Prince Siddhartha Gautama (who became the Buddha at 35) had a dad, not Mr. Gautama. (Surnames came from mother Queen Maya Gautama). His father was King Suddhodana, a very proud, caring even doting father, who had to seem like a jerk to young Sid, always giving him everything he wanted but shielding him from seeing the truth about the world at every turn. His motive? Suddhodana had to keep Sid homebound so he could take over the family business when the time came. It didn't matter that that wasn't what Sid wanted: Your future has been decided for you.
Hey, Beavis, we become our Dads, huh huh huh.
In America, we hate our dads, I guess, until we become our dads. Then we hate ourselves and drink beer, wondering, "Did Dad hate himself? And did his dad hate himself? And is this trap sprung on everyone even in the 'richest country in the world'? This is as good as it gets? This is the best?!"
O, Buddha, I think Bart hates Homer. - Warn him
But what kind of karma (deed, action, conduct) is that, and what will be the result? According to the Buddha, our parents provide a massive and tremendous opportunity for merit (good karma). The only people who provide more are the noble ones (those well-behaved people along the stages of enlightenment). But our parents also have a hidden danger for us, massive and tremendous risk of bad karma for their neglect, mistreatment, abuse.
(It's strange because the same two people, if disrespected or harmed by others, wouldn't be such weighty karma as if we did it. It would still be bad, but when it's our own father or mother, or people who raised us like a mother or father, it is VERY weighty. It is so weighty that the Buddha pointed out Five Heinous Karmic Crimes, two of which are matricide and parricide).
How WE treat -- feel, think, talk, and do towards them -- matters a great deal. It matters so much that once a boy really wanted to see the Buddha in the flesh, so he traveled a long way and finally met him, and the Buddha asked him, "Why do you need to see me when you have two Buddhas at home?" (This would suggest that anything he might gain from the Buddha, say in terms of the karma of honoring him in person, he could gain from his parents).
Ultimately, it becomes what WE do, not what parents do or did. There will be no excuse for our intentional actions towards them -- or anybody, but especially them. That's how special parents are.
If a snarling animal were to come at us and we killed it, that would be the terrible karma of killing. "But," we'll say, "it was going to kill us, or harm us, or it was scaring us by snarling! So that shouldn't be bad karma; I should get a freebie on that one."
Now, think about it for a moment. If even a snarling savage wild crazed rabid animal were coming at us, snarling and looking ready to bite, and we killed it THAT would be bad karma with suffering for us as the result, how much more for a father, mother, or stepparent -- who came at us providing life, food, shelter, assistance, learning, and so much more?
I slapped this on my Dad's car so he'd know.
Sure, of course, we don't remember that. We weren't aware and don't now remember when we were infants puking on our dads and moms or parental figures. How we pooped, got sick, were helpless, needed things, got housed, got fed, got cared for, got loved... Sure, we'll say, "Nah, dawg, you don't know my dad [or Mom or whoever]!" And we can tell stories about how bad he was (or they were), how much he drank and yelled and restricted and punished and threatened and spanked or punched or worse. Blah, blah, blah. It's true. It's understandable.
But it's not going to matter. It is NOT going to make it neutral karma, and it sure isn't good karma. "But, but...but I was ill-equipped to handle it. No one taught me any other way! I blame my dad, stupid jerk, for not teaching me better! HE made me do it! I treat him like he treated me at the worst of times (because I've forgotten the best of times when he was doing so much for me that I don't count or never knew about)."
