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  • Hara-kari…

    (…in the common language, seppuku to be refined.) Ritual suicide by slashing open the stomach.
    "The way of the samurai is fulfilled in death." -Hagakure


    When a man has finished his life (at whatever age he has decided this is) should he end it?

  • #2
    There is more to it than just the definition.

    Many people who hardly know anything Japanese, use the word Hara-kiri, freely, meaning 'Suicide'. In Japanese, the word hara means belly or 'viscera', and kiri means cut or split.

    This form of suicide was regarded as an act of great honor, and was actually performed willingly by slitting the stomach of oneself. There is another version of 'hara-kiri' - which is an act of submission to be beheaded on the order of a superior. It is known as "seppuku". In this case, the man sits before an admiring circle of friends and colleagues, early morning, facing the rising sun. He is asked to write down a small farewell poem and then accept the inevitable - yet the most honorable end by a sword, wielded by one of his best friends. The Samurais of yore welcomed such a command from their overlords, as an act of sincere penance for a shameful conduct.


    Though this practice is long extinct in Japan, shame still dwells in the sub-conscious as a silent, unspoken, below-the-threshold psychological trait that influences even the most modern Japanese. Shame can easily silence one or act as a sublimating mechanism in Japanese behavior. The Japanese suffer from the worst fear of committing a shameful act or being ashamed of dishonesty, disrespect or dis-harmony with socially accepted norms. Many of the suicide cases are traced to the Japanese apprehension of acute shame. However, both 'hara-kiri' and 'seppuku' are no longer practiced in today's Japan.

    Coming back to the hara, to the Japanese it connotes far more - backbone, heart, mind, guts. And it is the source of breath and hence spirit, similar to the Greek concept of psyche. From the hara rises the breath for chanting sutras. The thoughts that emanate from the hara help to make one's communication agreeable and indulgent. It is called hara-gei - a word that describes the form of trust and intimacy, for instance, between the manager and his worker. One must be capable of reaching another's heart through his 'hara' -somewhat like the expression: "the route to the heart is through the stomach".

    There are several connotations related to hara - such as a man of ill will has a black hara and a generous man has a thick hara, and so on. Semantics apart, the Japanese literally protect the hara with a cloth band which is called hara-maki. Women in their fifth month of pregnancy ritualistically wrap themselves in a hara-obi, which they continue until delivery. I have noticed the Japanese advising Indian women not to reveal the midriff and to keep the belly always well wrapped for good health.

    In the meditative posture called Zazen, the breath should rise unimpeded from the hara, -comparable to the Indian kundalini- according to Zen practices. The Japanese claim to be able to communicate with others - silently - through the hara, during games, negotiations or meetings. Many Japanese game parlours or meetings are unbelievably quiet, because it's only in silence you can wake up the hara and respond to it.

    Uwe

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    • #3
      The whole suicide mentality is still alive in Japan it seems. You hear about it with CEO's of failed companies. Quite different from CEO's of our failed companies, who seem to be lauded as heroes.
      Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

      "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

      (more comments in my User Profile)
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      • #4
        I once read Samurai believed that due to the karma of killing they would come back as Samurai.

        The last known case of seppuku was 33 years ago, by the great (& highly eccentric) writer Yukio Mishima. In Japan school kids & young adults are making on line suicide pacts: finding people on the web who also want to die & getting together to do the deed because "it's lonely by your self." There is even a book entitled Suicide For Dummies telling you various ways & amount of pain involved (such as self-immolation vs. hanging). Japan has the highest rate of suicide in the world because they don't view it in the same manor as Christian nations. It's not a sin. Buddhism is an end to suffering, death is an end.

        Death seems to be viewed as a bad thing in the West: abortion, euthanasia. Why shouldn't you have the right to choose how & when you want to go?

        Find a nice quiet spot in nature, write your death poem, some sleeping pills & a nice cabernet, because when you're going out take a cab!

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        • #5
          There's a Suicide for Dummies book? Published in America? That's kind of counter culture for here...
          Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

          "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

          (more comments in my User Profile)
          russbo.com


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          • #6
            From MSNBC:

            “IF IT’S over a year, she’s not ever going to get up,” said Fred Plum, a professor emeritus at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. “You’d just don’t see it. It just doesn’t happen.”
            Schiavo, 39, has been in a persistent vegetative state since her heart stopped for unknown reasons in 1990. A feeding tube in her stomach was removed this past Wednesday after her husband, Michael, who said his wife had told him she would not want to be kept alive under such circumstances, won a long series of court battles to have life-sustaining nourishment withdrawn so she could die.

