A Buddha in Our Midst?

There is news afoot of the return of the young buddha appearing out of the jungles near Nepal .... nice pictures too of a long-haired 18 yo.

What do you think? I understand this young man has been around awhile, making the news for this fasting and meditation. But what intrigues me is that, while some in the local region are complete believers, we in the West are more skeptical. Actually, that's probably an understatement - reading between the lines, I think there is the hint that this man might be a fraud.

I agree that the likelihood is that he is a fake .... which is sad. Sad that I am probably right, and sad that I don't have faith in miricles anymore.

It makes me wonder if we (a collective we here that can be interpreted as modern society) are not closing ourselves off to any divine revelations. If a new Messiah did appear, how would we ever recognize or trust him or her? Maybe we have had many such "visitations" and are just too sure of ourselves, too closed off to any hope to be enlightened.

Don't get me wrong .... I still think the new buddha is probably a sham .... and at best a wannabe. But it does worry me that I mightn't be able to recognize the real-thing even if I saw it.