Eckhart Tolle. Eckhart Tolle (/ˈɛkɑrt ˈtɒlə/ EK-art TO-lə; German pronunciation: [ˈɛkaʁt ˈtɔlə], born Ulrich Leonard Tolle on February 16, 1948) is a German-born resident of Canada,[1] best known as the author of The Power of Now and A New Earth.
In 2011, he was listed by the Watkins Review as the most spiritually influential person in the world.[2] In 2008, a New York Times writer called Tolle "the most popular spiritual author in the United States".[3] Tolle has said that he was depressed for much of his life until he underwent, at age 29, an "inner transformation". He then spent several years wandering and unemployed "in a state of deep bliss" before becoming a spiritual teacher. Later, he moved to North America where he began writing his first book, The Power of Now, which was published in 1997[4] and reached the New York Times Best Seller lists in 2000.[5] Tolle settled in Vancouver, Canada, where he has lived for more than a decade. Early life and education[edit] Inner transformation[edit] Pema Chödrön. Pema Chödrön (born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown on July 14, 1936) is a notable American figure in Tibetan Buddhism.
A disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, she is an ordained nun,[1] author, and teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage Trungpa founded. A prolific author, she has conducted workshops, seminars, and meditation retreats in Europe, Australia, and throughout North America. She is resident and teacher of Gampo Abbey, a monastery on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.[2] History[edit] Pema Chödrön was born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in 1936 in New York City. Following a second divorce, Chödrön began to study with Lama Chime Rinpoche in the French Alps.
Chödrön first met Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1972 and, at the urging of Chime Rinpoche, took him as her root guru. Trungpa appointed Chödrön director of the Boulder Shambhala Center (then Boulder Dharmadhatu) in Colorado in the early 1980s.[8] It was during this period that she became ill with chronic fatigue syndrome. Present[edit] Thich Nhat Hanh. Thích Nhất Hạnh (/ˈtɪk ˈnjʌt ˈhʌn/; Vietnamese: [tʰǐk ɲɜ̌t hɐ̂ʔɲ] ( ); born October 11, 1926) is a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist.
He lives in the Plum Village Monastery in the Dordogne region in the South of France,[1] travelling internationally to give retreats and talks. He coined the term Engaged Buddhism in his book Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire.[2] A long-term exile, he was given permission to make his first return trip to Vietnam in 2005.[3] Nhất Hạnh has published more than 100 books, including more than 40 in English. Nhat Hanh is active in the peace movement, promoting non-violent solutions to conflict[4] and he is also refraining from animal product consumption as means of non-violence towards non-human animals.[5][6] Biography[edit] Buddha hall of the Từ Hiếu Temple Born as Nguyễn Xuân Bảo, Nhất Hạnh was born in the city of Quảng Ngãi in Central Vietnam in 1926.
During the Vietnam War[edit] Establishing the Order of Interbeing[edit]