Eckhart Tolle and Zen, Part 1

[This is an excerpt from my book "Beyond the Power of Now: A Guide to, and Beyond, Eckhart Tolle's Teachings.]

Eckhart Tolle describes how listening to a thought breaks your identification with it and is “the beginning of the end of involuntary and compulsive thinking.” If only it were that easy! I spent years in the company of Buddhist practitioners of mindfulness, and not a single one, to my knowledge, managed to permanently put an end to involuntary and compulsive thinking. Short of Buddhahood, or Nirvana, even the most advanced spiritual practitioners struggle with the same involuntary and compulsive thought patterns as everyone else. Read a couple of books about the Buddha’s life. Until the moment he entered Nirvana, he was still beset with vexing thoughts.

Yes, listening to a thought temporarily breaks your identification with it, but thoughts continue to arise, one after another, and the moment-to-moment practice of listening to or watching them becomes quite arduous. Such watching or listening is a willful act, and because efforts are always spasmodic, so are the results. Here is a typical example: You begin meditating, and thoughts about the large sum of money you just blew in a bad investment arise. You non-judgmentally witness the thoughts, they vanish, and you experience a gap of “no-mind.” But you can bet whatever money you have left that these same thoughts will soon arise again… and again.

My point is this: when the mind is viewed as the enemy that enslaves you, and your battle plan is to “defeat,” or break identification with, it by relentlessly witnessing its activity from moment to moment, then you’re starting a war with yourself that is next to impossible to win. I fought that war for years and lost. And in the forty years that I’ve been involved in the spiritual field, I’ve yet to meet anyone who has won it.

Tolle claims that “gaps of ‘no-mind’” lead to “stillness and peace” and the “natural state of felt oneness with Being.” If “no-mind” leads to enlightenment, then why doesn’t deep sleep spiritually awaken everyone? Drugs and hypnosis can also render the mind temporarily still and peaceful. Do they lead to enlightenment? “No-mind” is a cool but overrated spiritual concept, and if you understand what true spiritual life is about, you’ll pass on the pop Zen that Tolle pushes.

Tolle tells you to “go more deeply into the realm of no-mind.” But if there is no-mind, there is nothing to go more deeply into. Your consciousness perceives a lack of mental objects (thoughts) and labels this new object “no-mind,” or “the void.” The void, or empty space, is nothing but a backdrop to focus your attention on. Mahayana Buddhism, which includes Zen, is the only religious tradition that apotheosizes the void, sometimes (and mistakenly) equating it with Nirvana or Ultimate Reality.

Empty space (the void) is a wonderful meditation object—I use it myself—but it is simply a doorway to the luminous presence and power of Being that is behind and beyond it. Until emptiness “dances,” or comes alive as the Sambhogakaya (or Holy Spirit) in your practice, genuine spiritual enlightenment is not a possibility for you.

Tolle mentions being “fully present,” but fails to explain how that translates into spiritual en-Light-en-ment. I will explain for him. When you are fully present and at one with the divine Source, then “God,” the divine Being, sheds his Grace, or Blessing Power, on you. This Blessing Power, which is palpable Light-energy, crashes down on you, incinerating your thoughts. When this radiant Blessing Power (which Indian yogis term Shaktipat) pours down upon you, it literally outshines your mind, rendering it impotent as an obstruction to the divine Light. When Shaktipat, the descending current of Light-energy, penetrates to your spiritual (or “Sacred”) Heart-center (just to the right of the center of your chest), you intuit your true Self-nature as one with the divine Being. And when the Heart-knot is finally severed by Shaktipat, the down-poured Holy Spirit, then you permanently awaken as a Christ-like Self—the divine Being personified.

You can take the laborious path to enlightenment and burden yourself with the onerous task of ceaselessly watching your mind and disidentifying from your thoughts. Or, you can simply connect to the divine Source and allow its Grace, the power of Now, to outshine your mind and en-Light-en you. The choice is yours.