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Buddhism view on Autism
mockeymind
Veteran
Hi everybody, I just wanted to know how buddhism view of a person (who is autistic) that doesn't have the capacity to meditate or to understand the Dharma. Will a person with such disability progress this life? or the next rebirth? If the condition was triggered by cause and effect (karma) - how could one move forward having such condition. Thanks
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Autism wasn't recognized or known as 'something' back in the days the Buddha's teachings were recorded. Neither were motorcycles or hospitals or iPads
so it's up to us moderns to consider available scientific and anecdotal knowledge as to autism (or motorcycles, etc) against the "Buddhist Basics" -- the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.
From some Christians for instance, I've heard that the Bible, although written during the Bronze and Iron age, contains EVERYTHING a person needs to know to understand everything in human experience TODAY. So far I have yet to be told (or to read or hear) that the Buddhist scripture has the same amazing breadth of application.
@mockeymind
This is not an answer to your question but an indication of an attitude about it
I have heard a Buddhist Abbess, speak of monastic teachings which claim many forms of mental challenge, which limit intent, are manifestations of a simple enlightenment and how Dharmically fortunate a Sangha was to work around such beings. That a good monastery was fortunate to be visited by folks graced in this way.
The implication was that on a spiritual level..You would be lucky if you only had their karma.
The easing of karmic inertia is not something easily understood by a self oriented perspective.
The Buddhist view of Autism is exactly the same as the Buddhist view on Blindness.
"And.....?"
Are you Autistic?
Or is someone close to you, Autistic?
Thanks for the responses - @federica - He is my son, want to know its deeper the origin if it is his past rebirths and how I could help him.
yes, I am - but I'm moderate functional autistic..
Oh no, no, no, no, no.
This is a mistaken view of Kamma.
You cannot even begin to discern what, when or why of this situation.
Have you maybe stopped to consider that it's YOUR kamma that has brought you a son with Autism? or your wife's?
This is nothing to do with deserving something, or trying to discern the workings of Kamma.
This is what you must do:
You study Autism to the very depths of all current understanding.
You connect, via contact groups, with parents of othe Autistic children (we have a couple of members here who have children who are Autistic, I believe), to share experiences and discuss strategies, maybe...
THAT is how you help him.
Accept that what 'is', 'is'.
Do not ever question it, or wonder whence it came, but deal with it NOW in compassion, wisdom and love.
That's it.
That's all you need to do.
@federica - Thank you for the input.
What @Federica said, in spades. She said it so much better than I could, I'm just going to shut up now.
I'm not taking a position on the specific topic. But if we continually -- in this forum -- come back to a belief that we cannot understand karma, how can we then say that, "This is a mistaken view of Kamma". And, we need to be continually reminded that major groups of Buddhists have very different views of karma.
@vinlyin:
If you think you can get to the bottom of that, specifically, then be my guest.
It's speculation, and speculation - guessing - wondering - trying to pinpoint - is futile.
Is that better for you?
Don't assume just because they don't see the world the way we do that they can't understand anything. There are actually increasing studies coming out that suggest autistic people actually have a greater emotional understanding and empathy than most people, it is one of the things that overwhelms them.
My son is high functioning autistic as well (formerly known as aspergers) and he indeed extremely sensitive to the plight of people and trying to find ways to help them. He understands emotions on a level I can't begin to put words to. When he was young, it as all about his sensory sensitivity. Grocery stores, crowds, clothing labels, certain fabrics...everything overloaded him. That has been mostly managed, some his OT has helped with, some he seems to have just outgrown and some he has learned to work with. But the physical aspect has been largely replaced by emotional sensitivity and psychological understanding of himself and other people. For an 18 year old he has amazing emotional understanding and control. He knows what people need, and he knows whether he, or someone else, is best able to help provide it. It's quite amazing.
No, he's not fully autistic, so he doesn't have the same challenges. The fact it is so difficult to communicate with people who are autistic certainly makes things difficult, but just because we can't communicate doesn't mean there aren't levels of understanding there.
