DAD: When's right age to start meditating?

Dhr. Seven (poet), Amber Larson (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

My baby's a biohazard raised on mother's milk.

The job of a dad is not easy. A mom's job is easy: just do everything. But a dad's job, that's tough. Just do somethings. But do them right or else! A mother is a parent by virtue of giving birth. A father only becomes a parent by virtue of doing certain things right.

Who, what, where, when? That's all TBD (to be determined), but suffice it to say family, parenting, anywhere, anytime. It's not fair. There was no preparation for it. A man barely gets a run through when he's the child. And even with that extended period of time, it's not enough.

No one's complaining. Society gives conflicting orders, and we just get by, head down, always trying to remember to get THE LAST WORD IN, in any argument, which usually sounds something like, "Yes, dear."

Raise it, Abrahamic, B*tch! - No, Dad, Dharmic

Ah, to have a child. No one wants to raise it in the crumby religions of our forefathers. Those are clearly not the way to go, as instructional as they may be. Having been born in them, one knows they are severely lacking. "Go, son, be like Siddhartha; go to the back yard, jump the fence, and seek your enlightenment!" might be a good thing to say to the Little Prince. His mom would have your head on a shish kebab skewer. Plus you love the guy.

All in the Family: Ven. Bimba (Bhaddha Kaccana), aka Rahulamata (Princess Yasodhara), was not far off for a reunited family striving together to gain knowledge and vision of the Truth to make an end of all suffering with Ananda right there, too.

It's springtime for carpenter-royals.

The Buddha didn't do that to his son. The Buddha's dad didn't do it to him. I've got it! I'm going to pamper and spoil my boy!

I'll build him a summer palace by the pool, a winter palace in the loft where all the heat rises, and in the spring, I'll build him a tree house so he can peruse his "Shakya Land" with terrestrial binoculars and a celestial telescope. Then he'll never want to leave. He'll inherit the throne and live here! His mom will love that.

Son, let's visit Kindred Spirits (DF)

Maybe we can get a vegan farm, pet cows, protect chickens, and grow lots of greens in raised beds -- rainbow chard, kale, collard, amaranth, basil, lemongrass, sweet anise... We can homeschool him with all his friends and shoot pineapples with bows and arrows, build wigwams and teepees, make a pond? It'll be the biggest little farm Mark II in the world, like the film, not built on death but on tremendous health and yoga.

There are seven limbs to get to these poses.

He already does yoga because I do. We all do. Kids are inquisitive and will mimic what we adults model. Headstand? No problem. Full lotus? No problem. Downward Dog? Loves it. Buttstand? Problem.

Just sitting there for any extended period of time, it's just not on. He'd sooner nap than sit still. So we OM, and we chant, and we laugh, and we sing, but quieting down again, ooh boy, society is not set up for that. Too much stimulation, too much screentime, to many smells and colors, lights and sounds. And all that Little Einstein reading in the womb probably didn't help.

Wait till your father gets home, Rahula. Oh, there he is! Go ask him for your inheritance.

Hm, what could I give you as your noble inheritance? Enlightenment! - Sounds good, Dad.

.

You teach him, Sariputra. He'll listen now.

Age 7! That's the perfect age to begin a serenity meditation practice. That's the age the Buddha chose for his son, Little Prince Rahula, and he really got him to commit. Everyone was so mad, but Rahula reached enlightenment in his teens, knowing and seeing under the tutelage of the Buddha's male disciple foremost in wisdom, Ven. Sariputra. If he had a daughter, she would have been taught by the Buddha's female disciple foremost in wisdom, Ven. Khema.