CHANNOVADA SUTTA: DISCOURSE ON ADVICE TO VENERABLE CHANNA
“Then when Venerable Sāriputta and Venerable Mahā Cunda had advised Venerable Channa, they rose from their seats and departed. Then, soon after they had departed, Venerable Channa used the knife to end his life.
Then Venerable Sāriputta went to the Buddha and having paid homage to the Buddha, sat to one side. Sitting to one side, Venerable Sāriputta said this to the Buddha. “Venerable Sir, Venerable Channa has used the knife. What is his destination, what is his future course?”
“Sāriputta, didn’t the monk Channa declare to you his blamelessness?”
“Venerable Sir, there is a Vajjan village called Pubbajira. There Venerable Channa had friendly families, close families, approachable families.”
“True, Sāriputta, Channa had friendly families, close families, approachable families. But Sāriputta, I do not say that he was blameworthy on that account. Sāriputta, when one lays down this body and takes up a new body, then I say one is blameworthy. This did not happen with the monk Channa; he used the knife blamelessly.”
This is what the Buddha said. Venerable Sāriputta satisfied and delighted in the Buddha’s words.”
“The Buddha has stated that Venerable Channa’s death was blameless as he has defeated death, meaning that Venerable Channa has died as an Arahant. In the days of the Buddha, two other monks named Venerable Godhika and Venerable Vakkali too died in a similar way and in those events too the Buddha stated that they died as Arahants. Unsurprisingly, there is much discussion and debate in the Buddhist literature as to whether Venerable Channa was really an Arahant when he ended his life with a knife and whether it is possible for an Arahant to end one’s own life in such a way.”
Another arahant who committed suicide: Godhika Thera