Nepal's 'Buddha' boy goes missing (BBC News)

[Up2Late]

(For the record, I've been skeptical about this "'Buddha' boy," and have felt this was a scam since I heard about it him in November, and I'm a student of Tibetan Buddhism.)

Saturday, 11 March 2006, 15:36 GMT

Nepal's 'Buddha' boy goes missing

By Bhagirath Yogi
BBC News, Kathmandu

A 16-year-old boy who had been meditating and fasting in a Nepal forest for 10 months has been missing since Saturday morning, police say. Locals and police searched the area in the southern district of Bara but have not been able to locate him so far.

Police have rejected reports that the young boy, popularly known as "Little Buddha", may have been abducted. His followers say Ram Bomjan may have moved deep inside the forest looking for a quieter place to meditate.

Hundreds of people used to visit the area every day where the young boy was meditating. Make-shift shops had been set up by the locals to cater to the visitors who came from different parts of Nepal and neighbouring India.

Buddhist flags were erected around the site where Bomjan was meditating. Booklets carrying his photo and CDs sold like hotcakes in Kathmandu and other parts of the country.

(more at link below)

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4797064.stm>

[Maddy McCall]

1. I know nothing about modern Buddhism...

Why are you skeptical about this kid?

[Up2Late]

4. The reason to be skeptical is not just the "no food or water for 10 month"

...thing, but the fact they they won't let anyone within 50 Yards of him, saying that "it would disturb him."

That's BS, if he was actually so deep in meditation that he could go without food and water for 10 months, walking up to see if he was still breathing would not disturb his meditation.

Also, when ever they say they will let someone examine him, they pull a curtain, and if he was for real, I am sure The Dalai Lama would have spoken of him or visited him. As far as I know, he hasn't.

BTW, most people would die if they went 4 to 7 days without water.

Here some links from the past:

<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/21/wbuddha21.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/11/21/ixportal.html>

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4479240.stm>

[Maddy McCall]

7. I thought you could have water while fasting...

but not food.

But I see what you are saying.

[smirkymonkey]

32. I think they might have a "Weekend At Bernies" type of situatioin

on their hands.

Maybe he just evaporated or something. :shrug:

[LisaL]

5. Do you seriously think it's humanely possible to not eat or

drink for 10 months?

[Maddy McCall]

8. I wasn't addressing the physical side of the fasting when I asked...

the previous poster why he was skeptical. I thought he might have a spiritual skepticism besides the fasting thing.

Yes, I am fully aware that a human cannot survive without food or water for 10 months. But I am not going to second-guess what Buddhists believe, because I didn't want to sound condescending.

The Buddha fasted for 49 days under the Bodhi tree. I've never said that I am skeptical of all Buddhism because I find that hard to believe and humanly impossible.

I thought that maybe the previous poster possessed more information about this kid, and I was curious.

[soothsayer]

14. Yep

[Poppyseedman]

2. The reason is in the story itself.

"His followers claimed that Bomjan did not take food or even water throughout his t10 month-long meditation."

He is a little pile of dust on the forest floor.

BTW, no disrespect toward your religion intended

[TrogL]

3. Follow the money

The dramatically increased movement of people has generated economic opportunities. (from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4479240.stm)

If he's gone, no more photo or CD sales.

[Up2Late]

6. I just hope they don't start claiming that he vanish in a flash of light

...or a puff of smoke or something.

Most likely, he'll turn up in a new location, but with the same restrictions.

[shrike]

20. Or he left to get a Big Mac

OOOHHH what a terrible thing to say!

My sincerest apologies to the Buddhists on this board. I so like your faith. I just couldn't resist . . .

[greyl]

19. I think it'll lead to more sales.

More publicity, more concern, more sales.

Maybe Kofi whisked him away to the UN because he's found a way to end world starvation and overuse of our land.

[genieroze]

9. Looking at the pic, he looks like a doll or mannequin. Seem like BS to me.

[NYC]

10. What is that thing on his head?

[Up2Late]

15. That's supposed to be his hair, they claim that it has grown that much...

...in the 10 Month he's been meditating.

Look more like a bad wig that has slipped off of a mannequin's head to me.

Here's a picture from November:



And one that's a little older:


A file picture of Ram Bomjan meditating in Bara, southern Nepal. (Reuters)

<http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060312/asp/foreign/story_5958710.asp>

[NYC]

16. It doesn't look natural.

I assume that if he hasn't eaten or drunk for 10 months, he also hasn't combed his hair. Instead of looking scraggly, it looks about twice as thick as it should be.

A very bad wig.

[acmavm]

11. No food or water for ten months? Maybe he's sitting sideways and we

just can't see him.

