Sutra: Suicide? (SOAD "Chop Suey")

Producer Rick Rubin; System of a Down (SOAD) as reviewed by The Charismatic Voice; T.W. Rhys Davids (trans.) SuttaCentral.net; Dhr. Seven, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

What did the Buddha teach about suicide?

Attanipātanapañha—T.W. Rhys Davids (trans.), The Questions of King Milinda, Book 4: The solving of dilemmas, Chapter 4 (Mil. 5.4.5), "On Suicide" (PTS cs 13 PTS vp Pali 195)

“Venerable Nāgasena, it has been said by the Blessed One: ‘O meditators, a monastic is not to commit suicide. Whosoever does so shall be dealt with according to the dharma.”

“But on the other hand [members of the Monastic Order] say: ‘On whatever subject the Blessed One was addressing the disciples, he always, with various similes, preached to them in order to bring about the destruction of rebirth [life], old age, disease, and death. And whoever overcame rebirth, old age, disease, and death, that person did he honor with the highest praise.”

“Now if the Blessed One said suicide [is wrong and forbidden] that saying of yours must be wrong. But if not then the prohibition of suicide must be wrong. This, too, is a double-edged dilemma now put to you, and you have to solve it” (PTS cs 14).

“O king, the monastic [disciplinary code] rule you quote was laid down by the Blessed One yet the saying you refer to is also true. There is a reason for this, a (PTS vp En 274) reason for which the Blessed One both prohibited [the destruction of life] and also [in another sense] instigated us to [bring about the destruction of rebirth].”

“What, Nāgasena, might that reason be?”

“A good person, O king, perfect in uprightness, is like medicine to humans, an antidote to the poison of unskillful karma. Such a person is like water to people, bringing down the dust and impurities of unskillful dispositions. That person is like a jewel treasure to people, bestowing upon them all attainments in righteousness. That person is like a boat to people, inasmuch as one conveys them to the further shore of the four flooded streams (of lust, separation, delusion, and ignorance). Such a person is like a caravan owner to people, bringing them beyond the sandy desert of rebirth. Such a person is like a mighty rain cloud to people, filling their hearts with satisfaction. Such a person is like a teacher to people, training them in all that is good. Such a person is like a guide to people, pointing out to them the path to ultimate peace. It was in order that so good a person as that, one whose good qualities are so many and various, so immeasurable (PTS vp Pali 196), in order that so great a treasure mine of good things, so full of benefit to all beings, might not be done away with that the Blessed One, O king, out of his mercy towards all living beings, laid down that injunction, when he said: 'O meditators, a monastic is not to commit suicide. Whoever does so shall be dealt with according to the dharma.'

“This is the reason for which the Blessed One prohibited [self-murder]. And it was said, O king (PTS vp En 275)  by the Ven. Elder Kumāra Kassapa, the eloquent, when he was describing to Pāyāsi the Rājanya the other world:

“‘So long as shamans (wandering ascetics or samaṇas) and Brahmins (brahmanas) of uprightness and beauty of character continue to exist — however long that time might be — just so long do they conduct themselves to the advantage and happiness of the great number of people, to the good and gain and benefit of devas and human beings!’” (PTS cs 15)

“And what is the reason for which the Blessed One instigated us [to put an end to rebirth]? Rebirth, O king, is full of pain, and so is old age, and disease, and death. Sorrow is painful, and so is lamentation, and pain, and grief, and despair. Association with the unpleasant is painful, and separation from the pleasant is painful. The death of a mother is painful, or of a father, or a brother, or a sister, or a son [or a sister], or a wife, or of any relative. Painful is the ruin of one’s family, and the suffering of disease, and the loss of wealth, and decline in goodness, and the loss of insight (PTS vp En 276). Painful is the fear produced by despots, or by robbers, or by enemies, or by famine, or by fire, or by flood, or by the tidal wave, or by earthquake, or by crocodiles or alligators. Painful is the fear of possible blame attaching to oneself, or to others, the fear of punishment, the fear of misfortune. Painful is the fear arising from shyness [bashfulness or inhibition due to misconduct] in the presence of assemblies of one’s fellows, painful is anxiety as to one’s means of livelihood, painful the foreboding of death (PTS vp Pali 197).

“Painful are [the punishments inflicted on people accused of crimes], such as being flogged with whips, or with sticks, or with split rods, having one’s hands cut off, or one’s feet, or one’s hands and feet, or one’s ears, or one’s nose, or one’s ears and nose. Painful are [the tortures inflicted on those accused of being traitors] — being subjected to the Gruel Pot (that is, having boiling gruel poured into one’s head from the top of which the skull bone has been removed) — or to the Chank Crown (that is, having the scalp rubbed with gravel till it becomes smooth like a polished shell) — or to the Rāhu’s Mouth (that is, having one’s mouth held open by iron pins, and oil put in it, and a wick lit therein) — or to the Fire Garland or to the Hand Torch (that is, being made a living torch, the whole body, or the arms only, being wrapped up in oily cloths and set on fire) — or to the Snake Strips (that is, being skinned in strips from the neck to the hips so that the skin falls in strips round the legs), or to the Bark Dress (that is, being skinned alive from the neck downwards and having each strip of [PTS vp En 277] skin as soon as it is removed tied to the hair so that these strips form a veil around one) — or to the Spotted Antelope (that is, having one’s knees and elbows tied together and being made to squat on a plate of iron under which a fire is lit) — or to the Flesh-Hooks (that is, being hung up on a row of iron hooks) — or to the Pennies (that is, having bits cut out of the flesh, all over the body, of the size of pennies) — or to the Brine Slits (that is, having cuts made all over one’s body by means of knives or sharp points and then having salt and caustic liquids poured over the wounds) — or to the Bar Turn (that is, being transfixed to the ground by a bar of iron passing through the root of the ear and then being dragged round and round by the leg) — or to the Straw Seat (that is, being so beaten with clubs that [PTS vp En 278] the bones are broken and the body becomes like a heap of straw) — or to be anointed with boiling oil, or to be eaten by dogs, or to be impaled alive, or to be beheaded. Such and such, O king, are the manifold and various pains which a being caught in the whirlpool of births and rebirths has to endure. Just, O king, as the water rained down upon the Himalayan Mountain flows in its course along the Ganges, through and over rocks and pebbles and gravel, whirlpools and eddies and rapids, and the stumps and branches of trees which obstruct and oppose its passage — just so has each being caught in the succession of births and rebirths to endure such and such manifold and various pains. Full of pain, then, is the continual succession of rebirths. A joy is it when that succession ends. And it was in pointing out the advantage of that end, the disaster involved in that succession, that the Blessed One, great king, instigated us to get beyond rebirth, and old age, and disease, and death by the realization of the final end of that succession of rebirths.

“This is the sense, O king, which led the Blessed One to instigate us (to put an end to rebirth).”

“Very good, Nāgasena! Well solved is the puzzle (I put), well set forth are the reasons (you gave). That is so, and I accept it as you say.”

Here ends the problem as to suicide. Source: Mil 5.4.5: Attanipātanapañha—T.W. Rhys Davids (suttacentral.net)