Yes he does, according to his partner Kim Eng.
It’s such a curious question isn’t it: “Are spiritual people, truly enlightened people, vegetarians?” And the answer is clearly “not necessarily.”
If you look at the great spiritual masters, there’s no common theme with regards to meat eating. Buddha wasn’t rigid about it and said it was okay if you were offered it, the Dalai Lama follows this path and is vegetarian at home but will eat meat if away.
Jesus fed the 5000 fish and loaves which he magically produced. Jesus said “What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” Matthew 15:11. And “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.” Luke 12:22
And enlightened master Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, of “I AM THAT” fame, had no issue with meat eating or even smoking. Here’s an excerpt from I AM THAT…
Q: My body influences me deeply. In more than one way my body is my destiny. My character, my moods, the nature of my reactions, my desires and fears — inborn or acquired — they are all based on the body. A little alcohol, some drug or other and all changes. Until the drug wears off I become another man.
M: All this happens because you think yourself to be the body. realise your real self and even drugs will have no power over you.
Q: You smoke?
M: My body kept a few habits which may as well continue till it dies. There is no harm in them.
Q: You eat meat?
M: I was born among meat-eating people and my children are eating meat. I eat very little — and make no fuss.
Q: Meat-eating implies killing.
M: Obviously. I make no claims of consistency. You think absolute consistency is possible; prove it by example. Don’t preach what you do not practise.
Similarly, here’s what Ramana Maharshi had to say on the subject:
M: Habit is only adjustment to the environment. It is the mind that matters. The fact is that the mind has been trained to think certain foods tasty and good. The food material is to be had both in vegetarian and non-vegetarian diet equally well. But the mind desires such food as it is accustomed to and considers tasty.
D: Are there restrictions for the realised man in a similar manner?
M: No. He is steady and not influenced by the food he takes.
Eckhart Tolle sees life as one dynamic whole; an inter-connectedness, an inter-action, oneness. Life eats life, everywhere…
I saw on TV the other day, whales hunting. They pincered a shoal of fish and then came from underneath to catch thousands in one mouthful. Does that make a whale evil?
Having had my head into nutrition for over 20 years, I’m uncomfortable from a health point of view with pure vegetarianism (and the dairy industry is crueler than the meat industry so I’m told by vegans).
Interestingly, I’ve seen Eckhart Tolle dodge this question many times in seminars and TV interviews. He just advises to…
Be present with whatever your food choices are and then the right food choice will happen for you… it needs to come from within rather than as something from without.
This view is perfectly echoed by non-physical beings Abraham, channeled by Esther Hicks…
Imagine if you could let being aligned be your first priority — a lot of vegans would be inspired to a lot of eating that their veganism would not allow, but the source within them would call them toward.
— Abraham-Hicks
Yet another echo of the same perspective from Adyashanti:
Safransky: Could killing animals to eat them come from wholeness?
Adyashanti: Sure. Life is killing. If we eat a vegetable, we’ve killed it. If we eat an animal, we’ve killed it. To be a living organism is to kill. There is no life without death. When we die, we’re going to be nutrients for something else.
I don’t see life as “anything goes,” but I have seen wholeness move through different people in different ways. That’s why I’m always talking about action that comes from wholeness, not from division, nor rejection, nor grasping, nor pushing away. What motivates us when we’re not pushing or grasping, not relying on conditioned concepts of right and wrong, good and bad? Is there something else that can move us? And what is that? Action that is an expression of a clear and undivided state of consciousness is what the Buddha meant by “right action.” To exercise right action we must be functioning from a place outside of all egoic self-interest. We must be awake within the dream and be able to express that perspective.
The take-home message…
…from these spiritual masters is clear: Be whole, then see what you do.
People’s pre-judgement on the basis of this issue would be detrimental to their own enlightenment. Because if you saw as Eckhart does, life as oneness, then you would probably also not be overly concerned about any particular FORM, as all the forms are continuously morphing and changing. In fact, there is only life and it is ONE life, there is no death anywhere to be seen! And… life eats life, everywhere. My cat isn’t evil for eating mice.
What do you think? Do you think vegetarians are more spiritual? Please let us know by leaving a comment below.
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Just imagine that you are the cow or chicken which is going to be cut with a knife in a few seconds from now….your neck will be severed slowly and blood will start oozing out….you will be panic stricken and scream with pain…and die slowly…then your skin will be removed and the flesh eaten..cooked in oil…
put yourself in the place of cow or chicken….can you see?
