themselves, and so forth. But if they choose the way of random killing, in an
instant, they terminate lives full of human resource and potential. The mass
murder of so many innocent people, which creates sorrow and misery for so many
more, is an act of great foolishness. Since the root of the act is jealousy and
attachment, we must strive for nonattachment and reflexive release of any
attachment as it arises.
These days some people maintain that, when their situation becomes
insupportable and out of control, suicide will solve the problem. Such thinking is
an attempt to escape from the suffering of past lives. About such people Sakya
Pandita in his Elegant Sayings says,
Although they desire only happiness,
Fools pursue goals that bring only suffering;
Those who are bewitched by devils
Attempt suicide to end their pain.People who have been bewitched by demons attempt suicide by jumping into fire
or water or from a cliff top, says Sakya Pandita, adding that suicide is a grossly
foolish act. People who commit suicide do not come only from the underprivileged
classes. It occurs right across the social spectrum, including scholars, presidents,
and famous performers, and even the wealthy. In general the cause of all these
suicides is a strong attachment to belief in the real existence of happiness and
suffering as externally based and in the true existence of friends and enemies.
When we cannot accomplish our aims and attain the objects of our desires,
when frustration of our intentions becomes the rule, the possibility of committing
suicide comes to mind. Though depression, pain, and anger are the root causes of
suicide, in reality the heartfelt suffering or deep depression we endure is like the
suffering that arises in a dream of the death of our beloved only son. If we
compare the suffering found in waking and dreaming experience, we cannot find
any difference between them. All suffering and happiness in their own nature are
emptiness, but they appear in different ways. Just like a rainbow conjured by a
magician, these are illusions that possess the mind and that have no true
existence. So no matter what occurs in the mind, pleasure or pain, sickness or
health, fame or ignominy, friend, enemy, or beloved partner, understand instantly
that what we are experiencing is just an illusion without any true existence. When
our relatives or parents die or we hear the story of a suicide, we need not give
ourselves over to grief.
According to the Buddhist viewpoint, the karma of suicide is equal to killing the
forty-two peaceful deities and fifty-eight wrathful deities that live in our bodies.
Consequently, we have to suffer many eons in hell. Even though we are eventually
released from hell, because of the previous action of suicide, we will tend to
commit suicide many more times. In the great tantra The Rampant Lion, it is said,
Whoever takes his own life
Will suffer suicide
In five hundred further lifetimes;