Post 4616052 - (ASD and non-sectarian Buddhism)

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ASD and non-sectarian Buddhism

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Wrong Planet Autism Forum Index -> Politics, Philosophy, and Religion

Art-sung
Snowy Owl

Joined: Aug 13, 2011
Posts: 171

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 11:58 am Post subject:

‎"Don’t Prolong the Past" The great 19th Century Tibetan master Patrul Rinpoche wrote: Don’t prolong the past, Don’t speculate about the future, Just dwell in present awareness!

Mummy_of_Peanut
Countess de Noir
Phoenix

Joined: Feb 21, 2011
Age: 40
Posts: 3474
Location: Bonnie Scotland

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 1:34 pm Post subject:

<< Moved from Getting to know each other, by member of moderating team. >> _________________ "We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiatic about." Charles Kingsley

quaker
Toucan
Toucan

Joined: Aug 16, 2010
Age: 47
Posts: 294

Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 6:43 am Post subject:

Hello Grant, Lipstick and other members who have contributed to this thread. It's been some time since I have been in touch and I wish to send you all loving kindness. In recent times my teacher Thich Nhat Hanh has visited our community in London and it was very inspiring. How are you all? Chris.

Art-sung
Snowy Owl

Joined: Aug 13, 2011
Posts: 171

Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 7:58 pm Post subject:

Hello Chris, Wonderful to hear from you and receive your kind words. Asanga, the great Indian master wrote. "Loving kindness is the canal through which the river of compassion flows." I've found these words so helpful in my practice. Have you ever read Shantideva's- The Way of the Bodhisattva. The original Indian classic on Bodhicitta [Compassion and Wisdom] of the Mahayana tradition. It's so inspiring! All the very best to you dear brother! Grant.

Art-sung
Snowy Owl

Joined: Aug 13, 2011
Posts: 171

Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 8:18 pm Post subject:

This is a little poem on the Loving-Mind. This present awareness, ever bright. Tirelessly working for our benefit. Stable and stainless in its loving work Throughout the day in every moment And at night the lucid watcher of dreams Love is ever present! In the open experience of all appearance. Have a wonderful day! Grant.

Art-sung
Snowy Owl

Joined: Aug 13, 2011
Posts: 171

Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 8:20 pm Post subject:

If anyone would like to hang out on Facebook, just look me up- 'Grant South'.

quaker
Toucan
Toucan

Joined: Aug 16, 2010
Age: 47
Posts: 294

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 4:04 am Post subject:

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?

Art-sung
Snowy Owl

Joined: Aug 13, 2011
Posts: 171

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 6:25 am Post subject:

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.

quaker
Toucan
Toucan

Joined: Aug 16, 2010
Age: 47
Posts: 294

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 8:41 am Post subject:

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.

Art-sung
Snowy Owl

Joined: Aug 13, 2011
Posts: 171

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 9:37 am Post subject:

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

VIDEODROME
Phoenix
Phoenix

Joined: Nov 21, 2008
Age: 36
Posts: 1700

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 10:19 am Post subject:

quaker wrote:

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.

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.

Art-sung
Snowy Owl

Joined: Aug 13, 2011
Posts: 171

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 6:55 pm Post subject:

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.

quaker
Toucan
Toucan

Joined: Aug 16, 2010
Age: 47
Posts: 294

Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 11:21 am Post subject:

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