Apech

liked the last season, also enjoyed the whole year one day at a time.

- I think housework is a breach of international agreements on human rights, we need to make a stand against this kind of thing!

Does anyone have knowledge and/or experience of working with people with ASD?

Found these online: WIAT test http://alpha.fdu.edu/psychology/WIATII_descrp.htm DSM http://similarminds.com/personality_disorder.html took the second test - the result was a little unnerving

Not free indeed - but then none of us are free. I like the idea of it being a spiritual struggle for integration - because that (I presume) is what we all are doing (those of us on here for instance). Thanks I'll look up these tests - I am unfamiliar with the terminology though.

I can find very little on the actual diagnosis of asp. or autism. There must be a fine line between a shy, withdrawn child and a mild case. Lack of social skills and empathy, taking things literally and so on are indicators but many people exhibit those to some degree. I am interested in how someone comes to be confirmed as having one of these conditions. In particular I am thinking about how altered consciousness could look like these conditions. For instance extreme introversion could well be a feature of someone living as a hermit or undergoing some levels of cultivation. Literalness could arise when altered conscious from meditative techniques changes how you see everyday situations. As the 'social' world is all about conventions and protocols for behavior then doing away with these could be a stage in spiritual growth. It is possible that people with these conditions are viewing the world from heightened/altered states - that it is not really a disease at all. Perhaps its simply that they somehow become stuck in one place and loose the flexibilty to adapt to what everyone else expects. What do you think?

I couldn't access this morning - I am suffering withdrawal symptoms

Who makes differences? You? Me? Him? Her? Us or them? The same thing really.

Well, specifically how it is diagnosed - I have read on the internet but the symptoms not clinically defined as far as I can see. Also I was interested if anyone had used Chinese medeciine, acupuncture or even qi gong to treat it. Ta.

Lino, Thanks that is an excellent article - the idea of the alchemy as a natural process is IMO spot on and also points to the universality of this experience - which is then expressed in different ways. Cheers.

produce wet water say hello to porcelain pure white pissing bliss.

Hear the seagulls cry, Lamentations on the shore, They're calling you home.

Its a short step from one to the other I think. My last Tai Chi teacher (now sadly back in Taiwan) was working here in England and doing classes through the Education Authority. They insisted that she take a teaching course despite the fact that she had been practicing since she was a small child and had won various open competitions and so on. The teaching qualification interfered with her classes to the point that they changed beyond all recognition - and not for the better. She had no choice - I know cos I used to help her with her homework. Similarly when I practiced Aikido the requirements of the coaching certificates, health and safety rules and so on took away (IMO) the authentic feel of the classes - and therefore made the Aikido poorer. Mind you most of my teachers learned from Chiba Sensei so they were used to jumping up and down on people and breaking limbs to aid relaxation . I'm sure you are right in some ways Ya Mu but I fear the growing trend to make everything subject to bits of paper. (Probably a sign of aging!)

I have no wish to offend anyone but when I look for a teacher I meet them, talk to them, experience a class ... possibly punch them (?) and make my mind up if they are some one I can respect and learn from (and if they know anything worth knowing). The last thing I would look for is a certificate handed out by some regulating body. I know if Buddhism there is a system of authorization for teachers but that is different - it is a confirmation that a master has passed on the ability to teach a set of teachings to their pupil.

Yes.

Relative or conventional bodhicitta = compassion. Ultimate bodhicitta = dharmakaya. This is because compassion is a natural outflowing of the enlightened mind. Are the Four Noble Truths known as dependent origination? The middle way path to liberation is based on right action, thinking and so on. Anyway I don't recall saying you were violating them but simply that what you called lower understanding or whatever is actually part of the higher teachings. If you want to practice Dzogchen then you need a qualified teacher who can explain the texts to you.

Fundamental to the mahayana and vajrayana Buddhist path, from the beginning to the end (in Buddhahood) is working for the benefit of all sentient beings. This applies to body, speech and mind. So it applies to intent, thought and actions. This is because the feeling of compassion reflects the nature of the dharmakaya itself. This is relative and ultimate bodhicitta. If you ask a Lama he will tell you that even though the highest teachings point to the liberation from the duality of good/bad and so on, as per your quote above, this does not mean that dharma is discarded. This is a misunderstanding. It doesn't work like that. The essential teachings of Buddhism from the Four Noble Truths onward support each other, it just that the insight into their meaning gets clearer and more direct. I don't think this is a threat. He was saying its easy to say you are above relative dualism but harder to live it.

Currently two sessions of 40-45 mins. each.

Suggest: 1. Take it easy don't worry just be interested in what is happening to you, don't follow the 'physical' reactions in your mind. 2. Try to earth the energy (should be able to find exercises for this). 3. Do some formless sitting meditation if you know how. 4. MOST IMPORTANT find a teacher.

This is about not censoring the minds activity. In Mahamudra and Dzogchen meditation thoughts and feelings and so on are allowed to arise and fall in the mind naturally without any attempt to control. So there is no distinguishing between thoughts which are positive (i.e. which reflect bodhicitta) and those which usually would be considered harmful or bad. Letting go of the thought and its origin is part of this - so that the nature of the mind and the nature of thoughts can be realised. This is not the same as saying all thoughts are equivalent as a Buddhist would hold that negative thoughts generate unhelpful karma. This meditation goes beyond nirvana/samara duality. The basis of samara is the desire generated grasping at form and not the labeling of thoughts as good or bad as you suggest.

on fresh baked salmon, celtic silver wisdom fish, rests my hungry eye.

As I understand it enlightenment arises as a result of the union of citta and prana (or mind and chi) and is actually about a reflexive realization where energy and awareness come to know their non-difference. It is not about building up huge supplies of chi (like petrol in a tank) - which is illusory anyway - but about how consciousness turns on itself to realise its own nature. The 'light' part of en-light-en-ment is not just light = energy but light = awareness.

I wish someone would change the weather where I am !

Not enlightened exactly but I enjoyed this: K4sFCxfMEs0

You may be right Pero - however I think it is used in the way I suggested - in fact here is an example: http://karmalhundup.org/ where ngakpa = 'lay yogin' in fact I used to have a teacher who was called ngakpa by his lama (who was kagyu+sakhya) and was a lay teacher. Not just a Buddhist but a yogin or tantra practioner of course.