Suicide is a reset button

As a teenager I had a Nintendo and sometimes when I'm shooting for a perfect score or just mess up in a game I just hit the reset button and start over again.

In 2006, 32,155 people in Japan killed themselves. Japan's suicide rate got me thinking. According to Wikipedia 96% of the country is Buddhist. Does reincarnation cause some to view suicide as a reset button for life? If you're shooting for a perfect life and something goes wrong can you just kill yourself and start over? Why is the suicide rate so high in a country where there should be very little suffering?

Interesting look on it. Suicide rates are riseing all over the world. I think an attempted suicide happens every 42 seconds

From Wiki on suicide

Most Western and Asian religions—the Abrahamic religions, Buddhism, Hinduism—consider suicide a dishonorable act

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From a bit of reading Japan is ranked 10 in suicide rates.

Suicide is an incredibly personal decision. Some say that it is a drastic solution to a temporary problem but many problems aren't temporary at all. There are things that we are unprepared to handle.

Most learn to handle these things in various ways, they curl up and cry or hide in plain view, they might even pretend.

We are here for a reason. We must finish this life, we must complete the experience. It does not matter that we are rich or not. It does not matter whether we are happy or not.

It only matters that we learn from whatever we may encounter.

There is a lot of pressure on kids in Japan to do well in school, but even if they are exceptional, there are few job prospects and no safety of keeping a job.

A lot of them view battling so hard as futility.

Kungfuzed said:

As a teenager I had a Nintendo and sometimes when I'm shooting for a perfect score or just mess up in a game I just hit the reset button and start over again.

In 2006, 32,155 people in Japan killed themselves. Japan's suicide rate got me thinking. According to Wikipedia 96% of the country is Buddhist. Does reincarnation cause some to view suicide as a reset button for life? If you're shooting for a perfect life and something goes wrong can you just kill yourself and start over? Why is the suicide rate so high in a country where there should be very little suffering?

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Life is not like a Nentindo game, there is no reset button. The Japanese majority does not actually practice the same form of BUddhism as China, but a more Shinto form of it. They themselves are not very religious, it is a very secular society, more than American and Europe. So i doubt that the religion has anything to do with the high suicide rates. In Buddihsm the monks do sacrifice themselves for certain reasons (Peace riots, ect...), the adherents though do not. Civilian Suicide and Religous sacrifice (by monks) is two different things.

Why is the suicide rate so high? It is a secular society. Japan is more secular than the USA, with more sex and money ideals than any other nation. The Lifestyle causes people to go over the edge, or to loose it. It is a nation without an overall view of God in their hearts, some may see them as uncaring, without a soul....one can see this from what went on during WWII. However to justly apply the cause of sucide, it may be the hard lifestyle and the pressure placed upon them by society- it is alot worst than here in America.

What age were most of the people commiting suicide? Japan is an aging country (more people of the older generation than the younger), and perhaps they view suicide as a way to not be a burden on their families who are taking care of them.

Suicide is most common in the over 70s for men and there is no real age correlation for woman

Gentoo said:

What age were most of the people commiting suicide? Japan is an aging country (more people of the older generation than the younger), and perhaps they view suicide as a way to not be a burden on their families who are taking care of them.

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The Ecnomic situation in Japan is a huge casue of the suicide. Many youth cannot find employment as the unemployment rate grows higher and higher....so does the pressure from society...it becomes harder to survive and live. More than 300,000 people die there from sucide each year....so sad.....that's more than those who die from strokes and accidents here in America- combined.

JayHawes said:

The Ecnomic situation in Japan is a huge casue of the suicide. Many youth cannot find employment as the unemployment rate grows higher and higher....so does the pressure from society...it becomes harder to survive and live. More than 300,000 people die there from sucide each year....so sad.....that's more than those who die from strokes and accidents here in America- combined.

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With the demand for the best, and only the best, it's not surprising to me that those who aren't the best slip through the cracks.

I don't think religion has really anything to do with it. It comes from all that emphasis on 'honor' (whatever that is). I might lose it too if every slip on my school grades was seen as 'dishonorable.'

