ASD and non-sectarian Buddhism

Post Reply New Topic

Thank you Grant.
I have not read the Way of the
Bodhisattva.......inspired by what
you have said, I intend to get a copy.

In gratitude.

PS
Tell me Grant, as a buddhist and a person
with AS, do you find it difficult to connect
with other members here who are often
very obsessed with self and the discriminating
mind?

What nourishment do you take from
Wrong Planet my friend?

Hello Chris,

I know when I first joined Wrong Planet I nearly left in the first week. But I know this was just the power of aversion arising in my mind. I was surprised that people were critical of others, especially towards those with communication issues/learning difficulties. But I was also aware that people are people and it is only those who work on themselves, whether Autistic or not, that make the world a better place for them being here.

I know that I am still egocentric myself, and I hope to evolve and adapt. I believe in neuro-adaption, human development. I also believe in acceptance and appreciation in equal measure.

I was very self obsessed when I was younger, I hope I am a little less so now. [Fingers and toes crossed].
I also know that I am not perfect. I don't believe other people are either. Yet as a Buddhist I know that we possess sentience whose glow is pure from the beginning. So my view is that we as humans are learning to live with our condition, our human condition whether ASD or not. NT individuals also are learning to live with their condition.

I am nourished by your question, by your posts and the posts of others.
I am nourished by the sheer diversity of our virtual community. In the space of such diversity a person can find a place to communicate.

I have had difficulty with my world, why would Wrong Planet be any different. I am nourished by such an attitude of mind.

As it is said- "Your either part of the solution, or your part of the problem". I am nourished that I am able to make that choice each moment of my day.

I do have problems in trying to understand some people on Wrong Planet, their views and their positions, the style of their communication with others. It reminds me that I have the potential to be a better person and I am nourished by that.

The meaning of life, is to give life meaning, and I can see many people here on Wrong Planet are approaching this in their own way.

Buddhism has given me a method to work on self, to find our positive qualities within. People on this thread understand this.
Krishnamurti said- "If you wish to test your enlightenment just live with your mother-in-law for a week".

I think Wrong Planet is a good test. Wrong Planet is a bit of a mother-in-law.

Meditation is a refuge, a place of protection, whether the mind is still or in movement. It is our awareness which is constant, stainless clear-light.

I pray that I remember that emotions are illusory, fleeting, and impermanent, when they arise in the full force and power of a storm at sea, in the vast ocean of mind.

All the best!

Grant.

Thank you Grant.

I value you taking the time to express your thoughts and I have been inspired by what you have shared.

WP has played a very important part in me being able to better understand my neurological difference.

I am also learning that if a person has suffered, it is not uncommon for them to cling to an identity or specific interest groups in order to find refuge and support.

In the early days of my dx with HFA I felt my identity was completely wrapped up with being autistic. The them and us (AS / NT) attitudes I accepted as just part of the process of making sense of my autism that had always been hidden away.

Today, I feel affirmed enough in my understanding of my self as a person with autism, in order to let go of the identity and intigrate more fully in my life.

Wishing you and everyone on this thread and WP well.

Peace.

Chris,

What you have written is wonderful and insightful. More power to you!

Grant.

Sometimes I think human beings come built with a strong tribal instinct that can lead to responses like that.

We might all have different balances between individual identity and also being part of larger group identities that we can get carried away with.

Hello Videodrome,

I have no doubt that what you say is true. I like your use of "Tribal Instinct". We are conditioned by our "Self" and "other", interpretation of perception.

Further there is some theory/speculation regarding how we as people on the Spectrum may differ in our development of a "Self". It has been suggested that Autistic thinkers are more subjective, or self-referential in their interpretation of their environment and thus develop accordingly. Our tribal instinct may be of a different order to those who are non-Autistic thinkers. That is an interesting research question!

Although we experience difference in our lives, do we accept difference in others?
Although we may experience disability, do we recognise and support the disability of others?
Although we wish to communicate our deepest message within our world, do we recognise and hear that same voice in others?

Buddhism has an important message to all of us as humans both Autistic and non-Autistic that we can free ourselves of the subject/object dichotomy. Not by changing of native awareness [which is not effected by Autism], but by letting go of our dualism, which is our very early learnt behaviour.
This letting go is a process of logical deduction, which culminates in non-dualism, or non-dualistic perception, our native awareness.

Although self and other appear, they share the same essential nature of "no-self". Our present view is that we exist independently, whereas through investigation we exist through interdependence, just as all phenomena exists, and so "no-self nature".

This clears the way for peace and happiness to naturally arise.

Thank you Grant and Hello Videodrome.

I have been reflecting on no self and Inpermanance recently, so I was grateful for you sharing on this Grant.

Grant what you said about those with difference accepting others with difference was very interesting.

My empathic pathways were very tightly concealed until life threw at me one devastating loss after another. In embracing my suffering after many years of running from it, I slowly came to see that my suffering was inseparably linked to the world..

My parents suffered enormously, they made me suffer enormously, when I was able to come to terms with my suffering and let it go, my tears were like the tears my parents could never shed.

