[Buddha-l] Re: Buddhist Bioethics

[Bshmr at aol.com]

I will respond from my limited knowledge and learning.
 
Months ago, I researched some on Buddhist doctrine on dealing with dying  and 
debilitating illness. Several sutra/sutta make the point that one is too  
neither encourage nor discourage life or death although one should care for the  
ill and the dying. That is according to the translations of the Pali canons as 
I  read them. 
 
In addition, the 'books' of 'living and dying' or 'of the  dead' recommend 
equanimity in all experiences of a death. The  dying or dead ought not cling to 
life or be tempted to;  the survivors ought not grasp and beseech. Death is 
inevitable; as  with breath, it happens.
 
However, Buddhism is practiced by many sects and in many cultures. Some  
'Pureland' is Catholic-esque in dogma; most Zen is something else *g*; and, so  
on. Thich Nhat Hahn, a Vietnamese zen master, blends Pureland, Zen, and  
Christianity with a heavy spicing of ancestor 'worship' as well as activism.  
Buddhism is not practiced as a monolithic dogma or doctrine (??) so it  depends on 
what that the family believes, and many cases, what their 'priest'  professes.
 
Personally, I would not want to be treated as this elder is being treated  
and would state such. Let me accept the banes of existence. Don't grasp  at the 
unattainable.  It is unwholesome karma to dismiss the  insights of the basic 
Four Noble Truths. An enlightened one or just bodhistavva  (?), ought die 
peacefully -- within and without, else they have shown  nothing.
 
But, the family will have some rationalization which justifies their  acts. 
It will be theirs, not mine, and they will reap consequences from their  acts, 
perhaps ruin instead of enough.
 
 
Richard Basham, aka rbb -- Make noise, leave sign; or, not.   @1986
 
 
PS: I presume that others will have provided informed responses  while I 
waited for the Digest, and it waited for me to retrieve it. 
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