With many anti-religious books out there like 'God is Not Great', one would be led to believe that the absence of religion in a country like Japan could have nothing but a positive affect upon the people and their lives...Things like this show quite the opposite. When one lives with no goal in life but riches and loses grip on the means to reach that goal, without a supernatural force or sense of being to back that downfall up, a problem like suicide does arise.

I wonder if Buddhism is making a difference there. Perhaps the suicide rate would be higher without it. Just look at Russia.

What I wonder, is if the belief in reincarnation makes suicide easier, like hitting the reset button. Christianity at least discourage suicide with the threat of hell. But how does Buddhism discourage it? What does Buddhism say about it? Where do the Japanese believe they are going after they commit suicide?

Kungfuzed said:

Where do the Japanese believe they are going after they commit suicide?

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I think for that you'd have to ask them personally, as no other person could possibly know what's going through the mind of the person about to commit suicide, or where they think they will end up for their actions.

Kungfuzed said:

In 2006, 32,155 people in Japan killed themselves. Japan's suicide rate got me thinking. According to Wikipedia 96% of the country is Buddhist. Does reincarnation cause some to view suicide as a reset button for life? If you're shooting for a perfect life and something goes wrong can you just kill yourself and start over? Why is the suicide rate so high in a country where there should be very little suffering?

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I lived in Japan for nearly two years and observed their culture.

They are performers, meaning that anything less than one's best performance is not acceptable and dishonorable...

For many suicide is a way of avoiding this cultural shame...

The same feeling is felt among LDS communities/cultures. There is tremendous pressure to perform, which many do, but many many many fall by the way side...

My own cousin took a rifle and shot himself just a day or two before he was to give his missionary farewell speech...

My grandfather appeared to his father, in a secluded spot, by a lake in the mountains, and said basically, "Everything is fine, he's with me now".

My grandfather was an active LDS member who had served in many church callings, including bishop, and was a divorce court judge in the Salt Lake City judicial system...

Suicide is not the answer, by any stretch of the imagination, but there is help on the other side for those who need it...

Kungfuzed said:

I wonder if Buddhism is making a difference there. Perhaps the suicide rate would be higher without it. Just look at Russia.

What I wonder, is if the belief in reincarnation makes suicide easier, like hitting the reset button. Christianity at least discourage suicide with the threat of hell. But how does Buddhism discourage it? What does Buddhism say about it? Where do the Japanese believe they are going after they commit suicide?

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From what I gathered, most Japanese really don't know what happens to them in the afterlife...

We would ask the three standard questions...

Where did you come from (doko kara kima****a ka)
Why are you here in this world/on earth (Naze koko ni iimasu ka, Seikatsu ni)
Where will you go when you die (doko ni ikimasu ka, Shi no toki ni)

Most, if not all, had no idea what the answers to these questions were. They would say "I don't know" (wakarimasen) or they would say a rock or a stream or some other object in nature or an animal...

As for the Shinto religion, which most Japanese would refer to, when speeking of the afterlife, which states that all people/spirits, when they die, go back into the earth, and exist in the rocks, trees and other objects, possibly water could be included in this..but most, I don't think, really have an opinion about this, they just think they continue to exist, since most homes have a Shinto shrine, in which they place their ancestors in and pray to them and place food and other offerings in mini ancestral shrines on a dailiy basis....

Death is just a way to escape the responsibilities of this life, such as feeding, clothing and housing yourself, which most would rather not do...

Gentoo said:

I think for that you'd have to ask them personally, as no other person could possibly know what's going through the mind of the person about to commit suicide, or where they think they will end up for their actions.

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Most have thought about suicide, including myself, and have toyed around with the idea, but if you are in your right mind, no action will ever be taken...

It is impossible to be saved in ignorance.

Most, if not allm who commit suicide are ignorant of the plan of God for their lives...

God has plans for us to prosper and to be in health. All one has to do is tap into that plan and live it out, but we all tend to listen to Satan and his plans for our lives, which includes nothing but destruction.

God wants to prosper us, Satan wants to destroy us...