The knowledge is lacking in you….let me give a straight answer…
There are stages of consciousness….least or absent in stones, rocks…..slightly more in plants, trees….more in birds, animals…..more in humans…..further more in spiritual beings….more in self realized…
Stones, rocks you cant eat…mud you cant eat….so of the lowest plants…you eat the “fruits”….potato, tomato…are “fruits”….the whole plant is not killed…
Hope this helps…
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Yes Jim, I used to think like that for decades. Now, not so much, even though I feel since then I have had a massive expansion of the heart. We assume that we are above plants and they have a lesser consciousness just because we have more of a capacity for judging, panicking and living outside the moment. I’m no longer sure we do… We also assume that there is something “wrong” with discomfort, fear and death, which is part of nature, and in our own lives often leads to our greatest expansions. Just ask yourself this… Are you ABSOLUTELY sure that the universe functions just like you think it does? I used think I was sure, but the more I learn and the more I surrender to “what is”, the less I realise that the totality of consciousness, when channeled through our limited brains, has any remote hope of understanding the complexities of the universe. I also enjoy my food more, which is no longer vegetarian and therefore far healthier and more delicious.
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Dear Phil,
Due to many factors, consciousness does regress….there is no doubt in this…
If you regressed from “veg to non-veg” and now enjoy delicious food…it is ok..
still the reality doesnt changes
in various lifetimes, beings go up and down the ladder…
billions of things can happen…
and the above are not “thoughts”…it is the Truth shared…you can take it or leave it for others to take..
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Oh dear… when we think we have THE truth we should listen to the alarm bells ringing. Vegetarianism just comes from a Hindu meme. There are no other cultures that have widespread vegetarianism that relates to their spirituality. The west was caught in the “guru” invasion in the 60s that brought with it vegetarianism, so we re brainwashed in that direction to the detriment of our genetic heritage and health… but meanwhile many cultures all over the world happily ate wild-caught animals and had their fair share of enlightened masters. (Please note I am not talking about factory farming here… I’m sure we are all agreed that is unnecessary). It is very naive to assume that all enlightened people are veggie and very disrespectful of many cultures to suggest that vegetarianism is a prerequisite of higher states. As for me personally, if I had stayed veggie I would be still fat and in pain with many autoimmune conditions including crippling inflammatory arthritis. I guess I was so stuck in my views it took that much pain to change them… and no, it has not been a regression in consciousness… quite the opposite. Maybe this recent post of mine might be of interest… My own story is in the comments below… http://pureactivity.net/misconceptions-enlightenment-waking/
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People who live in 3rd world countries or in arid or cold climates, and in cultures that have to produce their own food may not be able to be vegetarian. We have supermarkets, they don’t. Eating meat is practicing this connectedness and “might makes right”
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Typo ^^ Eating meat is practicing disconnectedness and “might makes right” GO VEGAN, we have abundant choices, we have supermarkets
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Honestly, I would, but I have no faith in the diet, all I see are serious red flags and health failures long-term. I guess time will tell.
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Last thing from one spiritual seeker to another, read the World Peace Diet by Will Tuttle, it is the only other book I have found that is written at the level of intelligence and wisdom as Eckhart’s writings. Will has a phd and she also lived as a Buddhist monk when he was younger. Read the reviews on Amazon everyone says it’s amazing. He is as enlightened as Eckhart Tolle.
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I think the basic presupposition that Eckhart Tolle is fully enlightened, and therefore we should follow his example and teachings, needs a lot more examination. Tolle is just one of countless people throughout history to have claimed to have achieved enlightenment, and to know the truth, and give us commoners a teaching we should follow. The fact that he claims he has achieved enlightenment makes me doubt him, even though I do love a lot of his teachings. I would not make my decision on whether to kill a living animal and eat it’s flesh based on what Eckhart Tolle does or says.
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If Eckhart, and the other big hitters say drop your egoic ideas and listen to your intuition, your Being, then perhaps it’s worth pondering that our fixed ideas may not be aligned with our deeper knowing. Ultimately, it’s about alignment, which is Oneness with Being, or alignment with Source, being Whole, and then see what you do! And that is a moment by moment thing — “I make no claims of consistency.”
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Joel Fuhrman’s books are vegan without being ideologically based, they are scientifically based. Both Fuhrman and Gary Null have helped people reverse cancer, heart disease and auto immune diseases with a healthy vegan diet. “if a food does not contain phytonutrients then it should be considered empty calories.” Dr. Joel Fuhrman. Animal products are empty calories.
