[Buddha-l] Nepal's Buddha Boy is back

[Bankei]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/devotees-flock-to-buddha-reincarnation-in-nepal/2008/11/13/1226318780198.html


The teenage boy revered by many as a reincarnation of Buddha sat silently in
the jungle as he blessed his devotees on Wednesday with a light tap on the
head, which they consider the touch of the divine.

His face was still, his long hair spilled over his white robe, and he never
said a word.

The followers of Ram Bahadur Bamjan, 18, believe he has been meditating
without food and water since he was first spotted in the jungles of southern
Nepal in 2005, when believers say he spent months without moving, sitting
with his eyes closed beneath a tree.

Bamjan re-emerged this week to meet his followers, who have come by the
thousands to see him in the jungles of Ratanpur, about 160km south of
Katmandu.

"I got a chance to see God today," Bishnu Maya Khadka, a housewife, said
after receiving Bamjan's blessing today. "They say he is Buddha, but for me
he is just God."

Bamjan was expected to address his followers on November 18 and then retreat
again into the jungle for meditation, said Kamal Tamang, a Buddhist priest.

Bamjan received the pilgrims from atop a podium covered in yellow cloth and
placed before a massive tree. He looked healthy and strong and showed no
signs of starvation or dehydration.

Buddhism, which has about 325 million followers, mostly in Asia, teaches
that every soul is reincarnated after death in another bodily form.

But several Buddhist scholars have been skeptical of the claims that Bamjan
is a reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, who was born in southwestern Nepal
roughly 2,500 years ago and became revered as the Buddha, or Enlightened
One.

"Being Buddha means the last birth and the highest level that can be
achieved. There can be no reincarnation of Buddha, even though Buddhists
believe in life after death," said Rakesh, a Buddhist scholar in Kathmandu
who goes by only one name.

"Meditating without food does not prove that he is the reincarnation of
Buddha," said Min Bahadur Shakya of the Nagarjuna Institute of Exact
Methods, a Buddhist research centre in Kathmandu. "There is much study
needed to be done."

Bamjan has never addressed the subject in any of his speeches.

The devotees who have flocked to visit him have fewer doubts. Colourful
prayer flags fluttered and incense filled the air today as the pilgrims
silently approached Bamjan, who was surrounded by a line of Buddhist monks.

"I have no doubt in my mind he is a God," said Meg Bahadur Lama, a local
farmer. "He has been meditating without food and water and no human can
achieve such a feat. I used to hear about such miracles in the past but now
I got to see one."