How punks D.R.I. see "Karma"
D.R.I. somehow learned about "Karma" and sang about it
LYRICS "Karma": Hey, Punk, with that bottle in your hand/ What makes you so sad? Could life really be that bad?/ Sure, you've got your reasons/ But your alibis are lies/ The story is an old one/ It's been told a million times/ You were glad to be alive/ On life's journey/ You were excited/ But you were not in a hurry/ For years, you walked up and down each road/ You had to try them all/ Looking for your place, I guess/ Where you could rest and feel at home/ Now, tired of walking/ You've started to run/ Passing everything by/ But at least you're having fun/ Good karma, bad karma/ You'll get what you deserve/ There is good and evil/ You've got a lot to learn/ There is love, there is hate/ You can't do as you please/ Wash your face, take a bath/ Your aura's still filthy/ In someone's bathroom, turning blue, puking green/ You're senile, senile at seventeen/ Scars on your brain from drinking beer and smoking weed/ Another acid tab, another shot of speed/ Good karma, bad karma/ You'll get what you deserve/ There is good and evil/ You've got a lot to learn/ There's no lie, only truth/ In reality/ You hate love, you love to hate/ Your soul is so diseased/ You are just a fish in a sea of human beings/ Lost in, caught up in, someone else's dream/ Afraid to laugh 'cause you might drown/ The true mad, sad clown sinking down/ Into the darkness where no one/ Would dare venture to save you
I don't deserve what happens to me!
"Karma's a b*tch," that's the saying. What does it mean? It means karma can be. How is "karma" defined in the West? "What comes around goes around." And what does that saying mean? That means what we send upstream will be coming downstream, what we put out comes back, what we throw out there sooner or later lands on our heads. When we put out something in the wind, it will eventually be hitting us right in the face. So if we spit or pee or poop, ooh, that's going to be a "b*tch" all right. But what if we were to waft fragrant flower petals before us, or wondrous incense smoke, or the aroma of savory food? Mmm, that would be pleasing! That would be welcome hitting us in the face. So it is not that "Karma is a B" all the time, just the times when our karma (deeds) are as awful as offal (tripe, eviscerated waste, poop).
Karma works out its results quite impersonally. Y'know how annoying Christians say, "God is not mocked" (Galatians 6:7)? I think they're really, without realizing it, talking about Karma. We don't really get away with things only we know we did. The truth will out, maybe not in this lifetime, and maybe we'll content ourselves to say, "There can't no other lifetimes because I don't believe in that!" but it won't matter.
Remember that slightly stoopid fad kids had going not long ago, saying "six seven" to everything for no apparent reason? (Thanks, South Park!) Wisdom Quarterly wonders if it wasn't some semi-conscious allusion to Galatians 6:7. It's not like anybody reads the Bible nowadays, and no one consciously remembers. But it gets shoved down our threats and into our heads, so who knows if it didn't sneak in so that when everyone heard "six seven," it did have this meaning: "Do not be deceived. Karma cannot be mocked. We reap (harvest) what we sow (plant)."
F Dad who never cared 'bout me
But, y'know, like, what if you do hate him? It's understandable to be very mad at an American parent, fathers and mothers -- and those super jerks the stepparents, who didn't even give birth to a kid and have to suffer the same things and worse from the troubled kids they adopt. It's not all for nothing, parents. It's no accident we adopt. It's no accident we were born into this society that taught and trained us this way, so that's not going to work as an excuse to get us off the karmic hook. Who would ask us, Yama King of the Dead? Jehovah/Yahweh/Yaldabaoth, the Demiurge? Karma does not work through "court" proceedings. It just does its thing. Without knowing it, we are carrying around the seeds of it right now so that wherever we go, there we are. And wherever we go, karma is already there. Karma is the builder, the creator, the producer of our states and traits, our vipaka and phala (karmic resultants and fruits).
So what's a person to do? What action (karma) would produce merit? One should ask, "Hey, if I hate my Dad and am going to get into a world of karmic consequences for ignoring or mistreating him, what should I do?" That would be a great question to ask the Buddha, the Awakened One. If one is lucky enough to seek guidance from the Buddha, the Dharma, or the [Noble = Enlightened] Sangha, that will be a very good question. And here's what they would say:
Cultivate metta. Cultivate all four of the Divine Abidings. It will be for YOUR good for a long, long time. Seeing as how we've been cultivating terrible qualities -- whether we learned them from our parents or not -- this would be a great way to go against the stream that pull us down. We could RISE ABOVE (all the BS and family problems we were born into) and go up!
