Suicide solution

 

“Martyrdom, Self-Sacrifice and Self-Immolation” is a 2018 book edited by Margo Kitts and published by Oxford University Press. Judging by the table of contents, it´s remarkably comprehensive, covering everything from the Branch Davidians to widow-burning in India. And, of course, various forms of jihadism! I´ve only read one of the contributions, available free on the web: “Relinquishing the Body to Reach the Pure Land” by Jacqueline Stone, which gives an overview of Buddhist ascetic suicides in premodern Japan. It´s a shocking read, especially if you think that Buddhism is a nice and unproblematic religion, pardon, philosophy!

There seems to have been an ambivalence about suicide within Buddhism already from the start. On the one hand, Buddhism frowns on "ordinary" suicide through which people try to escape the misery of their present existence. This simply generates more negative karma. However, suicide as a form of lofty self-sacrifice for others or as a way to honor the dharma is something else again. There is a well known legend about how the Buddha in a previous life (as a rabbit?) sacrified himself to feed a hungry tiger. The Mahayanist Lotus Sutra contains a story of how the future bodhisattva Medicine King turned his body into a "living torch" as an offering to the buddha of his age. Chinese Mahayana hagiographies contain many stories about Buddhist monks or nuns who kill themselves, usually by auto-cremation (self-immolation by fire). Other ways to go include offering up one´s body to wild beasts, throwing oneself off cliffs or terminal fasts. 

One Chinese innovation to Buddhist ascetic practices was the idea that suicide guaranteed rebirth in a "pure land", a kind of paradise-world, the most popular such being Sukhavati, associated with the cosmic buddha Amitabha or Amida. Since pure lands are sinless and perfect, it´s much easier to attain bodhisattvahood in such a land than it would be in our world (where it can take eons). From China, this notion spread to Japan. In Japanese, self-immolation with the express purpose of reaching a pure land is called jigai ojo, which could be translated "pure land suicide". As already indicated, most of Stone´s article deals with the Japanese phenomenon. The period in question is what we would call the Middle Ages. 

Self-immolation by fire or drowning seems to have been the most common methods. They were often turned into public spectacles, with huge crowds gathering to watch the suicide in situ. There was a belief that people who attended the self-immolation of an ascetic would themselves be reborn in the pure land. Even drownings in lakes or at sea could become public spectacles of this type, with spectators showing up in their own boats! Ritual suicides of this kind were supposedly accompanied by paranormal phenomena, such as purple clouds appearing out of nowhere, heavenly music and the like. These were signs that Amida had welcomed the suicide in the Pure Land of Utmost Bliss. It´s also interesting to note that many suicides of this type took place close to actual burial grounds 

Of course, all Buddhists weren´t amused, and some of their counter-arguments are pretty ingenious. 

There was a widespread belief that a person´s last thoughts would decide his or her rebirth. An unrighteous person could be reborn in the Pure Land of Amida if he firmly fixed his mind on this buddha at his deathbed. This also meant that a righteous person could go straight to Hell if his thoughts were unpure at the time of death. Thus, one stray thought at the end of your life could literally undo a lifetime of spiritual accomplishment. But if so, critics of jigai ojo shrewdly argued, suicide by fire or drowning were dangerous even for ascetics - what if they couldn´t keep their calm and started to think negative thoughts? The only form of ojo-suicide this argument (perhaps) didn´t work against was the practice of slowly fasting to death, since that could be combined with meditation and keeping your composure. 

Another argument against ojo-suicide was more strictly theological: since salvation is by "other-power" rather than "self-power", only the grace of Amida can save the individual. This stance is associated with Honen, the leader of a certain Pure Land Buddhist denomination. From this follows that ritual suicide is a form of "self-power" (a Protestant would perhaps call it "works-based salvation") and must therefore be rejected. It´s therefore somewhat ironic that Stone mentions a story about a disciple of Honen who kills himself in order to join the master in the Pure Land! The man in question was a former warrior, and in some cases loyalty suicide (another Japanese tradition) fused with ojo-suicide. When prominent Pure Land Buddhist leaders died, mass suicide involving their immidiate disciples could follow. This can be interpreted both as showing loyalty to your deceased lord, and an attempt to join him in the pure land. 

In another development, suicide to reach a pure land became accepted even for lay people. Romantic suicides was one version, another was suicide of warriors or their spouses and children when a military defeat seemed inevitable. Bereaved mothers could kill themselves to join their children in paradise. 

Not sure what Pure Land Buddhists say about this today? I assumed this form of Buddhism was relatively sympathetic, but it seems all religions have a very colorful history!