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KATHMANDU (Reuters) – Authorities in
\n Nepal urged religious groups and scientists on Sunday to help solve the
\n mystery of a meditating teenaged boy who some believe is an incarnation
\n of Buddha.<\/p>\n
At least 100,000 devotees from Nepal and neighbouring India have flocked
\n in recent weeks to a dense forest in southeastern Nepal to see 15-year-old
\n Ram Bahadur Bamjon, who, his associates say, has been meditating without
\n food or water for six months.<\/p>\n
Shanta Raj Subedi, district administrator of Bara, 150 km (95 miles) southeast
\n of Kathmandu and where the boy is meditating, said he had requested the
\n Lumbini Development Trust, a Buddhist panel, and the Royal Nepal Academy
\n of Science and Technology to get to the bottom of the mystery.<\/p>\n
"We want to investigate claims that the boy has survived for so long
\n without food or drink," Subedi said.<\/p>\n
Bamjon sits cross-legged beneath a "pipal" tree, which is sacred
\n to Hindus, with his eyes closed in meditation. He does not speak and followers
\n are only allowed to see him from a distance of 50 metres (165 feet).<\/p>\n
The young mystic is hidden from public view at night behind a curtain drawn
\n by his followers. Doctors observing from a distance have said the boy is
\n breathing normally but is weak.<\/p>\n
Local journalist Govinda Devkota, who has visited the site, said the boy
\n sits with a shawl across his chest from armpit to shoulder, in the same
\n posture as Buddha is shown in pictures.<\/p>\n
The number of visitors had reached up to 10,000 a day but fewer people
\n are going to the retreat now, he said.<\/p>\n
"He sits motionless from dawn to dusk when visitors are allowed to
\n see him. This demands something," said Devkota. "But whether
\n he is an incarnation of Buddha, I have doubts because we don’t know what
\n he does
\n at night. This must be investigated."<\/p>\n
His mother, Maya Devi — the same name as that of Buddha’s mother — said
\n Bamjon, the third of her seven children, is a quiet boy who kept aloof
\n from friends.<\/p>\n
Seems rather rude of his Ma to keep hanging the family wash from the old Pipal tree….<\/i><\/p>\n
from Reuters<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KATHMANDU (Reuters) – Authorities in Nepal urged religious groups and scientists on Sunday to help solve the mystery of a meditating teenaged boy who some believe is an incarnation of Buddha. At least 100,000 devotees from Nepal and neighbouring India … Continue reading