Dear Gunnar, Piya and friends,

I would like to express my personal views, in addition to what I have
replied to Thomas Law earlier.

I like to especially expand on the notion of subjectivism in Piya's
article. To me, being subjective is to consider an object or an issue
totally based on one's opinions and experience, without considering
external facts. It is unholistic, unwholesome and a very narrow-minded
way of looking at things.

Social issues like suicide, martyrdom, euthanasia (mercy killing),
cannibalism, murder, human sacrifice (the list can goes on), all
involve human lives, and one or more of these has been promoted or
tolerated by certain societies at certain times throughout history.

Discussing these issues from a Buddhist viewpoint means considering
them with compassion. Otherwise, the discussion can get personal and
subjective. On the topic of suicide, looking purely at the 'moral'
aspect of suicide will never help us understand suicidal tendencies.
At best, we are like Sariputta and Mahacunda in MN144 trying to talk
Channa out of it. At worst, we develop unwholesome mental attitudes
towards people and society.

metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Gunnar Gällmo wrote:

On the other hand, not recommending suicide does not necessarily mean
condemning those who practice it, as was done for many centuries in
the West, with the "self murderers" entombed first in the forest, and
later at the north (and "evil") side of church.