Regarding karma, what @federica said.
Also, even if you were able to attain such information, what would that do for you, or for him? Sometimes, understanding those things makes things more difficult, not easier. Sometimes the answers we seek aren't really what we want. Lastly, even if even you could see past lives, I highly doubt you'd be able to see into his. I don't think you'd have a way to access that information within someone else. The few stories that are plausible about such things are always in regards to the person seeing their own past lives. So you couldn't know that no matter what, I don't think. I think that is a good thing.
There are people who subscribe to a "everything that happens is a result of karma" I don't, but some do. In that case, sometimes simply having to go through challenging things neutralizes/purifies bad karma. It isn't always that one has to understand and then do something good. Going through something difficult can have the same result.
This is just my own personal belief (which changes often) and is in no way Buddhist belief. I don't worry too much about it (karma and rebirth) because I just don't know. But. It is my belief that our stream of consciousness or whatever you prefer to call it, chooses what life to be born into and that major challenges are chosen for the lessons they have to offer. It might seem very hard to understand why "we" would choose what appears to be a difficult life, but I think in order for us to truly connect with other people fully we have to experience all that human life has to offer. People who are brilliant geniuses suffer very much as well as someone who appears to not have such a capacity to learn the same way.
I never claim to know autism fully as I also is within the spectrum. Same thing sa karma - I might not yet understand it fully - all i know is that whatever is right now has its cause from the past - good or bad. I may even mistakenly label bad for good and vice versa. It maybe depend on the person perspective.
I saw different people who are like us with such developmental issues (as present knowledge base called it) I strongly believe that there is a purpose for everything. Every rebirth is a chance to move forward in progress that "is" all i know (personally)
When I see people like my son, I don't see them the way normal people does. I see purity and simplicity. It is just the way things are for them/us right now. If our lesson in life this time is to experience such condition, so be it, it is impermanance and no one can exactly say what is happening to their minds.
I'm just new to practice, I don't know if "insightful meditation" is the right word to use. But during meditation, I learned to accept things the way things are, as they their true nature, not passing judgement, not try to analyze. When I do come to this, I could just see all of these as impermanence, there is nothing to it.
During the last days of Ajahn Chah when he was very very sick and weak one monk gave comment that he doesn't deserve such suffering because he was a good teacher for the entire community. One of his caregiver monk just smiled at him and said - why do you think he is suffering. And the monk understand it deeply. After I decided to take buddhism as my way of life, it gives me deeper awareness and wisdom.
Shakespeare said it very well:
"There is nothing either Good or Bad but that thinking makes it so."
Carly. Autistic. Awesome.
As @lobster has poignently pointed out in the video above (well done crusty) - it's not about how a 'buddhist views autism' - it's about personal views and predjudices...
Call yourself a buddhist? Now call your personal view into account - thats quite cool, if you can listen to what you are really saying and can resonate with the consequences for yourself - aren't you glad you have a computer to get your own personal message out now?
'Take time to know me before you judge me...'
How beautiful is the autistic mind? How dull is the judgmental mind? Perhaps they are just extremes of a spectrum of understanding...
Since we have been an indoor culture who puts sun screen on all the time, well, nature isn't happy with that lifestyle. Check this out:
February 26, 2014 - Oakland, CA – A new study by Rhonda Patrick, PhD and Bruce Ames, PhD of Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) demonstrates the impact that Vitamin D may have on social behavior associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Dr. Patrick and Dr. Ames show that serotonin, oxytocin, and vasopressin, three brain hormones that affect social behavior, are all activated by vitamin D hormone. Autism, which is characterized by abnormal social behavior, has previously been linked to low levels of serotonin in the brain and to low vitamin D levels, but no mechanism has linked the two until now.
In this study, Dr. Patrick and Dr. Ames show that vitamin D hormone activates the gene that makes the enzyme tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (TPH2), that converts the essential amino acid tryptophan, to serotonin in the brain. This suggests that adequate levels of vitamin D may be required to produce serotonin in the brain where it shapes the structure and wiring of the brain, acts as a neurotransmitter, and affects social behavior. They also found evidence that the gene that makes the enzyme tryptophan hydroxylase 1 (TPH1) is inhibited by vitamin D hormone, which subsequently halts the production of serotonin in the gut and other tissues, where when found in excess it promotes inflammation.
