Comments on: Why Buddhism Is Open to Suicide http://catholicism.org/why-buddhism-is-open-to-suicide.html An online journal edited by the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Richmond N.H. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:55:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: justin http://catholicism.org/why-buddhism-is-open-to-suicide.html#comment-2316 justin Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:33:38 +0000 http://catholicism.org/?p=14599#comment-2316 At it's heart Buddhism is what I would call "pragmatic nihilism", a way of coming to terms with and accepting the notion that life is meaningless and empty and that their is no soul, no self, no nothing, simply empty processes rolling on. You're only hope is to meditate to the point where you dissolve into nothingness or "nibbana", a state that is supposed to be one of happiness and peace. Classical Buddhism was never big on suicide, as takinga life, any life, amounts to a violation of the first precept laid out by the Buddha saying that one will not harm or kill. The Japanese follow a different form of Buddhism than the Buddha taught so I wonder if this suicide thing is more Japanese Buddhism mixed in with the already bizzare tendencies of Japanese culture. What is interesting is Buddhism is so nebulous and open to misinterpretation that it can be pretty much whatever you want it to be and that is exactly what happens. For instance, look at how atheist materialism and 60's era liberalism has hijacked Buddhism in the West. You have Buddhists who support abortion and euthanasia when the Buddha himself, in the Vinaya, the code for monks, considered something like abortion so grave an offense that a monk who even suggests it to a woman is "defeated", meaning he must leave the order forever. This is often swept under the rug as an inconvienence the same way liberals in the Church treat uncomfortable teachings. At it’s heart Buddhism is what I would call “pragmatic nihilism”, a way of coming to terms with and accepting the notion that life is meaningless and empty and that their is no soul, no self, no nothing, simply empty processes rolling on. You’re only hope is to meditate to the point where you dissolve into nothingness or “nibbana”, a state that is supposed to be one of happiness and peace.

Classical Buddhism was never big on suicide, as takinga life, any life, amounts to a violation of the first precept laid out by the Buddha saying that one will not harm or kill. The Japanese follow a different form of Buddhism than the Buddha taught so I wonder if this suicide thing is more Japanese Buddhism mixed in with the already bizzare tendencies of Japanese culture.

What is interesting is Buddhism is so nebulous and open to misinterpretation that it can be pretty much whatever you want it to be and that is exactly what happens. For instance, look at how atheist materialism and 60′s era liberalism has hijacked Buddhism in the West. You have Buddhists who support abortion and euthanasia when the Buddha himself, in the Vinaya, the code for monks, considered something like abortion so grave an offense that a monk who even suggests it to a woman is “defeated”, meaning he must leave the order forever. This is often swept under the rug as an inconvienence the same way liberals in the Church treat uncomfortable teachings.

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