Satan whispers to our ears and says suicide is the way out of this miserable life, when in reality it just makes it harder for us to progress into the next life...

Satan has lied to me and told me I would never make it or enjoy certain things in this life... He is good at whispering to our minds at our worst moments, when we are down...

I have to constantly listen to good music, religious talks and other uplifting movies (of which there are very very few) in order to stay positive..

Here are some of the things I listen to

www.CFRN.net (just click on the link and it will play Christian contemporary music, but it's really a Christian stock info website)

www.TBN.org (They have a great prayer line at 1 888 731 1000)

www.YesHome.com

www.KLove.com

Edit: Sorry those links were wrong, just fixed them

Kungfuzed said:

As a teenager I had a Nintendo and sometimes when I'm shooting for a perfect score or just mess up in a game I just hit the reset button and start over again.

In 2006, 32,155 people in Japan killed themselves. Japan's suicide rate got me thinking. According to Wikipedia 96% of the country is Buddhist. Does reincarnation cause some to view suicide as a reset button for life? If you're shooting for a perfect life and something goes wrong can you just kill yourself and start over? Why is the suicide rate so high in a country where there should be very little suffering?

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Interesting that you would bring up Nintendo and wanting a "perfect" game.

I think that the reason for why the suicide rate is so high is because of the Asian focus on perfection. And because there isn't an adequate mechanism to compensate for a lack of perfection. Asian societies are very unforgiving when it comes to screw-ups. It isn't like the U.S. where someone can make a public act of contrition, shed some tears, let one's mascara run down one's face, and all is forgiven.

It's not just Japan (tho they may be highest for some reason). Look at Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea. In all of these countries, after the national examination scores come out, there is an epidemic of suicides amongst teens. The thing with the exams is that there is no "do over." Whatever score you get determines which school you go to and how others will view you for the rest of your life. My mom is in her 70s and she still regrets that she didn't get into the top school, only the second best. Those who did go to the best school treat others as if they're inferior. (I suppose I should say that I'm Asian.)

When I was in high school and college I used to get overwhelmed by my lack of perfection (not just grade-wise, because my grades were actually pretty good, but in general). I would fantasize about suicide as a "reset." And it isn't because I believed in reincarnation. It's because I couldn't stand who I was. The only thing that kept me from suicide was thinking of the pain it would bring my family, and that seemed like an even bigger failure to me than my life (which really wasn't all that bad).

So I developed "ritual suicide." When things got too much for me, when I thought that I was so messed-up that I could never make it right again, I would perform a ritual - a fake suicide. (My poison of choice was diet Dr. Pepper and Twinkies, and since I was an abosolute health nut at the time, I really did think of these things as a kind of poison). The understanding was that when I woke up/was resurrected the next morning, I would be a new person. Do-over. Free from blemish. Perfect score.

I really don't think that Buddhism per se encourages suicide. In fact, it's the teachings of Buddhism that have helped me the most in learning to accept my imperfection.

UnityNow101 said:

With many anti-religious books out there like 'God is Not Great', one would be led to believe that the absence of religion in a country like Japan could have nothing but a positive affect upon the people and their lives...Things like this show quite the opposite. When one lives with no goal in life but riches and loses grip on the means to reach that goal, without a supernatural force or sense of being to back that downfall up, a problem like suicide does arise.

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What the heck are you talking about? The OP clearly states that Japan is 97% Buddhist. There is no lack of religion in Japan, unless for some reason Buddhism does not meet your criteria for a religion. And Buddhism specifically teaches against being attached to riches.

Buddhism also discourages suicide.
One thing are we distinguishing between self harm and suicide here as I view the two as different things? Self harm is often a mechanism used to cope not wanting to kill yourself

I personally don't think religion and materialism has much to do with suicide rates. Family relationships, area you grow up in and people you talk to are far more influential.

Panda said:

Buddhism also discourages suicide.

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Well, it certainly would be pointless, since suicide is bound to be bad karma. The thing is, there is no "reset" button in Buddhism, because whatever negative karma you had in life is taken with "you" to the next life. And you could be reborn as a hungry ghost or something. Not a preferable situation. :no: