Showing posts with label Eckhart Tolle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eckhart Tolle. Show all posts
Saturday, February 14, 2026
Wednesday, February 4, 2026
Alan Watts + Eckhart Tolle: beyond mind
Alan Watts+Eckhart Tolle: What lies beyond the mind
He left us more than 25 books and an audio library of about 400 talks, all of which are still in great demand.
- Follow the Alan Watts Organization: ● YouTube: @alanwattsorg ● Facebook: alanwattsofficial ● Instagram: alanwattsorg ● Full lectures found at: alanwatts.org and alanwatts.com
- Visit audible.com/afterskool or text 'afterskool' to 500 500 to get a free trial and for a limited time, save 60% on first 3 months of Audible.
Eckhart Tolle is a Western spiritual teacher and bestselling author. A German-born resident of Canada best known as the author of The Power of Now and A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, in 2008, The New York Times called him, "the most popular spiritual author in the United States." Oprah might have had a little more than something to do with that.
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| There is only one now. When? |
A good friend of the Dalai Lama, Tolle nevertheless does not identify with any specific religion but has been influenced by a wide range of spiritual works. Eckhart Tolle's audio comes from his podcast with Russell Brand.
Thanks for watching. Time and attention are greatly appreciated. Like this video and want to help create more? Consider supporting After Skool on Patreon: afterskool. Visit website: afterskool.net. See newsletter, check out After Skool prints (after-skool.creator-spring.com), or send an email to: afterskool100@gmail.com.
- After Skool, Nov. 23, 2021; Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Awaken outside comfort zone? (Eckhart Tolle)
Climb that mountain! Transforming challenges into growth with Eckhart Tolle
He discusses how facing physical, psychological, and situational obstacles can be the catalyst for growth and heightened consciousness.
He also explains why embracing (radically accepting) difficulties is essential for our spiritual progress and how adversity can lead to awareness.
Find this video helpful? Want more peace of mind or to bring more Presence into days, work, and other areas of life? Join Eckhart Tolle NOW through Eckhart’s online community and get access to his new in-depth teachings every month, practical Q&A sessions with Eckhart, and member-only discounts on Eckhart’s online programs. Enjoy a FREE 10-DAY TRIAL to Eckhart Tolle Now: members.eckharttolle.com/10-d...
Monday, January 26, 2026
Eckhart Tolle: suffering, drugs, meditation?
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| Then ego stopped, time stopped, all was clear. |
But the mind keeps thinking!
Don't Feed the Monkey Mind: How to Stop the Cycle of Anxiety, Fear, and Worry
This unique guide offers a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based approach to help
- recognize the constant chatter of anxious “monkey mind,”
- stop feeding anxious thoughts,
- find the personal peace craved.
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| Psychotherapist Jennifer Shannon |
Written by psychotherapist Jennifer Shannon, this book shows how to stop anxious thoughts from taking over using proven-effective cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and mindfulness (sati) techniques, as well as fun illustrations.
By following the exercises in this book, learn to identify anxious thoughts, question those thoughts, and uncover the core fears at play.
Once we stop feeding the monkey, there are no limits to how expansive life can feel. This book shows how anxiety can only continue as long as we try to avoid it. Paradoxically, only by seeking out and confronting the things that make us anxious can we reverse the cycle that keeps our fears alive. More
- Mindfulness-based stress reduction
- How to stop fighting your problems
- Eckhart Tolle; Jennifer Shannon; Amber Larson (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
Sunday, January 25, 2026
Eckhart Tolle awakened by ego death
- Third interview pinpoints ego death (the realization that all things are anatta, not-self, egoless, the liberating truth that all things are impersonal)
Who becomes enlightened?
- Eckhart Tolle, YouTube channel; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Monday, January 19, 2026
Eckhart Tolle: Why we suffer: Life is here to...
The real purpose of life | Eckhart Tolle
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| The Power of Now (Wiki) |
🌟 Find new meaning and purpose after personal crisis
🌟 Currently navigating a period of intense difficulty?
🌟 Unsure of what to do or which way to turn?
