The "Buddha Boy" returns

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A few months ago our News Tab was blowing up with people pointing us to the story of Ram Bahaudr Bomjon (a.k.a. the Buddha Boy) of Nepal:

Ram Bahadur Bomjon (born May 9, 1989, sometimes Bomjan or Banjan), also known as Palden Dorje (his official Buddhist name), is a young Buddhist monk from Ratanapuri village, Bara district, Nepal who drew thousands of visitors and media attention for spending months in meditation, allegedly without food or water, although this claim is widely contested. Nicknamed the Buddha Boy, he began his meditation on May 16, 2005. He went missing on March 11, 2006 and reappeared on December 25, 2006. [Link]

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p>Just this past week the famed “Buddha Boy” re-emerged from the woods so dark into which he had disappeared for the last 10 months. Come on, was he really living in the woods for 10 whole months? Pictures never lie folks. If David Blaine can live inside an ice cube than surely this boy can live in the woods doing nothing but meditating:

With regards to his return:

The boy was spotted Sunday by cattle herders in the jungle, and a team of police and officials was sent Monday to investigate, said Harihar Dahal, an administrative official in the area.

Many followers believe Banjan is a reincarnation of Gautama Siddhartha, who was born in southwestern Nepal around 500 B.C. and later became revered as the Buddha.

However, Buddhist priests who visited the boy said he was not the incarnation of Buddha, but added they believed he had been meditating for months.

Buddhism teaches that right thinking and self-control can enable people to achieve nirvana — a divine state of peace and release from desire. Buddhism has about 325 million followers, mostly in Asia. [Link]

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I really sympathize with this kid because I think I can relate to his experience. For the past week I have been without internet access (phone company messed up) and my cell phone has been dying a violent death (10 minutes of battery time even after a full charge). All this in the middle of my move across the country during the holidays. The Buddha Boy probably scrounged for food and appealed for alms in his 10 months in the woods. I have been begging friends if I can come over for 10 minutes of internet access for a whole week! Without the ability to find the nearest Target and properly set-up the bathroom in SM’s new Houston bureau offices, I look nearly as disheveled as the Buddha Boy! My point? Even if he isn’t really the reincarnated Buddha I admire the kid, especially since I’ve only had to live like him for a week and am already near my spiritual breaking point. I entered Ikea for the first time in my life yesterday. The avarice of men was laid bare for my eyes inside that blue temple of lasciviousness. I left feeling utterly overwhelmed and in need of centering.

As for the Buddha Boy, I think I can predict the next chapter in his young life. He will soon meet a beautiful temptress named Kamala and will spend the next 20 years with her. Come to think of it, maybe I should do the same.

36 thoughts on “The "Buddha Boy" returns”

  1. Cool hairstyle. He could be the brown frontman for an all-white indie rock band with a kooky name.

  2. Ummm, don’t most sadhus go the same way as this Buddha boy? Even his only USP, i.e the reincarnation part, seems to have been debunked by the other monks. Hmmm…

    I entered Ikea for the first time in my life yesterday. The avarice of men was laid bare for my eyes inside that blue temple of lasciviousness.

    ROTFL! But fully agree with the description. The place is a veritable temple of debauchery, where the wallets of unsuspecting brown folk are preyed upon by the their own minds, high in the heady promise of cheap and often curvaceous chic furniture. Come weekends, the place is over-run by hand-holding brown folk, often with a stroller or two for company! Not the place for singles, I say!

    And would you believe that Jersey has not 1, but 2 of these? Philly has two too, I think!

  3. where the wallets of unsuspecting brown folk are preyed upon by the their own minds, high in the heady promise of cheap and often curvaceous chic furniture

    Some of us need to step away for some fresh air from Ikea!

  4. The avarice of men was laid bare for my eyes inside that blue temple of lasciviousness.

    Ah…Abhi…did you donate your buck and get the frozen yoghurt prasad? That’s one of the only reasons I go there…

    Out of curiosity, does the Budhha Boy talk? Did they just thrust greatness upon him or did he actually say that he’s a divine incarnation?

  5. I really sympathize with this kid because I think I can relate to his experience.

    I doubt Texas is a stop on the route to nirvana.

    Yes, I am a hater. 😉

  6. First YoDad writes “Abhi will tell you soon why I’m going to India”…

    Then you write: “He will soon meet a beautiful temptress named Kamala and will spend the next 20 years with her. Come to think of it, maybe I should do the same…”

    Add to this the fact that you just finished a major milestone in education and moved to Houston.

    What’s happening, Abhi?!

    Anna – give up all remaining hope!

    M. Nam

  7. …i’m still getting gover the fact that you have NEVER been to an Ikea before!?! and you didn’t even get a proper initiation… sigh

  9. What’s happening, Abhi?!

    You will all find out soon when I start flogging it toward the end of January. 🙂

    …i’m still getting gover the fact that you have NEVER been to an Ikea before!?! and you didn’t even get a proper initiation… sigh

    Sumiti, I really was disturbed by the place. Ask yourself this question. How do you know when you have achieved the perfect look for your bedroom/living room/kitchen? What is to stop you from repeatedly returning in a never ending quest for elusive perfection? Touring that place was an eye-opening lesson in the consumerism that has overtaken our society. I found it absolutely diabolical that the only way to find your way out was by following the blue arrows which conveniently took you by every single item in the store. Even once I made the decision to leave it took me nearly 20 minutes to navigate toward the exit! I felt like Odysseus against the Sirens. As I saw the exit I still had to get past the Scylla and Charybdis of the “self-serve” section.

