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Buddha Boy
Posted in: Current Events,Spirituality by bill-o on November 16, 2008
After spending about one year of self-imposed isolation and meditation in the forests of southern Nepal, Ram Bahadur Bamjan, a teenage Buddihst, has emerged, at least for a few days, back into Nepali civilization. Now called the “Buddha Boy” by his followers, Bamjan is now teaching and blessing about 10,000 devotees each day. Bamjan’s teachings center on the need for peace and ending discrimination. Some even say that the Buddha Boy is a reincarnation of the Buddha himself, Siddhartha Gautama, but official Buddhist authorities have not made any such determination.
I’m not writing this post to endorse the Buddha Boy or his would-be followers. (In fact, there some who say that the Buddha Boy is a con man.) I’m primarily presenting this to you to show that the spiritual impulse within each of us has not vanished at the start of the 3rd Millenium. There is still a divine spark within us that drives us to seek out the spiritual essence of life. Everyone is on this journey, whether they realize it or not. This yearning moves us towards those who we think have gone further ahead on the journey than we have that me might be inspired and touched by them.
To read more about the Buddha Boy, please see:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24645114-2703,00.html
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I find it interesting that someone who preaches peace and and end to discrimination should be called a “con artist.” But then, there are always those determined to blight the bright. I hadn’t heard of this young man and hope that his year in the forests will sustain him during the years that lie ahead. There is always the danger that those whose message wields inspirational power begin to believe that they are the source of the message.
Comment by beryl singleton bissell — November 24, 2008 @ 6:21 pm
Because of this young man’s age, it is difficult to tell his true motivations. There are reports about him fasting for many days, yet people observe him eating during that time. Perhaps these witnesses are not correct. Perhaps the young man did not pledge to fast for a certain amount of time, but people thought that he had. Perhaps it is older adults around him who may be attempting to use him for their own selfish purposes, yet he himself has pure motivations. Ultimately, on our spiritual journeys, we should be neither suspicious nor gullible.
Yet, in the end, regardless of the true motivations and intentions here, I agree that it’s hard not to moved by someone so young who brings a message of peace to a war-torn nation like Nepal.
Comment by bill-o — November 26, 2008 @ 7:43 am