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A Response to Damien Keown's Suicide, Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: A Buddhist Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2015

R.E. Florida
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Extract

Keown is clear that the Buddhist tradition is remarkably diverse and that his paper presents only one Buddhist perspective, one based on his interpretation of relevant passages from the Pali canon. However, there is a real danger that those readers who are perhaps not broadly read in Buddhism could be misled to think that the position presented in Keown's paper is the Buddhist view rather than a Buddhist view. In fact, he sometimes seems to slide rather far in that direction himself. He states on page two that “an accurate understanding of basic Buddhist values does generate an authentic Buddhist ethic about end-of-life decisions; [and] … suicide, assisted suicide and euthanasia are all contrary to Buddhist ethics.” This claim tends to imply that there is only one normative Buddhist view on these issues. Starting with his premise that “Buddhisms” rather than Buddhism is the more accurate way to speak, it is more likely that there are plural systems of Buddhist ethics rather than a single one, and thus there could be variable authentic Buddhist views on end-of-life issues.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Law and Religion , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , 1998 , pp. 413 - 416
Copyright
Copyright © Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University 1998

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References

1. Lopez, Donald S., Buddhism in Practice ch 36 (Princeton U Press, 1995)Google Scholar; Williams, Paul, Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations 154 (Routledge, 1989)Google Scholar. In the introductory chapter to the Lotus Sūtra, it is noted with approval that Bodhisattvas give their own flesh, hands, and feet as offerings.

2. Sāntideva, , The Bodhicaryāvatāra 20 (Oxford U Press, Crosby, K. and Skilton, A., trs, 1995)Google Scholar.

3. Lingat, R., Les suicides religieux au Siam reprinted from 1 Felicitation Volumes of Southeast-Asian Studies presented to his Highness Prince Dhaninivat Kromamun Bidyalabh Bridhyakorn on the Occasion of his Eightieth Birthday (Siam Society Press, 1965)Google Scholar.

4. I wonder if these suicides might indeed have been directly inspired by Mahāyāna practice as they occurred during a period of Chinese immigration to the capital of Thailand. Lingat does not discuss the ethnic origins of those who immolated themselves.

5. Florida, R.E., Buddhist Approaches to Euthanasia in 35 Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 22/1 (1993)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6. These are found in section II of his article.

7. See p 12f.

8. See section III of his article.

9. See section III, pp 24-27.