Ram Bahadur Bamjan the Buddah boy disappears

[Guest guest]

I've been gone most of the day today. Whereabouts unknown, not as in

Watt's " Cloud hidden " volume, just that I " m not sure where my son was

driving us to because I was lost in conversation during the period of

the drive and paid no attention to the turns nor time. It was a most

enjoyable day! We dined at a nice restaurant after enjoying a popular

movie currently at the cinemas about dogs and Antactic survival.

Anyway, I see that there are a couple of posts I must respond to and

that will be on the morrow as I grow sleepy now. Before retiring

though, I thought that I would post these news articles found in my

internet international newsletters on issues that I find entertaining

or of interest.Hoping they merit somewhat an engaging read for some

here this evening. What they mean or signify I haven't the slightest

idea but I found them curiosly differing from the usual fare found in

those journals.....

 

Kathmandu, March 12 (UNI): Ram Bahadur Bomjan, who has been

meditating without any food or water in the jungles of southern Nepal

for the last 10 months, has been reported missing from his meditation

site since Saturday morning.

 

The 16-year-old boy, who is known as little Buddha due to his Buddha

style meditation, was meditating in the forest of Ratanpuri village

in Bara district without any food and water since May last year,

disappeared at around 03:00 hrs local time, a local radio network

reported.

 

" It is unclear whether he had left his meditation or was abducted by

someone, " it said, adding police have been pressed into service to

search for him.

 

" He may have left his meditation site due to disturbance caused by a

large number of people who gather to see him everyday, " a local

resident told UNI over telephone, adding he may have shifted to a new

place.

 

Meanwhile, another local radio network said that he was found near

the same place where he used to meditate.

 

Nepal's 'Buddha' boy goes missing

 

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.

 

'No food or water'

 

His followers claimed that Bomjan did not take food or even water

throughout his t10 month-long meditation.

 

They refused, however, to allow any independent investigation about

the health conditions of Bomjan saying that " it would disturb him. "

 

The authorities also did not intervene to avoid hurting local

feeling.

 

While critics accused Bomjan's followers of fooling people, the young

boy continued to hog media headlines.

 

Tired from the decade-old armed conflict that has already claimed

more than 13,000 lives, followers of Bomjan claimed that he was an

incarnation of Lord Buddha who was born in Nepal more than 2,500

years ago.

 

They are still hoping that Bomjan will reappear somewhere deep in the

forest and continue his meditation.

 

 

Nepal's 'Buddha Boy' vanishes

[ Saturday, March 11, 2006 06:43:50 pmIANS ]

 

 

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KATHMANDU: A Nepali teenager who created a sensation as the

new " Buddha Boy " of the Himalayan kingdom has been reported missing

from his place of meditation in southern Nepal after a mysterious

fire.

 

Dubbed the " Little Buddha', " Boy Buddha " and " Namo Buddha " , many

believed 15-year-old Ram Bahadur Bomjan was the reincarnation of the

Buddha.

 

Earlier this month, a mysterious fire broke out at the site. It was

not clear immediately if Bomjan had been injured in the blaze.

 

As a committee of villagers formed to safeguard Bomjan arrived here

to show a video of the fire, claiming he was not harmed, the boy has

vanished. His clothes were found near the tree but there is no trace

of him.

 

....Bomjan, a fifth grader from Ratanpur village in Bara district in

southern Nepal, hit the headlines last year when the local media said

he had been found sitting in the same meditation posture as Lord

Buddha under a peepal tree.

 

Like the Buddha, Bomjan's mother was also called Maya and, according

to media reports, she had told people her son refused to eat meat

from an early age and would wander from one monastery to another.

 

Bed Bahadur Thing, who heads the Om Namo Buddha Meditating Forest

Conversation Committee, told the media Bomjan had forecast it would

take him six years' meditation to attain enlightenment.

 

Bomjan is said to have begun meditation in the Char Koshe Jhadi in

Bara about eight months ago, when he stopped eating and even

drinking. He is said to have been sitting in the same position

throughout the day, clad in a single piece of unstitched cloth, even

during the harsh winter.

 

....As curious onlookers and devotees as well as journalists from

outside Nepal started thronging the meditation site, villagers formed

a committee to " look after " Bomjan.

 

There was mounting speculation that the boy could have been forcibly

taken away either by security forces or Maoist guerrillas or gangs

from neighbouring India.

 

The crowds flocking to catch a glimpse of the " wonder boy " were

reportedly posing a problem for the security forces. There were also

reports saying security forces believed the lion's share of the money

donated by devotees went to the Maoist coffers.

 

There was no immediate comment from the authorities.

 

Last year, the district administration had asked the Lumbini

Development Board, a state agency entrusted with developing Lumbini,

the birthplace of the Buddha, and the Royal Nepal Academy of Science

and Technology to investigate the Boy Buddha's mystery.

 

Though a team visited the site and conducted an investigation, its

findings have not been made public yet.

 

Now I lay me down to sleep and there'll be no need for counting

sheep......................bob