Yes and no.

An authentic, completely realized teacher would absolutely under no circumstances in any way suggest or encourage physical suicide or any physical harm to the body. People who say things like “find your purpose in life or kill yourself” are dangerous. They tend to be somewhat “woke”, but they are far, far away from authentic enlightenment. A typical example of such person is Bentinho Massaro. He is realized, but he is not enlightened, not by a long shot.

For comparison, here’s my position on physical suicide: Artem Boytsov’s answer to What is the biggest mistake you have ever seen caused by ego?

But the process of enlightenment is basically suicide that happens in the mind:

Firstly, enlightenment is the suicide of the ego, you sense of identity. The ego is not you, but you think it is, so it feels like you’re dying, that it’s your own death that’s happening, it literally feels this way. But only when the ego lets go, you can truly accept life. Before that you don’t know what you are. So spirituality is life-affirming, yes, most definitely so.

Secondly, complete enlightenment is as much about acceptance of life as it is about acceptance of death. That’s basically what Shunyata is - it’s the realization of emptiness of existence. Spirituality is not just life-affirming, it’s reality-affirming, and death is part of reality, there cannot be life without death. Accepting death liberates you to truly live. They exist together, they are inseparable.

Enlightenment is dying into love. Fortunately, that’s the only death that you will ever experience. And in some way, it means that it won’t be real, it cannot be. For if you define death as the end of experience, it is not possible to experience it, and thus, it is not possible to fear it, also. The death which is feared is fear itself, it’s just a sum total of all your resistance to life and all your fears, inhibitions and suppressed emotional trauma. You live through it all in the process, the body doesn’t die. All fear of death is in reality the fear of enlightenment, it’s the fear of love. The true cannot die, the false never lived.

So, suicidal ideation, sometimes extreme, thoughts and visual scenes of violence and death, both of you and of the people you know are very common on the spiritual path and I would say, quite universal. I am not aware of a single case where they would not be present. They can happen in meditation, they can happen in dreams, they can happen on psychedelics. Even if you manage to dis-identify with your ego and realize yourself as consciousness/awareness without what has been historically called “the dark night of the soul”, it will surely follow if you continue walking down this path towards the supreme enlightenment of a Buddha. The full truth is not for the faint of heart. If you don’t want truth, you don’t want enlightenment, it’s as simple as that. At the same time, you don’t have to go all the way, and every step towards it, every painful step of letting go fills your life with more joy, love, peace and acceptance. Also, once the worst is behind you, it tends to get easier and easier with time.

A good enlightened teacher will not push you there unless you ask for it. He will let you develop (shed) at your own pace. But he also will know that the more you practice, the more you deepen, the more you seek out his presence, the sooner the moment comes when you will have to witness the suicidal and violent tendencies of the ego. Ego is basically suicidal, insane. All it wants to do is to end its own misery, but it doesn’t know how to - that’s the real reason most suicides happen. I have once heard a saying that those seeking authentic enlightenment (not just a realization of awareness) have to be somewhat suicidal. It’s true. I know I was. You have to be very tired of all the madness which is your mind.

The good news is, none of that is happening in reality. All of that is happening in your mind, and in your mind only. Thoughts, ideations, images, fear - all of that are just passing phenomena, expressed verbally, visually or emotionally. And your own infinite love to yourself is what allows it to happen. Believe me, it is strong enough to go through it all and accept and witness it all. You have no idea how strong it is. It’s infinite! What you truly are isn’t bothered by it all, so you just have to have the guts to watch. An enlightened master knows that because he went through it himself.

So he will never “make” you feel suicidal, you will “feel” suicidal yourself as you’re going down this path, or, to be more precise, you will witness the existing suicidal tendencies of your own ego, its existing insanity. You have to witness it all to be free from it all. And in this sense, the master knows where you’re going, so if you want him to help you get enlightened, you could say it’s part of his job.

When death is accepted, life is seen as sacred. It’s two sides of the same coin. The highest truth of life is death, and consequently, the highest value of life is life itself. Life becomes the ultimate pleasure and the highest pleasure. Simply breathing becomes a miracle. So, there is not the slightest possibility of suicide in enlightenment (barring being in extreme physical pain with no hope of recovery), and not the slightest possibility of depression. The danger is only on your way there.

It’s important to be in contact with the master, but it’s not always possible. So at least have access to his words or teachings on this topic as you’re going through it. It helps to know that other people went through it, didn’t listen to the madness of the mind, didn’t act on it, and they are now okay. It helps to know you are not the only one who has ever gone through it. Unfortunately, the approach of conventional psychology in these cases is usually to drag you back to where you’re going away from, namely, society, friends, purpose, goals, meaning. You’ll be back eventually, but for now you have to leave it all behind. The price of truth is everything. Not only this approach is counter-productive at this stage on the spiritual path, but it’s also dangerous, because if you try it, you will just be swinging back and forth, and you might just get too tired of it. Most of the time you also aren’t capable of really going back at this point, so it’s an unnecessarily exerted effort when your nature is calling you to simply give up and surrender. That’s also why people who are sufficiently advanced on the path almost always require a period of deep solitude.

Please, under no circumstances hurt your body! Your body survives this process just fine, believe me. It not only recovers but blossoms like a flower. It’s all happening in the mind. Your body will take care of itself if you don’t interfere. When hungry, eat. When thirsty, drink. When sleepy, sleep. That’s all that’s needed.

The thoughts are just thoughts, nothing else. You don’t have to act on them. If you don’t act on them, they will subside eventually. It’s only fun for the mind to scare you for as long as it pulls your strings. If you stop being pulled and simply don’t do anything about it, it will stop eventually. Remember that no one has ever died out of fear. You’re breathing. So, breathe. It’s gonna be okay.