A little skeptical...

[SimonM]

A co-worker showed me this article earlier today.

I later pulled up this background information on wikipedia.

First off, let me please reiterate: Buddha was not a god. He was a man.
Second: Many branches of Buddhism, adhering to the principle of anatman, do not believe in transmigration of the soul and thus do not believe in "reincarnation" in any intelligible sense.
Third: Even those branches of Buddhism that DO believe in reincarnation do not believe a Buddha reincarnates. After all a buddha is a person who has escaped from Samsara!

With that in mind I am rather skeptical of those who would claim that this boy IS Gautama Siddhartha.

I am rather relieved to see that he (in one of the rare times he spoke) has denied BEING a Buddha and has made no suggestion that he believes himself to be a god.

Still... the boy is making news in north america... I only hope that people fascinated in this story actually speak to people within the sangha and attempt to learn something of the true dharma rather than just spreading around the same tired new-age buddhist/hindu/taoist hybrid metaphysics and pinning it on a little nepalese ascetic.

Is he a buddha? Who knows. Right now he's proven he can sit and meditate quite a lot... let's see if he reaches the point of realizing that the world needs somebody to get out there and do something to make it a better place; buddha did more than sit on his bum under a tree.

[uki]

you can tell a thousand blind men that the color red is red, but they'll never understand it...

[sanjuro_ronin]

I think that it wouldn't hurt ANY religion to focus on the NOW and stop living in the past.

[SimonM]

You know what:

I don't understand.

I don't understand why a poor kid who just wants to find somewhere quiet to sit and have a nice long think can't get that because doing something so fundamentally normal gets him elevated to the level of a deity by uneducated peasants.

I don't understand why it's so important to western media to know if he eats food and drinks water or not. OF COURSE he eats and drinks, just not much, that is what the boy said when he was asked.

I don't understand why idiotic sources like fox news propagate bullsh!t like suggesting Buddha was a god.

So, yes, I don't understand - I don't understand the circus atmosphere that trys to turn an ordinary little boy into a freak just for being honestly devout.

[uki]

You know what:

I don't understand.

I don't understand why a poor kid who just wants to find somewhere quiet to sit and have a nice long think can't get that because doing something so fundamentally normal gets him elevated to the level of a deity by uneducated peasants.

I don't understand why it's so important to western media to know if he eats food and drinks water or not. OF COURSE he eats and drinks, just not much, that is what the boy said when he was asked.

I don't understand why idiotic sources like fox news propagate bullsh!t like suggesting Buddha was a god.

So, yes, I don't understand - I don't understand the circus atmosphere that trys to turn an ordinary little boy into a freak just for being honestly devout.

i must say... i have highlighted exactly what you seem to understand...

[sanjuro_ronin]

You know what:

I don't understand.

I don't understand why a poor kid who just wants to find somewhere quiet to sit and have a nice long think can't get that because doing something so fundamentally normal gets him elevated to the level of a deity by uneducated peasants.

I don't understand why it's so important to western media to know if he eats food and drinks water or not. OF COURSE he eats and drinks, just not much, that is what the boy said when he was asked.

I don't understand why idiotic sources like fox news propagate bullsh!t like suggesting Buddha was a god.

So, yes, I don't understand - I don't understand the circus atmosphere that trys to turn an ordinary little boy into a freak just for being honestly devout.

Ah dude, people just naturally suck.
Reporters are not fountains of knowledge, far from it at times, do you think they even researched about Buddhisim before they ran the story?
Everyone loves a circus , so they try to make everything a circus.
Now, its not just Buddhisim, look at some Roman Catholics that see the face of Christ on Toast or on the rust stains of a wall, even though no one knows what he looked like !
Or they see the Virgin Mary, or the Sanctified left testicle of John the Baptist, or whatever floats your "holy host".

People just need things to believe in.

[SimonM]

Just feel bad for the kid, that's all.

[mawali]

Be Buddha according to his actions and you will be as enlightened as he!

Do not believe a thing because it is repeated, written, parrotted by a famous person and the like. INVESTIGATE then come to a solution!

[SimonM]

Solution: Get this kid a spot in a monastery where he can meditate in a more uninterrupted manner... and possibly also get an eductation.

[Scott R. Brown]

Has anyone considered he WANTS the attention?

If he really wanted to be anonymous it isn't that hard. Meditating quietly in your hut is much less ostentatious.

[SimonM]

I have considered it... and it is a possibility certainly. However I haven't enough evidence to come to a conclusion one way or the other on that.

[Xiao3 Meng4]

Civilizations, as self-important and centric as they are, have always known that something's missing. Hence the multitude of panaceas.

"Follow the Gourd!"

"No, Follow the Sandal!"

[Infrazael]

Who was the Buddha?

There is no Buddha.