Our Buddha Boy and Goddess Girl (video)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Crystal Quintero, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Deccan Times

Buddha Boy was elevated to guru by followers and well-wishers (dharmasangha.info)

Goddess Girl, as we're calling Sadhvi Saraswati, is standing up for ahimsa (Indian Express)

(Maitriya Guru) Buddha Boy/Ven. Dharma Sangha's blessings from Feb. 5, 2016 (Maitriya.info)

 

The Buddha was right! Follow the Dharma.

In this day (dystrumpian times) and age (Kali Yuga), it is not easy to find a proper role model, a hero/heroine, an idol who does not quickly disappoint.

Buddhists (and anarchist punks) have no need for heroes, it is said. But that's not to say we don't enjoy admiring good people doing good things (rejoice/saddhu-saddhu-saddhu!) even as the world comes after them for doing it.

Monster (Mara) breathes down Buddha's neck

Take our heroine Dr. Jill Stein, M.D., Green Party presidential candidate who stood up to the twin-monsters Donny and Hillary and did not succumb to Barry or Bernie's misleading sweet talk. She stands up to corporations at the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) as a water protector and is arrested and threatened with fines and jail.

Where's my Grrl Crew, Boo? - I'm CariBOO.

Kids look up to rich automatons Tadolf Swiftler and Catty Purry because that's what they're fed. Not us.

When we want youthful idols to look up to, we look toward the Himalayas to "Buddha Boy" (Ram Bahadur Bomjon/Maitreya?/Ven. Dharma Sangha) and Sadhvi Saraswati-ji, whom we're calling the living "Goddess Girl" (not to be confused with the revolving Nepalese Kumari).

I blame it on Russell Brand, my ex.

If for no spiritual reason, look how they stand up for animals and our environment! But there are spiritual reasons relating to lives lived dedicated to meditating and awakening in a time of great lust, anger, and confusion (aka "greed, hatred, and delusion," the Three Poisons of the heart and mind in Buddhism).

It's been seven years of meditation, long enough -- according to the historical Buddha -- to attain enlightenment.

(Satipatthana Sutra/"The Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse")

Who is Buddha Boy?

It all began in 2005 under a tree in Nepal.

Ram Bahadur Bomjon (Sanskrit, राम बहादुर बामजान), nicknamed "Buddha Boy" (born circa April 9, 1990), is also known by the monastic names Palden Dorje and now Dharma Sangha. He was born in Ratanapuri, Nepal. He rose to fame when he drew media attention and tens of thousands of visitors by months of complete fasting and meditation. He began his meditation on May 16, 2005 until large crowds disrupted him "because there is no peace" when they started coming to see him in large numbers. He left and reappeared elsewhere in Nepal on December 26, 2006. He left again on March 8, 2007. On March 26, 2007, inspectors from the Area Police Post Nijgadh in Ratanapuri found Bomjon meditating inside an underground chamber of about 7 square feet. More

Buddha Boy no show at Hindu killing festival (Wisdom Quarterly) Gyanendra's kin leads campaign against animal sacrifice [at horrific Hindu Gadhimai Festival]...by Nepal's Buddha Boy Ram Bahadur Bomjan taking up cudgels on its behalf. 

Buddha Boy beats instigators... "I took minor action against them after taking them under control when they came to disrupt my meditation... Did Buddha Boy really stand up to instigators?

 

The Incredible Buddha Boy (Longform.org) A legend is growing in Nepal, where people say a meditating boy hasn't... 

The Gadhimai [Killing] Festival: Why it Must Never Happen Again

Mass slaughter of innocent animals for insane Hindu (Judeo-Christian) sacrifice ritual

The 2014 Gadhimai festival is now over, but there are actions you can take to... Stop Animal Sacrifice is website promoting awareness and action against animal... Nepal is predominately Hindu [according to census officials who purposely miscount whole families to make this small country the only Hindu nation in the world] but was the [alleged] birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha [who was actually born in ancient Kapilavastu, more likely in Bamiyan, Afghanistan]. ...Thousands of buffaloes were standing in an enclosure when [Hindu] butchers... 