Never be irritated again!
Through six hours of carefully curated teachings and practices [that seem very Buddhist even though Tolle does not claim they are] with Eckhart, discover the unique potential for spiritual growth that presents itself during the dark night [of the soul].
Life tests us, does not make us happy
- Learn more: bit.ly/awakening-through-the-...
- Enjoy a FREE 10-day trial to Eckhart Tolle’s private membership community: members.eckharttolle.com/10-d...
- Eckhart Tolle, YouTube, Jan. 14, 2026; Kaliyani, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Sunday, June 1, 2025
Eckhart Tolle: How to let go
Why our inner state matters more than our goals | Eckhart Tolle
How to stop pretending and start living | Eckhart Tolle
ABOUT:
Eckhart Tolle is widely recognized as one of the most inspiring and visionary spiritual teachers in the world today. With his international bestsellers, The Power of Now and A New Earth —translated into more than 50 languages — he has introduced millions to the joy and freedom of living life in the present moment. The New York Times has described him as “the most popular spiritual author in the United States,” and in 2011, Watkins Review (now Watkins Mind Body Spirit) named him “the most spiritually influential person in the world.”
Eckhart’s profound yet simple teachings have helped countless people around the globe experience a state of vibrantly alive inner peace in their daily lives. His teachings focus on the significance and power of Presence, the awakened state of consciousness, which transcends ego and discursive thinking. Eckhart sees this awakening as the essential next step in human evolution.
Find this video helpful? Want more peace of mind or to bring more Presence into days, work, and other areas of life? Join Eckhart Tolle Now, Eckhart’s online community, and get access to his new in-depth teachings every month, practical Q&A sessions with Eckhart, and member-only discounts on Eckhart’s online programs. Enroll in The School of Awakening - A 5-Month Online Advanced Training Program to teach, lead, and live your highest purpose: https://bit.ly/School-of-Awakening-YT... Get FREE access Eckhart Tolle’s new miniseries - The world needs you as a teacher of Presence: https://bit.ly/become-a-teacher-2024 Enjoy a FREE 10-DAY TRIAL to Eckhart Tolle Now: https://members.eckharttolle.com/10-d...
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Time is an illusion: Power of Now (video)
Time is an illusion, according to Einstein
Does time really exist? Buddhism’s view on the nature of time
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| The Time Paradox (social psychology) |
From Albert Einstein's pronouncements to the Buddha's wisdom in the Dhammapada [a collection of sayings], the concept of time as a construct is explored.
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| Dhammapada for Awakening |
The neuroscience of time perception is considered, exploring how our brains [thoughts] construct our experience of time's flow.
Buddhist practices like mindfulness meditation are investigated as potential pathways to experiencing the present moment more fully, even transcending the limitations of time.
- 00:00 - Intro
- 00:12 - The Mystery of Time: Where Science meets the Buddha's wisdom
- 05:15 - The Grand Illusion
- 11:17 - Time is mind-made
- 17:05 - Quantum Buddhism
- 23:02 - Our Mind: Time's Creator
- 29:02 - Breaking free from time's prison
- 34:44 - Beyond time: The Power of Timeless Presence and the limits of science
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| Quantum Buddhism: Dancing in Emptiness (Smetham) |
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| The Power of Now: A Guide... |
The intricate relationship between consciousness and time is examined, and practical methods for cultivating timeless awareness [flow states, jhanas or meditative absorptions, singleminded focus that purifies the mind] are offered.
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| Singleminded focus leads to flow and absorption |
- #time #BuddhismPodcast #Buddhism #Buddhist
- The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life (Audible): Philip Zimbardo, John Boyd, Matthew Josdal, Tantor Audio
- Quantum Buddhism: Dancing in Emptiness: Reality Revealed in the Interface of Quantum Theory and Buddhist Metaphysics (Graham Smetham)
- Buddhism Podcast, Jan. 13, 2025; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Monday, March 31, 2025
Thursday, December 5, 2024
Monkey Mind (thought) can stop?