            BITTER BATTLE
            But Schiavo’s parents, convinced that she retains awareness of her surroundings and could recover, waged a bitter legal and political battle to keep her alive. Gov. Jeb Bush on Tuesday took the unprecedented step of ordering resumption of nourishment and fluids after the Florida legislature passed special legislation granting him emergency authority.


            Yes, we do have a different way of viewing death here in the US....
            Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

            "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

            (more comments in my User Profile)
            russbo.com


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            • #7
              There are some big fights going on between this guy and his wifes family... you should hear the takes that some fo the uber conservatives are taking on this on talk radio...
              practice wu de

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              • #8
                Sad really, is this the only country in the world where it's illegal for a person to not try to save themself?
                Show me a man who has forgotten words, so that I can have a word with him.

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                • #9
                  Suicide for Dummies…

                  TOKYO, JAPAN - A rash of suicides has prompted the authorities in Tokyo to consider whether to restrict a bestselling book that teaches people how to kill themselves.

                  'The Complete Manual of Suicide', which has sold 1.2 million copies, promises its readers "the peace of mind of knowing you can leave this troubled world whenever you choose."

                  It details 10 methods of self-slaughter, including hanging, electrocution and immolation, and compares them in terms of pain, speed and disfigurement. Illustrated with charts, maps and manga comics, the 200 pages contain recommendations about the best spots to die, tips about avoiding detection and descriptions of celebrity suicides.

                  "The book has been blamed for the rising body count in the woods at the foot of Mount
                  Fuji, described as "the perfect place to die."

                  "We have had calls from people in great pain because they followed the book's instructions, but failed to kill themselves," said Yukiko Nishihara, founder of a Tokyo helpline.

                  Under existing bylaws, which cover only publications of a sexual or violent nature, the Tokyo metropolitan government cannot prohibit the manual. But officials have begun looking at whether to change the rules.

                  The book's author, Turumi Wataru, says he is being made a scapegoat. "No one ever killed themselves just because of my book," he said. "The authorities are blaming me because they are unwilling to take responsibility for the economic, political and social problems that are the real cause of suicides."

                  "I want people under the age of 18 to read this book," Wataru said. "They need it more than anyone." "It is important that people realise that suicide is not wrong. It is the right of every individual to kill themselves and, no matter what laws you enact, you cannot stop it."

                  Copyright © Guardian Unlimited, Dec 10, 1999
                  ================================================== =============

                  TOKYO, JAPAN -Over the past six months at least 32 killed themselves after meeting strangers online. …An extraordinary string of Internet suicides to hit Japan. Over the past six months, police investigators say at least 32 people - mostly in their teens and twenties - have killed themselves nationwide after meeting strangers online. Many more young Japanese have entered into online suicide pacts, but either failed in their attempts or backed out at the last minute.

                  Psychiatrists and suicide experts are linking the phenomenon to a profound national identity crisis during Japan's 13-year economic funk. Indeed, the Internet deaths come at a time when Japan is undergoing an alarming surge in its overall suicide rate - with financial problems cited as the fastest growing reason for despair.

                  The culture of suicide, encapsulated by the honorable hara-kiri rite of the ancient samurai, is nothing new here. But even by Japanese standards, there has been a staggering jump in suicides, to 32,143 last year, compared with 21,346 in 1990, the beginning of Japan's economic slide. The current suicide rate - 25.2 suicides per
                  100,000 people - is about double that of the United States.

                  "How-to-die" Web sites have become a morbid fascination for Japan's troubled youth.
                  Though Western, religion-based stigmas of suicide do not exist here, the Internet deaths have nevertheless dismayed this island nation, becoming a dominant topic in chat rooms and the subject of a new play.

                  The deaths have drawn attention to a deadly mix between Japanese traditions of suicide and its mega-tech society, which have now melded into a proliferation of "how-to-die"
                  Web sites accessible from schools, offices, subways, trains and cars through wireless connections on most Japanese cell phones. They have become a source of morbid fascination for a growing subculture of troubled, mostly younger Japanese.

