This post deals with the subject of suicide and also contains at least one reference to Scientology and quite possibly other sensitive/offensive topics. Consider yourself trigger warned.

If you are in crisis, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Lifeline provides confidential support to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. Support is also available via live chat .

In most ways, Mary Thanissara is just another leftist spouting the anti-Israel party-line. But there is one thing that does make her different from the Jeremy Corbyns and the Rashida Tlaibs of this world: Thanissara is a Buddhist teacher.

Unfortunately there is today a small but rather loud group of “engaged Buddhists” who have adopted the whole megillah of leftist anti-Israel, anti-Zionist rhetoric and slogans, much of which is deeply antisemitic.

A case in point is Thanissara’s latest anti-Israel harangue:  Gaza and the Battle for Earth. (You can read it here, or watch her reading it here).

There’s a lot to not like.

First off, there is the ludicrous title. It sounds like something you’d find on the cover of an L. Ron Hubbard novel, or maybe on the case of a Marvel Avengers video game.

Stylistically, Thanissara’s screed is as bombastic and grandiose as it’s title suggests. She imagines herself as a spiritual leader of a movement to “break the spell of this psychopathic miasma …. which is currently controlling the destiny of the planet …. We, global citizens everywhere, are the last chance to circle out from this culture of death….”

Thematically, and by this point this should be obvious, the content is apocalyptic and megalomanical. This kind of millenarian ranting is normally associated with Pentecostalist preachers, but Thanissara is part of small (but possibly growing) group of Buddhist teachers whose relentless catastrophizing at best distracts from any practical real-world engagement with social and political issues, and, at worse, encourages extremist views and ultimately extemist actions.

In terms of any actual Buddhist content, there simply is none. Where there purports to be Dharma there is only moral grandstanding and knee-jerk anti-imperialist, jihadist-adjacent political sloganeering.

But all of the above is trumped by an even bigger problem with Thanissara’s End-Times diatribe. What is really, truly, deeply abhorrent about Thanisara’s Battle for Earth is her praise for the mentally ill antisemite Aaron Bushnell.

The story of Aaron Bushnell’s short tragic life is a sad tale that can be told in half a dozen sentences. He spent the first 20 years of his life in a small Christian cult that Bushnell himself described as “toxic” and “abusive”. He left the cult and joined the Air Force. He started hanging out with far-left activists and came to consider himself an “Anarchist”. He spent a lot of time online. He became obsessed with Israel and Palestine and absorbed the left’s antisemitic hatred of Israel to such an extent that he supported the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th because all Israeli Jews are “colonial settlers” who deserve to die. When his Air Force service contract was about to end he committed suicide by setting himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy while shouting “Free Palestine!” (it took him seven hours to die from his self-inflicted injuries).

In Battle for Earth, Thanissara holds up Bushnell as someone to be admired, someone who has set an example to be followed:

Besides the sheer moral outrage of Gaza, the uprising for Palestinian rights has traveled like wildfire around the world as everywhere citizens see themselves in the fate of Palestinians. We understand, as Aaron Bushnell said, that “this is what our ruling class has in mind for the world.”

But what does Thanissara really know about Aaron Bushnell? Does she know that most of his life was spent in an abusive cult? Does she know that he openly supported Hamas as an “anti-colonial resistance organization” and publicly declared his approval of the rape, murder, and kidnapping of Israeli civilians on October 7? In other words, does she realize that he was a psychologically damaged young man obsessed with violent antisemitic ideas? It is very likely that Thanissara does not know this. After all, she couldn’t even quote his dying words accurately!

Bushnell recorded his final moments. Just before setting himself on fire he said “This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.” (NOT: “This is what our ruling class has in mind for the world.”)

One also has to wonder if Thanissara realizes that suicide is the second leading cause of death for young men and adolescent boys? Does she know that the rate of suicide among young men of Bushnell’s age has been increasing dramtatically for the last 15 years? Does she know that the suicide rate among active duty military personell is not only now at an all time high, but that suicide is now the leading cause of death for active duty military personell?