This mechanism explains many of the known, but previously not understood, facts about autism including: 1) the “serotonin anomaly” low levels of serotonin in the brain and high levels in the blood of autistic children; 2) the preponderance of male over female autistic children: estrogen, a similar steroid hormone, can also boost the brain levels of serotonin in girls; 3) the presence of autoimmune antibodies to the fetal brain in the mothers of autistic children: vitamin D regulates the production of regulatory T-cells via repression of TPH1. The Patrick/Ames mechanism is relevant to the prevention of autism, and likely its treatment.
Thanks @Blondel having lived with autistic kids I know how strange they appear. However their inner world and overwhelming experiental overload is quite an insight. I wonder if anyone knows if the meditative calm of for example 'dark retreat' would be helpful. May join Carly's forum and find out . . . It is possible that Zoroastrian 'sun gazing' might feed some needed 'D' vitamin input. Dunno.
Carly's Voice
http://carlysvoice.com/home/
Dark Retreat
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_retreat
Defining Moment
Carly speaks
We haz plan!
I have long suspected that lack of D3 especially it pregnant mothers was the major problem. This is certainly correlated with the rise of sun blocker usage and fear of the sun which means that autism is iatrogenic (doctor caused). UVB is very beneficial in fact it is required. I never once thought the parent's responsible. I remember my childhood and how I used to play in the sun with only a t-shirt and shorts and high top black tennis shoes. All the girls I knew in the late 50s wanted a tan! Nobody heard of autism. Then around the early 80s, entered the sun blockers and the sun scare. Autism has become a racket like cancer (they know the cause of it too which is microbial which means it can be treated with antibiotics. A recent study confirms this ).
We truly live in the dark ages.
@Blondel I have seen and wondered about that vitamin D connection as well. My oldest son is autistic and my youngest son is diabetic (type 1) which is also being shown to possibly be caused, at least in part, by a vitamin d deficiency in the mother. Sad. So simple of a fix had I know. I learned to the vitamin D connection not long after he was born, but by then he was already diagnosed.
It really is very frustrating, that our medical science rarely looks to the root cause and only to resolve symptoms or cure something once it has started. So much easier to prevent, yet we fail miserably at it.
I actually assumed (possibly incorrectly) that ASD was generic?
My daughter has been diagnosed with Aspergers and has, on her mother's side, a grandfather, uncle, cousin and great uncle that I would say are on the spectrum but have never been diagnosed.
I know vaccine injections have been thrown up as a possibility by some.
Also, I've heard treatment is possible through gut bacteria?
Personally I am less concerned about the cause (what's done is done!) but more concerned with helping her.
vaccines have been debunked (lol) as a cause of autism. There was a paper out a number of years ago, but it was found that the doctor who did the study lied about the results in order to sell his own version of the vaccine. Yes, there is a genetic component to ASD. But, as with most things genetic, there might be a predisposition but factors must (usually) be present in the environment as well in order to trigger the disposition. Which genes are turned on, so to speak, depends on other factors, including uterine environment, nutrition, exposure to various chemicals, and other such things.
Yes, helping those who need it is of utmost importance. But finding the cause will make treatment better, and prevent other people from suffering the same. The causes of cancer are well known in a lot of cases, but the focus is rarely on what to do to prevent it and more so what to do for treatment when the "luck of the draw" ends in you having cancer. Except it's not luck at all, but predispositions that we can control.
@karasti,
what irks me is the psychologizing of ASD. And yet, all along the evidence was there that connected sunlight with autism. Unfortunately, parents had to go through unbelievable suffering watching, for example, a perfectly healthy toddler suddenly become severely autistic just after he got off of formula (which contains D3).
