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Wayne has uploaded the whole discovery channel documentary “My Shocking Story - The Boy with Divine Powers” to YouTube in 5 parts. Thanks Wayne!

Some updates on Buddha boy…

The official site of Ram Bahadur Bomjan has his biography for quite some time with some very interesting photos, including his underground meditation pit.

Lively and very special group of people discuss about Ram, his meditation, life and spirituality on Ram Bomjon - Palden Dorje, Google Groups, you should become a member to have a first-hand news about Buddha Boy. Recently there’s been a news that Ram has changed his robe to white and is giving a public audience in two months. This might mean he has come to realize the ultimate truth (Emptiness) and maybe is ready to teach…?

Here’re excerpts from the discovery channel documentary:

48 hours of continuous observation and Ram isn’t moving

Buddha Boy Secret techniques

After an email and a comment from Andy about Ram Bomjon - Palden Dorje Google Groups, I checked for recent news about him. There’re interesting discussions going on in Google Groups, I found Ram’s official web site where videos of his addresses are posted, here’s his First Address (August 2 2007), and the Second one (october 19 to 24, 2007). Someone has even created a myspace page for him (currently he has 1671 friends).

His first message was for peace to the world.

Murder, violence, greed, anger and temptation has made the human world a desperate place. A terrible storm has descended upon the human world, and this is carrying the world towards destruction. There is only one way to save the world and that is through ‘dharma” (religious practice.) When one doesn’t walk the righteous path of religious practice, this desperate world will surely be destroyed. Therefore, follow the path of religion and spread this message to your fellows.

when you read the translation of his message it is very powerful, but listening to his speech in Nepali was not that great. To me it sounded like a teenager trying to deliver a memorized speech. The second video was another attempt…, It was clear that either he was reading the speech or was another memorized one.

Having that said, I still think he’s very special and is up to something but the whole spectacle that organizers are trying to create around him and make him a great guru before he becomes one is just wrong and sad.

Let me know what you think!

Yes, that’s true! Ram Bahadur Bomjon, the Buddha Boy has started preaching. I thought that will happen somewhere around 2012 because he said he’ll meditate for 6 more years in 2006. Anyway, in his first ever direct message to more than three thousand people gathered in the Hallori Jungle in Bara district of southern Nepal, he said: “The only way we can save this nation is through religion”. Not sure what to make of his first public message. Hopefully full transcript, audio or video of his address will appear soon.
There’s few more details at UWB, with 2 photos from the address, you can see he has a long hair and is wrapped in maroon robe.

I was surprised to read this (Nepali), it says that Ram Bahadur Bomjon, the Buddha Boy attacked and injured a guy with his sword. The blog entry refers to a Nepalese newspaper “Naya Patrika”, according to which Bomjon attacked and injured 22 years old Anil Khatri with his sword because Khatri entered the meditation premises without permission.

The report seems conflicting — first it says that Khatri was taken into control for three hours before being attacked in presence of committee members, and later quotes a committee member Yekananda Kunwar, who says: “Khatri was attacked because he tried to enter the meditation premises with a Khurpa (Nepali knife) when no one was around”.

To me, all this sounds a bit strange — a person meditating for peace resorting to violence, but again the facts are not clear yet! hopefully more details will emerge soon.

[Thanks for the link, Bharat.]

When I read the news about Bomjan’s plan to start the ‘patal samadhi’ (underground meditation), it appeared to me that he’ll go under the trench and they’ll literally bury him alive. I was very worried about his safety and wished that he knew what he’s doing. But I feel better after reading eKantipur’s report that he’s meditating in a bunker, which is cemented from all sides and has a roof of tiles. Now that’s not a live burial, I guess.

According to Inspector Rameshwor Yadav of the Area Police Post Nijgadh, Bomjon was inside the bunker-like square ditch of seven feet.

“We call it bunker,” he said, adding, ” Although it’s seven feet deep, there is no lack of oxygen inside,” said Yadav, who claimed to have seen him going inside it from close range Monday.

A police team, under the command of Yadav, had gone to the place after word of Bomjon being on underground meditation spread in the area.

“His face was clean and hair was combed well,” Yadav said. According to him, “the bunker” has been cemented from all sides with roof of tiles.

So, some people think he’s looking for a peaceful place to meditate while others think he’s doing this for popularity and more money. I think he’s doing this for the same reason Buddha did 2600 years ago. Of course it’s a different matter whether he’ll be able to attain enlightenment or not. I’m not sure about his followers, but I’m quite sure about him, that he neither cares about money nor fame.

Ram Bahadur Bomjoan, the Buddha Boy is back in the news with reports that he plans to be buried alive while meditating.

Bomjan now plans to begin ‘patal samadhi’ (underground meditation), a private TV channel reported Monday, quoting a local journalist.

According to reports, his followers have already dug up an eight-feet deep trench in which Bomjan plans to descend. The trench will be then filled.

Asian religious traditions narrate tales of holy men being buried alive, braving extreme heat or cold and subjecting the body to other torments in order to master the senses and attain salvation.

A question is being asked whether the district administration will allow Bomjan’s followers to bury him. There has been no official response.

I’ve no idea what this means or will lead to if it’s true. I just hope that he knows what he’s doing. Searched Google to see if anyone has attempted this before and found this interesting overview of Scientific Studies of Contemplative Experience by Michael Murphy.

Like heart stopping, the live burial of yogis has excited the interest of several researchers. A physician, Rustom Jal Vakil, published an account in the British journal Lancet of such a confinement that was witnessed by some 10,000 people near Bombay in February 1950. According to Vakil, an emaciated sadhu named Ramdasji sat cross-legged in a subterranean 216-cubic-foot cubicle and remained there for sixty-two hours. His pulse remained steady at eighty beats per minute; his blood pressure was 112/78; and his respiratory rate fluctuated from eight to ten breaths per minute. Though he had some scratches and cuts, Vakil wrote, Ramdasji appeared “none the worse for his grueling experience.'’

Update 13 March 2007: He’s been found safe and is meditating in a new place.

All Headline News is reporting that the Buddha Boy (Ram Bahadur Bomjan) has gone missing again after he re-appeared in December last year on Christmas day. He’s been meditating near Halkhoriya pond in Bara, since his re-appearance in December. Locals in the district said he left his meditating place Thursday midnight.

Officials of Namo Buddha Service Committee searched for him throughout the day on Friday. Inspector Rameshwor Yadav of the Area Police Office in Nijgadh said the police have not been able to reach the spot though they were reported about his missing.

I found this footage from French TV, in YouTube, where Buddha Boy is talking to journalists after his reappearance. I can’t hear what he’s saying in Nepalese due to the French dub. A translation would be most welcome.

UWB has posted this latest photo of the Buddha Boy. Currently 39 policemen are guarding him from 9am to 5pm. Also they’re reporting that the number of followers coming to see him has reduced. Less visitors means less disturbance! I think it’s good for him and his cause.