The lotus bud figured this out long ago. Ever notice where the most beautiful and fragrant lotus flowers grow? That's right -- in the mud and mire, the filth and pollution. They love it, accept it, transform it into the most beautiful things. Come to think of it, all the best tasting food grows on dirt, mud, soil, and fertilizer. Fertilizer?! That's made of dung 💩🐽🤭, isn't it?
So Western Theravada monk Ajahn Brahm wrote that book making this point: If a dump truck pulls up in front of your house and drops a massive load, what should you do? B*tch and complain, tell everybody how unfair it is that this happened to you, take revenge, start throwing it at everyone like a monkey in a zoo would?
Or might it be a better idea to take it around back to the garden, dig it into the ground, and get the most beautiful flowers and vegetables and fruits from its transformation? Bury it. Let it do good. You'll be thanking that dump truck driver in the end, if you follow this enlightened advice.
When I was a kid, I had a cousin of around the same age. My Dad was a drunk, his father was a religious nut. We'd come home from school and call each other. During those phone calls, I would tell him the latest insanity my dad displayed, and he would tell me what his pops (my uncle) was up to. Before long, it became a contest. "Hah, my dad's a bigger a-hole than your dad!"
Homer, your son says you're a bad father to him.
"Oh yeah, well, let me tell you what he was up to today." And we would flabbergast each other with the ghastly things those fathers of ours had done. Sometimes he won, but most of the time, no one could touch my dad for sheer awfulness, depravity, drunkenness, and vulgarity, to say nothing of the threats, punishments, and always having me be in some kind of trouble or restriction. I fought back. My cousin was smarter and kept his head down, "Yes, Dad," that way he avoided trouble. We eventually called it a draw and my belief that if only he didn't drink, my dad would be all right. His dad never drank and was this much of an a-hole? Hah! What's a growing boy to do? I did what, it seems, few other boys do.
I didn't drink, and I didn't believe in my parents' religion. No way, what hypocrisy! The whole idea of a "father" in the sky was enough for me to say, "F the Patriarchy!" Very punk rock, very crossover, very thrash, very heavy metal, very extreme and alternative. But what's a boy to do, having given up that cultural inheritance? Look for a new, a better one, something I chose rather than was born into (on account of karma).
I eventually loved my dad. I always loved him. I didn't think I didn't love him. I just hated him on top of that. So I stopped that extra layer, stopped ruminating on all the negative things he did. Why/how? I learned Buddhism and Eightfold Yoga.
Buddha Yoga (Wm. Bodri)
I rejected Western materialism and sought answers in the East, where I always suspected they were, just like so many before me, from Siddhartha to Jews of all eras like Jesus, who was more likely an Essene, Gnostic, Buddhist monk at Hemis Gompa in Ladakh, a student of Vedic Brahmanism, and not much of a "Jew," as the Ashkenazi of today would have the West believe).
There's more we can do to love our dads and moms (or at least not hate them) than the Four Divine Abidings. That's why it's invaluable (so valuable that a price cannot be put on it) to have learned and practiced "meditation." What is this English word we call "meditation"? It is cultivation (like dung in the garden or farm), self-improvement, development (bhavana), literally "bringing into being" what we want, like to not be so mad, angry, resentful, and ingrateful.
If we cultivate the opposite of these four, what would we be like? We could be sane, here and now under these circumstance; we could be more loving, joyful, and grateful -- FULL of gratitude not only for our parents, such as they were, but for all the other people who sort of "parented" us when our parents weren't always up to the task: teachers, family, friends, acquaintances, pure strangers, enemies even. There's a very beautiful saying in Hinduism that really helped me when I reflected on it to not be resentful of the harm people do us, with or without knowing how much harm they're doing:
The sandalwood tree sprinkles perfume on the axe that lays it low.