Gadhimai festival in Nepal - Occupy for Animals! It takes up to 25 attempts to kill a big buffalo. The suffering is unimaginable. Campaigners have protested against the widespread public [religious] sacrifice in Nepal... stands in the way of abolishing archaic practices such as animal sacrifice as well... religious icons like the "Buddha Boy" Ram Bahadur Bomjan, among others. 

A buddha differs from an ordinary arhat.

Palden: Buddha Dharma ...to collect as much information as possible regarding the wonderful ascetic and... According to scriptures, Nepal is an abode of sacrifice and meditation of... When he was only 4 to 5 years old he used to take food set aside for him only after... 

Buddha, The Sensible Rationalist! (nirmukta.com) Great store, great wealth is thine; make (cow) sacrifice! ... young Brahmin to debate the Buddha regarding Varna Dharma. The boy tells the Buddha to disprove the fact that Brahmins were ... In contrast to Jainism's extreme opposition to violence toward animals, the Buddha took a moderate stand on this issue.

You take the good, you take the bad, you take it all and there you have...bad karma decrying a good aspirant to enlightenment in our dark and dismal times. About four tiny but fishy websites (Irregular Times, Setopati, The Halkoriya Times, who spell their own name wrong, and Buddha Boy Media) seem to be dedicated-haters trolling Buddha Boy to defame him and take the con view as we take the pro view. But it is good to take in all honest views.

• Anti-Buddha Boy propaganda: halkoriatimes.wordpress.com
• Bad karma: buddhaboymedia.wordpress.com
• Who is ["Goddess Girl"] Sadhvi Saraswati? 

Living Goddess says, Stop eating cows!

DeccanHerald.com edited and expanded by Wisdom Quarterly

[Practice nonharming. Be patriotic. Love your duty, country, religion (indianexpress.com).]

  

Ascetic Hinduism is all about ahimsa

Amid the raging debate over cow slaughter and consumption of beef, a sadhvi [female-sadhu or ascetic] attending a meet of various Hindu outfits here has said those who consider eating beef as a status symbol should be hanged [in public as a negative example to others].

Beautiful, kind Sadhvi Saraswati

The remarks made by Sadhvi Saraswati here last evening triggered a sharp reaction from the Congress, which said her speech would spark communal hatred [because minority Muslims and Christians kill and eat a lot of beef] and asked the BJP-led government in Goa to lodge an FIR against her.

• No FIR against Sadhvi Saraswati over beef consumption remarks... (indianexpress.com, July 19, 2017) No FIR was lodged against Sadhvi Saraswati over her statement... 
• Arrest Sadhvi Saraswati for hate speech against beef-eaters: BJP's... (firstpost.com)
• FIR filed against other sadhvi, Sadhvi Prachi, for calling for "a Muslim-free country" in 2016 thereby hurting feelings

"I appeal to the Government of India that those people who consider eating meat of their own mother as a status symbol should be hanged," Sadhvi Saraswati from Madhya Pradesh said.

"They [those who eat beef] should be brought before the public and hanged. Then only people will know that it is our duty [dharma or social obligation] to protect 'gau mata' [lit., 'cow mother,' source of sustenance, nourishing parent]," she said while commenting on beef consumption during the inauguration of All India Hindu Convention at Ramnathi village here.

Passion for cow-kindness leads to hyperbole?

Sadhvi Saraswati, president of Sanatan Dharma Prachar Seva Samiti of Chhindwada in Madhya Pradesh, also wanted the Hindus to keep arms in their homes to protect themselves:

"If we do not stock arms, we will be destroyed in future," she said.

"Today Bharat [India] is under attack from all directions. Efforts are being made to separate Kashmir from Bharat and also stop the Amarnath pilgrimage. Bharatmata-Gaumata [Goddess "India Mother-Cow Mother"] are being censured," she said.

