This paper will discuss the definition of death and how one’s death is determined from the Buddhist view of death, particularly focusing on the critique of brain death criteria in modern neurology.Firstly, this paper introduces the theoretical background and clinical critique on brain death criteria. Secondly, the author elaborates the Buddhist definition and criteria of death. Finally, this paper scrutinizes the brain death criteria and the related definitions of death in modern neurology form the Buddhist perspective.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: mind (nāma) and form (rūpa). One’s death 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, heat and consciousness; when one’s consciousness is no longer attached to the physical body—meaning the body displays no signs of breathing, temperature and mental activities—the person can then be ultimately declared dead. In comparison, modern neurology classifies one’s death based on cease of activity in the whole-brain or the brainstem 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.
