Buddhism and Suicide :: essays research papers fc

Thesis: Bibliography on Buddhist Ethics http://jbe.gold.ac.uk/7/harvey001.html#suicide Incoporate western philoosophy? Western ethics? First part- Bacvkground on Buddhist doctrine concerning suicide 1. No Buddhist Should Commit Suicide The Milindapanha 98. from the Vinaya Pitaka section on the Order. Warren, Henry Clarke. Buddhism in Translations. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Ltd. (1995). King Nagasena explains why a buddhist (priest) may not kill himself. He claims that the world needs Buddhists to spread understanding and enlightenment (Boddhisatva way). 2. Breaking the third paaraajika (Moral Precept) on Taking Life especially in human form (manussaviggaha) is the most serious offense that a Buddhist monk may commit (although just as serious in the Pa~ncasiila or Five Precepts for laymen). Results in expulsion from the monastic community. In his Samantapaasaadikaa commentary, Buddhaghosa sets out to clarify the legal provisions of the precept. He discusses a variety of cases, real and hypothetical, where death ensues, and endeavors to clarify the legal requirements for a breach of the precept to have taken place. The central legal concepts involved in Buddhaghosa's discussion are those of method, intention, and agency. The sources themselves make a distinction between pa.n.natti-vajja -- or what is prohibited by the Vinaya (for example, eating after midday) -- and what is lokavajja, or regarded as immoral by the world at large outside the cloister (for example, killing, stealing, and lying). Keown, Damien. â€Å"Attitudes to Euthanasia in the Vinaya and Commentary.† Journal of Buddhist Ethics. http://jbe.gold.ac.uk/6/keown993.htm Suicide and Assisted Suicide, incitement of suicide are all condememned by Buddha in the Vinaya. Apart from respect for autonomy, a second consideration sometimes advanced in support of euthanasia is compassion. Compassion is of great importance in Buddhism, particularly when linked to the notion of the bodhisattva. Some later sources reveal an increasing awareness of how a commitment to the alleviation of suffering on the part of a bodhisattva can create a conflict with the principle of the inviolability of life. Compassion, for example, might lead one to take life in order to alleviate suffering, and indeed this is the second main ground on which euthanasia is advocated today. Despite their benevolent motive, namely that a terminal patient should be spared unnecessary pain, the judgement was that those involved were guilty of a breach of the precept. According to Buddhaghosa, the essence of their wrongdoing was that the guilty monks made death their aim (mara.naatthika). This suggests that to make death one's aim, to will death, and a fortiori to embark on any course with death as one's purpose, goal or outcome, regardless of how benevolent the motive, is immoral from a Buddhist perspective.