Buddha boy

Oryx

I saw a documentary on discovery about this guy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/21/wbuddha21.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/11/21/ixportal.html
It was very convincing, but I did miss the last few mins. Anyone else ever hear of this?

6th

Amazing, he put David Blaine to shame.

pH

If this was a 15 year old child in this country and people were claiming he's:

• Stayed outside
• Not been fed
• Not attended school
• And was attacked by wild animals

There'd be outrage and someone would be arrested for child abuse. At the very least he'd be taken into care for his own safety.

If this was a schoolboy sitting under an oak tree in Drimnagh, social services would be involved in an instant. But it's somehow different for a Nepalese youngster?

Oryx

pH wrote:

If this was a schoolboy sitting under an oak tree in Drimnagh, social services would be involved in an instant. But it's somehow different for a Nepalese youngster?

Actually it is. Their beliefs differ wildly from ours. His family see this as an honour and a privelege for them. My knowledge here is sketchy but in their eyes he may be a reincarnation of an enlightened soul who is continuing the spiritual journey.

On the doc they filmed him continually for days, he never moved, or ate, but never showed any signs of dehydration etc. He also was seen to sweat at times, when it was cold, which they attributed to a form of deep meditation.

But like I said I missed the last few mins, when shows like this often offer scientific explanations or other contrary evidence.

6th

Just because things are done a certain way in our culture doesnt mean everyone else should follow what we do. We have to accept that different people do things in their own way.

pH

KaiteK wrote:

Actually it is. Their beliefs differ wildly from ours. His family see this as an honour and a privelege for them. My knowledge here is sketchy but in their eyes he may be a reincarnation of an enlightened soul who is continuing the spiritual journey.

But I'm not posting in a Nepalese forum, I'm questioning how *we* (as westerners so to speak) should react to a story which according out yardsticks is child-abuse.

On the doc they filmed him continually for days, he never moved, or ate, but never showed any signs of dehydration etc. He also was seen to sweat at times, when it was cold, which they attributed to a form of deep meditation.

I'm not sure I'm allowed question the veracity of any paranormal claim in this forum, but the statement about 'filmed him continually for days' is false:

"Bomjon has been observed not to leave the tree at least during the daytime, but nobody is allowed to approach him too closely. Between 5:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. nobody is allowed to see him, and a screen is erected for that purpose. Many people speculate that he eats and drinks during this time."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Bahadur_Bamjan

But like I said I missed the last few mins, when shows like this often offer scientific explanations or other contrary evidence.

Rest assured! No such explanations where offered, the 'documentary' was entirely credulous, and offered no real skeptical points of view.

6th wrote:

Just because things are done a certain way in our culture doesnt mean everyone else should follow what we do. We have to accept that different people do things in their own way.

This isn't about what "they do" it's about our reaction to it.

stevenmu

pH wrote:

But I'm not posting in a Nepalese forum, I'm questioning how *we* (as westerners so to speak) should react to a story which according out yardsticks is child-abuse.

I haven't seen the documentary but he has been in the papers a few times. From what I know of it, I wouldn't see it as constituting child-abuse in any way. First of all, he appears to have done this of his own free will and is free to stop any time he chooses. I believe he has been visited by welfare groups and the local authorities who tried to persuade him to eat and drink and they failed. As Katie mentioned he doesn't appear to be suffering any ill health as a result of this. If he's not suffering and he's doing what he wants to do, I don't see how it can be child abuse.

Altough it is slightly worrying that he seems to have disappeared

pH

stevenmu wrote:

I haven't seen the documentary but he has been in the papers a few times. From what I know of it, I wouldn't see it as constituting child-abuse in any way.

Neglect - Failure of caretakers to provide for a child’s fundamental needs. Although neglect can include children’s necessary emotional needs, neglect typically concerns adequate food, housing, clothing, medical care and education.
http://naccchildlaw.org/childrenlaw/childmaltreatment.html

6th

This is beginning to turn nto a thread for the Humanities forum

Ziycon

KatieK it end up that one night something happened and the next day when everyone work up they found that the Buddaboy had gone all that was left was his red blanket, they suspect he was either kidnapped or that he went further into the forest for deeper meditation and that someday in the future he will walk out of the forest perfectly fine!

Thats how it ended anyways.

TheAlmightyArse

I'd say it was just a phase he was going through. Like dying his hair black and pretending to play the guitar.

stevenmu

pH wrote:

Neglect - Failure of caretakers to provide for a child’s fundamental needs. Although neglect can include children’s necessary emotional needs, neglect typically concerns adequate food, housing, clothing, medical care and education.
http://naccchildlaw.org/childrenlaw/childmaltreatment.html

If he voluntarily stayed that way for 8 months, then it's clear his fundamental needs were being met. Food, water, clothing, housing etc were all available to him, if he chose to avail of them.