I think all of us in the autistic spectrum have the seed of empathy within us, the challenge is in being able to cultivate it so it can manifest and flower. When we can, we perhaps are then more able to see that there is no disparity between self and other and that self and other 'inter are'

Peace

Chris

Peace! _/l\_

Live long and prosper.

\\//

Dear Grant.

I was wondering if you could offer
some of your thoughts on how you
would define the Buddha's
enlightenment? I ask this as I have
been reflecting on your
Krishnamurti quote

"If you wish
to test your enlightenment just live
with your mother-in-law for a week".

When I ponder on such profound truth,
I cannot match this with fact that the
Buddha left his wife and child. Also,
I am struggling to see how an enlightened
mind could not extend to seeing perfect
equality of the sexes, which it seems
from the ancient texts the Buddha seeked
to exclude women from the Sangha for
some time after his enlightenment.

I wish you well from a sunny cloudless
London.

Chris.

Hello Chris,

Sorry for the long delay in getting back to you!

Enlightenment is getting over one's self.

Buddha lived and taught in a male dominated society.

The Prince Siddhartha when he left his wife and child, it was in a world of the Royal Court, as we are told. His family were member's of the Royal House and continued to be so after his retreat to the forest. This suggests they kept their Palace and chariot/Rolls Royce.

Enlightenment is the recognition of the luminous mind, the essence.

Although Buddhism has been shaped by patriarchy, it has always included Nun's and Female Teacher's, although not in an equal number.

In Mahayana Buddhism great female teacher's have historically been recorded in various lineages from Tibet to Japan.

Sorry again for being away for so long. _/l\_!

From a stream of sunlight between winter rain on the Gold Coast.

Grant.

Dear Grant, many thanks for your responce.

It does seem to me that the Buddha's enlightenment
was a very human one as ultimate enlightenment
would transend all cultural and societal limitations.

To see the Buddha's enlightenment within a human
(process orientated) context makes much more sense.

I feel the danger of making the Buddha's bodhi
tree enlightenment a true, as in, complete
enlightenment (as opposed to a process) sends
all the wrong signals to a humanity that like
the Buddha warned us against, was , and remains
obsessed with supernatural gods, or overnight
quick fixes.

Wishing you well,
mindfully
Chris

Chris,

Yes I see the Buddha as a person, not a god. Although he was a special person, he was able to go beyond self-interest.

The Buddha was a guy he did various things in his life to find happiness.

He also realised that his problem was his trip. So he set upon the path of getting over that, at some point we are told he also realised that he had been too extreme, and he only needed to renounce his ignorance and not the world he lived in.

A very human story, and also very powerful as it is so human. If we keep things on an "other" worldly plane, how could we ever make our approach. Our ego works in interesting ways and when it places things out of reach, it does so, so that no actual change takes place.

In Buddhism the so-called Deity is within, it is the pure nature of mind. This purity is beyond concepts of good and bad, yet it is dynamic as reflexive awareness. The Buddha in the First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma spoke about the Luminous Mind beyond defilement's, also unstained by defilement's. This is wonderful news!

I think we must remember to be Bodhi-ist's.

Have you come across the Seven Point Mind Training by Atisha?

The Chinese Zen Master Linji [Jap: Rinzai] said we should give up our enlightenment career's and just be ordinary people. I like this on many levels.

In the Heart Sutra it is said, that for the Bodhisattva, "there is no attainment, and also no non-attainment". This points again to the inherent possession of the luminous mind, how can we attain something that is already present, also how can we not not attain something that is already present. It's so beautiful in it's logic.

When we are down, we only need remember that our purity of mind allows us to have such an experience. Just dwell for a while in that purity of reflexive awareness, the positive quality of the mind which knows, and we find we are no longer down as we are celebrating our purity directly.

Have a great day my friend!

Grant.
Bodhi-Forest.

Thank you Grant, I have not heard of that fellow you mentioned, I intend to follow this up.

In gratitude

Chris

His Holiness The Dalai Lama:

"If you understand spiritual practice in its true sense,
then you can use all 24 hours of your day for your practice.
True spirituality is a mental attitude that you can practice at any time."

To all my friends- Have a wonderful day!

Grant.

Hey! I haven't posted for a while and I see this thread has gone quite.

Sending you all my best wishes.

Here is a wonderful teaching from the "Questions of Anavatapta Sutra".

"That which is born from conditions is unborn,
for it is devoid of intrinsic origination.
That which depends upon conditions is declared empty.
One who knows this emptiness remains tranquil."

I think this quote is very helpful as our thoughts, self-opinions, etc, have no-self nature, just as all phenomena share no-self nature, although they manifest via causes and conditions, or dependent origination.
Although we experience them as personal and full of either our pleasure, or our pain, they are in essence free of such emotional associations. They are only associations.

The Bhutanese Buddhist Teacher Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche once said.

"As people can not take away our pain, why should we let them take away our happiness"

A very helpful observation of the human condition.

Have a great day!

Grant.