I once opened a fortune cookie at a Chinese restaurant. Who knows why, it's not like I ate those cookies or believed in the mass printed fortunes in them, and I found a treasure. This ancient wisdom of the East:
(CLUB LADIEZ) The Other F Word is an American documentary film directed by independent filmmaker Andrea Blaugrund Nevins. It explores the world of aging punk rock musicians as they transition into being parents and try to maintain the contrast between their anti-authoritarian lifestyle/pose with the responsibilities of Fatherhood, the titular "other F word." In addition to interviewing over 20 musicians [1] from across the spectrum of the genre -- including Jim Lindberg of Pennywise, Mark Hoppus of Blink 182, and Fat Mike of NOFX -- the film also includes other emblematic figures of the punk subculture such as professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, in a chronicle of the struggles and rewards that accompany raising children. It was released in the U.S. by Oscilloscope Laboratories in 2011. More
(After Skool) It's all perfect by Ram Dass (formerly Prof. Richard Alpert, Ph.D., Harvard University)
RAM DASS ("God's Servant or Slave") was born Richard Alpert on April 6, 1931 and lived until December 22, 2019) [1]. He became a hippie and is also known as Baba ["Father"] Ram Dass. He was an American spiritual teacher, guru of modern yoga [2], academic psychologist, and writer of Be Here Now, his best-selling [3] 1971 book, which has been described by as "seminal" [4, 5, 6].
With the help of his scandalous but loving sex guru Neem Karoli Baba, he helped popularize Eastern spirituality and yoga in the West [7]. He authored or co-authored a dozen more books on spirituality over the next four decades, including Grist for the Mill (1977), How Can I Help? (1985), and Polishing the Mirror (2013).
Once when he was teaching with his long hair, beard, and linen garments, someone in the crowd asked him why he dressed like a guru from India when he was really a Jew from the U.S. Without missing a beat, his retort was, "I'm only Jewish on my parents' side." Ha ha ha, exactly!
We are born into a faith, and it's usually rammed down our throats before we have a chance to do anything but swallow. And most of us won't question it. But some of us vomit it up, leave or examine, sometimes even come back to it later.
Harvard professors Dr. Timothy Leary and Dr. Richard Alpert (cool squares rounding out)
However, it seems the job and duty of any human to question it, test it, attempt to validate it, argue against it, learn from it, grow from it, reject it all together, or make peace with it. There's a world of spirituality out there to explore. We usually need a floor, a ground, by which to test things. And almost all major religions have a mystic component or sect. That's a place to start.
Parents, what am I to do but follow my heart?
But question we must, and explore we will, and find? That remains to be seen. We are on a spiritual quest. And maybe the whole rest of the world can't be. But if Americans can't, what the F are you calling yourself an "American" for? Life, liberty, and the PURSUIT of happiness is all you were promised -- and you're not even going to pursue it? Truth means nothing? Just taking sides? Just being controlled by your government, schools, and parents, the "powers that be"? Pathetic. Human up, and get searching.
Ram Dass was personally and professionally associated with hippie Dr. Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s. Then known as Richard Alpert, he conducted research with Leary on the therapeutic effects of psychedelic drugs.
In addition, Alpert assisted Harvard Divinity School graduate student Walter Pahnke in his 1962 "Good Friday Experiment" with theology students, the first controlled, double-blind study of drugs and the mystical experience [8, 9].
While legal at the time (and not yet criminalized), their research was controversial and led to Dr. Leary's and Dr. Alpert's firing from Harvard in 1963.
In 1967, Alpert traveled to India and became "Ram Dass," a disciple of Hindu Guru Neem Karoli Baba, who gave him the name Ram Dass, meaning "Servant of Ram," but usually rendered simply as "Servant of God" for Western audiences.
In the following years, he co-founded the charitable organizations Seva Foundation and Hanuman Foundation. From the 1970s to the 1990s, he traveled extensively, giving talks and retreats and holding fundraisers for charitable causes.
In 1997, he had a stroke, which left him with paralysis and expressive aphasia which would be better characterized as "fluent, anomic-like with hesitations and word finding difficulties at the conversational level with grossly intact auditory comprehension for high level, low-context information" [10, 11].