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| Tortured by thinking: Monkey Mind anxiety |
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| "I already live this way *lol* it's kool" (Ayr Hed) |
The Buddhist term "monkey mind" originates from Chinese xīnyuán and/or Chinese-Japanese shin'en (心猿). It is a Buddhist concept that literally means "heart-mind monkey [business]," for it describes a state of discursive restlessness, capriciousness, and lack of self-control in one's thoughts and emotions.
The "mind monkey" metaphor is found in Buddhist writings in Zen and Chan, Consciousness-only, Pure Land, and Shingon.
It has also been adopted by Taoism, Neo-Confucianism, Chinese poetry, theater, and literature. The expression "monkey mind" commonly appears in two reversible four-character idioms paired with yima or iba (意馬). It translates as "idea horse."
Chinese xinyuanyima (心猿意馬) and Japanese ibashin'en (意馬心猿) illustrate the interconnectedness of a restless mind and wandering thoughts.
The "Monkey King" Sun Wukong in the classic Buddhist Chinese novel Journey to the West is an iconic personification of feeling indecisive and unsettled. More
We need brains, but do we need thoughts?
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What is there instead of thinking, worrying, anxiously projecting, predicting, prognosticating, forecasting, mental doomscrolling, trying to avoid everything bad that can happen? One time on retreat with a very great Buddhist meditation master who was visiting California from Asia for the first time, I was spending all my sitting time thinking and pondering.
I would ask him solutions to my thoughts, which would put to rest my worries. But I would soon think of something new to ask, an unsolvable mental construct, philosophical question, or paradox.
I remember mainly thinking about karma -- the process by which our intentional (cetana) deeds bring about many wished for and unwished for results even though we do most things in ignorance, not with the "intention" that they should bring about the results they do: How can this be "fair" if we didn't know?
Monkey Mind Workout for... (Walmart) - I think this sort of questioning brought him to him to the limit of tolerating my nonsense and indulging my endless stream of questions. Thereafter, every time I'd ask anything speculative or philosophical, he'd answer by asking, "How's your meditation going?"
- I would laugh, realizing that I was spending way more time thinking than "meditating." He asked me how, and I explained my system: Since I only had to be aware of "breathing" (in), I would let my mind wander the rest of the time (when I was breathing out or when the breath was pausing in between, so I was actually able to get a lot of thinking in while still being aware or counting the breath as it happened, only drifting off the rest of the time.
- He was astonished someone could be so utterly daft (or neurotic and full of too much zeal and too overbearing a sense of urgency when what was desperately needed was contentment), and no wonder I wasn't making any progress. "Who told you to do that?" he asked.
- I didn't answer, but the answer was obvious: "No one ever told me not to." (I like thinking, why wouldn't I think? I'm thinking all the time, it's my thing, my jam, my delight, and apparently my downfall!) It was true. I was only supposed to be aware of the breath -- so he again defined "breath" for me:
- "Breath" in BREATH MEDITATION is mindful awareness of anapana (the in-and-out breath and any time in between, which becomes vanishingly brief the slower one breathes for the person paying more and more attention to the whole-body-of-the-breath like the Satipatthana Sutra instructs).
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| Aah, then everything came to a rest: blissful peace |
What happened? THINKING STOPPED. (I didn't stop; it stopped). It was the strangest thing. I wasn't expecting it to. I didn't know it could. I don't think I was doing anything different than normal (other than maybe not thinking for once). IT REALLY STOPPED. I kept checking it to be sure. I was fully aware.
Earlier in the day, I had taken a walk in the woods and seen wild turkey and deer, and I had found a giant rusty cistern, a big corrugated water tank, the size of a grain silo, just in the middle of nowhere in the woods. It had no water in it. Imagine dragging a stick across it, the sound it would make, clang-clang-clang: that's what my thinking was like.
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| What a strange album art idea... or is it? |
But here it was. I found it without looking. I had my asylum. There was compulsive thinking. Here's the amazing thing, thinking was possible, it just wasn't automatic. There was peace, rest, direct knowing. That's the thing: I would have thought, if asked before this, "Why think so much?" My answer would have been "To know." But there's no knowing that way. There's only speculation, pondering, wondering, probabilities, possibilities, imagining ways to test intuitions, inspirations, guesses, or logical suppositions and conclusions.
