Interpretation of Euthanasia in the Buddhist Worldview

Abstract

Religious interpretations of the moral aspect of euthanasia arouse serious scholarly interest in the problematic field of bioethics. The article is devoted to the explication of the Buddhist approach to the ethical assessment of euthanasia based on the material of Encyclopedia of Abhidharma with Commentary, an exegetical work by the famous educator Vasubandhu (4th–5th centuries) . A thematic analysis of the text reveals two different types of euthanasia discussed by Buddhist exegetes. One of them is characterized as the foreign practice of killing terminally ill parents in order to save them from severe suffering. In the context of the Buddhist worldview, this type of euthanasia belongs to the category of murders committed on the basis of ignorance. Killing is not a method of getting rid of suffering, because suffering is an attribute of samsara. Ignorant Gentiles do not understand the true difference between sin and virtue. By interrupting the lives of terminally ill parents, they commit the mortal transgression of killing a benefactor. Another type of euthanasia is described as a Buddhist ritual of premature end of life. The ritual is performed by an elderly arhat (the enlightened guardian of the Buddha’s teachings) when he has already prepared a worthy successor. An arhat interrupts his own life through a special mental method sanctified by the canonical tradition. This type of euthanasia was defined by Buddhist exegetes as a phenomenon of the domination of an enlightened person over life and death.