Buddha Boy

[Justin24]

Is this possible to not eat and drink for three years straight or is this a ploy to gain money?

Nepal's 'Buddha Boy' begins three-year meditation in bunker

AFP Photo

A Nepali teenager dubbed the "Buddha Boy" has begun meditating for three years in an underground bunker and will neither sleep, eat nor drink any water during that time, supporters claimed Tuesday.

Ram Bahadur Bomjan, 17, who supporters insist is the reincarnation of the Buddha, shot to fame in May 2005 amid reports he did not need food, water or sleep while meditating.

He has, however, been spotted nibbling on fruit and catching a nap.

"We've constructed an underground room with a tiled roof as requested by Bomjan," said Raju Shah, a member of a village committee set up to support the activities of the young man.

Shah said Bomjam began meditating in the bunker on Monday.

"He has not eaten, slept or taken any water and he plans to continue meditating without food or water for three years there," Shah claimed.

The cement-walled bunker is seven feet (2.1 metres) deep and is located in the jungle 60 kilometers (40 miles) southeast of Kathmandu, Shah told AFP.

Tens of thousands of people came to visit the teenager at his first meditation site under a pipal tree in the same area.

He vanished from the site in March 2006 after meditating for 10 months.

"This time he does not want visitors -- not even his family," said Shah.

Local authorities, however, have poured cold water on the fasting claims and said the boy was being used by supporters to fleece funds from villagers. They froze the committee's bank account containing 8,000 dollars -- a small fortune in impoverished Nepal.

Bomjam returned to the same area to meditate in December 2006, but disappeared again earlier this month.

"While he was wandering round the jungle, he met a villager and asked him to construct an underground room. We began doing it immediately and he has started to meditate there," Shah told AFP.

Gautama Siddhartha, who later became known as Buddha or the Enlightened One, is believed to have been born in southern Nepal around 500 BC.

Buddhists believe Siddhartha achieved enlightenment after meditating under a pipal tree.

The media here has reported that Bomjan had told a friend that he is not a reincarnation of Buddha, but merely an "austere sage."

 

[ylimeU2]

A person can't survive without food or water. It takes about three to five days for a body to begin to die without water, depending on the health of the person to start with. As for food, one can go longer. Bobby Sands went 66 (?) days without food before dying, but if memory serves, that was a hunger strike andI think he was still drinking water. Based on that, I don't imagine someone can live very long without either.

 

[Vincent Vega]

You need to get some water and vitamins.
Without anything, you won't survive.
Terence McSwiney died after 74 days.

 

[Justin24]

But if he is some "Super Being" It could be possible?? Just a theory.

 

[Diemen]

Doubtful. The article even mentions he's been spied nibbling fruit.

 

[BVS]

Not sure what this has to do with money...

 

[Justin24]

Not sure what this has to do with money...

Well in the article it said. The government thinks he is doing this to support Rebels. But his family has said it is not true, could it be for publicity also??

 

[BVS]

Well in the article it said. The government thinks he is doing this to support Rebels. But his family has said it is not true, could it be for publicity also??

Ok, somehow I missed that the first time I read through it.

Regardless it's a scam... Not sure exactly what point he's proving, but oh well.

 

[Justin24]

But we don't know if it's a scam. He could become a high level monk for all we know? What makes the Dali Llama special?

 

[Vincent Vega]

Well, for some, who really deeply believe in it it's a possibility that he is a reincarnation or something similar.
As other believe that Jesus might return some day, buddhists believe that Buddha will come back in form of a reincarnation. I can't say if everybody believes it because I'm not an expert of this.

 

[BVS]

But we don't know if it's a scam. He could become a high level monk for all we know? What makes the Dali Llama special?

From what I know of Buddhism, no where do they claim some kind of "superhuman" abilities.

We do know it's a scam, if the boy is human he needs food and water.

 

[ylimeU2]

But we don't know if it's a scam. He could become a high level monk for all we know? What makes the Dali Llama special?

Even a monk can't live without food or water for that long.

And would you please stop with the devil's advocate crap.

 

[Justin24]

I am not playing Devil's Advocate. I am wondering what is the difference between him and the Dali Llama. If he does eat nibblits fine, but it does not rule out him wanting to seek spiritual enlightenment.

 

[Diemen]

That wasn't the issue, though, was it?

You asked at the beginning whether it was possible to survive for three years without food or water. The answer is no. Whether he's seeking spiritual enlightenment or not doesn't really enter the picture, the way I see it. Only that if he truly does go without food or water, he might get an answer sooner than expected.

 

[Justin24]

Allas we will never know. heheh. What ticks me off is people walk past him in the video and sit's still and no movements. But to film him to see if he does eat, you cannot film that close and at night they put a screen around him, so we will not know what really happens.

 

[ylimeU2]

That wasn't the issue, though, was it?

You asked at the beginning whether it was possible to survive for three years without food or water. The answer is no. Whether he's seeking spiritual enlightenment or not doesn't really enter the picture, the way I see it. Only that if he truly does go without food or water, he might get an answer sooner than expected.

From my extremely limited knowledge of Buddhism, the Dalai Lama is a reincarnation of himself. The search for the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama (Lama, not llama) does not begin until after his death. And then the monks search for a child that knows the possessions of the previous incarnate of the Dalai Lama.

But, that wasn't your original question nor was the Dali Lama or spiritual enlightment mentioned in the article at all.

 

[ylimeU2]

Allas we will never know. heheh. What ticks me off is people walk past him in the video and sit's still and no movements. But to film him to see if he does eat, you cannot film that close and at night they put a screen around him, so we will not know what really happens.

Is this another internet video you've found?

Makes it more likely to be a scam, which, I already know it is. But if he truly is fasting (for spiritual enlightenment or whatever), he will be dead within a month. If he lives, it is a scam. There is your proof.