[Buddha-l] Eckhart Tolle

[Richard P. Hayes]

Just out of curiosity, have any of you read Eckhart Tolle's <cite>The
Power of Now</cite>? 

I have heard only excerpts of it read aloud my my wife, an enthusiastic
fan of Mr. Tolle. Recently we rented one of his many video tapes. Seeing
him speak is much more engaging to me than reading his words. He has a
wonderful delivery, very wry and understated. If you fancy an
introduction, take a peak at one of his videos, if you can find them.
Otherwise, have a look at his website at
http://www.namastepublishing.com/tolle.asp 

For those of you who have not seem him, Mr Tolle does the best job I
have ever seen of presenting the essence of the teachings of the Buddha,
minus all the trappings that Buddhists have smothered those teachings
with. If you are allergic to institutionalized religion but are
responsive to teachers that cut quickly and directly through the layers
of painful delusions we fondly call the self, give this fellow a try. If
nothing else, he will make you giggle a few times (unless you are too
serious for that sort of thing).

I'm thinking of showing the students in my Zen Buddhist philosophy class
one of Tolle's videos, perhaps after they have read some of Toni
Packer's materials. I'm also thinking of showing them Ram Dass's video
<cite>Fierce Grace</cite>. (My favorite part of the course, I'm afraid,
is going to be the part that deals with teachers who were smart enough
either to get out of the Zen racket or never to get into Zen or Buddhism
in the first place. Disorganized religion has always speaked to my
condition better than its organized cousins.)

-- 
Richard Hayes
***
"Books are useless to us until our inner book opens; then all other
books are good so far as they confirm our book."
        (Swami Vivekananda)