                  The majority of the 20 males and 12 females who killed themselves after linking up on these sites came from Japan's "lost generation" - people in their teens and twenties who have come of age in a less secure, less confident society. Japan today is [a] nation where unemployment and homelessness have soared, and companies - long the pillars of society - no longer offer workers the promise of a job for life. The new realties have put added stress on families, sending the divorce rate steadily higher.

                  Hana, the cyber handle of a 30-year-old Tokyo computer saleswoman who frequented suicide chat rooms before receiving counseling, said in an interview that she once did a live online broadcast of slitting her wrist. "I wrote on the chat site, 'I'm cutting now' - and then I had to go to the emergency room and get seven stitches," she said. "Several hours later, I found out someone online who was reading my words also decided to slit her wrist, and had to get 20 stitches."

                  Michio Sakai, a 26-year-old unemployed magazine salesman from just north of Tokyo, posted a "death ad" on an underground suicide site: "I am looking for suicide partners," it said. "If you join me, I will give you sleeping pills. ... It is lonely to die alone."

                  "There was no discussion of why he was doing it, just an indication that maybe he was tired of living," said Murata's distraught father, a 67-year-old security guard. "But I don't think he could have done it alone. So he found others who were willing to do it with him. I suppose it made it less frightening for him. But I will never know for sure."

                  Copyright © Washington Post, Aug 24, 2003

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                  • #10
                    Youth is wasted on the young and then there are those who just waste it. Yukio Mishima was "out there", to say the least, but he lived life as he wanted and chose the manner of his death--to make a statement. But to those who have not yet lived, to end what had hardly begun is a waste.

                    If one has made up one's mind to die, then life becomes clearer. If you do not fear death what greater fear is there? Unless you are afraid to live. Unfortunately that seems to be the case most of the time, not finding a reason to go on is an excuse for fear of going on. The purpose of life is to live.


                    Before mine eyes in opposition sits Grim Death, my son and foe...
                    -Milton.
                    Last edited by RJW; 10-24-2003, 06:33 AM.

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                    • #11
                      How does this rather acceptable Japanese concept of suicide fit in with Zen Buddhist beliefs?
                      Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

                      "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

                      (more comments in my User Profile)
                      russbo.com


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                      • #12
                        "Victory and defeat are matters of the temporary force of circumstances. The way of avoiding shame is different. It is simply in death." - Hagakure0

                        Behind this gruesome and barbaric act lies the concept in Japanese thinking that an honorable death is more desirable than a life in shame.

                        Suicide by disembowelment was favoured because it was slow and painful and therefore demonstrated courage, self-control, and strong resolve. Voluntary seppuku was performed to avoid the dishonour of capture, show loyalty to one's lord by following him into death, protest against some policy of a superior, or atone for failure. Obligatory seppuku was a method of capital punishment for a samurai, who would be beheaded by a second once he had made an initial stab wound himself. Obligatory seppuku was abolished in 1873, but voluntary seppuku continued to occur.

                        Bushido "way of the warrior" Code of conduct of the samurai class of Japan, first formulated in the 17th century. Its precise content varied over time, taking on overtones of Zen Buddhism and Confucianism. Along with self-discipline, honour, and austerity, one constant feature was the samurai's obligation to his lord, which superseded even familial ties. This obligation of loyalty and sacrifice was transferred to the emperor with the Meiji Restoration and was a salient feature of the Japanese national mindset until the end of World War II (1945).


                        Seppuku, (Sape-puu-kuu) the Japanese formal language term for ritual suicide (Hara-kiri (Har-rah-kee-ree) is the common language term.), was an intregal aspect of feudal Japan (1192-1868). It developed as an intregal part of the code of bushido and the discipline of the samurai warrior class.

                        The early history of Japan reveals quite clearly that the Japanese were far more interested in living the good life than in dying a painful death. It was not until well after the introduction of Buddhism, with its theme of the transitory nature of life and the glory of death, that such a development became possible.

                        To the samurai, seppuku--whether ordered as punishment or chosen in preference to a dishonorable death at the hands of an enemy--was unquestionable demonstration of their honor, courage, loyalty, and moral character.

                        When samurai were on the battlefield, they often carried out acts of hara-kiri rapidly and with very little formal preparation. But on the other occasions, particularly when it was ordered by a feudal lord, seppuku was a very formal ceremony, requiring certain etiquette, witnesses and considerable preparation.

                        Not all Japanese samurai or lords believed in, even though many of them followed the custom. Ieyasu Tokugawa, who founded Japan's last great Shogunate dynasty in 1603, eventually issued an edict forbidding hara-kiri to both secondary and primary retainers.

