Compassion for all sentient beings is the core value of Buddhism. Killing or harming is a profound antithesis to compassion. However, there are many accounts and stories in Buddhist scripture as well as in the Buddhist history in reality that narrate a type of killing motivated by compassion for the purpose of protecting sentient beings and stopping greater evil deeds. This article intends to discuss, in the framework of Buddhist universal value of non violence, extent to which the act of killing with good-will is justifiable. Although many studies have been done by scholars of Buddhist philosophy, Buddhist ethics, or Buddhism and the contemporary society on this issue, different scholars interpreted Buddhist texts differently and produced different theories or point of views in this regard. In my view, these theories and points of views require further examination. Some scholars propose that killing with good-will does not necessarily constitute in bad karma, hence, it is not absolutely a wrongdoing, especially if this act is the last resort to stop greater evils. Other scholars, on the other hand, hold that Buddhist doctrine of non-violence should be observed strictly and therefore even the good-will killing is considered as bad karma. In my view, I agree that even good-will killing should be considered as bad karma, but disagree that Buddhism condemn all form of killing without exception. At first glance, that killing with good-will is bad karma, and that Buddhism does not necessarily condemn it, contradict each other, however, in my view, the apparent dilemma comes from our anticipation overly on the consistency and the practicality of Buddhist ethics, which entails that if good-will killing is a bad karma, it should be rejected. On the contrary, if we allow some form of good-willing killing, it must be justifiable and not be considered as a bad karma.
