Building on the core principle of pratītya-samutpāda (dependant co-rising), Buddhist bioethics displays its qualities in both view of life and of ethics. In Buddhism, life for the sentient beings is an incessantly reincarnating ever-long process, centralizing on the continually changing course of the mind. The ethical concerns of Buddhism not only focus on the intention of one’s actions, but also examine its outcome. In Buddhism, an action that is considered good is motivated by one’s kindhearted intention, which will improve one’s quality of demeanor and bring about positive effects to its subsequent journey to ultimate enlightenment. This dissertation attempts to deliberate on issues of death and dying in modern times, approaching from the aforementioned perspectives of Buddhist bioethics, firstly drawing upon the criteria of death which is closely related to the Buddhist view of life, then moving forward to discuss the ethical issues of organ donation and the act commonly known as euthanasia.
First, this dissertation will explicate the boundaries of life and death and how one’s death is determined from a Buddhist philosophical viewpoint, and remark on the criteria of death in modern neurology. From the Buddhist view of life, the living body of a sentient being is composed of many properties, which can be classified into two categories: nāma(name) and rūpa (form). One’s birth and death are not singular incidents that happened at specific timings, but are part of an incessant process caused by one’s physical and mental changes of correlated properties. In Buddhism, determination of one’s death is based on three properties: vitality, heart and consciousness; when one’s consciousness is no longer attached to the physical body—meaning the body displays no sign of breathing, temperature and mental activities, and may even be showing signs of decay—they can then be ultimately declared dead. In comparison, modern neurology classifies one’s death based on cease of activity in the whole-brain, the brainstem or the higher brain, which merely establishes the determination of one’s death on the activity, or lack of, in their physical brain, so as to allow one’s death to be declared as soon as possible.
Disputes regarding how one’s death ought to be determined show that there are irresolute conflicts between the appropriate timing to declare death and the maintaining one’s organ vitality. This dissertation will utilize the Buddhist approach to deliberate how organ donation protocols in modern times can affect the donor’s dying process, while examining the ethical controversies over the existing organ donation systems. In Buddhism, the organ donation protocol after brain death or cardiac death both overly emphasize the medical advantages to the recipient and consequently overlook the donor
