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A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

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Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#101

Post by vacri »

tixocloud wrote: post #39
hardmath123 wrote: post #20

Amazing. Japanese culture is the only one I know of where suicide is encourage and respected—is there any reason for that?

This might help your understanding: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushido#Seven_virtues_of_Bushid... As I understand it, the Samurai live by the 7 virtues: - Rectitude - Courage - Benevolence - Respect - Honesty - Honour - Loyalty I wouldn't be surprised if these virtues continue to play a huge role in today's society. That said, I'm also not sure how serious people live by these virtues.

Read your link in more detail. The 7-virtue noble warrior-poets aren't actually how samurai behaved. That was a turn-of-last-century propaganda movement.

Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#102

Post by vacri »

pessimizer wrote: post #31
thisjepisje wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you implying he can make up for his mistake by killing himself?

No. enraged_camel is clearly asking if sometimes there is no proper apology, and no amount of work that one can do to make up for one's mistake.

Gross negligence resulting in the deaths of others is usually a crime, punished by incarceration. Yes, those people aren't coming back, but it's not like nothing happens if this sort of thing happens.

Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#103

Post by jqm »

milesf wrote: post #93
cristianpascu wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny that we tell our children not to do things that will certainly have bad consequences for them, like putting their hand in fire. But still, there's mockery around after-life scenarios like we'd know something for certain. There's so much mystery around our existence, consciousness, suffering, that mocking precautions about after-life is incredibly foolish.

The world is full of mockers and fools. I know, because that was me for the first 20 years of my life. Now that I'm 45, I hope I am less foolish, and that I mock less. ----- "Well I'm not sure I'm wiser but some things are clearer And it's getting clear that I'm not here for long. So what am I to do with my few minutes here in this place?" - Steven Curtis Chapman https://soundcloud.com/stevencurtischapman/a-little-mo…

So is mockers and fools two separate categories?

Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#104

Post by jqm »

jessaustin wrote: post #10

By tradition, suicide can absolve guilt and cancel debt, can restore honor and prove loyalty. In this respect I feel Japan's culture is superior to ours in the USA. For example, I felt Mark Madoff's suicide was entirely appropriate, a final act that put the rest of his life in a more dignified context. Yet every article one reads about it treats the suicide as an additional disgrace, yet another horrible thing we can…

You are getting down voted but honorable suicide was a practice in more than ancient Japan.

Socrates died by his own hand for instance.

https://suite.io/arash-farzaneh/4sa32c7

I'm not saying suicide is good thing but there is a cultural perspective that is different from our own in the modern West.

Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#105

Post by Dewie »

jobu wrote: post #84
thisjepisje wrote: post #56

[Suicide rates] go down in wartime and go up again afterward. Why would that be?

Suicidal people by definition have a low regard for their own lives, and are often in search of purpose or meaning. Enlisting to fight a war might be a solution to both. (I'm not an expert though, and the only evidence I have for this theory is knowing two fairly depressed people that enlisted during the recent Iraq war.)

They found purpose in enlisting for/during the Iraq war? Well, whatever works for them, I guess.

Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#106

Post by krapp »

superuser2 wrote: post #96
cristianpascu wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny that we tell our children not to do things that will certainly have bad consequences for them, like putting their hand in fire. But still, there's mockery around after-life scenarios like we'd know something for certain. There's so much mystery around our existence, consciousness, suffering, that mocking precautions about after-life is incredibly foolish.

There are at least two religions for which belief in one constitutes damnation in the other. At least one of them has to be wrong. Of course, to any person, his religion can't be wrong. (If it can, then it is at least in some sense not "his religion.") So to every strong believer, someone else's afterlife precautions are either superfluous or futile. Of course, that doesn't mean the question should be taken lightly,…

When you think about it, once you accept that an afterlife is something worth worrying about, you're left with hundreds if not thousands of unfalsifiable, contradictory (and even antagonistic) folk tales and the task of choosing one and hoping you're right -- although for most people, this question is answered for them by the circumstances of their birth, and it seems normal, even obvious.

So really, simply choosing to live the life you want to live is only marginally less risky than living in fear of the wrath of the god or gods which happen to coincide with the cultural norms in existence at the time. Either way it seems a bit like Russian Roulette.

Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#107

Post by [deleted] »

audiodude wrote: post #100
cphuntington97 wrote: post #78

>The constant screaming and the running, along with chronic exhaustion, produce in him a state of low-level panic, which is also a state of acute focus. It is as if his thinking mind, his doubting and critical and interpreting mind, had shut down and been replaced by a simpler mechanism that serves the body. This is extreme, however, it strikes me as a mild version of operating a steam locomotive. While undertaking t…

Sounds like a moderately fun video game?

[deleted]

Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#108

Post by jerf »

sanoli wrote: post #97
chaostheory wrote: post #79

When a candidate presents himself for training, he must prostrate himself and declare that he is willing to do anything that needs to be done to solve the great matter of life and death. By tradition, he is scowled at by the head monk, who orders him to leave. He persists, he continues to prostrate himself, and after two or three days he is taken in. Apprentice monks are treated like slaves on a brutal plantation. Th…

I often wonder why so many people like Fight Club so much (seriously). I mean, a bunch of my friends think it's the greatest thing, and repeat some of the cra..., I mean, some of the lines all the time (not really, but anything annoying that gets repeated starts to look like it's all of the time). All that fascist streak doesn't even get noticed, and I get confused looks when I mention it. Weird.

Because it's a Good Movie. Seriously. I disagree with it on almost every level from the superficial to profound (not quite all, but even what agreement I have is mostly the identification of problems where I think the solutions are wrong, and yes, I realize the film is not necessarily directly advocating for everything it presents), but it's a hell of a good ride, the twist is well done, and it has an energy that keeps it moving even as it dives deeply into absurdity.

Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#109

Post by andyjdavis »

cphuntington97 wrote: post #81
Loughla wrote: post #22

The only thing I can't get over is how work focused all of the letters are. Sure, they all have family struggles, but they're less concerned about the particular struggles and more concerned about how that impacts their work. This article is phrased as if the entire Japanese culture is based on a disproportionate work-life balance to the extreme.

Are things any different anywhere else? Our hunting-gathering days are over. We used to chop down wood for the fire; now, we go to work, and push a button on the wall to stay warm. To work is to live in modern society.

That is certainly the norm but it is not universal. There are certainly individuals that do not follow this pattern but, unfortunately, you are unlikely to ever meet them if you have a more conventional existence.

For example, I am a computer programmer, mid 30s, I have a wife and child and I work 20 hours a week, 25 absolute max. I've been working reduced hours for almost three years. I also work remotely so we spend most of our time in places like Thailand and Malaysia (warm, good food, low cost of living) although we will shortly be heading over to spend a few months in Europe.

And we are not the only ones. Most of our social circle is composed of similar people. If you go places like Chiang Mai in Thailand it is crawling with westerners carving out an existence that involves a high quality of life and personal control over how much and when they perform income generating activities.

Unfortunately if you are in the 9-5 routine yourself you will never meet any of us.

Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)

#110

Post by minikomi »

audiodude wrote: post #100
cphuntington97 wrote: post #78

>The constant screaming and the running, along with chronic exhaustion, produce in him a state of low-level panic, which is also a state of acute focus. It is as if his thinking mind, his doubting and critical and interpreting mind, had shut down and been replaced by a simpler mechanism that serves the body. This is extreme, however, it strikes me as a mild version of operating a steam locomotive. While undertaking t…

Sounds like a moderately fun video game?

Yep - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Awv8xjqMjQ
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