[KittyWampus]

12. Here is a true case

Fasting fakir flummoxes physicians

By Rajeev Khanna
BBC correspondent in Ahmedabad


Doctors and experts are baffled by an Indian hermit who claims not to have eaten or drunk anything for several decades - but is still in perfect health.

Mr Prahlad Jani under surveillance in hospital

Prahlad Jani, a holy man, or fakir, who is over 70 years old, has just spent 10 days under constant observation in Sterling Hospital, in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.

During that time, he did not consume anything and "neither did he pass urine or stool", according to the hospital's deputy superintendent, Dr Dinesh Desai.

Yet he is in fine mental and physical fettle, say doctors.

Most people can live without food for several weeks, with the body drawing on its fat and protein stores. But the average human can survive for only three to four days without water.

Followers of Indian holy men and ascetics have often ascribed extraordinary powers to them, but such powers are seldom subject to scientific inspection.

Mouthwash

"A series of tests conducted on him show his body mechanism is that of a normal person," said Dr Desai.

Mr Jani spends most of his time in a cave near the Ambaji temple in Gujarat state.

He has never fallen ill and can continue to live like this

Bhiku Prajapati, Mr Jani's devotee

He spent his 10 days in hospital in a specially prepared room, with a sealed-off toilet and constant video surveillance.

To help the doctors verify his claims, Mr Jani agreed to avoid bathing for his time in hospital.

The only fluid he was allowed was a small amount of water, to use as mouthwash.

One hundred millilitres of water were given to him, and then collected and measured in a beaker when he spat it out, to make sure none had been drunk.

Thank goddess

A statement from Ahmedabad's Association of Physicians says that despite no water entering his body, urine nonetheless appeared to form in his bladder - only to be re-absorbed by the bladder walls.


Hungry for blessings: Mr Jani receives a devotee in hospital

At the end of his confinement, doctors noted no deterioration in his condition, other than a slight drop in his weight.

"I feel no need for food and water," says Mr Jani, who claims he was blessed by a goddess at the age of eight and has lived in caves ever since.

He grew up in Charod village in Mehsana district and wears the dress of a devotee of the goddess Ambaji - a red sari-like garment, nose ring, bangles and crimson flowers in the hair.

He also wears the vermilion "tika" mark on his forehead, more often seen on married Hindu women.

His followers call him "mataji" or goddess.

More tests

He says he has survived several decades without food or water because of a hole in his palate.

Drops of water filter through this hole, he says, sustaining him.

"He has never fallen ill and can continue to live like this," said Bhiku Prajapati, one of Mr Jani's many followers.

"A hole in the palate is an abnormal phenomenon," says Dr Desai.

His colleague, Dr Urman Dhruv, told the BBC a full medical report is being prepared on Mr Jani's 10 days under observation.

Doctors say they cannot verify his claim to have not eaten or drunk for decades - but by observing his feat under laboratory conditions, they hope to learn more about the human body.

It is likely that doctors will want to examine Mr Jani again in order to solve the medical mystery he has presented them with.

[Codeine]

13. Riiiight.

Go more than a week or so with no water, and you die. Fakir or faker, hmm?

[gtar100]

26. There's such a simple explanation to this, ye of little faith...

He has developed such a fine spiritual body that he's able to extract ethereal energy from the surrounding environment and literally transform it into the energy and sustenance his body needs. It happens on a cellular level, he doesn't actually create a meal and deposit it into his stomach. And he's not keeping the physical body alive from nothing - that is a physical impossibility.

I mean really, isn't it obvious? You just have to think about these things logically.

[greyl]

18. That story was also a hoax

Gullibility of the week award

Duncan Gill referred us to an article in The Australian about a man in India who claims he hasn't eaten or taken a drink in 68 years, a veritable inediate. Prahlad Jani also claims he hasn't gone to the bathroom in all those years. The story claims that Mr. Jani (whose name means Lying Through My Holy Palate) was put under round-the-clock surveillance at a hospital. Neurologist Sudhir Shah (whose name means I Am Too Smart to Be Fooled) said Jani was under watch for 10 days with a closed-circuit camera running and they didn't see him eat or drink anything or go to the bathroom. The story was sent to The Australian by "correspondents in Ahmedabad, India" Ahmedabad means City of the Credulous and is the commercial capital of the western state of Gujarat (which means Gotcha!). When The Australian was contacted and asked if they had verified their sources' claims, they replied: "No. Why do you ask? It could be true, you know." Skeptics accuse Jani of surreptitiously sucking in prana through his nose ring.

