Buddhism

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I've always been an agnostic, now an atheist. When I was 16 I got a job shelving books at the local library and started to read about Buddhism and all sorts of religions. I was fascinated by Zen Buddhism and started to meditate as often as I could. When I was 20, one day at lunch sitting in my car, it all became clear. I was reading Alan Watts' excellent book on Zen, and turned the page. It was blank. Then it hit me like a punch in the face. Looking for meaning or transformation in Buddhism or anywhere else is like looking for your hat while it's on your head. I drove to the mall and walked around feeling like I was floating 3 inches off the ground. There was a peaceful disassociation with my thoughts. I've read a little on the subject since then, but it all seems obvious now and doesn't interest me. I don't meditate anymore. I never followed the rules of Buddhism like avoiding meat or intoxicants (although whenever I do abstain, the old feeling of enlightenment comes back, so there's something to that rule). Pursuing enlightenment is itself like a drug. I have no particular desire for it. I do believe it can come like a flash of insight. Is it related to some cosmic truth? Only that there is no self other than thought. And that suffering is self generated.

I think the history books are avaialble but I've never checked. Apparently Cardinal Newman wrote that "The use of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees; incense, lamps, and candles; votive offerings on recovery from illness; holy water; asylums; holydays and seasons, use of calendars, processions, blessings on the fields; sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring in marriage, turning to the East, images at a later date, perhaps the ecclesiastical chant, and the Kyrie Eleison [Note 17], are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church. {374}" -An Essay on the The Development of the Christian Doctrine John Henry "Cardinal Newman" p.359

The Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy) is still an important part of the Anglican liturgy.

In Stanley's History, page 40: "The popes filled the place of the vacant emperors at Rome, inheriting their power, their prestige, and their titles from PAGANISM."

great article!
thanks!

Sartori!

This is why some call it the 'pathless path' or the 'no-state state'.

Have you remain in that 'state' ever since?

Love Alan Watts, btw.

Nothing to seek as there is no seeker nor something to be sought.

Hello! I was raised Catholic but jumped around between a lot of christian sects during my childhood as my mother tried to find a church for her. I really never like Christianity for a lot of reasons so ever since the 6th grade Ive been exploring other religions. I’ve studied nearly everything from new age to animism to Hindu to Judaism. And Buddhism has been my overall favorite so far. I have identified with Buddhism for 4 years now and I go to my local temple as often as I can. I find it satisfies both my need for logic and mysticism in a religion.

I'm a Zen Buddhist; trained in the Harada/Yasutani lineage, but spent some time practicing with a Thich Nhat Hanh sangha as well.
I've never seen anything which would suggest that someone with ASD would be anything less than welcome; to the contrary, the sanghas I've sat with have been very inclusive, understanding, and compassionate...and for that I am very grateful.

hi!

the ?blessing? in your sig. line
wut are those called and are there many diff-versions?

hi!

the ?blessing? in your sig. line
wut are those called and are there many diff-versions?

It may be called a "gatha"; a Sanskrit term for "song" or "verse". This particular one is a paraphrase of Shantideva's dedication, from the Bodhicaryavatara; "A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life"; circa 700 CE.

May all beings everywhere
Plagued by sufferings of body and mind
Obtain an ocean of happiness and joy
By virtue of my merits.

May no living creature suffer,
Commit evil or ever fall ill.
May no one be afraid or belittled,
With a mind weighed down by depression.

May the blind see forms,
And the deaf hear sounds.
May those whose bodies are worn with toil
Be restored on finding repose.

May the naked find clothing,
The hungry find food.
May the thirsty find water
And other delicious drinks.

May the poor find wealth,
Those weak with sorrow find joy.
May the forlorn find hope,
Constant happiness and prosperity.

May all who are ill and injured
Quickly be freed from their ailments.
Whatever diseases there are in the world,
May these never occur again.

May the frightened cease to be afraid
And those bound be freed.
May the powerless find power
And may people think of benefiting each other.

For as long as space endures
And as long as living beings remain,
Until then may I too abide
To dispel the misery of the world.

Outstanding!! !
Ty very much for that.
Do you know of any source where I could find a collection of these 'gathas' that are similar to the two you've already shared?

Plum Village Gathas

Ty, that was a good site overall!

I'm a free thinker, but have a lot of respect for elements of Buddhism and Rosicrucianism. I think people on the spectrum with these mindsets are probably more common than you think.

This sounds awesome. I think what that person probably meant is most aspies tend to be atheists. Well, that's what I have seen. I don't relate well to staunch atheists at all. I would love to engage with as many people like yourself as possible.

You're welcome at any time; via PM or otherwise.

Buddhism is usually thought of as nontheistic, so atheists and agnostics blend right in.

Yes, I'm a Buddhist.

On the contrary, as an autistic I find Buddhism to be very compatible because it opens me up to think more flexible and more general.

Meditation is not going very well for me right now because of mental turmoil. But because of this, I have found that Buddhism is more than only medition, for me, it gives a basic life philosophy at the core. Right now I'm at the level, that all words/all talking are meaningless to describe truth and direct experience. By this I mean, I know that talking is just a skill, nothing more than that. To put it more powerful, talking about things makes things kind of dead. Talking and analyzing stuff takes the magic away. Knowing this is the power of Buddhism, for me anyway.

There are different flavors of Buddhism for different types of people. For example Tibetan Buddhism:
Pema Khandro
She has some great YouTube videos as well for those who are interested.

Fwiw, I'm a little surprised that more Aspies are NOT Buddhist.

There are SOOO many attributes of the philosophy that are a good match.

Also, I would think that many of us would find the Non-Dualism class of Hindu philosophies to be immensely appealing.

One thing we're clearly well in touch with as aspies - this world and the ground model of evolution and life are hell. Thus we have a lot of reasons to want to find a game that stabilizes our internal situation, or once we get done chasing fantasies, we have that awful 'walls breathing' sort of moment where it catches up and we're then on that page of wanting to stabilize our internal terrain.