How did samurai overcome SI to commit suicide by seppuku?

[ShatteredSerenity]

How did samurai who commited seppuku overcome their survival instinct to kill themselves by disemboweling their own body with a knife?

This just seems insane, like something only a person having a psychotic episode or on drugs could possibly do. Yet samurai have done it for hundreds of years. No doubt the years of training and discipline helped, but they still must have faced extreme SI when they plunged the blade and sliced their internal organs.

 

[Wonhun]

I am interested in this method and not clue how to execute properly. My blade barely cut through my styrofoam.
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[yowai]

It was the most honorable way to die for them so they conditioned themselves and mentally prepared for it way before the act I guess. Looked it up and they also believed the human spirit is located in the stomach. And there was a second person who would break their neck after they started cutting

 

[EternalShore]

It was the most honorable way to die for them so they conditioned themselves and mentally prepared for it way before the act I guess. Looked it up and they also believed the human spirit is located in the stomach. And there was a second person who would break their neck after they started cutting

very interesting! ^_^ Thank you for informing us! :D would be nice if someone would be willing to "help" like that and wouldn't get arrested for it nowadays~ >_<

 

[Trismegistus_13]

They grew up in a completely different society from us with very different values and beliefs. They were raised to believe it was an honorable way to die. To think like that, you basically have to be raised from birth in that environment. I don't think modern westerners like us (or maybe just me haha) can truly understand it.

 

[pachamacha]

mental conditioning from young age they soilder purpose is mission the culture of the time and their state of mind is not self they are tool for mission always ready to die prevent inside information given under torture not bring shame to clan but honor they must be ready to die strong focus and control it is conditioning

 

[L'absent]

Because the survival instinct does not exist. There is only the belief that helps us commit suicide or stops us from doing so. This is how it works for those who get killed for their country or who get blown up for Allah.

. No doubt the years of training and discipline helped, but they still must have faced extreme SI when they plunged the blade and sliced their internal organs.

If there really was a survival instinct, he wouldn't even consider that atrocious way of dying. In terrorist camps they prepare people for death in a few months, but they are isolated. For this reason, after a bereavement, psychiatrists advise you not to isolate yourself because it increases the risk of suicide by 30 times. The mind detaches itself from the dominant/conditioning pro-life thought.

And not only does it increase the risk of suicide, but it also increases the possibility of committing suicide in the same way that your loved one died. We move forward with imitative models.

 

[Gustav Hartmann]

Because the survival instinct does not exist. There is only the belief that helps us commit suicide or stops us from doing so. This is how it works for those who get killed for their country or who get blown up for Allah.


If there really was a survival instinct, he wouldn't even consider that atrocious way of dying. In terrorist camps they prepare people for death in a few months, but they are isolated. For this reason, after a bereavement, psychiatrists advise you not to isolate yourself because it increases the risk of suicide by 30 times. The mind detaches itself from the dominant/conditioning pro-life thought.

And not only does it increase the risk of suicide, but it also increases the possibility of committing suicide in the same way that your loved one died. We move forward with imitative models.

Survival instinct exists, otherwise measurements to mitigate it would make no sense. Isolation is probably a good method.

 

[pthnrdnojvsc]

Because the survival instinct does not exist. There is only the belief that helps us commit suicide or stops us from doing so. This is how it works for those who get killed for their country or who get blown up for Allah.


If there really was a survival instinct, he wouldn't even consider that atrocious way of dying. In terrorist camps they prepare people for death in a few months, but they are isolated. For this reason, after a bereavement, psychiatrists advise you not to isolate yourself because it increases the risk of suicide by 30 times. The mind detaches itself from the dominant/conditioning pro-life thought.

And not only does it increase the risk of suicide, but it also increases the possibility of committing suicide in the same way that your loved one died. We move forward with imitative models.

i agree. no one is taught how the brain works. the fact is the brain is being programmed every second. the samurai , the kamikazze, suidicidal terrorists many more examples of no si. i've watched many people in the watchpeople die website slowly calming knife themsleves or strangle themselves to Death no si , jump , . many many calmly jump under busses, and from buildings, shoot themselves etc on video on watchpeopledie .com .

 

[L'absent]

i agree. no one is taught how the brain works. the fact is the brain is being programmed every second. the samurai , the kamikazze, suidicidal terrorists many more examples of no si. i've watched many people in the watchpeople die website slowly calming knife themsleves or strangle themselves to Death no si , jump , . many many calmly jump under busses, and from buildings, shoot themselves etc on video on watchpeopledie .com .

Yes, even meditation done in a certain way helps us commit suicide without fear. We must be able to counteract external pro-life messages. For example, talking too much about suicide increases resistance and what many call the survival instinct.

 

[pthnrdnojvsc]

They grew up in a completely different society from us with very different values and beliefs. They were raised to believe it was an honorable way to die. To think like that, you basically have to be raised from birth in that environment. I don't think modern westerners like us (or maybe just me haha) can truly understand it.

that is one example why i believe the mind is mainly culturallly programmed , most beleifs etc. of course there are instincts prepgrammed by evolution like thirst, hunger for food, the ability to feel unbearable pain , whatever a newborn human baby believes is already pre-programmed but you see it is not many things. does a 1 week old baby even know who they are or that they will die ? they don't know they will die certainly .

it's very difficult though to change the programming done for decades. one has to know the correct practices and to do the practices for hours every day for starters and it take a long time . but you have to believe that it will work or you won't put the extreme effort needed to change

 

[L'absent]

that is one example why i believe the mind is mainly culturallly programmed , most beleifs etc. of course there are instincts prepgrammed by evolution like thirst, hunger for food, the ability to feel unbearable pain , whatever a newborn human baby believes is already pre-programmed but you see it is not many things. does a 1 week old baby even know who they are or that they will die ? they don't know they will die certainly .

