Accepting Death

I continued to read about Hinduism and Buddhism when I stumbled upon a lesser known religion called Jainism. Jains do not believe in any god, but they do have the same ideas of karma and reincarnation as Hinduism and Buddhism. Jains seek to detach themselves from the material world, the same as Hindus and Buddhists. In my reading about Jainism, however, I discovered a startling difference between Jains and other religions. Jains commit suicide. That being said, not all Jains commit suicide, in fact the hugely vast majority do not. Suicide is considered to be something one that is enlightened can choose to do when they are totally unattached to this world, have no regrets, and have amassed all of the good karma they could possibly need. At this point there is no more that they must do in life and can die without any attachment to this world, continuing their life is just more opportunity to feel suffering. They then cease eating. They live for about a month meditating and only drinking until they die. The giving up of eating shows that they are so unattached to this world that they can choose to give up food. They die on their own terms at the time they desire without any regrets or attachment to this world.

Before I read about this I had never heard of a glorious death. However, in my mind, this classifies as a glorious death. After I read about this Jainist suicide, I realized how good it sounds. You get to die on your own terms, when you are ready. By the time you die you have no more attachment to this world and can leave without regret. You escape the bondage of life forever. I noticed how one of my main fears about death was not the idea of ceasing to exist, but instead leaving things undone or not being ready to go. I also noticed that in life I have felt held down by simply being a living, breathing being. This feeling is hard, if not impossible, to describe, but it is somewhat like you are noticing your limitations as a human being and how vast they are. The only escape from these limitations and human suffering is death. With this logic, death is the most liberating experience you can have, when you are ready for it. The bondage of being a living being no longer applies to you and the suffering that you experience as a human being can no longer happen. As for the joy that you would miss out on, that pertains to how dying on your own terms applied to me. If you die on your own terms you can have already experienced all of the joys that you want and need to experience until you are satisfied that you have experienced the joys of this world in their full spectrum and splendor. I have come to conclude that dying is completely superior to any kind of eternal life or immortality. After all, if you have eternal life, you have that eternal suffering and bondage, whether you go to a Heaven or a Hell.