The Buddhist View on Suicide 

A Tibetan Buddhist Rinpoche once told me that suicidal thoughts are a time for change of prospective. Killing oneself doesn’t stop the suffering, it only protrudes the problem into your next life. The only way stop suffering is to solve the problem,so it doesn’t come back on you.☸️🧐🤗

I haven't read all of Brad Warner's books or watched all of his videos, but he is definitely a person i really admire. Such a cool, thoughtful, intelligent dude. A great voice for people to check out. His books really opened my eyes in alot of ways.

I'm grateful that you lived to write the books you've written and play the music you play and create the videos you create. This is one of the videos I will return to again and again.

i went through a period where i lost the will to live. i wasn't suicidal. the will to live went missing. very hard to stay awake and function. i would say if any suicidal ideation is circumstantial most circumstances change eventually for the better except maybe terminal illness. this in itself is part of impermanence.

[8:09] "Going as far away as possible from the life that I lead physically and conceptually, and just starting over again. I just completely changed everything that I did." - Sounds like a deeper take on truly "Leaving Home."

As someone who has had two people I love end their lives, this has touched me deeply. Thank you so much for this thoughtful video and blog. Blessings my friend you are so wonderful.

Your very subtle chanel has more wisdom than 1000 other channels combined.....No exaggeration. Im sorry you went through all that....I too have been through it. Im very grateful you share your wisdom here with the rest of us open eyed humans. Thank you and thank you again for sharing this, it all rang VERY true.....and I've walked these paths before. That says a lot. Mahalo

Wow, what you have just said has changed so much for me! Im a Buddhist, and im suicidal daily but it had never occured to me that i can kill myself without killing my body. This is the essence of Buddhism, subtle impermanence shows us that we are in a constant flow of change, so much so that we never fully come into existance without simultainuously changing into something else. The clinging and craving is whats been killing me, and although i know this through my Buddhist studies it didnt quite lock into place until you made that statement. Thank you precious Sangha Jewel, youve just saved my life ♥

Thank you so much for this video, Brad.

I live in a large apartment building. my apartment is on the second floor, my balcony is like 8 feet from (and 4 feet above) my building's awning (the thing above its front door). 4 years ago, a guy in his early 70s, a guy I didn't know very well but knew who he was, jumped off the 8th floor and landed on the awning. it was suicide, not an accident. I was home when it happened. i did not see or hear him land, but 15 minutes later I heard the ambulance siren and all the commotion. i went to my balcony and saw his corpse laying there. he was face up and lifeless. there was no blood, but he looked dead. he was dead. I can never unsee that image.

👏🏻 I thought this was one of your best videos

I read that article. One of the deepest things I had read in a long time. Thank you for sharing.

My second favorite movie ever is _The Departure_ , a documentary about a Zen priest (Ittetsu Nemoto) who deals in suicide prevention. Nemoto emphasizes that when you kill yourself, you simultaneously destroy all the things in life that you value.

I was suicidal for a long time, suffered for so long, I walked around dead for many years as a zombie. I struggled with emptiness within, it was Buddha teachings that showed me the emptiness was not to be filled. We must cherish our emptiness. As Rumi says: the wound is the place where the light enters you.

An odd coincidence that this topic came up the day a friend of mine told me he was having a tough time with accompanying suicidal thoughts, very timely video!

I have found myself jettisoning or losing expectations about much of my life and have come to feel much more connected with the world and creatures in it. I really relate to your thought that givng up expectations could be a path to deep connectedness with our inner and outer worlds. Pretty good idea man.

I know there are truckloads of souls that are grateful that you failed that attempt!!!! So crazy where it happened.. I absolutely grew up in the Cleveland Metroparks.. did the event happen in part of that system? Or is a separate system? Sorry to focus on THAT in particular but I had some dark times there too.. even ran away and hid there. Also: That was close to the time of the movie "Permanent Record" That was the first movie where I fell for the whole romancing of the issue..

Thank you Brad. I am 29 and find myself in a similar situation you were in at 28, as mentioned in your video. I love the practice, I chant the Jewel Mirror Samadhi as Kokyo every Wednesday at my local Zen Center. But I feel like a totally fraud and just can't 'get it together' since my last relationship ended, I'm totally lost. I've actually have been thinking of 'ending my life', but not physically, but as you described in this video - immediately changing everything without pomp or permission. That seems like a much more effective and meaningful suicide. All the best and thank you for sharing your story, really helped me in this moment.

Bravo! I'm sure you've saved lives on the Path these days, Boddhisattva. How dare you! lol. Bought and read several of your books. Rock on!

Thank you for your insight... Namaste

Nice one

I have lost so many friends and loved ones over the years. Most untimely deaths are a form of suicide, be it slow or fast. People fill themselves with death, drop by drop.

I talked with a Rinzai priest from Japan that works with the shut-ins and others. If I remember correctly, the New Yorker wrote an article about him and his work. Fascinating guy. Like you, I have had my personal efforts with suicide (Yes, I meant it in the plural sense.) It is such a lonely road. However, I managed to pull myself out of it and found my way to our practice. That is one of the things that pulled me out f the funk - I am not alone and that people cared about me. Plus, I my burgeoning zazen aided in my ‘recovery.’

