Posession/Schizophrenia

[Korpo]

No true Guru or Buddha charges their devotees for listening to them speak over in the East.

What do you think alms are? A community has to support the teacher, or the teacher has to support itself. Solitary teachers in Taoism charge, for example.

Over there they assert that enilghtenment should be for everyone, not just those with money to spare and I think this is an itegral understanding in the world of spiritual realization.

I think that is a broad generalisation, and not true. Try to have a retreat at a monastery, try to go to talks, and you will find that regardless of degree of enlightenment people eat, sleep under a roof, etc. In India, the Guru is revered and given gifts to. It is easy to say "I give free of charge" when people give on their own. Buddhists expect good karma when they give to monks, etc.

In the West, other means have to be found. Besides, many people don't value what is free and it is hard to carry a message when you cannot promote it. It would be like ignoring the times we live in if someone thought they could walk around America and preach on the streets. The teaching would fall on deaf ears and the preacher would be considered a bum or lunatic.

This is the one area that I think Tolle is lacking in although it seems an honest mistake on his part. I find it depressing though that one cannot find an enlightened teacher in the West to begin with with and then the one that I have found won't give me his time unless I pay a good bit of money and even then would have to travel hundreds of miles to hear his next talk and pay all over again resulting in all manner of travel expenses to boot.

Try to go to an Indian ashram. See what it entails. Report back.

I find myself longing for an enlightened teacher here in the West who would simply give spiritual instruction without asking for something in return. They may exist although I'm not aware of them if they do. Tolle is the only Westerner I've ever encountered that appears to have reached authentic enlightenment, albeit as a result of the intense suffering in his life and not by virute of his success with spiritual disciplines.

Bruce Frantzis claims to have found "The Great Stillness", Adyashanti claims enlightenment. They are Westerners. They developed a practice or learnt one, and they teach it. But still this needs logistics and a realistic approach. Why shouldn't you pay with your work for the time so that the teacher can focus on teaching? Should Eckhart Tolle work 9-5 and then jet around the US to give a lecture and back? How is that doable? Face it - if a message should reach more than a minority, it needs to be marketed and sold. That's the sad reality of our society.

Oliver