Suicide --how Does Buddhism Look At It?

[sbk]

The long-time abbot of our local wat has been suffering some form of mental illness for the past few years and recently committed suicide. It is quite sad as before his mental illness he was an excellent abbot, a good teacher and a decent man. I am not sure of the nature of his illness, just that whatever attempts were made at dealing with it, failed.

It got me to thinking about the Buddhist view of suicide, since this is not the first one I have encountered (just the first that wasn't a lay person). Is there any kind of condemnation of it, like with the Catholics?

[chownah]

I don't know what Buddhists' views are but I did see a discussion once of the topic of what the Buddha taught about suicide and in that discussion it was asserted that there was no direct statement from him condemning suicide directly but he did teach that one should not kill and it is clear that killing oneself is a type of killing. The views of those involved in the discussion (mostly westerners) were split....some thought it was ok in some circumstances (painful illness with no chance of ever having a healthy life again, for instance) while others thought it was wrong in any circumstance.

[Pepe']

In ancient Pali texts it is explained that if one takes one's own life they remain trapped in a subtle body or ghost body until the time passes that they would have lived out their life according to their karma.

Then they take birth again most likely not in human form.

[sabaijai]

A bhikkhu who attempts suicide incurs a dukkata offense, according to the Vinaya.

There are lots of contemporary essays discussing Buddhism and suicide, here's one.

Copyright© Struan Hellier 2003

SUICIDE AND BUDDHISM

Introduction

The issue of suicide within any religious tradition raises basic questions about the value of human life and the freedom of the individual to take control of that most fundamental and unavoidable end result of living, death itself. For Buddhism the problem is not as clearly delineated as it is for Christianity, which Professor Markham describes as, " . . . virtually unanimous in considering suicide a sin." (The Times 14-05-98). Of the three clear cases of suicide reported in the Pali Canon, the case of Channa seems to be the most widely used to demonstrate Buddhist ambivalence on the subject. For this reason, and because it gives the best evidence of the Buddha’s accord with the act, I will focus on this case alone in this essay.

I intend to show that the majority of Buddhists and scholars of Buddhism take the view that suicide is wrong for the unenlightened but acceptable for the arahant, and I will examine the reasons why this is so. I will then show why this causes tension with other aspects of Buddhist thought before moving on to an examination of objective grounds for believing all suicide to be wrong when looked at in the context of Buddhist teaching and values.

There are complications here. Firstly, in reducing a complex and varied religion to the reports in the Pali Canon without bringing in thousands of years of contextual and cultural variation I am in danger of over simplification. My search however is restricted to looking for grounds for an objective belief in the immorality of suicide within the Pali Canon and not to presume to pronounce a binding ethical position, which all Buddhists should adhere to.

Secondly, a definition of suicide in itself will not be attempted beyond stating that I refer to the deliberate self inflicted death for no other (worldly) reason than putting an end to a life and everything therein. Issues concerning whether feeding one’s body to a hungry tigress (in ‘Jaataka-mala’) or the Jain tradition of fasting to death, constitute suicide will not be discussed as space is limited.

[.....]

Conclusions

We have arrived at the point where the conclusion that suicide by an arhat is acceptable to Buddhism has become unjustifiable with regards to the teachings of the Buddha as reported in the Pali Canon. The prime example of an arhat committing suicide (Channa) turns out to be not the suicide of an arhat, but instead the actions of an unenlightened man who can stand the pain of life no more. He was only to become enlightened at the point of death and thus, his enlightened ‘self’ was exonerated of responsibility. It was the old, flawed Channa who committed the act and the old, flawed Channa who was wrong to do as he did.

The point here is that there is evidence to suggest that no arhat has committed suicide and that those who point to Channa are mislead if they use his death to substantiate such a claim. Therefore although an enlightened person may be able to commit suicide in an ‘a priori’ sense we have no empirical evidence to support the view that he or she might do so. The argument is therefore no more substantial than a claim that an arhat can blamelessly murder, or blamelessly use a nuclear device on an innocent population. This may be true as his greater insight into nature could allow him such a course of action, but I suspect that no Buddhist would claim that this is the case.

This interpretation is consistent with Buddhist doctrine in a way that others are not. Indeed the First Precept shows that the taking of any human life is the gravest offence a Buddhist can commit (Saddhatissa 1970 pg87-88). Further the third parajika (Nakasone 1990 pg67-68) is clearly against suicide, abetting suicide and commending death by suicide and the principle of ahimsa (non-injury) is clearly shattered by any act of violence, including suicide.

Therefore it seems reasonable to conclude that rather than the morality of suicide being subjective there is a great deal of evidence to support the contrary view, namely that there is some feature of the act itself which marks it out as morally suspect.

Buddhism sees death not as an end to life, but merely as a transition to another life. Anyone who thinks of death as an end to suffering has misunderstood the First Noble Truth which clearly states that death itself is one of the most basic aspects of suffering and that in this way it is the problem, not the solution. An arhat will not commit suicide because he cannot wish for death (or life). When death comes, it comes and can only be met with indifference otherwise the arhat has revealed himself to be less than enlightened.