The award must be shared with the BBC, CNN, Der Spiegel, China Daily, and the Hindustan Times. All report that Jani says he survives without food or water because of a hole in his palate and that his followers call him "mataji" or goddess. He also says he has lived in caves since he was eight, so how he attracted a following is not known, nor is it clear how a man who lives in caves and doesn't eat grew in size from a child to an adult as if he were an eater.

http://skepdic.com/news/newsletter34.html

also: http://www.randi.org/jr/122603li.html

[KittyWampus]

21. Funny, but nowhere does it actually DEBUNK or DISPROVE anything

[Bhaisahab]

23. good catch n/t

[greyl]

28. "Did you confirm the source?"

"No, why should we?"


It was debunked. There's less evidence for this story than there is for intelligence in the oval office.

[Zhade]

37. You're talking to a poster who believes in Intelligent Design.

Why waste your time, even though you are in fact correct?

[greyl]

38. Yeah, well...

"Why waste your time, even though you are in fact correct?"

For google posterity? Would you believe that? ;)

[screembloodymurder]

42. Intelligent design may not be science, but

one's beliefs should not be ridiculed.

[Zhade]

44. I completely disagree.

When one supports the unscientific (there's no "may" about it) unproven premise of 'intelligent design', one should be ready to have that belief mocked.

It is, after all, a bullshit idea. 'Intelligent design' is as praise-worthy an idea as eugenics - in other words, a useless, potentially dangerous hash of quasi-scientific-sounding assumptions and flights of fancy.

There are biblical literalists who believe that homosexuals should be killed for being homosexual. I'll mock that, too, as well as the idea that the Great Flood myth actually happened as recorded in the bible, or the idea that the Earth is only a few thousand years old.

Not all ideas or beliefs are worth the same, and there is absolutely no requirement that I respect a person's beliefs. I only have to respect their RIGHT to their beliefs, no matter how stupid (like 'intelligent design') those beliefs might be.

[colorado_ufo]

30. I went grocery shopping today

and surely wish I could do this! The beef prices alone warrant taking out a home equity loan.

[greyl]

17. We've ALL been Left Behind!!!

Here's the months old thread in DU's Religion/Theology forum about this fraud

[Kailassa]

22. Having fasted myself for approximately 17 years,

I can personally guarantee it is possible to go that long without food or drink.

Of course I didn't do it all in one go, the fast was mostly done in 8 hour sessions during the wee small hours while I slept.

Life is enough of a miracle as it is. I could never understand people who are so eager to believe every weird and wonderful story that gets publicised, as if no-one has ever faked a show for money before.

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

24. you can't fast for 17 years-

and fasting while you sleep doesn't count either-

[greyl]

29. I wonder if it's possible to go without a sense of humor for 17 y..nt

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

33. ask those who fast for 17 years

[Kailassa]

31. If fasting while you sleep does not count,

Then why is the morning meal called break-fast? :donut: :popcorn:

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

34. yeah my yoga teacher told us that- but regardless

you can't go around telling people that "yes my son"-from personal experience it is possible to bla bla blah...

Q:
Why are you trying to impress upon people here the idea that you yourself have fasted without food or drink for 10 months?

Q 2:Are you really serious?

[greyl]

35. from their post, hence the sense of humor remark:

"Of course I didn't do it all in one go, the fast was mostly done in 8 hour sessions during the wee small hours while I slept." ;)

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

36. i see your point

but read the breakfast reply

[greyl]

39. Ohhhhh. So you think they may be totally nuts? :) nt

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

40. no

[Kailassa]

41. Well actually, I'm totally nuts, yep .

Nutty enough to think everyone here would realize that my post was just making fun of all the "miraculous feat" type stories people are so quick to believe. ;-)

There have been children in Australia who have died because their parents believed in a "Breatharian", who claimed to extract everything he needed from the oxygen he breathed, and wanted his followers to do the same. Eventually reporters checked him out and found donuts and takeaways and ice-cream in his fridge, but he insisted that eating those did not make him a liar, as they could not be classed as food.

Believing any downright idiocy is dangerous. History has shown us that once people give up their ability to sort fact from fiction, they can be manipulated in terrible ways.

As for breakfast being called breakfast ... the original meaning of it was "breaking the fast", but mentioning that doesn't really mean I want my claim of having not eaten or drunk while I slept to be taken as proof of anything remarkable. It would be much more remarkable if I did eat and drink while I slept.

[TankLV]

25. Hey I've fasted for over 60 years - no food OR water

and I'm only 53 years old!

How come nobody's interviewing me and showering me with "gifts"?!?!

Maybe he's hiding Saddam's WMD!

[Chomskyite]

27. The Republicans got him

They want to study him to see what they can do to make it so the poor, the sick and the old in America can survive without food and water. If I wanted to find him, I'd look in Bill Frist's basement. I'd imagine what he's seen and experienced while being Frist's pet boy would probably make Abu Ghraib life feel like a day at a spa in Switzerland.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

43. He's 16--maybe he just got tired of the whole situation and ran away

to have some fun.