What is the value of human life to a divine being?
January 22, 2019 10:08 AM   Subscribe

The disturbing case of Nepal’s famous “Buddha Boy”, and the growing number of accusations of assault, rape and murder levelled at the young Guru and his followers. You may remember Buddha Boy (real name Ram Bahadur Bomjon) from George Saunders’ lighthearted reporting in 2005, or from the 2006 Discovery Channel documentary.
posted by chappell, ambrose (9 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
"Don’t stop even if a human being gets killed. One could say this is the Buddha Boy’s true mantra.

After all, what is the value of human life to a divine being?"

Give a man power and I will show you his abuses. You don't need to be divine, even a modicum of power over another will turn almost every human being into a monster. I hope the authorities are taking this seriously and take swift action against this person and his gang. This shit is always disturbing and adding in the ridiculous metaphysical elements are just another vector of abuse and manipulation, one that should be harshly punished given the nature of such stupid nonsense and the inexplicable control it often warrants.
posted by GoblinHoney at 10:21 AM on January 22, 2019 [3 favorites]


If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:27 AM on January 22, 2019 [30 favorites]


Don't wait on the road, fight through into the inner sanctum, but bring back a token to claim the Scientologists or Mormon Bounty.
posted by sammyo at 11:01 AM on January 22, 2019 [4 favorites]


I've said it before and I'll say it again. The problem with religion isn't that it's fake (although it is). It's that it provides an incredibly (if not the) most convenient way to say "what we're doing is worth this collateral damage." It's not a problem exclusive to religion, but it seems particularly hard to fight on that front.
posted by East14thTaco at 11:15 AM on January 22, 2019 [28 favorites]


If "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel", then organized religion is the next-to-last.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:42 AM on January 22, 2019 [2 favorites]


Weird. I just read the Saunder's essay about a week ago (in his collection Braindead Megaphone, which I highly recommend, if only for a glimpse into how so many signs of our current hellscape were already visible 15 years ago). I was wondering if anyone ever went back to actually investigate the story further.
posted by DigDoug at 12:39 PM on January 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


Previously.
posted by adamvasco at 3:02 PM on January 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


i wonder whether the entire story is a fraud, or whether he really did do some extreme feat of meditation. if the latter I could see that really warping someone's mind, the same way long term abuse of hallucinogens might.
posted by vogon_poet at 4:11 PM on January 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


No meditation mind-warp is required to explain his actions. Rapey little would-be tyrants are all over the place.
posted by prize bull octorok at 4:20 PM on January 22, 2019 [6 favorites]


« Older Drastic and scary   |   The Chemical Table: An Open Dialog between... Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments