too much book-reading and not enough exercise. He certainly is way too detached from his body, that is not healthy.

- Pain-Body,Tolle treats that as if it is "real" when it is at best a bad primitive metaphor or Nominalization. There is no valid theory of the "pain-body" in human emotion. There are many theories about emotion, but that ain't one of them. He just made it up.
Hey, I have a Plane-Body...because I fly in my dreams at night...so buy my books and hundreds of hours of DVD's...I can make stuff up too!! It easy, you just pull it out of your ass...and then pretend its real and act confident when you sell it.

- Strangeness: the Silent Group where you are forbidden to speak...is strange and abnormal. Of course we know why he tells people to do that...and its not like the Quakers Silent meetings. Its the opposite, he wants to install Eckhart Tolle inside of you, not get you in touch with your own Intuition.

- Tolle is not a Buddhist. You can't say you are a Buddhist with no background. Might as well say he is a Jewish Kabbalahist too. Throw in some Huna too...
- No one is hammering Mindfulness, that's fine. Its that Eckhart Tolle is twisting all these valid concepts, and getting rich from them, and making a confusing mess of them. But the more complex he makes it, the more DVD's he sells. Pain = Profits.

The bottom line is that Eckhart Tolle cannot handle any type of intellectual challenge to his work.
This is why he bans it.
If you are a follower of his, you are frowned on for even Speaking or Thinking!

It really is like Yogi Bear..."I'll do the thinning around here...and don't you forget it"

Now Eckhart Tolle is so famous, all his questions will be pre-screened, so you can never get a straight answer from the guy.
So he is just a New Age, New Wage, religious entrepreneur, an astounding level of egomania, in that he seems to think he is going to usher in a New Earth.

And remember the other quote from Yogi Bear...

PAIN = PROFIT

PAIN-BODY = PROFITS

also...
Notice how Oprah's company struck deals with various companies to promote Tolle? They all paid serious money for that PR, for example, Skype would have paid a bundle to get mentioned, as well as that plastic pen company, etc.

Notice how Eckhart Tolle is with the Hay House publisher?
And basically all of Oprah's current New Wage authors are also from Hay House?
[www.hayhouse.com]

So its clear that Oprah and Hay House have a deal. Big money, millions at stake.
What if Oprah bought a stake in Hay House, so that the more of Eckhart Tolle's books she sells, the more Oprah makes?
What if she is getting a cut of all the other Hay House writers too?

Clearly there is a financial deal there. What is it?
Did Hay House just pay her company a fee, or is there a percentage deal for product sold, etc?
Maybe Oprah got tired of making other publishers rich, and wanted a piece of the action?

So that puts Oprah in an ethcial conflict of interest when it comes to all of this.
Only in America.
"I liked selling Enlightenment so much, I bought the company"

"csp" would have been banished, shunned, uninvited from a Eckhart Tolle Group long ago.
In those groups, you follow Tolle's "format", so he can "reformat" your brain.

- 20 minutes of silence, puts you into a very Deep Hypnotic Trance.
- then you watch Eckhart Tolle on the bigscreen TV for 90 minutes, and that goes very deep, as you are in a Trance.
- then another 20 minutes of self-hypnosis, where Tolle's hypnotic suggestions take hold.

If you do that even 5 times, then your Mind is his! Do it 10x, and you might be a Lifer.

Tolle has told people NOT to talk, no discussion, no questions...how perverse is that?
How much worse can "brain conditioning" get than making Speaking Verbotten? (forbidden, as Tolle's suggestions are taken as Gospel, of course).
That is truly perverse.
Even the Pope wants people to discuss his Homilies! So Tolle is bigger than the Pope?
Which religious leaders have forbidden you to question them?
Sound like Stalinism, actually.

Which sane religion forbids people to talk or think?
How many actual, serious cults discourage people to think and talk to try to figure things out?
Even many actual cults allow a certain amount of discussion, only the most serious forbids all discussion.
So according to his own website, Eckhart Tolle is running something very perverse.
People have not clued into that aspect yet, and what it means.

So how can people say what Tolle is doing is not related to cults? If people follow that "format", that is actually extremely bad, how much worse can it get, to ban critical discussion, or any discussion?
Eckhart Tolle knows how powerful that is going to be on these people, it will literally CONTROL THEIR LIVES after a short while.

Eckhart Tolle's primary mistake is he says that Critical Intelligence makes you unhappy, which it does NOT. He is just plain wrong.
And his Eckhart Tolle Silent Local Group is very manipulative, its designed to "reformat" your mind in the electronic image of Eckhart Tolle.

Notice how this is nice and "clean" for ET, he doesn't have to meet any of these people, just sell them the DVD, and let them brainwash themselves.
Does he charge them more for those products?

Its an electonic distributed self-managing New Age church dedicated to Eckhart Tolle, and marketing his DVD's and CD's.
Quite ingenious.


[eckharttolle.com]
Attending a Silent Local Group
All are welcome to attend a Silent Local Group.
The groups listed follow Eckhart's recommended Silent Group format. The group may begin with ten to twenty minutes of silence (silent meditation), 1 to 1 1/2 hours of an Eckhart Tolle audio or visual recording, ending with ten to twenty minutes of silence (silent meditation). It's best not to engage in discussion, as it tends to stimulate the mind and ego.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/2008 04:35AM by The Anticult.

Quote
csp

Quote
The Shadow
unfortunately "America", and in large part Canada too, don't realize that not only will they lose their egos, they will also lose their minds... we are already in a mental health crisis, and it is going to get worse, with all these poor trusting souls detaching from their egos, and turning into a bunch of sniveling lunatics!

Actually, it is quite the opposite. Isn't the world currently insane? Look around as it speeds to its end. This is not due to a lack of ego, but its reinforcement and empowerment. We can destroy ourselves and our environment more quickly and efficiently than ever. Tolle recognizes that our insane thought-forms and identification with mind ("I think therefore I am") is what perpetuates this endless cycle of destruction that no widespread, implemented philosophy, religion, government, culture or psychology has been able to solve.

csp,
nope, the world is not currently insane, however, there are a lot of insane and dysfunctional people IN the world, AND, a lot of corporate heads and CEOs can be classified as psychopaths, in that they do not share our emotional compasses, they millions of people without a shred of remorse...


your analysis, and perhaps Tolle's, is eroneous and simplystic! Certainly there are people with HUGE egos in this society, and they are sometimes very annoying to be around. In fact, i would hazard a guess that both Oprah AND Tolle have over-inflated egos, and that they have an unhealthy opionion of their own self-importance. We need healthy BALANCED egos to survive in society - it is only a rare spiritual recluce who can survive without an ego...

csp, i would suggest that you try to read some of the old classics, and some other "experts" other than Tolle. Tolle has read these classics himself, and studied the old masters, and is taking a bit of this, and a bit of that, and customizing it to fit her purpose.

Quote
helpme2times
Good lord, question lady, THANK YOU for voicing something I have felt many a time. I cannot stand Trolle's gobbledygookspeak!

Quote
question lady
If I hear one more Tolle-head analyzing themselves and everyone around them with their" tricky ego" -"pain-body" gibberish I might have to go scream. My tongue is bleeding from biting it too often.

You can't say anything because a contrary point of view means you are coming from your ego and you need to be in the now.

Aaaarrrggggghhhhhh!

Okay. Just needed to vent in a safe place. Carry on.

i second THAT emotion!!!! -- sometimes i find it hard to not just grab these ninnies and give them a good shake!

regards,
Shad

Hey Shadow (aka Shad) ... clear out your box and I'll send you a private message. :-)