Now, here, the most amazing thing was happening to me -- like everyone had always said was impossible and NOT the goal of meditation. Not thinking it was the goal, here I was enjoying it. And like said, I could think. It just seemed dumb to. Thinking stands between us and direct experience. It's a buffer, a block, a kind of dirty glass we look through for so long we fail to notice how dirty and distorting it is. A rain comes along, like maybe a good long sleep, and things seem clearer -- clearer for not having thought. Thinking gets in the way, yet it's glorified, particularly in the university system.
Eckhart Tolle: Even the Sun Will Die
It seems even now that no one appreciates any of this except maybe Eckhart Tolle. He sat on a bench in a park perfectly content to keep sitting there. It was such a relief compared to all his previous worries, ego-trips in the highly competitive world of academics and self-promotion university faculty maneuvers. Imagine Descartes, Sophia, Nietzche, Socrates, Plato, or Aristotle getting a day off -- getting some no mind asylum (benevolent respite, safety, exile, expat vacation) time. Remember the paean, the joy the Buddha felt right after his great awakening (maha-bodhi). He KNEW freedom was possible and directly attainable here and now. There was no need to die and hope for a heaven. Here and now he saw things clearly.
As it was happening, because it went on for a long time (until it was about to be ruined by having to get up from my meditation mat to go to the restroom before the long evening Dharma talk started and I would be trapped in the hall holding it in for two hours or so), it occurred to me how I might explain this to anyone who might in the future ask. I had to kind of explain it to myself, too, because I was fully conscious, much more conscious, undistracted, and in the moment than I normally was. In fact, I normally tried to keep myself in abstractions most of the time, finding it fun to pose philosophical questions about reality then tackling them with an explanation that could be verified. The verification would show if the speculation or intuition were true. So these were not just pointless thoughts with no purpose; they were grand thoughts about life, the universe, and everything, musings of which Douglas Adams could be proud.
The explanation that spontaneously came to mind -- in just the same way that once when the Buddha was asked if he planned his answers to questions in advance or just spoke extemporaneously as it now occurred to him, he said there was no need to premeditate any more. He instantly knew the answer as the question was being asked. The analogy came to me what it was like, this "not having a brain"/"not thinking" was like, which as I said should be impossible to our normal way of thinking, speaking, conceiving, or imagining. It was exactly like this:
Normally and usually when we "think," it's like tossing a rock into a giant old empty cistern (corrugated galvanized rippled metal water tank) or big storm runoff corrugated drainage pipe, so big one can stand in it, and around here such underground pipes pour runoff into the LA River. It's not a sewer but a wash, a cemented over arroyo. Throw a rock in it, and it ricochets and echoes after hitting multiple times. One question (thought, stone, disturbance), many ripples (vrittis). The commotion of my mind was that nearly anything could trigger it. Now it was at rest, contented and peaceful. I knew not why.
Whatever desire-to-know arose, there the obvious answer simultaneously arose with it. There was no need to ponder or wrack my brain or stir up a hornets' nest of thoughts and questions. I toss one stone, and the reply is one thud, at which point the stone is done, no echo, no commotion, no ripples in the mind or aftereffects.
- I had the factor of enlightenment passaddhi
- I had contentment or santutthi
- Beautiful mental factors (Buddhism)
- I had equanimity or uppekha/upekṣā
- I had forbearance khanti/kshanti
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| Brain can blow up yet awareness remains? |
When external disturbances (my having to get up, impelled by the urge to pee which was uncomfortable to hold and conscientiously not wanting to disturb the Dharma talk later by getting up in the middle of it, being bumped by other meditators trying to signal me that we were switching from silent meditation to Dharma talk as if it were possible that I forgot) forced me to get up, move, and slowly head toward the bathroom, the peace and silence remained. It was not an artifact of perfect stillness; I was not asleep or in anyway unconscious, semi-conscious, or unmindfully out of it. I was bright, mindful, and much more away of what was really happening in the moment than usual.
