Boy 'reincarnation of Buddha' missing

[StoneMtn]

Boy 'reincarnation of Buddha' missing

Mar 12 2006

Hundreds of people scoured a jungle in southern Nepal for a missing teenager who many believe is the reincarnation of Buddha.

Ram Bahadur Banjan, 15, disappeared yesterday from a forest where he had meditated for the last 10 months, during which his associates said he consumed no food or water. Banjan had been sitting cross-legged and motionless with his eyes closed in a niche among the roots of a tree in the jungle since May 17 last year.

Police, followers and family members were looking for the boy in the jungles of Bara, about 100 miles south of the capital, Katmandu.

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0700world/tm_objectid=16806194&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=boy--reincarnation-of-buddha--missing-name_page.html

[Im going home Donny]

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhNooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

Fuck, shit,dam,fuck, mother fuckin shit balls......oh no, oh no, oh no!!

(((((((GOOOOOOOODVIIIIIIBBBBBESS TO B-BOY!!)))))

ahhh mannnnn......I've been so anxcious to hear more about him.......fingers and toes crossed that he is allright!!!!!!!!!!

Mabey he just got sick of the side show that was going on around him?!?

Time to go meditate gooooooooooood thoughts for B-boy!!!

good thoughts, goood thoughts, gooooood thoughts,

gooood thoughts, positive vibrations, positive jumping beans.....

[Im going home Donny]

goooooooooooooooooooodthoughts

[bouche]

the article points out that no one could see him for certain hours and it's suspected that is when he ate drank and pooped.

people can't live for a year without pooping. there is just no way.

[StoneMtn]

David Hasselhoff could.

[SmoothedShredder]

I think the Buddha thread and the Ukulele thread are mysteriously related

[bradm]

David Hasselhoff could.

Chuck Norris, too, I'd expect. Jack Bauer I'm not sure about, but he'd only need to hold it in for 24 hours at a stretch.

Aloha,

Brad

[AD]

Nirvana isn't on the map apparently.

Edited March 12, 2006 by Guest
with thanks to Fark for 'my' funny post

[Alexis]

dave lauzon could too i bet.

i bet this kid crossed the spiritual plane

[Im going home Donny]

hahaha...thats what I'm hoping for Alexis

He was such a lovely mystery....I know its all very unlikely but I still really dug the mystery.

Well...guess he's still a mystery....just hope he's okay is all. :crazy:

[bouche]

it's a scam. they took the money and ran.

[Im going home Donny]

What money?

[bouche]

I'll have to find that article as it suggested that there were times that no one was allowed into the site. There were 'guards' posted. It's suggested that is the time that he would eat, drink, and poop.

Also pointed out was the fact that people that people were leaving tons of rupies at the site and other gifts. However, I can't recall if the rupies magically disappeared as well.

[zero]

A teenage boy who has been meditating under a tree in the verdant forests of southern Nepal is attracting thousands of pilgrims who are convinced the youth is another Buddha.

Devotees flock daily to catch sight of Ram Bahadur Banjan, who sits cross-legged and silent with his eyes shut beneath a tree in the jungle of Bara, 100 miles south of the capital, Kathmandu.

It is claimed that the 15-year-old has not eaten or drunk anything since he sat down at his chosen spot on May 17. He also has not relieved himself in six months, claim devotees. Some say they have seen light emanating from the teenager's forehead.

Ram Bahadur's fame grew after he appeared to shake off the effects of being bitten by a poisonous snake. He is said to have told onlookers that "a snake bit me but I do not need treatment. I need six years of deep meditation."

The boy also told crowds that he was not a Buddha but a lesser divine spirit known as a rinpoche. "I don't have the Buddha's energy."

Buddhism teaches that correct thinking and self-control can enable people to reach peace and release themselves from worldly distractions and desires.

The Buddha was born 160 miles from Bara in 540BC and found enlightenment under a pipal tree. Ram Bahadur is sitting under a pipal tree.

A reporter for the Kantipur newspaper, Sujit Mahat, told Associated Press that he had spent two days at the site, and that about 10,000 people are believed to visit every day.

He said pilgrims can catch a glimpse of Ram Bahadur from a roped-off area about 25 metres away between dawn and dusk. But the boy is screened from observers at night.

"We could not say what happens after dark," Mr Mahat said. "People only saw what went on in the day, and many believed he was some kind of god."

A thriving market has developed in the once-pristine forest, supplying pilgrims with everything from tobacco and bicycle repairs to incense and sacred amulets.

Police are seeking to verify the claims about the boy's fast.

"We have a team ... investigating the claim on how anyone can survive for so long without food and water," police inspector Chitra Bahadur Gurung said. Officers have not directly questioned the boy, who appears to be meditating deeply.