If, like Channa, the person who commits suicide gains enlightenment at the point of death then his good fortune will not require him to go through the suffering of another life regardless of the objective immorality of his act.

full text.

[Grover]

A bhikkhu who attempts suicide incurs a dukkata offense, according to the Vinaya.

The monk in question may be excused for this, depending on the type and extent of his mental illness (eg some form of madness).

That is sad news, sbk.

Edited July 17, 2007 by Grover

[canadiangirl]

Hi sbk,

I don't know about Theravada Buddhism, but I do know there is a school of Buddhism where the monks immolate themselves in protest over grave social injustices. I don't remember the name offhand, but Thich Nat Than (sp?) from Vietnam belongs to it.

I am sorry to hear about the death of your abbot. My condoleances.

Edited July 17, 2007 by canadiangirl

[chownah]

In ancient Pali texts it is explained that if one takes one's own life they remain trapped in a subtle body or ghost body until the time passes that they would have lived out their life according to their karma.

Then they take birth again most likely not in human form.

I think you may be mistaken on this. Perhaps it was from a Sanskrit text. If you do have knowledge of a Pali text which say this then I would be most appreciative if you could give me the reference.

chownah

[sbk]

A bhikkhu who attempts suicide incurs a dukkata offense, according to the Vinaya.

The monk in question may be excused for this, depending on the type and extent of his mental illness (eg some form of madness).

That is sad news, sbk.

It is, he was a kind gentle man. He was the abbot when my husband briefly ordained and I know my husband gained alot of inspiration from him. I don't know the details, just that he was incapable of acting as abbot, lived with the abbot in the wat in town for several years trying to deal with whatever the problem was, and I guess, in the end, could see no hope. It is even sadder if he did so knowing and understanding the consequences of his behavior.

[suegha]

Interesting topic. It's something that we all discuss at some time and in terms of what our 'faith' is. However, whilst it may be the case that most Christian denominations condemn suicide, there are no direct feferences in the Bible. And if it were the case that it were to be condemned there would be direct references!

I think the op mentioned something important here, the mental illness. It could be argued that all suicides are in some way mentally ill as one of our strongest natural instincts is self-preservation.

The abbot was not in his right mind so no condemnation.

[NotYetArahan]

I have read somewhere (I think it is mentioned in Tibetan Buddhism) that the last state of mind determines the rebirth.

I can imagine that the last state of mind of somebody committing suicide is akusala. Rebirth will then be in the corresponding realm.

[robitusson]

An old thread about this topic.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=14625

[Pepe']

In ancient Pali texts it is explained that if one takes one's own life they remain trapped in a subtle body or ghost body until the time passes that they would have lived out their life according to their karma.

Then they take birth again most likely not in human form.

I think you may be mistaken on this. Perhaps it was from a Sanskrit text. If you do have knowledge of a Pali text which say this then I would be most appreciative if you could give me the reference.

chownah

------------------------------

Text and verse I don't know but I have heard this phenomenon spoken about from Thai monks I have know over the years. I will ask one of my Thai monk friends here...

[jumnien]

My observation is that buddhists seem to be just as compassionate towards those contemplating suicide as their Christian brethren are. While suicide prevention is perhaps not as organized or available in buddhist countries, this has more to do with their level of development rather than any conscious decision not to help prevent the suicide. Historically, Christian nations have a much greater tendency towards assisted suicides and assisted abortions. Pain management, so to speak.

[IMA_FARANG]

I don't know what Buddhists' views are but I did see a discussion once of the topic of what the Buddha taught about suicide and in that discussion it was asserted that there was no direct statement from him condemning suicide directly but he did teach that one should not kill and it is clear that killing oneself is a type of killing. The views of those involved in the discussion (mostly westerners) were split....some thought it was ok in some circumstances (painful illness with no chance of ever having a healthy life again, for instance) while others thought it was wrong in any circumstance.

I don't know about suicide specifically, but I know of a Thai man who was a devoted buddhist, but only a layman, who when he found out he had cancer refused to have it treated. His reason was that he would cause financial hardship to his family paying for the treatment for his cancer, and also he simply accepted that it was part of his karma to suffer and die from cancer.

As it is mentioned in one of the posts, there is a social activist tendency in some buddhist teaching that is viewed by some as reason to protest what they feel injustice, even to suicide. Some of the Vietnamese monks burned themselves to protest the then Vietnamese government's policy.

Also there are stories of Zen Buddhist monks who can foretell their death when they get old and infirm. Some stories tell of monks who deliberately burn themselves to death when they think it is coming to their time to die. Zen Buddhisim teaches that a person should not fear death, as it is the natural ending of life. As a person should not fear life, why should they then fear death?

One story tells of a monk who taught Zen for many years, and in her old age was often sick. One day she said goodbye to all her students, and then had a pile of wood made in the courtyard of the temple. She then sat on the pile of wood, which was doused with some kind of flammable fuel. She had the fuel lit, and then sat quietly while the flames rose. Unable to bear the sight one of her students called out,"Oh Nun, is not that fire very hot for you?"

"You always were a poor student", the nun said,"or you wouldn't ask such silly questions."

And then she died. (A good teacher to the end)