Very thoughtful.

thank you

There are three places where the Buddha discusses suicide in the Pali Canon, Channa page 1114 in the Middle Length Discourses, Godhika page 212 of the Connected Discourses, and Vakkali page 938 of the Connected Discourses. Page numbers refer to the Bhikkhu Bodhi translations. These passages are somewhat problematic but seem to be euthanasia by arahants. In other words, not applicable to us who still have work to do in our lifetimes. I'd be interested in your thoughts.

"That was the moment I decided like all bets are off...I'm free from everything." What a shock to encounter Buddhism then...and learn that no one is free from karma. Not even death can liberate you! Check out Dogen's treatise 'On Karmic Retribution in the Three Temporal Periods' (Sanji Gō).

Huh The Gorge runs that way I only new it closer to Dayton area… fell for 2 girls there (4 years apart)

You had a house, a car and a job and you felt like you were at rock bottom?? 1991 sounds like a a whole other world

I understand as much as I am able , your perspective. I have been touched by suicide in my life as well. I am interested in your viewpoint on euthanasia though.

You can never jump. We need you.

"I stepped out of the car and the first thing I saw were some kids playing in the park". That alone should be enough to inspire a double-take on suicide...when you see the happiness of children. Where did all the brightness go...you experienced in your childhood? What took it away...and why cant you get it back?

Brad, heads up, you really should add a suicide prevention hot line number on this video

so much birdsong!

If there is no self in Buddhism could then reincarnation not also be interpreted as continuation? If I do something bad people or animals suffer. The different ways the universe manifests itself are impacted in a negative way, the consequences and reactions are negative. It's not a particular self restricted to time and space which is first born into a man and after death into an insect. It's just life suffering after ones suicide. And it's like you said: Family, friends and all other involuntarily involved people would suffer. This suffering could be interpreted as a negative reincarnation.

There are a few F Models videos on this view tube thingy

🙏🙏🙏🕉☸️❤️

❤️❤️❤️ I want to be your friend 😆🙌

Hmm, there definitely is oblivion. Anyone who has experienced a general anesthetic knows that

Philosopher Derek Parfit in his book, 'Reasons and Persons' advances the view that there is indeed no evidence for a fixed, inherent self (he calls this the reductionist view - there is nothing over or above mental and physical states), and that we should regard ourselves instead as a 'series of persons.' This implies we should look at self-destructive behaviour, such as smoking (or suicide), as an assault on our future self. A self that will likely have very little connection to the person we are now. In other words we are harming a being other than our self if we carry out these acts. Parfit regards this as a reasonable argument for some kinds of paternalism. However, in the same book he also explores the implications of intense physical pain. We may well conclude that the self is simply a network of memories and experiences with no fixed centre, but if I'm informed I will be painfully tortured to death tomorrow there is clearly a being alive now (a self) that will be the locus of intense, unbearable pain. Under these circumstances it's hard to find an argument against suicide, or to push the 'reductionist' view too hard. 'I' will experience the pain, and not some other person. When discussing both assisted dying and suicide we should be conscious of these complexities. Unbearable pain and anguish has a real locus, and ending a life may be a rational choice that reduces the sum of suffering. I'm simplifying Parfit's arguments here, and I recommend anyone interested to tackle the book. The quote from Parfit below might help clarify some of these points: 'When I believed [that personal identity is what matters], I also cared more about my inevitable death. After my death, there will be no one living who will be me. I can now redescribe this fact. Though there will later be many experiences, none of these experiences will be connected to my present experiences by chains of such direct connections as those involved in experience-memory, or in the carrying out of an earlier intention. Some of these future experiences may be related to my present experiences in less direct ways. There will later be some memories about my life. And there may later be thoughts that are influenced by mine, or things done as the result of my advice. My death will break the more direct relations between my present experiences and future experiences, but it will not break various other relations. This is all there is to the fact that there will be no one living who will be me. Now that I have seen this, my death seems to me less bad.'

I don't like to comment on things I know nothing about. Like brain surgery, rocket science and suicide. I can't even imagine how dark the hole is that would leave someone with no out but taking their own life. I've known people who went to unbelievable lengths to end it and I am both horrified and mystified. And always left asking why?

yes thanks,2 things in common ,family in Ohio,and also a punk rocker ,bet were close to same age ,salute to you in the journey of life ! that your right its not just yours ,so we keep going or looking toward a high thing ??? I hate the word power ...

"The Buddha came along and said NO they shouldn't do that...that will lead to a bad rebirth in the future". Thus spoke the founder of Buddhism...as well as every great Buddhist teacher of history including Dogen. But you can disregard all that. Why...cause there was a guy named Gudo in Japan who said its all BS. What more do you need to know?

Meaningful synopsis! "Zazen means practicing the way that unites the Self with God or Buddha. When we practice this way there is no more pain or shame or sadness. This way is our true ego. Satori means taking hold of the self that penetrates the whole universe. Zazen has no use. When we practice Zazen we no longer wish to escape from the life of transmigration. We no longer wish to be reborn in paradise or to escape from suffering. To accept suffering in order to help mankind is Bodaishin, the mind of awakening. We must live our life from one moment to the next, our faith anchored in the stopped clock. That is the way to live eternally.” ~ Sawaki Roshi

If youre becoming one with the universe when you commit this act that doesnt sound so bad. Im not condoning anything here im just saying..

I don't agree. I think we have the right to end are suffering