I would like to leave the French windows open when my baby crawls towards the exit and hope that he doesn't throw himself into the void from the 5th floor, relying on his innate survival instinct. But I'm afraid it would end badly. Since I don't believe it, I close the French window.

 

[anagram]

They were hardcore mfs. They were meditating and doing everything to train self control so they can fight the best. I have a theory meditation (intense meditation) bypassed SI. There are many cases of advanced meditators committing suicide?

 

[Loser1989]

very interesting! ^_^ Thank you for informing us! :D would be nice if someone would be willing to "help" like that and wouldn't get arrested for it nowadays~ >_<

These emojis and the context are absolutely sending me xD

 

[-Tandem-]

It's not SI in the sense that we have it. They were highly trained and disciplined from a young age. If they were ordered to commit seppeku then that's what they were going to do, and without question or second guessing. We wanna kill ourselves because life fucking sucks for most of us. They killed themselves because it was their duty. I think? What the fuck do i know honestly ha

 

[donwhitman]

They usually had a "second" which is another person that beheads them when they start the seppaku...which saves them the pain.

 

[noname223]

Very interesting thread with a good question and many insightful replies. Made my evening more endurable.

 

[inconstantprayer]

It's not SI in the sense that we have it. They were highly trained and disciplined from a young age. If they were ordered to commit seppeku then that's what they were going to do, and without question or second guessing. We wanna kill ourselves because life fucking sucks for most of us. They killed themselves because it was their duty. I think? What the fuck do i know honestly ha

Yes, and that's one reason why they used some of the sharpest blades available to them, and kept them exquisitely sharp, "religiously", by hand, themselves,as though, these blades were, literally, an extension of not only their body, but their very soul. It would most definitely have made it at least a little bit easier to do the job with a very keen tool you have known very well like an old friend, like yourself. Their skill at crafting and maintaining their steel is to be commended. They let nothing go to waste either. They valued life very deeply.

Before everything went to crap with the Shoguns and all of the Shoguns dictatorial insanity took us far away from where we were, even doing dishonor to the very honorable way of life that it originated from... I'd say there was a time, before the shoguns, where they achieved a very well balanced way of life in this world that is well to be remembered and definitely not forgotten, hopefully with as much clarity as possible, and not to be mucked up with confusing uselessness. I also find the Emishi people to be a very intruiging people.

 

[Szarur-abi]

Honestly i would list few things
1. Cultural approval for honoral suicide; seppuku, thats the biggest one, suicide was just normal and expected in certain situations and even great leaders in face of defeat did it (Like Oda Nobunaga)
2. Societal pressure to commit suicide when faced defeat or dishonored also you would have a guy standing next to you with katana that expects you to cut your stomach with wakizashi, it added pressure to do it, and also it would be temporary pain and then quick release by cutting neck with katana. Sometimes it would be seppuku in groups where the allowance and pressure is even higher i mean if your entire clan is commiting seppuku then you wouldnt drop out right?
3. They made like proto-suicide notes before seppuku, poems (Jisei) that they wrote before death so it helped came to peace with it i think.

I also think they had survival insticts, its only natural to have them, but these reasons and probably more overcame SI for them in most cases.

 

[tiredash]

They were highly driven by honor and motivated. We are absolutely unmotivated and suffering, to the point of wanting to die. Its 2 completely different situations... Id say that, taking out the disembowelment, they had it easier deciding to die.

I dont get why the came up with that monstrosity of taking the bowels out... Maybe because its what costs the most

 

[Kali_Yuga13]

Honestly i would list few things
1. Cultural approval for honoral suicide; seppuku, thats the biggest one, suicide was just normal and expected in certain situations and even great leaders in face of defeat did it (Like Oda Nobunaga)
2. Societal pressure to commit suicide when faced defeat or dishonored also you would have a guy standing next to you with katana that expects you to cut your stomach with wakizashi, it added pressure to do it, and also it would be temporary pain and then quick release by cutting neck with katana. Sometimes it would be seppuku in groups where the allowance and pressure is even higher i mean if your entire clan is commiting seppuku then you wouldnt drop out right?
3. They made like proto-suicide notes before seppuku, poems (Jisei) that they wrote before death so it helped came to peace with it i think.

I also think they had survival insticts, its only natural to have them, but these reasons and probably more overcame SI for them in most cases.

Nice summary. I forgot about the "notes", some were like poems I think.
With the honor aspect, they were backed into a corner as living in shame and bring dishonor to their family's was a worse type of "death". I also think the performative aspect made it easier

 

[TAW122]

Many good answers in this thread and I think the culture and way of life during that time period really influenced the samurais to be able to go through with the act. In modern societies, death is viewed as some serious taboo and a state to always be avoided at all costs while life is irrationally worshipped and even protected regardless of circumstances.

 

[Ligottian]

Countless Japanese enlisted soldiers, who did not have swords, simply shot themselves. They were conditioned to believe surrender was cowardice and a disgrace.