IrishAirCorps

pH wrote:

But I'm not posting in a Nepalese forum, I'm questioning how *we* (as westerners so to speak) should react to a story which according out yardsticks is child-abuse.

How is it Child-abuse? He went and did this under how own steam,nobody forced him to go meditate under a tree.

6th

His point is that at his age he is under the care of his parents. Should children of that age be able to do things which may cause them severe damage just cos they choose too?

IrishAirCorps

the point was made his family let him and think its an honour.

GuanYin

Ok. This isn't humanities and this isn't a humanities thread.

I'm trusting KatieK's decision to post it here for now.

If we wantto talk about it as a case for reincarnation and the aspects of the childs abilities, lash ahead.

If it goes anywhere, it will be spirituality, assuming stevemu and thaed agree.

Oryx

My reason for posting here was purely because his ability to do this was strange and 'paranormal' and I wanted opinion on that.

Whether he should be allowed to do it or would here, is an issue for humanities, maybe someone will start a thread there.

I may start a thread in spirituality to discuss the type of meditation this guy appeared to be doing, and how he seemed to be able to overcome his physical needs by this.

stevenmu

Psi may be able to correct me on this, but afaik there's very little missing from human physiology that would be needed to allow us to hibernate. As part of research into how humans might survive prolonged flights in space, there have been tests done where non-hibernating mammals have been induced into hibernation either by injecting them with some enzyme or genetically engineering them to produce it themselves (I think it was the latter).

I suspect it may be possible through deep meditation to approach a state of hibernation, slowing the bodily processes enough to not require food or water for months.

Zillah

I heard that too. All mammals have the capacity to hibernate apparently, you just need the hormonal trigger.

Ziycon

KatieK wrote:

My reason for posting here was purely because his ability to do this was strange and 'paranormal' and I wanted opinion on that.

Whether he should be allowed to do it or would here, is an issue for humanities, maybe someone will start a thread there.

I may start a thread in spirituality to discuss the type of meditation this guy appeared to be doing, and how he seemed to be able to overcome his physical needs by this.

It was proven in the documentary by another Doctor that he had studied a case like this before and that it is possible for someone in such a deep state of meditation to slow down the motabalisum and there heart rate to such a slow rate that the person in question can survive indefently on the mosture in the air! Cant remember the doctors name.

solas

I hibernate occasionally,

like a hedghog

stormkeeper

Are you blue like a hedgehog too? Wait that doesn't sound right!



Er, anyway... I recall hearing about this years go, quite an interesting one really as well.

solas

kennett wrote:

Are you blue like a hedgehog too? Wait that doesn't sound right!

no, but I can curl up in a duvet for day's on end without moving or eating. Funny you mentioned blue hedghogs though, I hadn't played sonic in years until yesterday when my little bag of joy made me help her defeat the last boss. probably why i was thinking hedghogs in the first place


re the kid, has he been found yet?

stevenmu

hmmm, that gives me an idea.

"I'm sorry, I can't come in to work today. I'm in a deep state of meditation"

solas wrote:

re the kid, has he been found yet?

I don't think so but apparantly his family aren't particularly worried about him, and police are satisfied nothing untoward happened. Best bet seems to be that he got sick of the crowds and went off somewhere to be alone. Can't say I blame him, all he wanted to do was sit down with some peace and quiet and have a little think about things, and then he gets surrounded by a gang of chanting and praying people.

solas

steven wrote:

I don't think so but apparantly his family aren't particularly worried about him, and police are satisfied nothing untoward happened.

maybe he just ascended ? y'know... ?[/sarcasm]

solas

I should apologsise for my sarcasm, spent a night watching some sai baba stuf on youtube recently and while India is a cultre renowned for it's yogi's and wiseones, there are folks who know how to take advantage of it. Still, I'd like to think the kid is genuine.

stevenmu

yeah, I bet there's plenty of people out there now wondering how they could go about faking such a thing. From what I could tell, while people did show up to sell food and t-shirts and stuff to the crowd, they weren't anything to do with the kid and his family. Of course proper scammers would make it appear that way, but I think the fact that he took off and hid when he could have just sat there and made a fortune out of it says a lot. As does the fact that his family aren't trying to claim he ascended.

mysteria

( Nov. 2005) Ram Bahadur Banjan sat cross-legged, motionless in the Bara Jungle 100 miles south of Katmandu, Nepal meditating without eating or drinking since May 17th according to the small group of people looking after him. Thousands of pilgrims travelled to see him, many believing he is a reincarnation of Gautama Siddhartha, who was born nearby around 500 B.C.E. and later became revered as the Buddha A reporter from a local newspaper who spent two days at the site claims about 10,000 people a day came to visit the boy. Visitors could only get a glimpse of Banjan from a roped-off area about 80 feet away between dawn and dusk. At dusk however his followers erected a screen and no-one could see what was happening behind it until it was removed at dawn. Local officials asked the Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology in Katmandu to send scientists to examine Banjan. (The reason for his disappearance, perhaps?)