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Underground > Temple >

Meditating for six months

12:59 / 22.12.05

LINK

I just found out about this story in the news a few weeks ago, about a boy who's been meditating for six months without food or water.
There are some very sceptical scientists who claim we can only survive a limited time without food or water, but if meditation slows down bodily functions like metabolism, would it be possible to survive without food or water for longer? I'd like to believe it is!

13:19 / 22.12.05

Something deeply weird is going on with that link. Whenever I click it, I go straight to the www.microsoft.com homepage. Spooky.

13:22 / 22.12.05

Okay, figured it out. Corrected Link

13:35 / 22.12.05

(There was an extra http:// in the adress, have proposed the fix and to add an abstract)

I'm usually sceptical about such things, remember the mad californian woman who thought you could live on sunlight and air?

13:48 / 22.12.05

I am deeply skeptical. At night the boy's "followers" erect a screen around him and no one seems to know what occurs... Also, his claim to be a rinpoche is somewhat confusing and/or amusing.

13:51 / 22.12.05

Having looked at the link though, it looks fascinating, I can't wait to see what the scientists say after studying the boy. "We can't explain it!" I suspect.

14:04 / 22.12.05

sorry about the confusion, thanks for correcting my link!

In a way it seems even weirder to me if it was a hoax, because I don't see how he could stay in exactly the same position, all day, every day if he wasn't in an intense state of meditation.

15:04 / 22.12.05

Supposedly he's been bitten by a snake on two occasions, as well. I wonder what kind of snake? Generally they don't bite things that aren't, you know, moving.

This is interesting....

18:29 / 22.12.05

remember the mad californian woman who thought you could live on sunlight and air?

You can't??

Kidding aside, I saw this on LVX23's blog a few weeks ago. I'm still just as intrigued.

20:57 / 22.12.05

Somebody made a good point about this. It doesn't matter if he is the re-incarnation of Buddha, it's not like the return of Jesus, or something.

(Keeping in mind the high likelihood that I'm wrong)

The whole thing is that Buddha encouraged others to find their own path, right? So this kid is finding his way. (If it isn't a hoax.) It shouldn't matter if this kid is the next Buddha, except for that it may inspire others to find their own ways, right?

I have only passing knowledge of Buddhism, so please correct me of any misconceptions.

21:25 / 22.12.05

I'm a big fan of magic and yoga, but I would bet everything I own (and a few relatives, too) that this is a complete and utter fraud.

05:22 / 23.12.05

Well, if he's not the Buddha's reincarnation there's always Maitreya...

07:58 / 23.12.05

If you do believe in reincarnation, then this boy can't be the the next Buddha, because the Buddha escaped the endless cycle of rebirths by becoming enlightened.

10:36 / 23.12.05

could you explain that a bit more for those of us who dont kow buddhism as well as you? 'reincarnation of buddha' and 'the next buddha' dont see like the same thing to me.

cant we have several?

11:16 / 23.12.05

I was using the reincarnation of buddha, and the next buddha interchangably. But I agree, that being the next buddha, is different to being the reincarnation of the buddha.
I have just looked up a definition of Buddha and it means, 'awakened one' or 'enlightened one' so there could be more than buddha.

13:50 / 23.12.05

If you do believe in reincarnation, then this boy can't be the the next Buddha, because the Buddha escaped the endless cycle of rebirths by becoming enlightened.

Ah, but just because a Buddha can escape the cycle of rebirths doesn't mean the ze does. That's the whole point of the bodhisattva vow - that even upon attaining enlightenment, the bodhisattva chooses to be reborn into the world to help others until all beings attain enlightenment.

It is said that many great masters of the past have worked diligently to be reborn into the hell realms in order to help the beings there escape their suffering.

14:12 / 23.12.05

I find it highly wierd that it would be Guatama returning, especially when he isn't supposed to, but who knows. This boy said that he needs 6 years of meditation, well Maitreya is supposed to be the next Buddha, and when he arrives it's said that he won't need to meditate for anywhere near as long as the last Buddha did to achieve enlightenment. (Guatama spent about as much time meditating as this boy is planning on doing, according to the sutras.)

If it's true about Maitreya then it seems really odd that he thinks he needs 6 more years of meditation.

Like the wiki page linked to above says :

Maitreya is predicted to attain Bodhi in a single year, by virtue of his many lives of preperation for Buddha-hood

Guatama taught the middle way aswell, it's said that after going to extremes in his meditation for so long he eventually gave up and left the small group of people that were doing the same thing. Then he found the middle way between the two extremes. This boy is obviously going to extremes, and if he was Guatama returning (which again, isn't supposed to happen anyway.) then I think he'd have the memories of the middle way and not need to put himself through what that boy is doing.

Either way, I hope that he doesn't get too ill and finds what he's looking for.

04:25 / 23.01.06

anyone heard anything on this recently?

(yes, i know, i'm too lazy to do my own research. just hoping someone had been keeping abreast of this and would like to update the thread...)

11:29 / 25.01.06

Here's something that Google just came up with :

http://www.blog.com.np/?p=1118

19:26 / 25.01.06

I hope someone's taping Lost for him.

20:23 / 11.03.06

Maybe he's actually watching it now, somewhere :

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/03/11/nepal.missing.ap/index.html

If he's been abducted, then that is fucking crazy. I hope he's ok, whatever's going on.

10:22 / 12.03.06

jeez, that's crazy. maybe he's ascended to the form of pure thought or something cliche like that.

20:43 / 07.04.06

Has the boy been rediscovered yet?

17:48 / 29.06.06

UK lithers.

Discovery Channel 10:00PM (29/06/06)

The Boy with Divine Powers

How a 15 year old boy meditated under a tree in Nepal for over ten months without food or water.

23:55 / 29.06.06

The links above are coming up "not found" for me.

So what happened to the boy?

09:12 / 30.06.06

It was a bit shit, the program ended right after the boy disapeared, basicly saying that he's either gone into the deep jungle to meditate in peace or has been kidnapped. No-one has seen him since.

09:45 / 02.07.06

I was in Nepal at that time and wanted to travel from Kathmandu to Hetora, where he was, when he all the sudden disappeared into thin air. Many Nepalis felt he had it and left on his own accord. There might have been no big drama or conspiracy, the boy was probably fed up with the whole holy moly. I think the whole episode was deeply connected with what happened politically in Nepal at this time, with a sense of constant insecurity, Nepal's collective unconscious searching for a new leader, for spiritual guidance, with the downfall of monarchy and with a collective sense of being lost. That's the kind of emotional environment when people walk on water and when little boys are turned into saviours.

03:17 / 18.04.07

Mako is a hungry fish

07:43 / 18.04.07

"After granting audience a week ago, he expressed his desire to meditate inside the ground; so we built it," he said.

Sensory deprivation and ritual death are fun.