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A Buddhist monk confronts Japan's suicide culture (2013)
31–40 of 48 posts
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan's suicide culture (2013)
#32One of the techniques of what Westerners call Stoicism is the negative visualization that Nemoto has his patients/clients undergo - imagining you only have a few weeks to live, that you've lost your material wealth, that you've lost someone important to you, thinking about your death. Also, intentional self-deprivation. "A Guide to the Good Life: the Ancient Art of Stoic Joy" was well worth reading and has a whole ch…
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan's suicide culture (2013)
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
This Zen parable is faulty wisdom (like so much of Mahayana and Vajrayana fanfiction). The title the Buddha used to refer to himself, Tathagata , can simultaneously be translated as, "Thus Comes One" and "Thus Goes One". It's not about a path where there is no coming and going, it's about both simultaneously.
Buddhism is a living tradition and always has been. Theravadins have no monopoly on "true" Buddhism - the Pali canon was transcribed hundreds of years after the death of Gautama Buddha and the authorship and authenticity of many parts of the canon remain disputed within the Theravada tradition. Perhaps more to the point, a quotation from Nanda-manava-puccha (as translated by Thanissaro Bhikku): "Whatever brahmans & c…
What?
The Buddha is speaking very specifically in the quote you've mentioned of a class of religious priest, the brahman, and the contemplative engaging in jhanic meditations that do not lead to the ending of suffering.
You're right, the words of the Buddha weren't written down for hundreds of years after but across those earliest texts flung across space and time, we find an astonishing harmony.
Look, I'm seeing calls to end my supposed promotion of sectarian strife: I love Three Pillars of Zen, have obsessively studied the Mahayana epic the Surangama Sutra, and washed myself in the pure poetry of the Complete Reality school. But I cannot stress enough, and neither did the Buddha, in the importance of incisive, unequivocal language when it comes to identifying right view.
Vajrayana, the deeply mystical arm of Buddhism, stresses the importance of a guru relationship to the disciple, fraught with a history of sexual manipulation. Unquestioned power structures do this. We have thousands of years of history to support this.
Mahayana Buddhism gave birth to Zen, perhaps the cleanest strain to emerge but which sacrificed an essential tenet: that a monk should not grow their own food; should rely on the continuing generosity of the people to survive. It is further compromised by the trappings of rites and rituals, which the Buddha of the early texts rejected.
And what of Nichiren who famously declared that enlightenment was impossible in such a fallen world? The same enlightenment the pre-Mahayana Buddha stressed was for everyone?
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan's suicide culture (2013)
#342019 update: Japan Records Lowest Suicide Rate Since Statistics Were First Kept in 1978 https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h00381/japan-records-lo...
It's still extremely high compared to other countries though. To put it in perspective, nearly as many people die by suicide alone in Japan (per capita) as suicide + guns combined in America (per capita).
It's hard to get accurate stats on gun deaths in America because many reports lump in suicide by gun and accidental shootings to make the numbers look scarier. You might be double dipping.
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan's suicide culture (2013)
#35The reason I consider ending my life is because I have done the things I've wanted to do in life. I would not have much to write on that paper as opposed to visiting some friends and family for some conversation and hugs. I think we forget that much of the suicide rate in adults, especially over 50, is that the burden of life in much of the United States can become higher than the benefits for some people at that age…
The reason I consider ending my life is because I've done or experienced all the things that realistically I want to or can. I'm never going to be an attractive man, so I'll never have love, or a wife and kids. It's just not worth it to me to work to pay to sustain myself just to watch the planet be destroyed and the social fabric disintegrate. There's just nothing worth the time or effort when living is just so unen…
> I'm never going to be an attractive man, so I'll never have love, or a wife and kids.
This pops out to me.
I don't know your full circumstances but I don't think this is true.
If we focus only on the attractiveness aspect: I've known plenty of people of both genders who I thought were "unattractive" people (a very subjective term!) and they were partnered. If your desire is to find a partner, don't give up on it or consider it an inevitable failure! You are worthy.
Then it makes me consider if there's some other health issue preventing finding a partner or having a kid? Surely, a few of those exist, and I can imagine them being very sad.
