I always feel sad whenever I read of someone giving up their life. Life is a gift and to be born as a human is very rare. Just look at the billions of animals around us from the sea, land to the sky in this planet earth alone.
Buddha was a skilful teacher who was able to teach others with parables (I think he was the first teacher using differentiated teaching). To help his disciples to understand the rareness of being born as a human, he said that to be born as a human is like a sea turtle that comes up to the surface once every hundred years and the sea turtle's head passed through a small hole of a wooden plank floating in the vast ocean.
According to Buddha, there are 31 planes of existence which include the lower realms like hell, ghost and animals and higher realms like human and other heavenly realms which include sensuous and immaterial world (form or formless).
Being born as a human besides being rare is also precious. It is the only realm where you can do good deeds and cultivate merit. Only a human can attain enlightenment as a Buddha. Thus we should use this opportunity to do good deeds and help others. It is said that to be born as a human being, it must also be your past life good karma as you have cultivated many merit in past lives.
Thus we should use the opportunity to do more good, follow the five precepts or eight precepts and hopefully be enlightened in this life.
Image from Fo Guang Shan website here
Image from Access to Insight, The Thirty-one Planes of Existence
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