World-weary beauty and junior Hindu saint

Slamming the demand by some political parties to ban the outfits calling for the creation of the "Hindu Rāshtra," she said they should realize that no power in the country can prevent Hindus from establishing the "Hindu Nation" [in addition to the one India established in Nepal].

She said, "There is no such thing as saffron terrorism," adding that: "Saffron means dedicated life for the nation and dharma."

Nearly 130 Hindu organizations from 21 Indian states and countries including Bangladesh, [Buddhist] Sri Lanka, and Nepal are attending the four-day convention, its organizers said. More

• The American sadhvi (Ph.D.) from Hollywood living in India
• How a Westerner embraced the Eternal Dharma (Hinduism) 
• Has the young goddess gone too far? Lynching, guns, purity

Ram "Buddha Boy" Bomjon -- New Buddha?

Tapaswi Palden Dorje (Ram Bahadur Bomjan Tamang): Born in Chaitra Purnima in 2046 B.S. (9 April, 1990 A.D.). Tapaswi Palden Dorje or Tamang Tulku Rimpoche (religious names conferred by Buddhist lamas in the area) has sat for kachhen duba ("severe meditation") without water since the 2nd of Jestha 2062 B.S. (16 May, 2005 A.D.) (paldendorje.com).

In the Bara district of southern Nepal, pilgrims are heading into the jungle to pay homage to a teenage boy who is being hailed as the new Buddha. The boy, Ram Bahadur Bomjon, has apparently been sitting in the shade of a pipal or Bodhi tree (ficus religiosa) and meditating for the months. During this time he has had neither food nor water.

The boy’s fame has grown rapidly, drawing increasing numbers of devotees. After visitors started prodding the boy, a fence was built around the pipal tree. Then a second and third fence were planned by the committee responsible for dealing with the growing number of pilgrims. And there are plans to build a bus parking lot in the jungle.



Local doctors have been called in to lend scientific credibility to this marvel, although they were not permitted to come any closer than fifteen feet from the boy, since they might disturb his meditation. To top it all, Ram Bomjon was reportedly bitten by a snake, but he refused all medical treatment saying that he could be cured by meditation alone.

Meanwhile, this remote piece of Nepalese jungle is rapidly turning into a spiritual marketplace. If devotees want a memento of their visit, five rupees will buy them a picture of Ram Bomjon with light emanating from his forehead. A little more will buy them a sacred amulet. As the stalls and sideshows proliferate, the jungle is slowly collecting mounds of litter.

Some are sceptical about this kind of spiritual circus. Committee, a committee? The historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, managed without a committee. Leaving aside the dubious nature of claims being made concerning Ram Bomjon’s abstinence from food and water – what about the financial aspects of this latest marvel? Somebody somewhere is surely making money out of Ram Bomjon.

Parking lots, after all, do not come cheap. Local businessman Prakash Lamsal, soberly refusing to get caught up in the frenzy, told the press: “These lamas are going to build mansions out of this. If I wasn’t a bit embarrassed, I’d take a van down there and set up a stall.”

Human Potential: like Buddha Boy

Does the Human Body Have Limits?

By Leonardo Vintini (Epoch Times, 7/24-30/08)

RECORD BREAKER: Magician David Blaine broke the world's record for breath-holding earlier this year, but have others far surpassed this feat?

Holding the breath for nearly 20 minutes, or staying awake for 11 days might seem like supernatural records, but what are a human being's actual limits?

Food, water, sleep, and breath are the basic pillars of sustenance for any human life. While other organisms may survive a prolonged absence of these essentials, the survival of humans without these four indispensable factors is, according to science, not possible.

But how long can a human really go without one of these life-sustaining essentials? What is the breaking point? It seems that whenever one tries to find an absolute rule, an exception is soon found.

