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When you kill yourself, you kill every memory everyone has of you. You're saying, "I'm gone and you can't even be sure who it is that's gone, because you never knew me."
--Joan Wickersham (1957-), in The Suicide Index: Putting My Father's Death in Order (pub. 2008)
Ikkyu [一休宗純], the Zen master, was very clever even as a boy. His teacher had a precious teacup, a rare antique. Ikkyu happened to break this cup and was greatly perplexed. Hearing the footsteps of his teacher, he held the pieces of the cup behind him. When the master appeared, Ikkyu asked: "Why do people have to die?"
"This is natural," explained the older man. "Everything has to die and has just so long to live."
Ikkyu, producing the shattered cup, added: "It was time for your cup to die."
--From Zen Flesh, Zen Bones , compiled by Paul Reps (1895-1990)