Anyone who says nonthinking is wrong. Anyone who says it is not the goal of meditation is right. Making it the goal, striving not to think or trying to stifle the brain/mind, which has as its job to think, is no way to peace. Being aware just of this moment without evaluation, judgment, ambition, resistance, nonacceptance, force, efforting, that is far more likely to result in this kind of blissful abiding, this "peace of mind."
- Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Ashley Wells (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
Giving Buddhist Gratitude (Lion's Roar)
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| "Grrr!" like a lioness roaring for American Buddhism |
The Spiderman theme is such a catchy earworm to get stuck in your head that it's good to convert it into these season-appropriate lyrics:
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| How can you be so happy? |
Does whatever a spider could
Spins a web any size
Catches thanks just like flies
Look out, here comes some gratitude!
Is it strong? Listen, Bud:
It's got super-magnetic suds
Can it spring from a thread?
Take a look overhead
Hey there,
There goes that gratitude!
In the chill of night
At the scene of a crime
Like a streak of light
It arrives every time!
Gratitude, gratitude
Friendly neighborhood gratitude
As for fame, it's ignored
Action (karma) is
Its reward
To it
Life is a great big bang up
Wherever there's a hang up
You'll find some
GRATITUDE!
Fake Buddha quote gone good -- a wise teaching
Gratitude (Lion's Roar)
Gratitude is a crucial part of Buddhist spiritual practice, helping practitioners to live mindfully, compassionately, and peacefully, with a heart opening attitude of gratitude.
In Buddhist Pali terms, "gratitude" is kataññutā (or kataveditā), literally, “to have a sense of what was done [for us, for our benefit],” gratefulness.
It is more than just a feeling or a verbal expression of thanks. It is an important part of spiritual practice. Practicing gratitude can help us cultivate mindfulness, compassion, an awareness of the interconnectedness of all beings and things, and a peaceful, open-hearted attitude toward life and our fellows all around us.
Buddhism and gratitude are connected in a variety of ways, including:
- Appreciation for life [particularly our chance at this human life, which was brought about by our past karma, which had to have been good to produce this result and which was helped by others because there are just as many or more bad influences in the universe]
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| What a teacher can do for students, I have done. |
- Appreciation for others
The contemporary American Theravada Buddhist teacher Ven. Thanissaro (Geoffrey DeGraff) notes that the Buddha pointed out that there are two kinds of people who are hard to find in the world, “The one who is first to do a kindness, and the one who is grateful and thankful for a kindness done.” This is the Buddha saying that because they are rare, we should be both kinds.
- The Lessons of Gratitude (Ven. Thanissaro)
- The Monastery of Open Doors (Soto Zen)
Mindfulness
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| Ever mindful, wakeful, present in this moment |
Buddhism places a strong emphasis on being fully present in this moment with awareness and non-judgment. Practicing mindfulness helps us attune to the beauty and richness of each moment, the ever-present NOW, fostering a sense of gratitude for presence and, by extension, for life itself.
Impermanence
Contemplating radical impermanence — one of Buddhism’s “Three Marks of Existence” — can lead to a sense of gratitude for the opportunities and joys that arise and even for life’s unwelcome challenges.
- Two excellent Buddhist reminders of this are American Tibetan Buddhist nun Pema Chodron (Welcoming the Unwelcome: Wholehearted Living in a Brokenhearted World and the classic When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times) and British Thai Theravada Forest Tradition Buddhist monk Ajahn Brahm (Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?: Inspiring Stories for Welcoming Life's Difficulties about seeing opportunity in what we regard as the sh*tty or dunglike things that happen to us in life)
Letting go/Generosity
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| I'd never let go of my beautiful hair except for... |
Loving-Kindness (Metta)
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| Making love at insightla.org with Trudy & Co. |
- Gratitude (kataññu-katavedi) Abhayagiri Monastery
- Eckhart Tolle: gratitude, allow, radically accept
- Lion's Roar (lionsroar.com); edited and expanded by Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly, Thanksgiving 2024
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