  10. Does anyone else find it odd that he would reappear on December 25th

    Not really, Since Buddha is just a proxy for Jesus it makes sense to come out on your birthday. Wouldn’t you come out on your birthday? Since, everyone in the world celebrates it, and if they don’t, then they’re just not normal.

    “I believe in all religions, there are many paths to accepting Jesus Christ as your savior” -Stephen Colbert

  11. Sumiti, I really was disturbed by the place. Ask yourself this question. How do you know when you have achieved the perfect look for your bedroom/living room/kitchen? What is to stop you from repeatedly returning in a never ending quest for elusive perfection? Touring that place was an eye-opening lesson in the consumerism that has overtaken our society. I found it absolutely diabolical that the only way to find your way out was by following the blue arrows which conveniently took you by every single item in the store. Even once I made the decision to leave it took me nearly 20 minutes to navigate toward the exit! I felt like Odysseus against the Sirens. As I saw the exit I still had to get past the Scylla and Charybdis of the “self-serve” section.

    Did you ever see the movie Fightclub Abhi?

  12. Did you ever see the movie Fightclub Abhi?

    Once when it first came out. I hardly remember it though except for the ending. Why, do they talk about Ikea?

  13. Once when it first came out. I hardly remember it though except for the ending.

    I’d highly recommend a another viewing. It’s not as good as the Bollywood version, of course. @=)

  14. As has been prophesied on the air waves owned by the alphabet channel, the Buddha Boy will emerge in New York amidst a suffusion of mellow music with innocuous techno beats thrown in, all wrapped in a glitzy package. Of course, as is de riguer, he will be clad in all black and in appropriately sized(He knows) black rectangular glasses. He will proclaim that Dick Clark is just Maya, the projection of your own unrequited desires to be 150 years old too. And like the ball, you will feel pain too when your desires take a deep dive.

  17. As has been prophesied on the air waves owned by the alphabet channel, the Buddha Boy will emerge in New York amidst a suffusion of mellow music with innocuous techno beats thrown in, all wrapped in a glitzy package. Of course, as is de riguer, he will be clad in all black and in appropriately sized(He knows) black rectangular glasses. He will proclaim that Dick Clark is just Maya, the projection of your own unrequited desires to be 150 years old too. And like the ball, you will feel pain too when your desires take a deep dive.

    Rahul, you are hilarious!

  18. bess: From Slate’s How to tell if you’re the reincarnation of Siddhartha. A list of all the 32 signs of being the buddha…including hair that curls clockwise…

    Those are cool! Specially #10.

  19. Rahul, you are hilarious!

    Thanks, tamasha. You have great taste too! 😛 (only because you choose to mess with Texas, is all. It’s less limbo, more purgatory).

  20. Thanks, tamasha. You have great taste too! 😛 (only because you choose to mess with Texas, is all.

    You guys should know that now that we have a Houston Bureau we consider it an offense to disparage Texas. The monkeys at our North Dakota home office have been instructed to keep an eye on your comments hence forth.

  21. Once when it first came out. I hardly remember it though except for the ending. Why, do they talk about Ikea?

    not directly, but they do talk about “scandinavian furnature”

  23. Duly chastised. Certainly wouldn’t want to be lynched by an angry mob thirsting to dispense frontier justice.

  25. Sumiti, I really was disturbed by the place. Ask yourself this question. How do you know when you have achieved the perfect look for your bedroom/living room/kitchen? What is to stop you from repeatedly returning in a never ending quest for elusive perfection? Touring that place was an eye-opening lesson in the consumerism that has overtaken our society. I found it absolutely diabolical that the only way to find your way out was by following the blue arrows which conveniently took you by every single item in the store. Even once I made the decision to leave it took me nearly 20 minutes to navigate toward the exit! I felt like Odysseus against the Sirens. As I saw the exit I still had to get past the Scylla and Charybdis of the “self-serve” section.

    Just you wait, after you buy some furniture, those people that go the wrong way will irritate you

  28. …it makes sense to come out on your birthday. Wouldn’t you come out on your birthday? Since, everyone in the world celebrates it, and if they don’t, then they’re just not normal.

    Oh wait, buddha boy came out? After Lance Bass and Neil Patrick Harris, this is just unbearable. What is this world coming to.

  29. I found it absolutely diabolical that the only way to find your way out was by following the blue arrows which conveniently took you by every single item in the store. Even once I made the decision to leave it took me nearly 20 minutes to navigate toward the exit! I felt like Odysseus against the Sirens.

    LOL… and that’s precisely why you need a proper initiation to the place. I can navigate through the short cuts at my local Ikea with my eyes closed… and no I don’t think that’s sad! If I didn’t care about science I’m pretty sure I would have become an interior designer which may be why I’m biaised towards the place!

    Go back there with focusd vision and soak it in slowly, try to visualize yourself in a given environment. Do they still have those circular beds there? Imagine, you and ‘Kamala’, ceiling hung sheer drapes… candlelights… musica… ahem ahem… lights off!

  35. Don’t be an idiot. Your being without the internet is no comparison to being deep in meditation and concentration…..in a forest, for 10 months.