[Buddha-l] Buddhists taking a stand against Islamaphobia

[Richard Hayes]

On Aug 2, 2012, at 12:28 PM, Franz Metcalf <franz at mind2mind.net> wrote:

> All acts (except those of an arahant) cause suffering, yet the Buddha did not counsel suicide (as did the Mahavira).

Franz, I usually agree with everything you say, but this one sentence strikes me as wrong thrice over. First, without evidence that all acts cause suffering, this claim sounds like pure dogma. Such an extraordinary hypothesis surely requires extraordinary evidence. Second, on what grounds can one say that an arhant's actions are different in their consequences from anyone else's. Third, Mahāvīra never counseled suicide. He counseled harmlessness. Dying as a result of not harming others is not by any stretch of the imagination suicide. The primary intention of the act of suicide is to kill oneself. The primary intention of desisting completely from harming others is desisting completely from harming others

Richard