Any Buddhists out there who can answer this question?

Question

Does self harming and having suicidal thoughts bring bad karma? Even if it is due to mental illness?

how badly would it affect future lives?

Answer 1

some bad karma ...yes

harming any sentient being  ( including ourselves brings bad karma )

it depends on how much good you do as far as your next life.

Answer 2

Of course it does - its probably bad karma ripening.  Why not join a local group and find out about Buddhism - might help you in your life.

Answer 3

I'm not Buddhist but I don;t think it would. Karma usually comes from harming others, not you

Answer 4

Karma is the end results of an action.  There is no good karma or bad marma, there is only karma.

Only in bad 60's hippie films and the sharons stone misunderstandings is there good or bad karma.

Answer 5

why "not" this life change for karma??

future lives is "ignorance", just alive people know that is...

Answer 6

thoughts are causes. thoughts are also representations of your beliefs and state of mind. the simple reason why we exist is because we believe the false to be true, that there is substance within emptiness. We convince ourselves that we can feel, touch, smell, see, etc.

Anyway,...

if you have negative thoughts, you obviously reap negative results. You impact yourself negatively. One slight negative thought may be less harmful and the impact is slight. But imagine people that completely lose it and go insane, or are insane, or commit evil acts. These people tend to be plagued by negative thinking far too much.  Negative thoughts that get cultivated and become too much of a part of you, bring grave results to who you become, how you think, what you believe. In consequence, who you become is what your state of mind is. Your state of mind is what you cultivate in the mind... what you think and how you think. So yes, negative thoughts and suicidal thoughts bring bad karma to yourself, and possibly those that are close to you.

If you constantly have suicidal thoughts, and cultivate that kind of thinking, you will become suicidal and eventually, you will suicide. Those thoughts lead to action, and action is the result. The action is also another cause, because you bring sadness, grief, hassle, trouble, and waste to your family, friends, and yourself. All that your parents have given you, are wasted. all the pain and suffering that goes into feeding you, nurturing you, etc... is wasted. That is karmic debt to them.

In addition, you must understand just exactly how fragile the human body is. Coming by a human form is difficult because lower life forms don't have the human potential. Lower life forms are too deluded and narrow to understand the buddha dharma. That's why lower life forms tend to get worse and worse, building further retribution, almost endlessly enduring the karma of lower life forms.  As a human, you have the ability to do great things and cultivate to become buddha. That is why suiciding is a complete waste of blessings. When you realize just how much it takes to get the human form, you will understand how precious life is for you and all living beings. If you throw garbage away, no one cares. If you throw gold away, you get a lot of commotion. It's just the way things are.

So harming the self represents a certain state of deluded thinking. Naturally, self-harm plants bad causes on yourself physically. Mentally, harming the self perpetuates and sets up for further negative thoughts. Basically, you encourage yourself to keep thinking these negative thoughts, further deluding your mind--further poisoning your mind and changing your thinking to become so narrow and deluded that you have no idea what it's like to think like an intelligent human again.

As a result, eventually, if your mind is so narrowed and deluded, that means you're perfectly willing to truly suicide. And when that happens, you lose your life. After losing your life, you tell me what state of mind you were in and what kind of views and perceptions did you have at the time you killed yourself.  

So what kind of life will you manifest after death? It's based on your mind karma and perceptions. You can only perceive the life that corresponds to narrowed minds, deluded thoughts... so you manifest lower life-forms. but it's not that simple. Your hateful anger and demented thoughts played a major cause to suicide... that anger is h**l-thinking. Not only that, you wasted blessings of human form.  That is a h**l existence.

Insanity... don't think it's unfair that we become insane. That insanity is brought on by past causes, from this life, and even past lives. Insanity is a result of guilt, negative thought karma, and a disturbed mind that is subconsciously feeling the weight of past actions.

As I described earlier...

Lower life forms are so narrow-minded that they don't have the comprehension or perceptions to really... change for the better. Their narrow way of thinking includes hunting and eating other animals, killing, stealing, greed, selfishness as a way of life. That just makes it worse. It's a downhill from there.

Same with humans with insanity. That is all caused by past causes that eventually led them to a life in which they're already on that awful downhill. It's as if they dug a deep pit, so deep they couldn't do anything but keep going down. These people are just like lower life forms that know nothing but to keep getting worse.

Mental illness is what we classify a chemical imbalance.  This imbalance is really due to the mind going INSANE! The person is stressed, worried, uneasy because of all those thoughts in the head. The person is plagued by the past and present. Look at it psychologically. People don't know why they're angry, traumatized, or upset. And it affects their behavior... all because of a past event or past traumatic event. We don't even know that subconscious thoughts affect an

Answer 7

suicidal throughts have nothing to do with any religion

Answer 8

A non-Buddhist here & speaking as such. ( My experiences are from regular Multi-cultural forums sponsored but the local Pureland College )

The Buddhists are anti-violence and self harm & suicide are both acts of violence.

I'm not sure if they view it so much as a "sin" as such - but I suspect the mourning by those left behind to grieve would seriously dent one's Kama.

.

Answer 9

Meditation is about training the mind to have zero emotions. Neither good nor bad. Good and bad are both emotions and meditation is to detach you from both these emotions. One should be such that they are neither overjoyed at good news nor depressed at bad news. If you commit suicide you will stop your spiritual development and will have to go through it all over again when you reincarnate. The ultimate aim is "Nirvana" to be free from this cycle of Birth and Death. That can only be achieved when you are free from love, envy, anger etc all emotions that hinder your spiritual growth.

Answer 10

Thought s generate Karma, but a mental health cause is also Karmic.

Having these thoughts and feelings carries no blame, they are karma unfolding. They are in fact a challenge, to you to find a way to resolve the issues that generate these feelings.

If you can actively seek help, and fully engage with therapy and change. You will in fact be freeing yourself of the karma that gave rise to these problems. I've been thru similar issues myself, and I know you can get thru this.

I wish you peace and liberation

Answer 11

Karma is the Law of cause and effect. If you do bad, bad will come back to you, do good and good things will happen to you. Karma can be quick or come back to bite you in your next lifetime. To believe in Karma you most likely will believe in reincarnation.

Mental Illness might be the cause of bad Karma in a past life. The sins of the father shall be the sins of the son. Or what you do in this life will follow you to your next.