Quietly he sat between the folds of a tree trunk.

Rawr! I'm so furious, I was in the midst of finishing my second entry when my internet server decides to crash! F U Mozilla, and F U too Yahoo images because it was your fault. Anywho, I'm just going to have to rewrite everything, because I feel like an evil scientist who won't stop until they get shit done!

So my second entry is going to be a contrast to my first entry and be about Buddhism. My family is Buddhist, but I really didn't know much about the religion growing up. All I knew was that I went to the temple on occasions, and attended Buddhist ceremonies with chanting monks at my grandma's house. However, at a young age I always enjoyed the images of Buddhist art. I remember my grandma having a print of the Buddha meditating under the Mahabodhi tree. I guess since I didn't connect to the religion mentally or spiritually, I compensated by connecting with it physically. This is the image:

I didn't really learn about Buddhism until I was in high school. One of my friends was murdered so I was in a downward spiral and was searching and needing peace. Somehow I decided to read the book Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse and absolutely loved it. It's about the historical Buddha Siddhartha Gautama and his journey into enlightenment. I don't know if every detail is historically accurate, but some true parallels include him being a prince who left his palace to find enlightenment his own way after realizing the limitations of following the teachings of others. Some other themes include having experiences for oneself(the good and the bad), the song of life, and how every thing and being is connected.

To break away from my vague introduction of Buddhism, my blog is really concerned with my newly found interest in the "Buddha Boy," which is why I decided to do some sketches of him. There wasn't much of a thought process as I was sketching, the inspiration was more from how I discovered him. I'm going to break down step by step all the different networks that lead me to him.

It started when I was on a YouTube binge looking up a bunch of video updates from the band Of Mice & Men. I saw their Decade of Destruction Video Update #1 and loved the song in the background. I found out that it was called "Wide Eyes" by Local Natives, and found their video on HibOO d'Live where they perform an acoustic version. Seriously, check it out it sounds so amazing! So I knew that the song sounded awesome, but then I was like what the hell is it even about? So I go to SongMeanings to look up the lyrics and read any interpretations that users left. One user quoted a band member:

"HAHN: I wrote the lyrics after seeing this TV special about a boy in Nepal who allegedly meditated in the jungle for 10 months straight, without eating or drinking or even moving. I already had the chorus line, “Oh to see it with my own eyes,” but the verses came about after watching these thousands of people swarming to witness and study this seemingly miraculous event. It got me thinking about our collective fascination with extraordinary events, both good and bad.

The line “Oh some evil spirit, oh some evil this way comes/They told me how they fear it, now they’re placing it on their tongues” is about phenomena like disaster tourism or rubberneckers on the freeway. It’s interesting to me that we have such a desire to witness out-of-the-ordinary things for ourselves. "

So I YouTube this "Buddha Boy," and become fascinated with him. The documentary is by Discovery Channel and they basically try to prove whether this Buddha Boy has legitimately been meditating in the jungle of Nepal for ten months straight without sustenance or whether it's an elaborate hoax to make money off of the many visitors who believe that he is Buddha or the reincarnate of Buddha. The documentary shows scientific disbelievers continuously saying that it is physically impossible to live without water for 4 days. However, the followers of Ram Bahadur Bomjon(the Buddha Boy) have claimed that he has lived without any food and water for ten months. Their were also claims that he was bit my a poisonous snake and survived without any medical care, had a beam of light radiating from his head, and even spontaneously combusted. He was 15 at the time of the documentary and his vow was to meditate for 6 years without any sustenance to reach enlightenment. He has already completed it, and is now referred to Dharma Sangha.

I have more to say about Buddhism, reincarnation, and enlightenment, but I'll leave that for another entry. I honestly believe that he is legit! Sure I believe in science, but I guess I like spirituality much more than science. Plus as one of the lamas in the video states "Buddhists believe that you can do anything if you put your mind to it." Dharma Sangha has mastered the psychic techniques to have great control over his mind and body. I'll close this on a quirky note. I was already a vegetarian before watching this documentary, but I was reaching that wall where I seriously hated eating the same, old, boring vegetables and just wanted to eat some FRIED CHICKEN, but after believing that Dharma Sangha could live without any sustenance for six years, I quit complaining. Just kidding I still complain, but not as much.