Buddhism has about 325 million followers, mostly in Asia.

With all due respect to the meditating jungle boy, he could not be a reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama. When Siddhartha became "the Enlightened One," it also meant that he would not be born again, which is what Nibbana (Nirvana in Sanskrit) means (literally, "blow out"). The flame of life itself is blown out, ending the cycle of life. So he could not be born again, as jungle boy, or as Dalai Lama for that matter.

I thought I'd put up these two quotes, one an AP article and the other a random online response. The details with regard to his proximity to Bara and his sitting under a pipal tree are compelling - for a few reasons. I sense some level of charlatanism or variously auspiciousness. He himself says he is not the buddha or an incarnation thereof, he may indeed be a rinpoche or some sort of avatar. The fencing off at night is really suspect to my eye. It could simply be his devotees offering him solace or privacy or it seems fairly likely he is fed and does his business so to speak.

Leaving suspicion aside for a moment it is noteworthy that the Vedantic religions (Hinduism and Buddhism) both have some notion that periodically celestial deities or high level beings are incarnated due if you like to some sort of present need. This definition does it better.

In Hinduism, an avatar or avatara (Sanskrit अवतार), is the incarnation (bodily manifestation) of an Immortal Being, or of the Ultimate Supreme Being. It derives from the Sanskrit word avatÄra which means "descent" and usually implies a deliberate descent into mortal realms for special purposes. The term is used primarily in Hinduism, for incarnations of Vishnu the Preserver, whom many Hindus worship as God. The Dasavatara (see below) are ten particular "great" incarnations of Vishnu.

Unlike Christianity and Shaivism, Vaishnavism believes that God takes a special (including human) form whenever there is a decline of righteousness (dharma) and rise of evil. Lord Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu, according to Vaishnavism that is espoused by Ramanuja and Madhva, and God in Gaudiya Vaishnavism, said in the Gita: “For the protection of the good, for destruction of evil, and for the establishment of righteousness, I come into being from age to age.†(Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, verse 8.) In any event, all Hindus believe that there is no difference between worship of Vishnu and His avatars as it all leads to Him.

The word has also been used by extension to refer to the incarnations of God in other religions, notably Christianity, for example Jesus.

Zarathustra is a particularly interesting example of an avatar because of the influence on and interpretation by Nietzsche. Perhaps the most legitimate, though not without his critics, is Meher Baba who was something of a guru to Pete Townshend (Baba O'Reilly) and I guess you could say Bobby McFerrin who put to music Meher's teaching 'don't worry be happy'. There are people also quite legitimate like Krishnamurti who was discovered by the Theosophist Society and heralded as the coming world leader a claim he later denounced although his teachings are quite probing and inherently necessary in the nuclear age (particularly his series of talks On Conflict). There are some really questionable but intriguing so-called avatars such as Adi Da (Bubba Free John) who was endorsed by Ken Wilbur which he later half recanted due to some questionable practices. Adi Da for instance invites invitations to be one of his consorts one part of the application is a photo in lingerie. He is a stern and apparently accomplished spiritual disciple - obviously not without his faults. Also there is the south american teacher Samael Aun Weor who also had some pecadillos but also an expansive intellect some Vedantic some occult and Rosicrucian. The notion of avatars, of the descent of beings from one plane to another, has been something of interest to me lately. The tradition if you like though of avatars is ripe for profiteers and other cult implications.

[bouche]

I would also think that no camera could capture the image of an immortal being nor would there be a reflection in any mirrors.

[Im going home Donny]

Thanks Zero. Thats some interesting insights into a world I find very interesting.

[zero]

That's vampires not immortal beings dumbass!

[Calamity Jane]

so obvioulsy the description of these wee photos beside our posts as "avatars" are gravely mis-monikered!

<----------------

zero...I would enjoy your posts all the more if you punctuated them! I'm sure even the Buddha hisself used a comma now and then!!!

travel note: when Dave and I were in Bodhgaya -- the holy city in India where the Buddha rec'd enlightenment, there were scads of wee children brought by their hopeful families to the site to be assessed by monks as to whether they could possibly be a reincarnated Buddha. There were some "tests" (recognition of articles used or owned by the Buddha, etc.) to be done by the monks to determine this. It struck me at the time as odd -- almost like the equivalent of winning thelottery here in NA.

"YAY! My son is the reincarnated Buddha!!! Bring on the royalties!!!"

[bouche]

That's vampires not immortal beings dumbass!

i'm sure the kid has the taste for blood. That's probably what he's feeding on in the non-viewing hours any way. I half-suspected that some of these devotees are slowly disappearing, one by one as buddha boy's entourage harvests their blood.