He eventually grew to interpret this event as an act of grace, learning to speak again and continuing to teach and write books. After becoming seriously ill during a trip to India in 2004, he gave up traveling and moved to Maui, Hawaii, where he hosted annual retreats with other spiritual teachers until his death in 2019. More
Thursday, May 14th, 2026, 7:00-8:15 pm at The Crawford (474 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena 91105).
Get tickets priced from FREE to $25.
Join Molly Bloom, host and creator of the kids' podcast company Brains On Universe, for a live panel about puberty. Featured guests include
Dr. Cara Natterson, pediatrician, author, and founder of Less Awkward, a company designed to make puberty a less awkward and more joyful experience
Dr. Christopher Miller, a clinical psychologist and the founder of The Boys’ Institute for Growth (BIG), which educates boys about puberty and facilitates healthy conversations between boys and their trusted adults.
The evening will feature a moderated discussion followed by a live Q&A designed to help parents prepare kids ages 7–11 for the changes ahead. More
Again and again in ancient Buddhist texts, including descriptions of the wandering ascetic Siddhartha's own "great awakening" (maha-bodhi), the enlightenment (bodhi) that led him to become the Buddha, "the Awakened One," were the "watches of the night."
These were the natural cycles of sleep (now referred to as polyphasic or biphasic sleep) and waking, which included "first sleep."
Emerging from first sleep, one is calm and in a naturally "meditative" state (calm, samatha) conducive to samadhi (mental coherence, superconsciousness). This samma-samadhi (defined in Buddhism as the eight meditative absorptions or jhanas) are crucial to attaining liberating insight (vipassana).
Calm is the very foundation of heart/mind purification (vissudhi-magga, the "path of purification") that insight-practices (described in the two Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourses) are built on.
The bases for this calm are virtue (sila) and diligent persistence, not loose living and then over-efforting as most of us seem to think is the answer to tackling all things nowadays. Virtue leads naturally to peace of mind leads naturally to insight, not in and of themselves but progressively by consistent practice.
The original translations of sati (Buddhist "mindfulness") were "wakefulness," "attentiveness," "watchfulness," "vigilance," "diligence," "assiduousness," non-absentmindedness, non-drowsiness, non-diffusion, non-scattered attention, and one might add "calm persistence" rather than force or struggle, greedy striving or straining.
These "watches" of the night were not an ancient Indian invention that the Buddha-to-be Siddhartha invented. They are our human birthright as Homo sapien sapiens. We are wired this way, and industrialization took it away for capitalism and Christianity's sake.
The British seem to have coined "watch" of the night, but all Americans used to turn in, wake up, do family things together, including eating together, then go back to sleep. This was natural. This was taken for granted. This is the way it had always been since our caveperson days.
Who took it away and why? It's clear that it was capitalist industrialists weaponizing the West's Christian religion.
(dakota of earth) July 10, 2025: INDIA: The information presented here is purely for historical and cultural exploration and should not be interpreted as encouragement or promotion of any substance use. Some content may be sensitive or challenging to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised!
DISCLAIMER: This educational documentary investigates a theory about the entheogenic origins of Hinduism [what the British dubbed Indus-ism to describe all the varied practices and belief around the Indus River Valley, melding them all under one rubric when they never saw themselves as "religions" or anything apart from regular life].
LINKS: dakotaofearth / dakotawint http://www.kick.com/earthie In this documentary, I travel across India exploring temple carvings, sacred rituals, and hidden clues that point toward a secret mushroom cult at the roots of Hinduism. Is it possible that psychedelic mushrooms were the true Soma of the Rig Veda? Join me as I uncover evidence, interview scholars, and search sacred sites to reveal a story that’s been hiding in plain sight. ➤ Subscribe for more documentaries on spirituality, ancient history, and hidden truths. Watch the full story and decide.
Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath is a documentary series that investigates the "Church" of Scientology through the experiences of American actress Leah Remini and other former members. She was a follower cult member of Scientology between 1979, when she joined at the age of 9 alongside her parents, and 2013. She subsequently became an outspoken critic of Scientology and published a bestselling memoir, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, in 2015.
Pasadena's Jack "The Antichrist" Parsons, creator of JPL (originally denoting "Jack Parson's Lab" then switched to Jet Propulsion Lab)
The Behavior Operations Manual: Neuro-Cognitive Intelligence
The Behavior Ops Manual
Chase Hughes has 4.7 out of 5 stars (with 301 reviews). Why? This is allegedly the most powerful textbook on human influence trusted by the world's elite.
Very few truly understand how power works. In a world where every decision, every success, and every relationship is dictated by human behavior, The Ops Manual offers readers the tools that the elite use to rise to power.
The strategies and frameworks within will transform how readers interact with others, enabling them to influence, inspire, and control outcomes with scientific precision.
The Most Powerful People Don’t Play the Game—They Control It
In the coming decades, The Ops Manual will be a must-have tool for every serious leader, executive, and strategist. From controlling social interactions to shaping the environment, readers will have in their hands the knowledge and techniques that separate the world’s most powerful individuals from the rest.
The World’s Top 1% Understand the True Source of Power: Behavior.
Every breakthrough in human influence can be traced to three key pillars: self-mastery, observation, and communication.
These pillars of the exclusive NCI (Neuro-CognitiveIntelligence) System, form the backbone of this Ops Manual, creating a power far beyond anything available today.
This manual offers the deepest understanding of behavior, allowing readers to determine the outcomes in their life.
Control the Invisible Forces that Dictate Success.
Master these inside this textbook:
The FATE Model: Unlock the primal instincts that govern human survival through F.A.T.E. (Focus, Authority, Tribe, and Emotion).
Tap into deeply-rooted survival mechanisms, making influence not just possible but inevitable.
The Six-Axis Model of Influence: Master suggestibility, focus, openness, connection, compliance, and expectancy to subtly and effectively influence behavior at any level, from personal conversations to high-stakes negotiations.
The Authority Triangle: A revolutionary tool to command respect and establish authority in any environment by mastering behavior, effect, and habits.
The Behavioral Table of Elements (BTE): Decode human behavior with pinpoint accuracy.
The NCI system is trusted by intelligence operatives [assets and agents] to profile and predict human behavior.
Mastering the Social Frame: Take control of every interaction by understanding and leveraging social frames—expectations, beliefs, perceptions, and definitions that define human behavior.
Neurology of Influence: Dive deep into the brain’s structure and chemistry to understand how biological triggers drive decision-making, making your influence more potent than ever before.
Who Needs This Manual?
This is not for the casual reader. The Ops Manual is designed for those who understand that success and leadership are driven by a deep understanding of human behavior. Leaders, sales experts, negotiators, and anyone who thrives on precision influence will find this manual indispensable.
Why The Ops Manual Stands Alone
Unlike any other resource on human influence, The Ops Manual combines real-world techniques with cutting-edge science, covering everything from influencing neural pathways to decoding micro-expressions and body language.
By mastering the art of behavioral influence, join the 1% who can truly guide and shape behavior. This is not just a book. It’s a key to unlocking ultimate influence.
The Ops Manual stands as the most elite resource available on human influence and behavior. This is not a casual purchase, and it isn’t meant for everyone—but it’s reserved for those who are truly committed to mastery.
Join the ranks of world leaders who know that true power is found in understanding and leading human behavior. #OpsManual
All materials on this site are submitted by editors and readers. All images, unless otherwise noted, were taken from the Internet and are assumed to be in the public domain.
In the event that there is still a problem, issue, or error with copyrighted material, the break of the copyright is unintentional and noncommercial, and the material will be removed immediately upon presented proof.
Contact us by submitting a comment marked "private."
Do not follow this journal if you are under vinaya or parental restrictions. Secure protection by Sucuri.
Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at creativecommons.org/about/licenses.
_(Nick_Reiner_crop).jpg)
