Illusions: update on Buddha boy
Just a quick update on Nepal's Reluctant Messiah, he seems to have snuck off and begun wandering the wilderness... Or at least wander away from all of the worshipers (and all of the merchants and others with them) that he didn't want after repeatedly denying he was a Buddha. Not to be deserted by their Lord and Savior his followers have gone off searching for him and are in hot pursuit (Cue the Benny Hill 'Jazzy Sax' Music).
Jungle search for teenage 'Buddha'
Saturday, March 11, 2006; Posted: 11:31 p.m. EST (04:31 GMT)
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) -- Hundreds of people scoured a jungle in southern Nepal on Sunday for a missing teenager who many believe is the reincarnation of Buddha.
Ram Bahadur Banjan, 15, disappeared Saturday from a forest where he had meditated for the last 10 months, during which his associates said he consumed no food or water.
Local official Santaraj Subedi said police, followers and family members were looking for the boy in the jungles of Bara, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of the capital, Kathmandu.
Police official Gautam Raj Kattel said some people said they saw Banjan walking southwards before dawn on Saturday. His clothes were found near where he had been meditating.
Banjan had been sitting cross-legged and motionless with his eyes closed in a niche among the roots of a tree in the jungle since May 17, 2005. Thousands of followers flocked to see him every day.
The area is known to have substantial numbers of communist rebels who have been fighting government troops for a decade. But Kattel said he doubted the boy was abducted by the rebels or by local criminals, adding he believed Banjan just wandered off.
Many followers 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.
Visitors have only been allowed to view Banjan between dawn and dusk from a roped-off area about 25 meters (80 feet) away. His handlers 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.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/03/11/nepal.missing.ap/index.html
"How shall we fark off, O Lord?"