                        The custom was so deeply entrenched, however, that it continued, and in 1663, at the urging of Lord Nobutsuna Matsudaira of Izu, the shogunate government issued another, stronger edict, prohibiting ritual suicide. This was followed up by very stern punishment for any lord who allowed any of his followers to commit harakiri or seppuku. Still the practice continued throughout the long Tokugawa reign, but it declined considerably as time went by.

                        Honor for the samurai was dearer than life and in many cases, self destruction was regarded not simply as right, but as the only right course. Disgrace and defeat were atoned by committing hara-kiri or seppuku. Upon the death of a daimyo loyal followers might show their grief and affection for their master by it. Other reasons a samurai committed seppuku were: to show contempt for an enemy; to protest against injustice, as a means to get their lord to reconsider an unwise or unworthy action and as a means to save others.

                        The ritual for disenbowlment was to be performed calmly and without flinching. If condemned to death, it was held to be a privilege to execute the sentence on one's own body rather than to be a disgrace and die at the hands of the public headsman.

                        The location of an officially ordered seppuku ceremony was very important. Often the ritual was performed at temple (but not Shinto shrines), in the garden or villas, and inside homes. The size of the area available was also important, as it was prescribed precisely for samurai of high rank.

                        All the matters relating to the act was carefully prescribed and carried out in the most meticulous manner. The most conspicuous participant, other than the victim, was the kaishaku (kie-shah-kuu), or assistant, who was responsible for cutting off the victim's head after he had sliced his abdomen open. The kaishaku was generally a close friend or associate of the condemned.

                        Although suicide is deplored in Japan today, it does not have the sinful overtones that are common in the west. People still kill themselves for failed businesses, involvement in love triangles, or even failing school examinations, death is still consider by many as better than dishonor.
                        ----------------------------------------------------------------------

                        The earliest reliable reports about seppuku are from the 11th century, when several powerful family clans fought for supremacy in feudal Japan. But the habit of committing suicide on the battlefield to avoid being captured by the enemy is certainly much older.

                        The way of ritual seppuku came up probably during the period of the civil wars in the 15th and 16th century. With the final unification and pacifying of Japan under Tokugawa Ieyasu, 1543-1616, and the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Seppuku was no longer officially supported. It was even forbidden by two decrees - in 1603 and in 1663. But the practise continued to exist nevertheless. It was again officially abolished by the Meiji government in 1868.

                        Seppuku was considered a privilege for samurai and the nobility. Feudal Japanese history is full of cases of defeated enemies, who were "forced" by their conquerors to commit suicide. This was considered as a grace. The looser received a chance to keep his honor.

                        Suicide was often committed by samurai warriors and noblemen on the battlefield. Then there was no time for the above ritual and seppuku was done hastily.

                        The reasons to commit suicide were manifold:

                        · First of all it was practiced as an honorable punishment. A mere commoner would have been executed.
                        · Seppuku could be performed to show the ultimate loyalty towards one's deceased lord or husband, although this form was rare.
                        · Seppuku could be the ultimate expression of showing one's disagreement with the lord.
                        · The most common form was probably the suicide in the battlefield to avoid the shame of falling into the hands of the enemy.
                        ----------------------------------------------------------------------

                        The ideals that form the basis for seppuku were not extant in Japanese society until the introduction of Buddhism, and its effects on the establishment of the Bushido (bushi-do - 'The Way of the Warrior') code. Buddhism brought to Japan the belief of life as a transitional state and the glory of death and transcendence to Nirvana. Combined with the ancestor-worship and animism of Shinto, and the Confucian responsibilities towards your family and lord, Bushido ruled a Samurai's every thought and action. Shinto, in particular, taught that purity (both spiritual and physical) should be held in the highest regard. Thus if a Samurai were to disgrace himself or his lord in any way, the only way that he could save face would be to commit ritual suicide; to pay the ultimate sacrifice. Although it was first recorded in the Heian period (792 - 1192 A.D.), it was not until the Sengoku-jidai ('Sengoku-Jidai' = 'The Age of the Country At War', essentially the Civil War period) era that seppuku was ritualized in the form that we recognize it today. Originally, seppuku was carried out on the battlefield, without any pretense to ritual. Once disgraced, a Samurai would whip his sword out on the spot and cut himself open. No fuss, no muss.