It's the doctors who pushed sun screens and 'stay away from the sun'. It's no wonder that the third leading cause of death is still physicians. And thank the gods for the Internet. I found this research on the Internet. Parents shouldn't always trust their primary care physician. They do make mistakes and often times terrible ones.
As a principal, I hate to think the number of IEP conferences I sat through for autism cases. Cases where the children weren't autistic, but the parents wanted autistic services. Cases where children were autistic, but parents didn't want them labeled as such...but still wanted services. And parents who denied any problem existed.
And, I sat through parents telling us every sort of "cause" for autism, usually fostered by something found in a magazine or, later, on the internet.
Autism should not be treated by a general practitioner, any more than a GP should be treating cancer or narrow angle glaucoma. A specialist is needed, and even specialists will often not agree on a diagnosis...or cause(s).
Sorry I'm late to the discussion but new to the sites. I work with children and young people with learning difficulties/disabilities including those with ASD.
I highly recommend a book called 'The Reasons I Jump' by Naoki Higashida. The author, Naoki Higashida, was 13 when he wrote the book and is on the Autistic Spectrum (and is mostly non verbal). I work with children and young people (4-18) with learning difficulties/disabilities and this book completely changed my personal understanding of how people with ASD had such a greater connection to the world then people realise.
Each chapter heading is a question (such as why do you jump?, why do you like running?) and Naoki Higashida writes so well and eloquently you forget its written by a 13 year old.
The reason I post is there as chapter about when he goes to the local Buddhist temple and becomes overwhelmed with everyone else's emotions as he isn't the only person to suffer. Which emphasizes
including > @karasti said:
Children with learning disabilities are very connected to nature and the natural world. However I could write essays on this and I'm aware I'm very late to the discussion.
This element of over sensitivity to emotion I find fascinating and for me is quite a revelation and the opposite of what we were told.
Wonderful that communication is happening. These different wirings of the mind I feel offer potential special skill sets, some of which are known of.
Intrigued by the Buddhist temple visit @crystal_beth mentions. Carly's site had several posts about meditation but these had been blanked, so I am not sure how if any traction is available from such mind training, how it is relevant or any potential it may offer?
The intensity of experience and acute intelligence from some autistic people is a real eye opener. Maybe this spectrum of sensitivity will also be useful in other areas of psychological research and understanding?
Many people come up with these threads on what is the view of Buddhism on certain illnesses or psychological conditions or why good people suffer.
In Buddhism, nobody is going to judge us or send us to hell for actions we are not kammically accountable for.
We have to work with what we have been given, understand that suffering simply happens -pointless to ask whys and wherefores,- take responsibility for making skillful choices every day, be as much happy and make people as much happy as we possibly can... and that's much it.
It's interesting to me that my son, who is very logical (but often lacks what we term as common sense) is quite averse to emotions, yet it's obvious he feels them very strongly. It's probably the biggest challenge for him right now, at 18 he's getting ready to move out and learning how to be considerate of others is quite difficult for him. He has good manners and so on, butt when it comes to trying to understand the emotions of himself and others and know how to navigate that part of living, it is very difficult. If someone cannot give him a logical explanation, he will discount what they say. If I tell him he should respect someone, he will say "Why? They went to a 2 year college and I'm going to a 4 year. We have nothing in common." Oy.
For example, we went to the Mall of America the other day while we were out touring colleges, and as the mall got busier, he got increasingly agitated (as did I, lol) so we left earlier than planned. He doesn't understand that that anxiety is still a feeling, to him the logic of "there were too many people, it was too warm and too noisy and I felt uncomfortable" makes sense and he cannot fathom that it is not logical to everyone else.
But then when we talk about his good friend, who is a girl who is in a relationship with another classmate, he just says things like "people in relationships like that are just ridiculous. Emotions are such a waste of time." He has a total disconnect between what he feels (that he applies logic to) and what others feel that he determines is stupid and a waste of time. He can't understand why someone wants to be loved (even though he clearly has the same desire), but he can understand amazingly difficult physics and math concepts. To him, love is someone meeting his needs that he determines important, and nothing to do with the other person and their needs or feelings. He does understand on an intellectual level to a degree, but he does not experience it and thus cannot relate. I do think he had a bit of a crush on his girl friends before she got a boyfriend and thus he's a bit bitter.
