Self-immolation is not an authentic Buddhist practice

Discussion
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Who is doing that? Are there actual Mahayanists telling people to be heroic bodhisattvas?

As someone who has had far more personal experience with this issue than anyone should in one life, my experience is that it’s mainly personal life - family, relationships, traumatic events - that drives the problem. The lack of emotional support in modern society is big part of it, too. What someone says in a religious text doesn’t have that much to do with it. If it does, then we’re showing up way too late in the process. If you’d like to help with this issue, I’d suggest contacting your local mental health institutions and get involved in the community. That goes for anyone reading. Writing posts on a forum isn’t going to help that much. It’s an “in real life” issue, not a media or internet issue.

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For what it’s worth:

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Ascetic practices like this definitely are found in Jatakas, and made their way into Mahayana sutras. They caught on in China among monks and laypeople who took the sutras very literally. But when Chinese monks went to India, they were told that while Gautama did those things as a bodhisattva (i.e. in the Jatakas), it was not necessary to do those things anymore.

Nevertheless, there are still some Chinese monks who are missing a finger or two, even in the 21st century. Old habits die hard, and old beliefs may stick around for centuries.

Maybe the fundamental issue is that to some extent, the Jatakas may reflect pre-Buddhist value systems, and the types of asceticism the Buddha himself did away with. And Mahayana Buddhism drew upon the Jatakas, and also provided space for influence from Jainism, Brahmanism, and other traditions.

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I agree, I think that’s what happened. I hadn’t heard that about the indian response to the Chinese, do you have a source?

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I think I read something about that a few years ago, like from Xuanzang or Yijing. But now that I look, I’m not seeing anything in terms of a contemporaneous response from India. Yijing does dedicate two chapters of his travelogue (Buddhist Monastic Traditions of Southern Asia, free PDF) to refuting the practice of burning the body and religious suicide. He mostly relies on the Vinaya and on past precedent from various teachers not advocating these practices.

He says that while the Bodhisattva (i.e. Gautama) did some of these things, they are not appropriate for sramanas in their own time. He describes suicide at religious sites like a mountain near Bodh Gaya and in the Ganges River, but describes these people as misguided non-Buddhists, the type who were considered heretics by the Buddha. He also considers bystanders of self-immolation to have committed offenses as well, and he details that in his writings.

Interestingly, some of the main texts that mention burning off a finger and such, are the Fanwang Jing (Mahayana Brahmajala Sutra), and the Shoulengyan Jing (Surangama Sutra). Both of these are now known to be apocryphal texts composed in China. In particular, the Fanwang Jing became sort of a short Mahayanist vinaya text with bodhisattva precepts. The legitimacy of these practices can no doubt be attributed in part to these apocryphal texts, and probably more so to the Fanwang Jing.

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I think romanticizing nature or the environment is more of a reaction to the nihilism of our modern age than having to do with what the Buddha taught. While we are encouraged to acknowledge that there are conditions more conducive to health and well-being, what is so romantic about nature? let alone the ambiguity of the term!

Fantasies about nature is vividly portrayed in Abrahamic heavens. While deva realms include naturalistic themes, we have Mara sitting right there on top. Should not this be a warning?

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Ok, thanks for clarifying.

That’s interesting. So it was clearly a contested practice.

That’s really interesting, I’ll review this. I’m writing an essay that critique’s Halkias’ claim that self-immolation was an early Buddhist practice, based on the Greek accounts of the suicide of Kalanos. But Kalanos was obviously not a Buddhist.

And likely of Chinese origins.

I dunno, if you have a problem with romanticizing nature, maybe take it up with Kassapa?

“Strewn with garlands of the musk-rose tree,
these regions are so delightful, so lovely,
echoing with the trumpeting of elephants:
these rocky crags delight me!

Glistening, they look like blue storm clouds,
with waters cool and streams so clear,
and covered all in ladybugs:
these rocky crags delight me!

Like the peak of a blue storm cloud,
or like a fine bungalow, lovely,
echoing with the trumpeting of elephants:
these rocky crags delight me!

The rain comes down on the lovely flats,
in the mountains frequented by hermits.
Echoing with the cries of peacocks,
these rocky crags delight me!

It’s enough for me,
who loves absorption and is resolute, to be mindful.
It’s enough for me,
a resolute monk who loves the goal.

It’s enough for me,
a resolute monk who loves comfort.
It’s enough for me,
resolute and poised, loving meditation.

Covered with flowers of flax,
like the sky covered with clouds,
full of flocks of many different birds,
these rocky crags delight me!

Empty of householders,
frequented by herds of deer,
full of flocks of many different birds,
these rocky crags delight me!

The water’s clear and the rocks are broad,
monkeys and deer are all around;
festooned with dewy moss,
these rocky crags delight me!”

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You may find this review and book to be helpful in looking at some of the history of self-immolation in China and East Asia, including its early political use:

Burning for the Buddha: Self-Immolation in Chinese Buddhism

Benn shows how early self-immolation was often constructed and construed as an explicitly political act, a way of getting an emperor’s attention and forcing him to act for the benefit of the Buddhist community.

The story of Dazhi 大志 (567–609) of Lushan 廬山 is especially useful. After the emperor, Sui Yangdi 隋煬帝, decided to begin limiting the growth of the Buddhist order, Dazhi wailed loudly, remonstrated with the emperor, burnt his arm to a crisp with a hot iron, peeled off his flesh to reveal the bones underneath, and then charred the bones themselves. Benn deftly shows how monks were “bargaining with their bodies,” engaging in a kind of “moral blackmail” (pp. 81, 87). Most important, Benn frames all these stories within the larger context of Daoxuan’s life and work, and his political imperative to advance the interests of the Buddhist order under the reign of Tang Emperor Taizong 太宗.