Does she understand that the way in which cases of suicide are portrayed in the media and online can be a major contributing factor to an increase in suicide attempts? According to the World Health Organization’s Preventing suicide: a resource for media professionals: “Do not use language which sensationalizes or normalizes suicide, or presents it as a constructive solution to problems.”

Surely as a long time Buddhist practitioner and experienced Buddhist teacher, Thanissara must be aware of the fact that a significant portion of those who are drawn to Buddhist teachings are individuals who suffer from a variety of psychological and bevavioral problems, especially depression, anxiety, and substance abuse? In fact, “mindfulness” practices (based on Buddhist teachings) are often promoted as a form of therapy for depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. Because of this, Buddhist teachers have an increased responsibility to exercise great caution when discussing the subject of suicide.

But Thanissara recklessly holds up Aaron Bushnell’s suicide as an act to be admired and praised. And it has to be emphasized that Thanissara’s praise for Bushnell’s suicide can only be understood as an endorsement of suicide as a “constructive solution”.

When eschatalogical raving about the imminent collapse of human civilization is combined with extolling the virtues of a young man who has committed suicide, this has to be condemned in the strongest possible terms. And when this is done in the name of the Dharma it is inexcusable.

For more information about suicide:
• The Relationship between Childhood Trauma and Suicidal Ideation: Role of Maltreatment and Potential Mediators (Psychiatry Investigation)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5240465/
• Association of Childhood Maltreatment With Suicide Behaviors Among Young People: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (Journal of the American Medical Association Network)
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2769030
• Childhood maltreatment and adult suicidality: a comprehensive systematic review with meta-analysis (Cambridge Open Access)
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/childhood-maltreatment-and-adult-suicidality-a-comprehensive-systematic-review-with-metaanalysis/043CB9ABD61C68B00C4F72EFE02B9A17
• Suicide Statistics (National Institute of Mental Health)
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/suicide
• Concerns Rise Over Military Suicide Rates; Here’s How the USO is Trying to Help (United Service Orgazations)
https://www.uso.org/stories/2664-military-suicide-rates-are-at-an-all-time-high-heres-how-were-trying-to-help
• Active-Duty Suicide Rate Hit Record High in 2020 (Defense One)
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2021/10/active-duty-suicide-rate-hits-record-high/185882/
• Suicide Now the Primary Cause of Death among Active Duty US Soldiers (The Brink: Boston University)
https://www.bu.edu/articles/2024/suicide-now-the-primary-cause-of-death-among-active-duty-us-soldiers/
• Psychiatrists Create Initiative to Educate Media About Suicide Contagion (Psychiatry Online)
https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.pn.2021.9.27
• The Contagion of Suicidal Behavior Madelyn S. Gould & Alison M. Lake https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207262/

For more information about Aaron Bushnell:
• Aaron Bushnell, who self-immolated for Palestine, had grown deeply disillusioned with the military (The Intercept)
https://theintercept.com/2024/02/28/aaron-bushnell-reddit-fire-protest-israel-palestine/
• Archive of some of Bushnell’s online postings
https://archive.ph/APJiQ#selection-3383.60-3383.204
• Aaron Bushnell’s Agonies by Simon van Zuylen-Wood
(this one is behind a paywall – but I hate to admit it’s worth it):
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/who-is-aaron-bushnell-self-immolation-israel-embassy.html
• Self-Immolation Is Often Part Protest, Part Suicide (Psychology Today)
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psych-unseen/202402/self-immolation-is-often-part-protest-part-suicide
• A Postscript and Postmortem on the Suicide of Aaron Bushnell (Psychology Today)
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psych-unseen/202403/a-postscript-and-postmortem-on-the-suicide-of-aaron-bushnell
• Teen Vogue quietly tweaks article on US airman’s self-immolation after ‘glorifying suicide’ (NY Post)
https://nypost.com/2024/03/15/media/teen-vogue-tweaks-article-on-aaron-bushnell-suicide-in-front-of-israeli-embassy/
• Society agrees suicide is a tragedy. Why would anyone praise the immolation that took an airman’s life? (The Forward)
https://forward.com/opinion/587864/aaron-bushnell-immolation-suicide/
• The Last Words of Aaron Bushnell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJpWOikX9jU