Devotees Say Teen Is Buddha Reborn

Nyaralego

JF-Expert Member
Nov 13, 2007
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Devotees Say Teen Is Buddha Reborn...
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Devotees Say Teen Is Buddha Reborn
RATANPUR, Nepal (Nov. 12) - The
teenage boy revered by many as a
reincarnation of Buddha sat silently in the
jungle as he blessed his devotees
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 100 miles south of
Katmandu.
“I got a chance to see God today,” Bishnu
Maya Khadka, a housewife, said after
receiving Bamjan’s blessing Wednesday.
“They say he is Buddha, but for me he is
just God.”
Bamjan was expected to address his
followers on Nov. 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 Katmandu 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 center in Katmandu.
“There is much study needed to be done.”
Bamjan has never addressed the subject
in any of his speeches.
Devotees Say Teen Is Buddha Reborn...
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The devotees who have flocked to visit
him have fewer doubts. Colorful prayer
flags fluttered and incense filled the air
Wednesday 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.”



Devotees Say Teen Is Buddha Reborn
 

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