Suicide

The intentional taking of one's own life.

The  act / instance of killing oneself 

intentionally.

Suicide

Why one commits suicide? Social Health Suicide is often committed out

of despair, or attributed to some underlying mental disorder.

(1) Self-harm: Is it a suicide attempt?

(2) Euthanasia and assisted suicide Individuals who wish to end their own

lives may enlist the assistance of another person to achieve death.

The other person, usually a family member or physician, may help carry out the act if the individual lacks the physical capacity to do so even with the supplied means.

(3) Murder–suicide: A murder–suicide is an act in which an

individual kills one or more other persons immediately before or at the same time as him or herself.

What is the motivation for the murder in murder–suicide ?

(4) Suicide attack A suicide attack is when an

attacker perpetrates an act of violence against others.

Suicide bombings are often regarded as an act of terrorism.

(5) Mass suicide Some suicides are done under peer

pressure or as a group. Mass suicides can take place with

as few as two people, in a "suicide pact", or with a larger number of people.

Christianity

In Christianity, suicide is considered a sin.

"Thou shalt not kill" : life is a gift given by God which should not be wasted, and that suicide is against the "natural order" and thus interferes with God's master plan for the world.

Hinduism

In Hinduism, suicide is generally considered equally sinful as murdering another in contemporary Hindu society. 

one who commits suicide will become part of the spirit world, wandering earth until the time one would have otherwise died, had one not committed suicide.

However, Hinduism accept a man's right to end one's life through the non-violent practice of fasting to death (Prayopavesa)

But it is strictly restricted to people who have no desire or ambition left, and no responsibilities remaining in this life.

Jainism

Jainism has a similar practice named Santhara. 

Sati, or self-immolation Sati, or self-immolation by widows

was prevalent in Hindu society during the Middle Ages.

Buddhism: A s an attempted escape from the s

ufferings of life, suicide is, accordin g to Buddhist principles, totally

effective or ineffective?

It will only be followed by a further rebirth, probably lower than a human one, in whic

h the sufferings will probably continue. Why…..? As dying in an agitated state of mind is see

n as leading to a bad transition into the ne xt life suicide is seen as likely to lead to a

bad rebirth next time.

In the Tibetan tradition , the consciousness of one who commits suic

ide is seen as anguished and weighed down with negative karma, so a

s to need rituals to aid it .

In fact, while human life contains many d ifficulties, to cut it short means that

the potential for spiritual development w hich is present in a rare ‘precious

human rebirth’ will have been thrown away.

A materialist question: W hy, if rebirth existed, moral peopl

e such as monks did not kill themse lves to gain the karmic results of th

eir goodactions?

Kassapa replies with a parable of two wiv es of a brahmin who had just died.

While one wife had a son, who was due t o inherit, the other was in an advanced s

tate of pregnancy. To find the sex of her child, and so gain part of the inheritance

for him if he was male, the latter cut ope n her belly. She and her child died, thoug

h.

Is it the case that suicide is seen as breaking the first precept ?

killing oneself is just as much an act of killing as killing another person.

Two events of Suicide in Theravada Vinaya Texts

The first is that of some monks killing the mselves, or getting another to kill them,

after having misunderstood the implicati on of a sermon of the Buddha on the ‘fou

lness of the body’: that inside the skin it i s rather unattractive, and not worthy of

being the object of attachment.

The second event was that of some bad monks persuading a layman to kill hims

elf, so that they could seduce his wife. They ‘praised the beauty of death’ and

argued that, as a good person, he woul d have a good rebirth. He thus delibera

tely ate bad food until he died.

Whatever monk should intentionally dep rive a human being of life, or should look

- about so as to be his knife bringer, or sh ould praise the beauty of death, or shoul

d incite (anyone) to death, saying, ‘my m an, of what use to you is this evil, difficul

t life?

Death is better for you than life’, or whoshould deliberately and purposefully in v

arious ways praise the beauty of death or should incite (anyone) to death: he is al

so one who is defeated, he is not in communion.

This rule clearly concerns murder, a ssisting someone in suicide, or inciti

ng or praising suicide. Is an unsuccessful suicide attempt

a monastic offence, though ?

Can we use the Passive method of Suicide?

H owever, Buddhism allows that some ins tances of self starvation.

It is acceptable when one has no time to collect food because one is inspired to pr

actise a meditation intently , but not if o ne has already attained a specific medita

tive state and thinks one need do nothin g more (AN).

It is acceptable in two other cases of illness:

- when there is a severe, long lasting illne ss, and a monk allows himself to die so a

s not to trouble those who attend on him, and where there is an intense illness, the

person is clearly dying, and he knows hehas attained a meditative state he had b

een aiming at.

-Here, self starvation is seen as acceptable: -when it is because it is an unintended side

effect of a more important task, - when it is part of a compa ssionate act, or when death is already imminent and furthe

r eating would be futile, not even allowing t he

completion of a meditative task.

Should Arahants commit Suicide?

Early Buddhist literature also includes discu ssions of a few cases of those who are frust

rated at not attaining Arahatship and thus c ut their throats, but who attain Arahatship a

t the last minute by managing to attain full i nsight as they watch the process of dying, p erhaps accompanied by remorse at their un

wise act.

In contrast, suicide is justified in the person s of the Noble Ones who have already cut of f desire and by so doing neutralised their ac

tions by

making them incapable of producing furthe r fruit.

Bodhisatva/Bodhisatta Suicide or heroic Altruism?