It's fascinating, and very frustrating at the same time. We are still trying to determine if he should have a roommate or if we should request a single dorm room for him (which we can do).
"In Buddhism, nobody is going to judge us or send us to hell for actions we are not kammically accountable for."
I'm an odd creature of this spectrum of people and I have my own bitter experience how anxiety and impulsiviness can impact on everyday life. Buddhist practises, or even the Buddhist philosophy, may calm emotions. And this forum is a nice place to visit since people are so friendly here. But I can never be a real Buddhist because I'm not a religious character and I don't have a need to belong in a group.
I’m not symptomatically anthropocentric since I prefer to be alone and I have felt more connection with other animal species and nature than with humanity. I’m egocentric in many ways for sure, but I’ve always been ready and willing to help the others although my helpfulness has often been abused even in a very rough manner, including my earlier work as a scientist. Writing (not in English!), which is a very lonely hobby, has been important for me and some of my stories have been published.
That doesn't mean you can't be a "real buddhist".
The buddhist path is an inner journey only you can go on. It's got nothing to do with religion or other people.
What @Bunks said. Some people like to be part of a group, but no matter whether you are or aren't, the Buddhist path is one you can only take alone. Others can be there for questions or support, but really, it's all on you. Even if you have the best Buddhist teacher in the world (and you don't need a teacher, either) you still have to do the work yourself. You also do not have to consider it a religion, either.
@Bunks - This is why I love being a buddhist.
The buddhist path is an inner journey only you can go on. It's got nothing to do with religion or other people.
It is not the same thing is it? To be autistic and not have the capacity to understand the Dhamma?
There are several kinds and degrees of Autism? Maybe some can understand?
It is clear from the Dhamma that all do not have the capacity to understand the Dhamma.
But as you say maybe they will be able to understand in the next life.
/Victor
Being a real Buddhist may simply be 'being real'. As honest and unaffected expression as a person can manage.
I agree some Buddhist practitioners might draw an imaginary line between who they judge to be real Buddhists and wannabees
but I don't listen to them, myself. I did at first, not knowing a thing about it, but now that I know and understand more, I'm not convinced there is any such of a thing as a real Buddhist. And yes, this knowing and understanding was primarily seeded here on this forum.
Seems right to me.
To be honest that is quite an attainment. Many of us cling to ancient fantasy dharma, tradition, culture or personal dishonesty and unreal expectations, self views or other attachments such as I watch . . .
So children, the unwell, the disabled, the elderly, the conflicted all have a great potential. To be Real as @Hamsaka says . . .
Maybe I'm too conceptual. In science you have to define everything so accurately. Too pedantic accuracy in philosophies and religions may lead to fundamentalism? You have to be accurate with autistics, although there is a huge variation is this spectrum. My son can't understand time (clock is just a gadget for him), but he becomes easily irritated if somebody says something irrational.
The basic truths to live a good life are so "simple" and rational. Me likes it
Was Jesus a Christian? A rhetorical question that may insult some. For me he was a great teacher.
The more I look at autism, the more important to human evolution it seems. At some point in the future, the first people able to integrate/understand/cope with Quantum AI may be autistic.
. . . in a similar way the first people offered superior body parts and prosthetics will be those with missing or diseased parts.
All that is some way in the future . . .
. . . anyway I am off to find a rainbow body
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biophoton
and now back to autism . . .
@lobster, when my grandson began showing the symptoms, I did a few months of looking into autism, especially the verbally capable adults telling the inside stories. There is a genuine rift between these adults and the intentions of their parents, of whom many want to CURE of their autism (and seek to end autism altogether with a cure).
I've only heard of one outspoken adult with autism that has 'sided' with Autism Speaks, the 'parent who want a cure'. He is in his fifties, and I didn't save the link, but in effect he describes himself as rather miserably alone, too weird for most to tolerate for long, and if there were a cure, he'd be behind it 100%.
