Lumbini (AsiaNews) – Symbol of non violence and the Buddha's birthplace, Lumbini in Nepal is now the scene of a growing number of suicides. The trend has started to worry religious leaders for whom poverty and illiteracy, but also the loss of spiritual values, are at the root of a social malaise.

Official figures indicated that on an average one person commits suicide per week in the land of Lord Buddha. By the end of September, the number stood at 40—the figure for the whole of last year was 28 suicides.

Bhante Abhinav, a Buddhist monk, told AsiaNews that most suicide victims are middle aged, including women. "It is shocking that people are committing suicide in the birthplace of Lord Buddha who preached peace and shunned every kind of violence against anyone," he said. "Violence destroys the beauty of human life".

"I have a feeling that we, Buddhist monks and believers, have failed to live up to Buddhist values in our day-to-day life," he explained. "We will have to intervene effectively to stop this trend".

Father Gibbi, a social activist from the bordering Indian Catholic diocese of Gorakhpur who is engaged in Christian-Buddhist interfaith dialogue, is not so sure that poverty and illiteracy were the major causes of suicides in the region.

"The truth lies in the loss of Buddhist values which were the bedrock of life and culture in the region," the Catholic priest said.

He noted that in past one decade the Lumbini region has become the "sanctuary of the Maoist ideology of violence" which has ripped apart the area's age-old Buddhist social-cultural mosaic.

Buddhist leaders have been "short-sighted before the eclipse of Buddhist values as the Maoist cult of brazen violence took over." This has been made worse by the region's prevailing "economic and social anarchy". Without faith and spirituality to help people cope with daily problems, people "fall into the vortex of suicide".

"I am happy though, that local Buddhist monks are now willing to tackle the problem. The Catholic Church is ready to help them in promoting a culture of life".