In an earlier paper by the author, the practice of self-immolation in Chinese Buddhism is tied back to ancient Chinese non-Buddhist practices. The production of apocryphal sutras then reinforced their place in Chinese Buddhism and helped to brush aside criticism from monastics such as Yijing.

Where Text Meets Flesh: Burning the Body as an Apocryphal Practice in Chinese Buddhism

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This is what lies behind much self-immolation in modern Asia, incl. Tibet and Sri Lanka. But in the West it is typically motivated to achieve more general aims, like the recent case regarding climate change. Do you know of any similar cases in ancient China?

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I think this has to do more with chinese culture.

When remonstrating the emperor, a person (usually government officials) often did self harm, sometimes ending up in death.
For example, kowtowing until death.
(But this information is from popular culture like historical drama so maybe it is not accurate)

It is indeed a some kind of moral blackmailing, “if that person has no care for his own body or life, the matter he brought up must be very important, and he is a pious/ sincere person that willing to sacrifice for that matter”
And the emperor risk condemnation or be accused of moral failing if he did not accede to the request.

Note that in imperial government, you cant really force emperor to do what you want other than this way. It is one of the last resort when you want to change emperor’s mind.

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I think that book describes many specific cases and their political motivations. But when considering climate change, that is interesting because one of the ideas by the author is that self-immolation was found in pre-Buddhist China, in changing the weather. And later, there is a story about a monk who burned off two of his fingers to help bring about a snowfall on request of the imperial court. Although it did come, Yijing still criticized him for burning off the fingers. Changing the weather was a common request, but it was usually handled with normal things like ceremonies and rituals.

Interestingly, the author says, “It is also significant that auto-cremation seems to have begun around the year 400, when Buddhism was really making its mark in court circles and Buddhists were becoming more deeply involved in politics.”

Buddhism existed in China for over 200 years before that. Without an influential audience, though, it appears that that type of self-immolation was not necessary?

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Thank you for this message Bhante. To my mind, an especially poignant and important point you made was this:

To my knowledge, in not a single of these cases have the self-immolators achieved their goals. They aim to raise awareness, to send a message, but it has no affect whatsoever on the actual issue. And this latest case will be no different: the US Supreme Court is deliberating an issue and they will make a decision. They will not, and should not, be influenced by the extreme actions of a lone protester.

This appears concordant with how I view the consequences of these actions; they have not relieved the suffering of sentient beings in any meaningful way, but rather have acted as conditions for further suffering.

For the sake of fully understanding this issue I’d like to know people’s thoughts if the converse were the case. Let’s say for the sake of developing wisdom that one could know with wisdom that one’s compassionate sacrifice necessarily would lead to the alleviation of suffering for sentient beings and would not act as a condition for further suffering? In such a case, would such a sacrifice be blameless?

Compassion devoid of wisdom can lead to rash actions that only lead to more suffering for oneself and others. Only when compassion and wisdom are conjoined can one discern clearly that ones actions lead to happiness for oneself and others.

The various tales in the Jataka and similar of a bodhisattva’s sacrifice are all presented as compassion and limited wisdom conjoined to various degrees with the commensurate consequences. Setting aside the historicity of such tales, it is clear to me that even a bodhisattva is subject to only limited knowledge combined with ignorance of the ultimate consequences of ones action. That is why the vows against killing, lying, and other harmful actions are so important and fundamental as a building block for further practice.

Only an omniscient one can ever truly understand the full consequences of action and discern whether it leads to happiness or suffering. That is why it is so important for those of us with limited wisdom combined with ignorance to accept and adhere to the vows of harmlessness.

:pray:

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Climate Change is a major clear and present danger to humanity and will certainly bring dukkha upon humankind. But it’s not “of the utmost importance” as quoted above. What is of the utmost importance is found within an elephant’s footprint: the Buddha’s teachings of the Four Noble Truths and the way out, the Noble Eightfold Path. Suicide to bring attention to climate change or human trafficking or fentanyl or war or whatever ills of society doesn’t fit in the Buddha’s message. Even suicide to make a point that humankind isn’t following the teachings of the Buddha enough makes no sense.

The quote below is only tangentially related but reminds me of the Buddha’s admonishment to not be overly concerned with the affairs of the world and shows the futility of getting too enmeshed with symptoms of the disease of avijja:

“I hear news every day, and those ordinary rumors of war, plagues, fires, inundations, thefts, murders, massacres, meteors, comets, spectrums, prodigies, apparitions, of towns taken, cities besieged in France, Germany, Turkey, Persia, Poland, etc., daily musters and preparations, and such like, which these tempestuous times afford, battles fought, so many men slain, monomachies, shipwrecks, piracies, and sea-fights, peace, leagues, strategems, and fresh alarms. […] Thus I daily hear, and such like, both private and public news. Amidst the gallantry and misery of the world; jollity, pride, perplexities, and cares, simplicity and villany; subtlety, knavery, candour and integrity, mutually mixed and offering themselves, I rub on in a private life; as I have still lived, so I now continue, as I was content from the first, left to a solitary life, and mine own domestick discontents: saving that sometimes, not to tell a lie, as Diogenes went into the city, and Democritus to the haven, to see fashions, I did for my recreation now and then walk abroad, look into the world, and could not choose but make some little observation, not so wise an observer as a plain rehearser, not as they did to scoff or laugh at all, but with a mixed passion.”

Robert Burton, The Anatomy Of Melancholy, 1621