An OUTSTANDING Quote About Suicide

The author of this quote took me from confusion to clarity and I got my life back. In confusion, life is hell and feels like it's not worth living....in clarity, life puts us in awe...What's missing is the bridge from confusion to clarity, from hell to heaven, from darkness to light...

http://www.profound-self-help.com/suicide.html

This is the question being answered in the quote:
Ron

Thank you for that post-and that site, it's a good one.

I am not a religions expert but at first reading, I don't think there is in the text you cite, any actual condoning of suicide by the Jains. In a nutshell, Manavira says," Sit with your feelings for 100 days. If by then you still want to go through with it, then you may do so." We must remember that not every text can be taken so literally. My sense is that a person who has fasted and meditated so rigorously for such a period would by then be free of the poison in his/her mind and the act would never take place.

And I would also posit that the Jain who has fasted the 100 days and truly emptied his mind, would also see the suffering that a suicide would cause and would not choose to take his life, as he would be hyper aware of how much harm the act would cause. In an ideal world, sure, everyone would be completely self-realized, without attachment, etc. etc., and a suicide would not be the source of so much pain but we are not there yet, are we? There can never be any justification for suicide other than the one that the suicide him/herself provides, so we must not ever give the suicidal the illusion that in certain scenarios, suicide is justifiable. No, it is not, ever. The advice should always be to turn to the living for succor.

That's exactly right...The 100 day rule was to show the suicidal monk that suicide is an idea of the mind, not a true reflection of what our hearts really want.

That point was also make later by the author, that if the person about to kill himself is delayed just one moment, he won't do so again saying that suicide is an idea of the mind and that the mind can change in the blink of an eye.

Thanks for adding clarity to the quote!