AS and Buddhism

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I would be interested to hear from those with AS who have an interest in Buddhism.

I am a Quaker and like most Quakers very inspired by a diverse range of religious and philosophical teachings including Buddhism.

I would be very pleased to hear from you and your journey that led to you following your path including the difficulties and challenges you face in your daily practice.

Wishing you well.

I was interested in Mahayana Buddhism for awhile, but then I decided that when I wanted to learn about it I was not suffering from my desire.

I intend to learn more about it though, since there's a lot to it and I feel it's probably the only religion compatible with my atheism.

Hello.
I am fifty years old and have always searched for truth. At a very young age I began reading many thousands of books on every subject imaginable, but focusing mainly on history until I was about twenty years old, then mainly on science until I was in my mid-thirties, comparative mythology and Native American studies from my mid-thirties to my mid-forties, and eastern philosophies the past eight or nine years. I especially enjoy listening to audio files of the 20th century philosopher Alan Watts as he explained eastern philosophies to western audiences in many talks worldwide in the 1960s and early 1970s. He is a blast to listen to.

It seems most if not all religions have the same core message, inflected for different cultures, but many people mistake the map for the territory. To paraphrase Alan Watts, ideas of God are like a pretty picture of a sky painted on a window. In order to experience the sky itself, one must scrape off the painting. Many people will try to talk you out of this. Can't you see it is a very nice painting. It was done by a great artist, etc.

I have learned and experienced much from perspectives gained from my studies of eastern philosophies. I like the humor of early Taoism and early Zen. I don't like sitting though. My form of Zen is bicycle guitaring Zen. I ride as I play; I play as I ride. I sometimes say I am "riding the guitar while playing the bicycle," because the music carries me while my body keeps the bicycle balanced.

I am a vajrayana Buddhist.I'm 14 but I'm going through preliminaries right now.I used to be a pureland Buddhist and I still hold some beliefs from that sect.I have a guru and we email each other.I do like to study other religions, but I enjoy reading interesting Buddhist texts the most.I think practicing equality and detachment really helped me.It also helps me cope knowing that "normal" is a illusion of the mind.I think I could find some way to use my condition to some benefit, transformative power is the essence of vajrayana Buddhism.

I got into Buddhism during a period of intense depression and existential crisis. I'd been reading Nihilists and Existentialists before that. Buddhism was a logical leap.

At first I was more of book Buddhist, I read the philosophies and dug it. Then I made some inroads on the Eightfold Path, but I didn't understand the meditative aspects at all. I put a lot of time and research into teaching myself an effective meditation. Something must have told me that it was important, and I persevered for a long time before I finally got it.

I don't hold to one tradition, or even see myself as particularly 'A Buddhist'. I derive value from studying and practicing many of the world's religious, spiritual and mystical traditions. I sometimes say I'm a mongrel Buddhist, or Omniligious.

I am much happier now.

Thank you everyone who has contributed so far, I have found it very interesting.

I have been very inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh and I attend regular mindfulness days as part of the London Sanga Community of Interbeing.

I also have teached the Alexander Technique for over 13 years now which I see very much as a practical application of mindfulness practice in everyday life activities, which I feel has helps me to live life more on life's terms rather than always striving for constant security and having to right all the time.........

Buddhism in my opinion tends to focus too much on 'here, understand, the world is crap and this is how you train yourself to get through it and hopefully reach a state where you dont have to return to this fetid place'.

I found Confucianism and Taoism to be more aligned with my way of thinking.

Not really.

Buddhists don't simply remove themselves from the world because they think it's crap. That would be aversion, and a flight from reality. A true practice is engaged with reality and living in it and with it, but with lightness.

re: rebirth: some are said to return after liberating themselves in order to help others. Mahayana Buddhism particularly emphasises practice for others. it is not simply an escape pod for oneself.

When Buddhists reached China, they recognized that the Chinese had discovered many of the same teachings as the Buddha, expressed slightly differently. The merger of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism became what we now know as Zen Buddhism.

I am an agnostic Unitarian Universalist and have found a lot of comfort in Buddhist concepts and practices of meditation (particularly tonglen) without all the theistic trappings that I can't accept due to logical issues within my own mental framework. I intend to do more reading on the subject.

~Kate