Like I've said before, so far as I've found, there is nothing in the so-called Tibetan Book of the Dead that condemns suicide. Which makes sense since the book is about the death process, not about how one gets there or any so-called moral implications of how one got there.

Nor has my recent read, Thich Nhat Hanh's No Death, No Fear: Comforting Wisdom for Life, given any indication that death is anything other than death. It's a brilliant, philosophical treatise on death and the nature of life from a Buddhist point of view, and quite honestly, everything he writes to help people understand death in the context of life is just as applicable to suicides.

In other words, if a person understands what he is writing about death, and how there is no death, just manifestation and transformation, then they have looked deeply enough to understand that suicide is also not death. Even if you understand that you are intricately and intimately connected with everyone and everything around you, there is still no moral condemnation of suicide.

Honestly, I'm not hung up on suicide. I don't know why it's on my brain. Honestly, it's never been off. It's like an ex-girlfriend/boyfriend who had such an impact on you that you can't imagine that they hadn't crossed your mind at least once a day since you broke up. I can't point to every instance I've thought about it everyday, but I'm sure it's been there every day.

You'd think that enlightenment would have some effect on my ideas about suicide. It doesn't. But, oh yea, I'm not enlightened. But if I was, and who is to say I'm not (really, it's the easiest thing in the world), I don't think it would have any effect on my ideas about suicide. If I ever change my ideas on suicide, I hope I'd kill myself. Whoops, no self to kill.