There was something a while ago, idk if it's old news

but there was a teenager, about 16 or so, who meditated for about 10 months, no food, no water, just a cloak over his torso and legs and a tree he was sitting in, *hollowed out naturally*

He showed signs of intense meditation and practice of advanced techniques of meditation, i forget what it's called but it's the form of meditatoin where you can control your body tempearture, evidence was that he was sweating on a cool breezy day in the shade.

was wondering if anyone had any more information on this or something they'd like to add about buddhism?

Wow, that's impressive...do you have an article on that?

It sounds VERY sketchy.

- nobody except his support team is allowed to come closer than 50 meters

- every evening his support team pulls a curtain in front of him for the night

- doctors have not been allowed to take blood samples or investigate him in any way, and at least one attempt was met by threats to leave the area, and the closest any medical team was allowed to come was 5 meters

- his support team are managing the donations being made to him, which have amounted to quite a lot of money in local terms

Going ten months without water and food is physically impossible.

quote:Originally posted by bonkers:

Going ten months without water and food is physically impossible.

The doctors could easily settle this by taking a blood sample and verifying that there is no glucose present in it.

But it would "disturb his meditation".

Apparently it's really easy to disturb his meditation, and yet he has such strong powers of meditation that he can do it for months on end. Yah. Makes sense.

quote:Originally posted by bonkers:

Going ten months without water and food is physically impossible.

Jesus

Well, you gotta be able to concentrate; it's not like he can just do it in the middle of a crowd of people or something. Especially people who wanna poke you.

quote:Originally posted by Merlinman2005:

Well, you gotta be able to concentrate; it's not like he can just do it in the middle of a crowd of people or something. Especially people who wanna poke you.

Then why the curtain at night?

And if he can meditate for months on end, why can't he take a ten minute break? He's not doing a David Blaine stunt.

I don't know why the curtain, (I'm reaching here : ) maybe to protect him from people who wanna use flash photography, maybe bugs, maybe whatever. It would be wrong to just leave him there. And your crew's gotta have something to do.

And if you give up in the middle of a ten-month-long meditation, it's not a ten-month-long meditation. It would show that you're not that committed to or not able to complete your goal. If he started out with that number in mind, people shouldn't say "Well pause for a bit." It's insulting and (to me) stupid.

[This message has been edited by Merlinman2005 (edited 07-05-2006).]

that state is called samahdi and it is a chan buddhist meditation actually it was said that being in this state you could only wake up yourself or by a speacial flute used to wake up deep meditating monks any other actions to wake up the person were supposedly futile it is said in the buddhist scriptures in this state time doesn't move, wind doesn't blow, and death doesn't feel, probably saying that when you wake up you feel like you just closed your eyes, you don't feel and if you die you won't feel it or know. another testament to this state is in tibet where dozens of buddhist monks sat along a street in samahdi in protest and the were burned alive by authorities and never moved or made a sound except for the crackling

[This message has been edited by Graemy (edited 07-05-2006).]

quote:Originally posted by bonkers:

Going ten months without water and food is physically impossible.

Exactly! It is an elaborate hoax.

Even if he were able to slow his bodily functions to almost non-existant, it would still be impossible. Think about it rationally for a second. The moisture in his body would evaporate in much less time than that. He would literally dry out and die.The human body can feed off of itself for quite a while(not for 10 months), but it cannot survive very long without water.

i can understand the curtain if i drove by him i would throw eggs

buddhist belief is based on the mind having overpowering control on reality so this might mean buddhism is true or maybe they feed him behind the curtain

quote:Originally posted by Merlinman2005:

And if you give up in the middle of a ten-month-long meditation, it's not a ten-month-long meditation. It would show that you're not that committed to or not able to complete your goal. If he started out with that number in mind, people shouldn't say "Well pause for a bit." It's insulting and (to me) stupid.

A few slight problems:

1) He's supposed to be fasting for 6 years (you'll see why this is a problem in a second)

2) He took a break after 5 days to tell people not to call him Buddha

3) He disappeared for a while in March:

quote:Nepal's 'Buddha' boy goes missing

A 16-year-old boy who had been meditating and fasting in a Nepal forest for 10 months has been missing since Saturday morning, police say.

Locals and police searched the area in the southern district of Bara but have not been able to locate him so far.

Police have rejected reports that the young boy, popularly known as "Little Buddha", may have been abducted.

His followers say Ram Bomjan may have moved deep inside the forest looking for a quieter place to meditate.

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4824530.stm

quote:Nepalese Buddha Boy 'reappears'

A missing Nepalese teenager popularly known as "Buddha Boy" reappeared briefly on Sunday, his followers say.

The committee managing the meditation site of Ram Bomjan, 16, released video of its members purportedly meeting the boy near his village in southern Nepal.

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4824530.stm

hmmm

That's kinda damning.

I meditated at a buffet once and ate alot but then I felt like throwing up.

quote:Originally posted by truckfixr:

Exactly! It is an elaborate hoax.

Even if he were able to slow his bodily functions to almost non-existant, it would still be impossible. Think about it rationally for a second. The moisture in his body would evaporate in much less time than that. He would literally dry out and die.The human body can feed off of itself for quite a while(not for 10 months), but it cannot survive very long without water.

Didn't David Blaine do it for 4 months?

quote:Originally posted by Xerxes89:

Didn't David Blaine do it for 4 months?



You mean David Blaine, the illusionist? You don't honestly believe that he's capable of anything more than elaborate stunts, do you?

quote:Originally posted by Merlinman2005:

Well, you gotta be able to concentrate; it's not like he can just do it in the middle of a crowd of people or something. Especially people who wanna poke you.

Buddhists have had themselves set on fire during meditation for protest.

exactly and they died and they didn't plan to get set on fire and well that had to suck to tell you the truth i think the kid is mental i mean if he is trying to follow Sakayama Buddha then he is really getting it wrong according to the history of Buddha he fasted for 3-6 years to reach enlightenment but that didn't work he even told his followers it didn't work but buddhists still fast on holydays but this kid is dumb

quote:Originally posted by Graemy:

exactly and they died and they didn't plan to get set on fire and well that had to suck to tell you the truth i think the kid is mental i mean if he is trying to follow Sakayama Buddha then he is really getting it wrong according to the history of Buddha he fasted for 3-6 years to reach enlightenment but that didn't work he even told his followers it didn't work but buddhists still fast on holydays but this kid is dumb

The Buddha didn't fast for 3-6 years, he was a practicing ascetic during that time. While this does entail fasting, it doesn't entail complete fasting. The ascetics believed that the more suffering they endured on this life, the more happiness they would recieve after death. They starved themselves until the pain was unbearable, ate, and went on doing it again. In addition to practice like that^ they would endure other, more externally physical pain, self inflicted. There was a point though, where the Buddha had fasted so long he was on the verge of dying of starvation and a man came along and fed him... cheese I believe? Anyway, it was after this that the Buddha decided that Asceticism wasn't the path for him.

yes it was Asceticism but he fasted for ten months every year for six years and it was said that you could poke your finger through his stomache and touch his spine but yea either way that kid is still kinda stupid i also read that the Buddha during that period slept on a bed of spikes and did other Ascetic feats and i think it was cheese i am not too sure