'Buddha Boy' Emerges from the Jungles of Nepal

By Keith A. Fournier
11/14/2008
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

The claim that this young man is the reincarnation of the Buddha has been a cause of disagreement within the community of Buddhist authorities.

LONDON, U.K. (Catholic Online) - Reports out of London indicate that a teenager whom some people maintain is a reincarnation of the �Buddha� has emerged from his self imposed year of meditation in the jungle where he claimed to be preparing for his mission. The young man, popularly called �the Buddha Boy� is causing quite a stir by drawing thousands of devotees and increasing crowds of the curious.

18 year old Ram Bahadur Bamjan, re-emerged from the jungle this past week near Nijgadh, about 100 miles south of the capital of Nepal, Katmandu. The growing crowds of devotees and the curious are coming from as far away as India. The young man is �instructing� the people and bestowing �blessings� upon them. He says he will do so for a week and then return to the jungle to meditate.

Looking the part dressed in a white cloth with flowing long hair, the 18 year old named Bamjan has delighted some in the crowds with his teachings on ending discrimination and bringing about world peace. However, not all are pleased, or convinced.

One of those interviewed by the local Press was Sangeeta Lama, a woman who met Bamjan for the first time this past week. She told the reporter 'It was an amazing experience to hear and see him. I have no doubt now he is the reincarnation of Buddha'.

However, the Buddhist priests and authorities are not so quick to extol the boy. There has been no formal declaration that this teenager is a �reincarnation� of Siddhartha Gautama, the �Buddha�. The original Buddha was born in 500 BC in Nepal. He was given the title �Buddha� which means the enlightened one.

Those who follow the Buddhist philosophy believe in reincarnation, a doctrine which asserts the preexistence of souls and their reappearance in multiple bodies. The claim that this young man is the reincarnation of the Buddha has been a cause of disagreement within the community of Buddhist authorities who evaluate such matters.

However, the �faithful� have been enamored with the young man since he was first seen in 2005 meditating in the jungles of Nepal.

One Buddhist authority, Min Bahadur Shakya of the Nagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods in Katmandu, noted his skepticism of the claim in these words 'Meditating without food does not prove that he is reincarnation of Buddha. There is much study needed to be done.'

Buddhism has approximately 325 million adherents.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

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1 - 6 of 6 Comments

JT
7 months ago
It is now a year after he came out of his 6 years of meditation in which he proclaims he is enlightened and giving lessons along with his power of bringing about world peace. oh well, there are still wars going on throughout the world so he has failed completely. He failed even to save his own father from sickness and death. He couldn't awaken him to enlightenment before he passed away into the lord of death. He proclaimed to bring happiness to his family and now he is having major problems of enmity, strife and dismay with them. So, if he cannot spiritually awaken his own family to enlightenment, what can he do for the rest of the world? A Saviour of mankind or the antichrist? Beware.
Adeptus
4 years ago
"This article seems out of place.There is one God. There is one church."

There is also one heck of a lot of ignorance. Learning about other religions does not harm your own. Unless you are insecure about it.

Buddha Boy is not/ can not be the reincarnation of the original Buddha, because achievement of Enlightenment itself is the cesation of re-incarnation for whomever achieves it.

Buddha Boy himself has publicly stated for people not to call him a Buddha, because he has not yet attained that level. He says he is merely at the stage of a 'teacher'. However, his goal is obviously to attain Enlightenment and he has stated he will meditate to that goal until sometime in 2012.

Buddha Boy has already performed several miracles, some of which have been filmed. "Miracles" of course are not super natural, but performed by those who know how and have the refined body and mind and concentration abilities to perform them. The How is written in many a buddhist and Hindu texts.
Bobby
4 years ago
Maybe he is the "Anti-Christ" ?
LTJ
4 years ago
I have just spent 9 straight days from morning to evening with Palden Dorje. He has tirelessly blessed thousands and thousands of pilgrims. I had to take approximately 3 breaks a day for the heat, the hunger, and an occasional nature call. He never took a break and greeted all happily, and sometimes unexpectedly. He never took a break, he is not quite human. He was in my heart comminicating with me continuously sometimes pausing from his blessing to smile at me with a smile that is the most radiant beautiful smile in the world. He is deep and incredibly real and being with him feels like being with Aslan.
I know him for his works. In three years, he will show himself at his full stage of completion and all doubt shall be washed away.
Mauricio Martinez
4 years ago
This article seems out of place.There is one God. There is one church.

I see absolutely no need to discuss any other religious belief unless it is concerning something directly affecting Christianity.
Brandon
4 years ago
There is not any controversy in the Buddhist community globally about if this is the reincarnation of Shakyamuni Buddha, as every school of Buddhism holds the basic idea that Shakyamuni Buddha has gone beyond rebirth (Buddhist don't actually believe in reincarnation specifically --an important but subtle difference--).

The idea this is Shakyamuni Buddha comes from people uneducated in the specifics of Buddhism, like the media or random citizens with a vague notion about what Buddhism is and who've decided to go visit Ram and ended up giving a sound byte.

As well, consider that even the "Buddha Boy" himself has stated that he's not a Buddha or the Buddha (Buddha Shakyamuni).

They say he's teaching people, report on the content of that. Or report on what evidence there is that suggest this might be a hoax. As the basis for this story is a complete non-issue for Buddhist.

Anybody reporting on this story that wants to fit Ram inside of some Buddhist cosmological framework, should be questioning if he's Metteya, the one prophesied to come after Buddha Shakyamuni. At least that would make some logistical sense to Buddhist, where as questioning if he's Shakyamuni Buddha is embarrassing, not to Buddhist, but to those even giving voice to a question that shows a lack of an even elementry understanding of Buddhism.

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