It seems a majority of the autistic adults capable of communicating with language are feeling insulted by being called 'disabled' and being lumped in with other kinds of developmental delays or conditions. Many see themselves as valuable, alternative human forms. They don't deny their real-time disabilities, and definitely want the rest of us to help them maximize their potentials, but they don't want to be wiped out by some cure, either.
It reminds me of the advocates for Down's Syndrome people. Again, no link, but recently I read some huge majority of DS fetuses are aborted, which is a tragedy to their advocates, who regard DS people as a naturally occurring human alternative.
I can see their point, but so many DS people have other physical conditions, not the least of which is some 30% will develop leukemia sometime in their lives
. My experience of them is that they are charming, and will always be innocent and child-like, which is a fine way to be. But what causes their charm and innocence also causes heart defects, gastrointestinal abnormalities and then of course, leukemias. Oh that's right . . . we're in samsara 
People with severe forms of autism are utterly miserable and suffering over the brightness of lights and some sounds or smells, and have NO capacity for communicative language whatsoever. That and an intact intelligence? NO THANKS
I'd choose to have that one expunged from the face of the human race, if I had the choice 
Daniel Tammet is a well known savant who is a mathematical and linguistic genius. He doesn't calculate in the words real meaning, but he has a synaesthesia with numbers shapes and colours.
Every human's mind has an enormous possibilities of abilities. Autistic people may have a better access to these abilities because of less filters in mind. The downside of this is a low treshold of agitation, anxiety, or even obsessions that are not always so good, for instance.
People who are less introvent may lower barriers of their mind by meditating regularly. "Psychic" things may occur. I have some problems to understand time since it's quite hard to recall when a certain event has happened. Was it yesterday, two days ago, three days ago? I'm not young anymore (although they say I look quite young...), so I have known a "long" time that according to the theory of relativity past, present and future are all existent. I have this little preoccupation to "infinity" and "eternity". It's essential to live in this very moment where our physical body is bound to. But perhaps meditation expands our sense of time and helps us to realise the whole Universe.
The compensatory, valuable qualities is what intrigues me. For example there be a part of some autism that is able to process a focused but greater range within that focus. Few of us will be able to understand quantum computers that work out answers before questions are set (that is a quantum tunnelling effect, that is NOT part of present quantum computing but maybe the following generation).
Such contrary thinking may not be open to us dinosaur 'norms' . . .
Autism Power!
Wave function of information.
Austin Powers!
It's difficult because even when someone who is HF ASD is accepting of whatever limitations they have along with their strengths, they still have to operate within a world that runs on a particular way of doing things. If you don't fit into that, it makes things awfully difficult. Schools and employers (just for 2 examples) have expectations of a norm that they operate around. Obviously, anyone outside of that has no choice but to receive a label so that they can protect themselves from unfair treatment. It sucks.
My son has an IEP (individual Education Plan) which dictates that because of his ASD he needs certain things in school, particularly more time to take tests, and an environment that works for him. I think every kid needs, and should have, an IEP. It allows them to work from their strengths and challenges both. But kids who don't have, or refuse to accept (or have parents, mostly, that refuse to accept) a label, can't get any help with that sort of stuff. It's ridiculous. All of it just carries over into the workplace, then they have to alert HR that they have a label so that within reason, their "disability" doesn't get them fired for quirks their coworkers or bosses don't get. It makes the world very hard to navigate when all it takes is a little compassion and a little "walk a mile in my shoes" attitude.
The truth is, my son has some challenges, yes, but he also has immense things working in his favor because of the label he has. He gets opportunities others don't get. He is given differently weighted consideration for things. So he has learned to use it to his benefit, and it works. Really, he should just be treated like a normal person with some allowance to use his strengths and get some help with his weaknesses. And it should be that way for everyone. Some people who are very intelligent are emotionally hobbled. They need help, too, but often don't get it because the world sees them as successful. Pfft.