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Well “phyto” means plant so by that definition animal foods would be empty. I find the definition ludicrous since animal foods are excellent, easily available source of many nutrients hard to find in plants. People generally will not eat a lot of vegetables, they HATE them, especially kids! Adults will only eat broccoli because they know it’s “good for them.” Why is that I wonder? Why are these foods that are supposedly so good so distasteful except in small amounts? One good reason could be because they have little or no calories, and so from a survival viewpoint, they are not good choices. However…. fruits, roots and tubers, squashes and other calorie-rich plants sources like pith, animals, fish, shellfish and other seafood, nuts and seeds, these are all worth eating. Funny how the foods we evolved eating gives us all the nutrition we need. I can tell you with NO DOUBT whatsoever, that everyone I know, including me, would never eat Fuhrman’s diet, ever. I can eat about 10 oz a day of vegetables, MAX, and even that is a struggle.
Hunter-gatherers are well known for not suffering the diseases of civilization, including cancer, heart-disease and diabetes we don’t need to look beyond nature for what is healthy for our species. In fact, there was a study where they put diabetic aborigines back on the land hunting and gathering, guess what happened.
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Read Dr.Joel Fuhrman’s best sellers, Eat To Live and Super Immunity. They are completely based on science, and recommend a healthy vegan diet. He mentions that as long as you get your calories from whole food you will get 60-80 grams or more of protein per 2000 calories which is more than enough. We can get all the essential amino acids and fats from plants. Joel Fuhrman mentions that about half the calories in green vegetables come from protein and about a quarter from fat.
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I’m fully aware of Joel thank you, but I won’t be spending any more time on vegan dogma because I put my trust and faith in nature, and look to what is natural for humans to provide the answers, which are also fully backed by science.
Since we are recommending books, please read The Vegetarian Myth, by Lierre Keith.
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Important: Presented here is the proposition that Lierre keith’s experience as presented in her book (for profit) called the vegetarian Myth is not a reliable authority on vegan diets for the following reasons.
1) Lierre keith herself admits in her own book she “often cheated” eating animal products; ie not only was her diet not vegan but was not even vegetarian.
2) Lierre admits to long term health challenges (pre exisiting her move to supposed vegan diet/see above point) so to attribute a decline in health (existing before and during dietary choices) to her diet does not demonstrate causation.
a recommended read, Paleo fantasy.
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Hi Ian, “for profit” is a ludicrous attempt to trash Lierre’s work by questioning her motive. Low, very low. All books make profit. Eckhart Tolle’s Power of Now also made profit.
1. She “cheated” because of intense cravings for animal foods, which suggest the body intensely desiring/wanting/needing those foods, rather than “she didn’t stick to a vegan diet 0.01% of the time so her health failures are because she failed.” Again, a ludicrous argument.
2. I have read The Vegetarian Myth and do not recall mention of pre-existing health problem. Please provide a reference. A healthful diet will facilitate healing, not decline.
It is not only Lierre Keith’s testimony that the evidence for inadequacy of vegan diets rests. There are thousands of personal stories of failure on vegan diets as well as clear scientific evidence of the lack of adequate nutrition. Like much nutrition fad, veganism is a house of cards, and Lierre’s book is an excellent place to start looking at the reasons why.
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Paleo is the caveman diet; for people with caveman consciousness.
The presumption with these paleo diet books is that we evolved from apes… But truly evolved people choose vegan.
The Gerson therapy cures cancer, going vegan is the essential first step to reversing cancer and heart disease.
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This article shows that your statement is simply false. Masters, the most highly evolved, or awakened, do not choose or teach, veganism. The presumption of paleo isn’t that we evolved from apes, although clearly we, and other primates have a common ancestor. The idea of paleo is that our stable, pre-industrial, pre-agricultural diet, the diet where we ate directly from nature, defines our natural diet, the diet that our biology is highly adapted to. That idea not only makes total sense, but in practice works to create and restore health.
Gerson therapy does indeed have good success with cancer but we need to be careful with cause and effect. Gerson therapy removes unnatural foods, grains and dairy from the diet, as well as many other interventions. Consider that hunter-gatherers do not get cancer or heart disease despite high intakes of animal foods. There is a big difference between a program to reverse cancer and one that will sustain the health of people over generations. And while the Ornish lifestyle program was successful in reversing atherosclerosis, more recent studies have produced the same effect even with Atkins style diets, i.e. it was weight loss in general, the process of weight loss that was largely responsible for the effect.
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so if meat eating is the natural for humans, why do you cook it? why do you use salt and spices? eat it as other animals do. eat raw unspiced meat. just think what food you would eat without cooking or spicing? FRUITS, VEGETABLES, NUTS, SEEDS!
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