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan's suicide culture (2013)
#36The reason I consider ending my life is because I have done the things I've wanted to do in life. I would not have much to write on that paper as opposed to visiting some friends and family for some conversation and hugs. I think we forget that much of the suicide rate in adults, especially over 50, is that the burden of life in much of the United States can become higher than the benefits for some people at that age…
The reason I consider ending my life is because I've done or experienced all the things that realistically I want to or can. I'm never going to be an attractive man, so I'll never have love, or a wife and kids. It's just not worth it to me to work to pay to sustain myself just to watch the planet be destroyed and the social fabric disintegrate. There's just nothing worth the time or effort when living is just so unen…
> I'm never going to be an attractive man, so I'll never have love, or a wife and kids.
At a certain point though everybody becomes unattractive. Do you think old couples still look attractive? There's love out there for you if you are willing to invest in it. Sure, you might not be super attracted to their looks initially, but over time you become attracted to the person, which transcends superficial properties of people. Do you think I would stop loving my wife if she got in a car accident and became super unattractive because of burn scarring? Of course not! Love is an investment... you get out what you put in.
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan's suicide culture (2013)
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
The reason I consider ending my life is because I've done or experienced all the things that realistically I want to or can. I'm never going to be an attractive man, so I'll never have love, or a wife and kids. It's just not worth it to me to work to pay to sustain myself just to watch the planet be destroyed and the social fabric disintegrate. There's just nothing worth the time or effort when living is just so unen…
> I'm never going to be an attractive man, so I'll never have love, or a wife and kids. This pops out to me. I don't know your full circumstances but I don't think this is true. If we focus only on the attractiveness aspect: I've known plenty of people of both genders who I thought were "unattractive" people (a very subjective term!) and they were partnered. If your desire is to find a partner, don't give up on it or…
I think it's important to distinguish physical attraction from net total attraction. Usually when people say "attractive" they mean the former, but I think GP may mean the latter. I'm probably about average physically, but I have my own set of personality issues that make me pretty damn unattractive on the whole. I doubt I would be interested in anyone who was so fucked up that they were interested in me.
I've come to terms with my situation and I'm not the least be suicidal, but I think it's important to tread carefully when talking about this stuff online, where you have so little context. Someone who says "I'm never going to be an attractive man, so I'll never have love, or a wife and kids" has probably thought about it more than you have, and certainly knows their own situation much better than you do. I think it's extremely unhelpful to give them platitudes like "You are worthy". Maybe they are, but you're really not in a position to know.
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan's suicide culture (2013)
#382019 update: Japan Records Lowest Suicide Rate Since Statistics Were First Kept in 1978 https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h00381/japan-records-lo...
It's still extremely high compared to other countries though. To put it in perspective, nearly as many people die by suicide alone in Japan (per capita) as suicide + guns combined in America (per capita).
How does Japan count suicide? How does the US count suicide?
Are they using comparable definitions for a death by suicide?
I know that the US significantly under-counts deaths compared to the UK. It's very hard to compare suicide rates across countries. In the US it's somewhat hard to compare across different states which is why CDC and others are spending money on finding common definitions.
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan's suicide culture (2013)
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'm never going to be an attractive man, so I'll never have love, or a wife and kids. This pops out to me. I don't know your full circumstances but I don't think this is true. If we focus only on the attractiveness aspect: I've known plenty of people of both genders who I thought were "unattractive" people (a very subjective term!) and they were partnered. If your desire is to find a partner, don't give up on it or…
I think it's important to distinguish physical attraction from net total attraction. Usually when people say "attractive" they mean the former, but I think GP may mean the latter. I'm probably about average physically, but I have my own set of personality issues that make me pretty damn unattractive on the whole. I doubt I would be interested in anyone who was so fucked up that they were interested in me. I've come t…
It's quaint that you think you cannot apply a nonphysical meaning for "attractive" to my comment and see that the point still stands.
I think you're probably wrong about yourself too.
And yes I did call out that I don't know the full circumstances.
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan's suicide culture (2013)
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's important to distinguish physical attraction from net total attraction. Usually when people say "attractive" they mean the former, but I think GP may mean the latter. I'm probably about average physically, but I have my own set of personality issues that make me pretty damn unattractive on the whole. I doubt I would be interested in anyone who was so fucked up that they were interested in me. I've come t…
It's quaint that you think you cannot apply a nonphysical meaning for "attractive" to my comment and see that the point still stands. I think you're probably wrong about yourself too. And yes I did call out that I don't know the full circumstances.
And I think it's very presumptuous of you to think that you know my own circumstances better than I do. Both of your comments are, frankly, condescending to a degree I find slightly insulting and I have no further desire to continue this conversation.