[Buddha-l] CNN.com - Teenage 'Buddha' goes missing - Mar 11, 2006

[Peter D. Junger]

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Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2006 15:21:46 -0500
From: "Peter D. Junger" <junger at samsara.law.cwru.edu>
Message-Id: <200603112021.k2BKLklN003824 at samsara.law.cwru.edu>
To: junger at samsara.law.cwru.edu
Subject: CNN.com - Teenage 'Buddha' goes missing - Mar 11, 2006
X-URL: http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/03/11/nepal.missing.ap/index.html



Teenage 'Buddha' goes missing

   KATHMANDU,  Nepal  (AP)  --  A  teenage  boy  in Nepal whose followers
   believe  he  is  the reincarnation of Buddha has suddenly gone missing
   after  10  months  of  meditation,  allegedly  without  food or water,
   officials said Saturday.

   Followers  of Ram Bahadur Banjan, 15, reported his disappearance and a
   police team has been sent to the jungles of Bara, about 160 kilometers
   (100  miles)  south  of  the  capital, Kathmandu, to investigate, said
   Santaraj Subedi, the chief government official in the district.

   It was still unclear when he went missing, but initial reports said he
   was last seen on Friday.

   Subedi  said  police  were investigating if the boy just wandered into
   the jungle or was abducted by local robbers.

   Banjan  has  been sitting cross-legged and motionless with eyes closed
   in a niche among the roots of a tree in the jungle since May 17, 2005,
   according  to  his  associates,  who claim he has had no food or water
   during that period.

   In  recent  months,  thousands of people have come to glimpse the boy,
   many  who believe Banjan is a reincarnation of Gautama Siddhartha, who
   was  born not far away in southwestern Nepal around 500 B.C. and later
   became revered as the Buddha.

   Officials  who  investigated  the  claim never interviewed the boy and
   were unable to verify the claims.

   Visitors  have  only  been allowed to view the Banjan between dawn and
   dusk  from  a  roped-off  area  about  25  meters  (80 feet) away. His
   followers  kept him from public view at night, when they would place a
   screen in front of him.

   Buddhist  priests who visited him said the boy was not the incarnation
   of Buddha but 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.


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