Nice Work If You Can Get It
A teenager in Nepal is being worshiped as a reincarnation of "Buddha." Whether that's "a" Buddha or "the" Buddha is not clear, however.
Buddhist scholars point out that a Buddha by definition cannot be reincarnated, since a Buddha is one who has gone beyond the life-and-rebirth thing. Strictly speaking, us human beings don't reincarnate either, in spite of the Associate Press reporter's claim that we think we do -- "Buddhism, which has about 325 million followers, mostly in Asia, teaches that every soul is reincarnated after death in another bodily form." Actually, no. Buddhism doesn't teach that at all. But let's go on.
The teenager's followers insist he has been meditating without food or water for three years. Given that the young man is a tad pudgy, one suspects he's been hiding power bars under his robe. And we might remember that before his enlightenment, the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, realized fasting wasn't all that helpful, and chose to eat something to keep his strength up for meditation.
Whatever. Thoughts? We're discussing this phenomenon in the forum.
Comments
I have no doubt in my mind he is God.
What’s your proof?
Hey, Siddhartha, you told us in the Kalama Sutta that we didn’t have to believe everything you say just because you say it. So we have it on your authority that we don’t have to believe your authority, so that means… wait, let me work on this …
B., confused
God-appearing-as-Lise: You.
Buddha-Barbara: Nice work if you can get out of it.
I hope it’s okay to cross-post on your site Barbara. Here’s another prudently skeptical Buddhist with words regarding this boy. (And the description of her father is worth the visit, too!):
click here
Hello Rob, thank you for the link. I enjoyed the story and appreciate its point.
Now, Siddhartha Gautama, as far as calling me God-appearing-as-Lise, I am afraid I don’t get your real point. You call yourself Siddhartha Gautama, but there is no God in Buddhism and as far as I know from my readings the Buddha did not teach about God. Please expound, Siddhartha.
Rob, thanks for the link. It’s a good piece of writing.
Dharmakaya-appearing-as-Lise: yes, thanks for pointing out the oversight. I was being careless with my language.
And you still didn’t answer my question . . .
Lise
Buddhism? I’ve never heard of such a thing …
Buddhism? I’ve never heard of such a thing …
My opinion…
First of all, we must understand what is buddhism or how much do we understand buddha’s teaching..
From what I have gather that the teaching from buddha that everybody in this world can be enlighten if we follow the pathway shown by the buddha itself..
From here, my point is that should we question the authencity of this boy whether is he is reincarnated or not…?? OR should we not question how does this little teenager achieve his “englightenment”… Should we not make analyse how this boy achieved “enlightenment” .. or IS HE REALLY ENLIGHTEN? What is his approach and methodology achieving this…
I always believe what buddha say that We can avoid the samsara if we really follow the right path as mention in his SUTRA…Note: Something not easy but “it is “possible”…
well it’s human nature to be nosy and suspicion comes in obvious way.
if the nepali kid you’re talking about is Ram Bd. Bamjan, as being a nepali myself as far as i know he’s a-full-seclusion monk for 3 years, and many people may not know that he’d been a buddhist scholar for sometimes in his early childhood and one more interesting fact is his mother’s name is Mayadevi, that is a coincidence of course, what i’m trying to say here is, enlightenment is the destination or beyond, and a blind belief that following the Buddha’s path is the only way that leads to the ultimate goal is extremism that is against the Buddha’s teachings itself. You can’t say there weren’t enlightened persons before the Buddha, and what i believe is people around and within us who advocate buddhism we,ourselves , are condemning the Buddha and his teachings. Arguments can never lead to Truth, it is beyond arguments and opinions and logic.
buddha g. dhaubhadel: Whether the kid is “enlightened” or not is not the issue for me. I’m a Mahayana Buddhist; to me all sentient beings are, fundamentally, already enlightened, and all are Buddha. I do not understand “enlightenment” to be a quality one person possesses while another doesn’t.
What bothers me about the kid is that he’s making claims that go beyond what the historical Buddha taught, such as being able to live (and stay pudgy!) without eating. Shakyamuni himself did no such thing. Claiming to be a reincarnation of a Buddha is bizarre; a Buddha by definition does not reincarnate (nor does anyone else, for that matter; rebirth is not reincarnation).
Certainly, people realize enlightenment all kinds of ways, and some have done so without Buddhist methods. If the kid has some insight he is willing to share, then let him share it. But I wouldn’t so much as cross the street to see someone based on claims that he has magical power and is a “reincarnated Buddha.” That’s nonsense, on its face. What makes Buddhism unique among religions is that it doesn’t rely on claims of supernaturalism.