Sunday, December 04, 2005
An update: Who da Buddha?
Here is an update from the story we have been following about the Buddah Boy, Ram Bahadur Bomjon. Rewritten from reports, including the Gulf News.
Kathmandu, NEPAL -- Nepali officials said they will visit 15-year-old Ram Bahadur Bomjon to investigate the incredible claims he has been meditating without food or water for six months. “Many believe him but there are some who think it’s too incredible,” said Shanta Raj Subedi, chief officer of Bara district southeast of Kathmandu.
Subedi said he asked the Home Ministry and the Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology to find out more about Bomjon, who followers say has not moved since he began meditating.
“We are also trying to bring Lamas [teachers] from Buddhist monasteries to look into it,” Subedi said. “Because it deals with religion, we need to find out the actual truth about this before doing anything else.”
Tens of thousands of Buddhists have flocked to see the boy, some believing that he is a reincarnation of the founder of Buddhism, Lord Siddhartha Gautama, who lived in the region more than 2,500 years ago.
“I felt very happy, nice and calm when I went to the place where the young boy is meditating,” Padma Kamal Singh said after visiting the area where Ram is resting. “We have heard that people with special powers can meditate for long periods without taking food or water.”
Devotees keep visitors a good distance from the boy, who sits under a banyan tree, as did Lord Buddha. They are not allowed to take photographs, but can use binoculars.
Doctors questioned the claims of a total fast lasting six months, saying that surviving beyond a few weeks was unlikely. “Normally, a person can stay alive without food or water for less than a month,” doctor Khagendra Bahadur Shrestha said. “People need calories to survive.”
Govinda Chitrakar, secretary general of the Lumbini Development Trust, a Buddhist organisation, said he would travel to Bara next week. The Buddha is believed to have been born in Lumbini, a pilgrimage site, close to Nepal’s border with India.
Kathmandu, NEPAL -- Nepali officials said they will visit 15-year-old Ram Bahadur Bomjon to investigate the incredible claims he has been meditating without food or water for six months. “Many believe him but there are some who think it’s too incredible,” said Shanta Raj Subedi, chief officer of Bara district southeast of Kathmandu.
Subedi said he asked the Home Ministry and the Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology to find out more about Bomjon, who followers say has not moved since he began meditating.
“We are also trying to bring Lamas [teachers] from Buddhist monasteries to look into it,” Subedi said. “Because it deals with religion, we need to find out the actual truth about this before doing anything else.”
Tens of thousands of Buddhists have flocked to see the boy, some believing that he is a reincarnation of the founder of Buddhism, Lord Siddhartha Gautama, who lived in the region more than 2,500 years ago.
“I felt very happy, nice and calm when I went to the place where the young boy is meditating,” Padma Kamal Singh said after visiting the area where Ram is resting. “We have heard that people with special powers can meditate for long periods without taking food or water.”
Devotees keep visitors a good distance from the boy, who sits under a banyan tree, as did Lord Buddha. They are not allowed to take photographs, but can use binoculars.
Doctors questioned the claims of a total fast lasting six months, saying that surviving beyond a few weeks was unlikely. “Normally, a person can stay alive without food or water for less than a month,” doctor Khagendra Bahadur Shrestha said. “People need calories to survive.”
Govinda Chitrakar, secretary general of the Lumbini Development Trust, a Buddhist organisation, said he would travel to Bara next week. The Buddha is believed to have been born in Lumbini, a pilgrimage site, close to Nepal’s border with India.
