Amazing. Japanese culture is the only one I know of where suicide is encourage and respected—is there any reason for that?
A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
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Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
#72The other thing that got me very curious is how did a monk develop heart disease. I mean he must have been very very active and probably eating healthy.
From the article it appears that he was hardly sleeping in order to keep up with responding to people. It also makes it clear that other people's anxiety was passing on to him. Chronic exhaustion and stress might be OK for a young man if it's part of an effort to break his mind/enlighten him. But long term it's not surprising that it would seriously affect someone's health.
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
#73The Hikikomori has become a standard anime trope. Starting in 2009 in Anohana, the main character is a recovering Hikikomori (who went through quite a depressing story that caused him to withdraw from society). This last spring, there were at least three major animes revolving around the concept. "Nanana's burried treasure", "No Game No Life", and "Mekakucity actors" all have title characters who are Hikikomoris. Hik…
Just to contrast your experience, I had a very interesting two month working near Tokyo. The whole time I was there I didn't see any anime, or hikkimori and the whole thing didn't resemble anime at all (though.. granted, I'm not an expert in the genre). The only places you saw anything anime related was at gambling establishments and certain districts of Tokyo. I think on the whole, that subculture is looked down upo…
>The only places you saw anything anime related was at gambling establishments and certain districts of Tokyo.
How about airplanes? :)
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
#74i used to struggle a lot with suicidal thoughts. i kept wanting to get out from the loneliness and general sense of "well what's the point? nothing i do really matters". i felt like the world was broken and alternated between trying to enjoy myself as much as i could, and wishing i could make things better. what helped me finally move past this was repeatedly trying and failing to kill myself. always someone would co…
You might be interested in reading about quantum immortality.
wow, thanks for that. i had no idea anyone else thought this way.
interestingly enough, the first suicide attempt was in 2005. my favorite band at the time - because it was both optimistic and depressed at the same time - was 'the eels', fronted by the son of Hugh Everett, the physicist who developed the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.
music and mathematics, poetry and prose. it comes whence it is headed, where it's going - no one knows.
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
#75[Suicide rates] go down in wartime and go up again afterward. Why would that be?
I'm not a psychologist, so I won't comment on the _why_, but veterans have an extremely high suicide rate. http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=2427 (the PDF link has the data) > Of the 147,763 suicides reported in 21 states, 27,062 (18.3%) > were identified as having history of U.S. military service > on death certificates This article has some discussion on how this data is hard to collect: http://www…
That's interesting, but what's puzzling me the most is how less people commit suicide during a war.
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
#76Amazing. Japanese culture is the only one I know of where suicide is encourage and respected—is there any reason for that?
I'd been raised in a semi-Japanese home environment but wouldn't call myself an expert. Many people would point to the Bushido culture when it comes to the aura of honor surrounding suicide. However, I think it may go even deeper. From what I understand, Japan has never been a fully self-sufficient economy. The peasantry were always under some feudal rule and a lack of resources had been the norm. Tragic practises li…
Referring to ubasute[0].Seems more to be an aspect of folklore and popular culture than an actual practice, although it has made for the premise of a good film [1].
[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubasute
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ballad_of_Narayama_(1958_fi...
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not a psychologist, so I won't comment on the _why_, but veterans have an extremely high suicide rate. http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=2427 (the PDF link has the data) > Of the 147,763 suicides reported in 21 states, 27,062 (18.3%) > were identified as having history of U.S. military service > on death certificates This article has some discussion on how this data is hard to collect: http://www…
That's interesting, but what's puzzling me the most is how less people commit suicide during a war.
Total guess, but:
Depression and anger are linked, and when I've been depressed it's often manifested as anger at myself. Sometimes, finding an outside focal point for anger can offer relief from depression. It is easier to find a focal point for anger that other people share, and war can be a common enemy for a large population.
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
#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 this activity, my brain is occupied with 3 things: How's the water? How's the fire? Are there any hazards ahead? Repeat ad nauseum.
The water level is very critical. Too much, and you'll be piping water through the steam plumbing, which has the potential to be very destructive to the locomotive. Too little, and the structural integrity of the boiler could be compromised.
The fire is the life of the locomotive. Too much coal can snuff out the fire. Too little coal and you may run out of fuel. Too much fire wastes fuel and water; too little, and there will not be enough power to move the train. With the small models I operate, there is always a hand pump to put water into the boiler, but on a full size locomotive, it's possible to be in a situation where you don't have enough steam power to put more water into the boiler, and as I mentioned before, if the water level gets too low, the structural integrity of the boiler could be compromised.
A brain busy with the above tasks may fail to notice a train stalled on the tracks ahead, which could cause a collision.
I often think of operating a model steam locomotive as a state of nirvana. This is an exaggerated notion, but who could be troubled when the fire's too hot, the water's running low, see anything of concern up ahead? And by the way, how's that water level?
My point is that I think the monks might be on to something.
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
#79When 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. They must follow orders and never say no. They sleep very little. They rise at four. Most of the time they eat only a small amount of rice and, occasionally, pickles (fresh vegetables and meat are forbidden). There is no heat, even though it can be very cold on the mountain, and the monks wear sandals and cotton robes.
I often wondered where Chuck Palahniuk got some of his ideas for Fight Club
Re: A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)
#80The Hikikomori has become a standard anime trope. Starting in 2009 in Anohana, the main character is a recovering Hikikomori (who went through quite a depressing story that caused him to withdraw from society). This last spring, there were at least three major animes revolving around the concept. "Nanana's burried treasure", "No Game No Life", and "Mekakucity actors" all have title characters who are Hikikomoris. Hik…
So let us make a few distinctions. NEET =/= Hikikomori. Hikikomori tend to be a subset of NEET, as long as they are not employed. However, most NEET (not in education, employment, or training) would certainly not be Hikikomori. Hikikomori are the edge case, so only those who have no hopes of moving towards employment AND no desire for external interactions with society will likely be Hikikomori.
The preoccupation with Hikikomori began in the 90s, when someone made the now infamous claim that there were roughly a million Hikikomori in Japan, setting off an alarm. That seems to have been a gross overestimate, but it put the term in the popular lexicon. More recent studies offer more conservative and more realistic estimates.
It just so happens that the popular view of Hikikomori is that they tend to be very focused on specific subcultures, so in particular they are commonly characterized as Otaku (although there would be Hikikomori who are not Otaku and most Otaku are not Hikikomoris, etc.). These characterizations (hikikomori as someone obsessed with a particular pasttime/lifestyl, and hikikomori as extreme NEET) have generally formed the basis for the Hikimori as it is sometimes portrayed in anime.