                        Later, as Bushido became more refined, a more systematic approach was required. Seppuku was usually carried out in a secluded courtyard or garden. The soon-to-be-dead samurai would usually be kitted out in a nice, white kimono (to symbolize purity, and perhaps enhance the drama of the act). Before him would be a wooden tray (which would have been crafted for this specific occasion, and later would be destroyed) upon which is a sheaf of washi paper, ink, a cup of sake, and a short knife called a tanto. To start the ceremony, he would drink the sake, preferably in two gulps. One gulp was considered gauche, and three was considered to be miserly. Two gulps showed the correct combination of contemplation and determination. Next, the samurai would take the paper and ink and compose a fitting poem, typically in the waka style (a waka is a 31 syllable, 5 line poem in a 5-7-5-7-7-7 structure.) After composing the poem, he would then procede to the main event.

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                        • #13
                          And if he wrote a bad poem?
                          Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

                          "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

                          (more comments in my User Profile)
                          russbo.com


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                          • #14
                            Inshallah: as God wills ???

                            Greeting- Salaam as wa alaykum: Peace be upon you.
                            Response- Wa alaykum as salaam: Upon you be peace.

                            No ritual just the glory of God! Who wouldn't want to go to paradise!?!
                            In the Middle East videos are being circulated to kids as young as 11 as to the glorious rewards of suicide bombings. Take as many infidel dogs with you as possible and you will enter paradise. Gullible youth--always a target for cults of all types--think this is an epic, heroic way to die. To murder as many innocents as possible, after all in war there are no innocents are there…?

                            Oy! Mohammed (praise be his name & peace) is rolling in his grave.



                            "The most excellent Jihad is that for the conquest of self." -The Prophet Mohammed

                            "Whatever mishap may befall you, it is on account of something which your hands have done." -The Prophet Mohammed

                            "A man came to the Prophet, & said, 'O Prophet! Enjoin upon me a duty, but do not demand much of me, lest I forget.' The Prophet said, 'Do not thou be angry.'"
                            -The Prophet Mohammed

                            "We thought because we had power we had wisdom." -Ancient Proverb

                            "Those unbelievers of the People of the Book & the idolaters wish not that any good should be sent down upon you from your Lord; but God singles out for His mercy whom He will; God is of bounty abounding." -The noble Qur'an II. The Cow

                            "Our fathers & ourselves sowed dragon's teeth. Our children know & suffer the armed men." -Bedouin Lament

                            "'Teach me work, such that when I perform it, God & men will love me.' Lord Mohammed said, 'Desire not the world, & God will love you; & desire not what men have, & they will love you.'" -The Prophet Mohammed

                            "Wearing coarse, hard cloth, & eating coarse food is not abstinence from this world; abstinence from this world is only shortness of desire." -The Prophet Mohammed

                            "Why is betrayal the only truth that sticks?" -Old World Lament

                            "Assist your brother Moslem, whether he be an oppressor or an oppressed. 'But how shall we do it when he is an oppressor?' Lord Mohammed said, 'Assisting an oppressor is by forbidding & withholding him from oppression.'" -The Prophet Mohammed

                            "Do not appear rejoicing at the misfortune of thy brother, for God may be merciful to him & put thee into trouble." -The Prophet Mohammed

                            "He who humbles himself for God, him will God exalt; he is small in his own mind, & great in the eyes of the people. And he who is proud & haughty, God will render him contemptible, & he is small in the eyes of the people & great in his mind, so that he becomes more contemptible to them than a dog or a swine." -The Prophet Mohammed

                            "The world is a prison for the faithful, but a paradise for unbelievers." -The Prophet Mohammed

                            "Say: 'If you love God, follow me, & God will love you, & forgive you your sins; God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.' Say: 'Obey God, & the Messenger.' But if they turn their backs, God loves not the unbelievers." The noble Qur'an III. House of Imran

                            "The Greeks have been vanquished in the nearer part of the land; &, after their vanquishing, they shall be the victors in a few years. To God belongs the Command before & after, & on that day the believers shall rejoice in God's help; God helps whomsoever He will; & He is the All-mighty, the All-compassionate." -The noble Qur'an XXX. The Greeks

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                            • #15
                              "O ye who believe! take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: They are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily Allah guideth not a people unjust." The Quran
                              Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

                              "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

                              (more comments in my User Profile)
                              russbo.com


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