Exemplary fasting, meditating asceticism

Bigu: Life Without Food
While many observe a period of fasting—either for health or religious reasons—this brief break from food usually does not last long. Some go without eating for a few days or a week and report that the occasional practice can actually promote a healthy vigor, provided that they return to eating again. Others, to mark a political protest, might engage in a hunger strike—abstaining from food to bring attention to an issue.

But as humans near the month mark without food, the body enters starvation mode. As prolonged fasts near two months or more, and the body feeds off itself for substance, death soon results. Lack of water can be fatal to humans in an even shorter period.

Nonetheless, there are ancient records suggesting that humans might have the ability to go without food or water for far longer than we might imagine. According to ancient Chinese cultivation methods, when a monk decided to meditate in a remote mountain or cave, sooner or later he would confront a problem—what to do about food. Living in a cave away from the rest of civilization, he had little to sustain him on his path to enlightenment.

According to oral tradition, in order to resolve the situation of sustenance, monks practiced Bigu (literally translated as "without grain'). Detached from the human world, the monk would miraculously abandon the biological necessity for food and water, although he could continue his practice for decades—a veritable impossibility according to modern biological understandings.

But beyond what the records say of eminent monks who have stayed in meditation for nine or more years, and which modern science may not acknowledge, does there exist any evidence indicating that the human body may possess the capacity to escape the burden of finding sustenance? Beginning in 1926 (a case negated by scientists), a woman named Teresa Neumann managed to go 35 years without eating until her death.

The "Buddha Boy" Nepal's Ram Bahadur Bomjon

More recently, investigators report that in 2005 a young Nepalese Buddhist, Ram Bahadur Bomjon [the famous "Buddha Boy"], sustained his meditation in the shade of a fig tree for more than eight months without consuming food or liquid of any kind. A fence separated the hundreds of followers who stopped to pray and admire the miraculous human. Even the Discovery Channel filmed him day and night for four days to prove the veracity of the case.

Sleep Deprivation
But what can we say about sleep? Is there anyone who has managed to bypass the restorative "escape from consciousness" that all people require once every 24 hours? Some animal species, such as fish or ostriches, possess the capacity to sleep with only one hemisphere of the brain, leaving the other half alert to watch for predators. Later they swap, putting the other half to rest. In this way, they complete their daily sleep cycle.

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Humans [are said by some to] lack such a capability. Usually, one "all nighter" can lead to increased stress and a noticeably slower reaction time; two nights without slumber only increases these effects. But what is the "official" limit of sleep deprivation? During the past century, many have attempted to endure several sleep-free evenings. Enduring hallucinations and short-term memory loss, 17-year-old Randy Gardner managed to stay awake for 11 days in 1963. And although Guinness no longer observes sleep deprivation records, others have strived to break Gardner's feat.

Yet these slumber-free stretches don't compare to 66-year-old Vietnamese farmer Ngoc Thai. Stricken with a fever in 1973, Thai has not been able to return to sleep in the last 35 years, but not for a lack of trying. Medications, folk remedies, and alcohol don't seem to break his sleepless existence. Is Ngoc Thai a medical impossibility? How can the human brain survive without sleep for more than a week?

Every Breath We Take
While organisms such as anaerobic bacteria thrive just fine in an oxygen-deprived environment, humans fare less well. Most people have tried to hold their breath under water—after just a few minutes, the need for air takes over and we are forced to emerge for precious oxygen. Earlier this year, magician David Blaine astounded audiences when he broke the world record for holding one's breath, enduring over 17 oxygen-deprived minutes. But has he reached the human limit?

Some records show that Indian yogis have stayed buried in the earth or immersed in water for several days, defying scientific understandings of molecular oxygenation.

Humans are naturally curious about the body's limits, and individuals who test them inspire awe and wonder. But when examples break far beyond the realm of the possible, the results become difficult to comprehend. [There's also a Western history of monastic asceticism].

When someone appears to sever their dependence of these vital life-giving factors—beyond the well-trained parlor trick—we are forced to examine what might instead sustain the body.