The Encyclopedia of World Religions

432 S suicide and religion

themselves to death, sitting in perfect calm. To the shock of many North Americans, Vietnamese Buddhist monks did the same thing in 1963 to protest the war that was ravaging their country. Somewhat different is the Japanese practice of seppuku, a way in which members of the Japa nese warrior class, the samurai, sought an honor able death in the face of defeat or disgrace. They did so by ritually disemboweling themselves. An assistant would also decapitate them, that is, cut off their head. In North America media attention has focused recently on two kinds of religious suicide. One kind is represented by the suicide attacks by Mus lims in the Middle East and elsewhere. The Sep tember 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are dramatic examples of this kind of suicide. It is important to remember that many Muslims, as well as non-Muslims, find these acts reprehensible. Those who perform them probably do not see them as suicide but as acts of ultimate devotion in the service of G OD . This view might seem a little more understandable, though still not acceptable, if it is compared to the practice of hon oring soldiers after death for having undertaken suicide missions. The second kind of religious suicide that has received media attention is mass suicides, such as those committed by members of the People’s Temple in 1978 and the Solar Temple and Heav en’s Gate in 1997. Such suicides are equally shock ing, but they are not completely unique. Previous mass suicides have included the suicides of Jews at Masada in 74 C . E . and in Worms, Germany, in 1096. What seems unusual about the 1997 suicides, however, is that they were not directly responding to perceived persecution. Further reading: Kenneth Cragg, Faith at Suicide: Lives Forfeit: Violent Religion—Human Despair (Portland, Ore.: Sussex Academic Press, 2005); Arthur J. Droge and James D. Tabor, A Noble Death: Suicide and Martyrdom among Christians and Jews in Antiquity (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992); S. Settar, Inviting Death: Indian Attitude towards the Ritual Death (New York: Brill, 1989).

Some ancient Greeks and Romans consid ered suicide an honorable and appropriate way to die, if done properly and under the appro priate circumstances. Exemplary figures who committed suicide include Socrates ( c. 470–399 B . C . E .), Lucretia (a legendary heroine of early Rome, traditionally sixth century B . C . E .), and the Roman philosopher Seneca ( c. 4 B . C . E .–65 C . E .). There are examples of noble suicides in the B IBLE , too. The best-known is probably Samson. Later, however, Jews and Christians came to condemn suicide. The most influential thinker to do so was A UGUSTINE OF H IPPO . In his City of God (fi fth century) he argued that suicide is always a SIN , regardless of the circumstances, and must always be avoided. M UHAMMAD , too, taught that people who commit suicide are condemned to HELL . At the same time, J UDAISM , C HRISTIANITY , and I SLAM praised martyrs, that is, people who were killed for their faith. In early Christianity martyrdom was seen as a “baptism by blood.” Islam teaches, as some early Christians did, that martyrs reach paradise before the final judgment. What some people consider martyrdom, however, others may consider suicide. H INDUISM , B UDDHISM , and J AINISM have gener ally condemned wanton suicide as well. Never theless, they have permitted suicide under certain circumstances. Jains in old age who wish to end their life in the best way possible do so by a pro cess called sallekhana. They stop eating and drink ing and eventually die. Some spiritually developed Hindus also end their lives at an advanced age. Much more controversial has been the practice of SATI . In this practice a widow, often but not always a Hindu, burns herself on her husband’s funeral pyre. Probably not every case of sati has been vol untary, and many Hindus condemn the practice, as do many non-Hindus. Although Buddhism generally condemns sui cide, it allows it in certain cases. One example is as a self-sacrifice that benefits other people. In the L OTUS S UTRA a BODHISATTVA known as the Medicine King offered his own body to alleviate the suffering of all beings. Some Chinese Bud dhists seem to have imitated him by burning