Remember the boy Buddha who purportedly meditated for months at a time without eating or sleeping?

Turns out he's no different from other cult leaders — graft, sex, corruption...

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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Bahadur_Bomjon

Ram Bahadur Bomjon (Sanskrit: राम बहादुर बम्जन; born c. 1990, sometimes spelled Bomjan, Banjan, or Bamjan), previously known as Palden Dorje (his monastic name) is a controversial ascetic from Ratanapuri, Bara district, Nepal who gained widespread attention and media popularity because of perceived semblances to Gautama Buddha, leading to claims that he is a reincarnation of Gautama Buddha.

In May, 2005, the 15 year old Bomjon left his home near the Indian border after a dream in which a god appeared to him and told him to do so, and sat amongst the roots of a pipal tree to meditate. [1] Claims suggest that for 10 months he rarely spoke, drank, ate, or even moved. Thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people visited the site to see the boy motionless for hours, days or as rumoured even months, or came in devotion to the possibility of an important spiritual event occurring. As a result of some of these claims, Bomjon's followers believe he is an incarnation of the historical Buddha, Gautama.[2] Bomjon has rejected any such comparisons, saying "Tell the people not to call me a Buddha. I don't have the Buddha's energy currently. I am at the level of a rinpoche."[3] Mahiswor Raj Bajracharya, the president of the Nepal Buddhist Council, has stated likewise: "We do not believe he is Buddha. He does not have Buddha's qualities".[4]


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https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/10/asia/buddha-boy-arrested-sex-abuse-charges-nepal-intl/index.html

An arrest warrant against him was issued in 2020, according to the statement, “in the case of sexual abuse of a minor girl,” who was allegedly living as a nun at his ashram in the Bara district, south of the capital Kathmandu.

CNN has been unable to reach Bomjan for comment and was not able to determine if he has a lawyer.

Acting on a tip off, police say they tracked the 34-year-old to the outskirts of Kathmandu and “arrested him while he was trying to flee,” the statement added. They say they also seized more than a dozen mobile phones, five laptops and tablets, and more than $200,000 in Nepali and foreign currencies at his home.

This comes nearly two decades after he first gained international attention. In 2005, at the age of 15, he retreated into the jungle to pray for 10 months, local media reported at the time. His followers once claimed that he did so without food, sleep or water.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2024 11:40PM by anybody.

Doesn't that bolster the possibility that Joseph Smith was a real prophet who fell from grace?

Believe it or not, the wife of my penultimate bishop believed that. They were both highly educated people and had studied LDS history voluminously.

They were also so deeply and lengthily involved in the church that everyone respected them and they had the freedom to believe unorthodox views without being ostracized or formally punished. And yes, she told me that the only way she could make sense of polygamy was to conclude that Joseph was a fallen prophet.

Later, when Lot and I were engaged in deep and somewhat adversarial conversations with our last bishop, I thought of the "fallen prophet" discussion and noted wryly that nothing that I had said came close to that woman's heresy.

One of the many fringe ideas that I entertain is that Joseph could have been a child prophet. Jesus began his ministry at age 30. Muhammad began his at age 40. Joseph began at 20, before having a fully formed frontal cortex. So, best case, Mormonism is a kind of institutional Neverland.

Interesting. I have a sister, very devout, that told me the same theory about Smith, which makes it possible for her to deal with the polygamy thing.

There will always be the religious grifters.

This is a good piece of synchronicity (or telepathy?). I was thinking about this boy yesterday and what had happened to him, because I hadn't heard anything in years. It's actually very sad.