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General Buddhism => General Buddhism => Topic started by: RedLantern on March 17, 2012, 09:37:48 AM
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Mercy and killing can never go together according to Buddhism.Some people try to justify mercy killing with the misconception that if the motive or reason is good,then the act is good.No doubt their original intention or motive is good but the evil act of killing which occurs through a later thought,will certainly bring about unwhole
some results.
Nevertheless,the Buddhist religion cannot justify mercy killing as completely free from bad reaction.To kill out of necessity and without anger or hatred has less bad reaction than to kill out of intense anger or jealousy.
As a Buddhist,all we can do is to help to reduce the pain of suffering in others.
What is your view on Euthanasia?
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Mercy killing does not work in Buddhism because it does not go in accordance with the law of karma. Mercy killing is killing based on the belief that ending the life of someone will help end their suffering as well. It is usually done on people or animals that are suffering with the belief that they won't have to suffer anymore. Therefore the better decision is to end the life since he or she is in pain. This is the basis of mercy killing.
According to the law of Karma, all sufferings arise from a previous action that we have done in the past. Karma cannot be erased or avoided once it has start taking effect. Things can be done to it before it takes effect, but not after. Once karma is activated, it cannot be stopped and the individual needs to undergo the karma unless there is an intervening karma that is strong enough to go against it.
Mercy killing does not work because 1) it does nothing to mitigate the effects of the karma that has opened up and 2) it is just hiding behind the fact that the people is suffering and we need to get it out of our sight. We are just escaping from the suffering that we or them are facing. People who die from mercy killing will have to be reborn with the same problems and pain that they have since the karma has not ended yet.
Personally for some cases, in my own opinion mercy killing can be done to people with serious injury where even if they survive they will not be able to recover much or they will end up being in a coma. If I were in that situation, I would prefer to be killed so that I can take a rebirth and have a chance to do Dharma again….
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If we accept the workings of the Law of Karma completely, we would have to reject Mercy Killing or Euthanasia completely. This is logical.
Killing someone who is suffering (as a result of his karma ripening) does stop or eradicate his suffering. The suffering has to take its own course until the karma has exhausted. If we perform euthanasia on someone who is suffering, that person will definitely experience the similar suffering again in the future lives. This is because the karma of his suffering has not yet exhausted. In fact the person who wanted euthanasia performed on him, is adding another suffering for himself in the future lives!
We may think that perhaps a second chance in the future life to start all over again without the similar suffering prior to Euthanasia justifies our action. No, in reality that is not the case. Killing own-self or requesting others to perform euthanasia on us is a negative karma! If we perform euthanasia for a willing person, we are also committing a negative karma of killing! Karma is never wasted. Every action leads to an effect. Hence no matter how compassionate we are in performing Euthanasia, we will still experience the effect of Killing.
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Killing that involves: plotting, doing the action, and later rejoicing over it... Is the worst thing a person can do. Mercy killing however, does not involves these 3 actions.
Euthanasia is a definite NO in Buddhism. We all know that whatever it is that's being experienced by the person is all due to the negative karma that has opened and even by killing/dying, he/she will continue to experience the similar karma in another rebirth until it is spent.
However, at the sametime... I believe euthanasia too can be done in a Buddhist context. When we have tried all possible ways to help the person/animal... and prolonging his/her existance in the world is practically unethical, as all the person feels is pain, there is no way he/she will be able to practice the Dharma. For this, i believe it is okay to conduct euthanasia. Do blessings for the person, and pujas, try our best to give the person as much merits as possible to obtain a good rebirth. By doing this, we also help the family members... we save them the trauma they could have experienced. Seeing a loved one in so much pain, is a very traumatic experience and can even ruin some people's lives.
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This is an interesting topic..is euthanasia acceptable in Buddhism.
Why we have to suffer in the first place is due to our negative karma..if we meet in an accident, or are in very critical states, where our body itself cannot heal, but our consciousness is still within our body, it would be a result of us having created the causes for ourselves to receive the same in this life. Therefore, karma wise, euthanasia would not be acceptable, because one would have to live out the extent of their karma, and experience it, before that karma is exhausted. If the person is euthanized, then in their next life, they would have to experience it again.
Also, for the family members, the pain and suffering they are going through, would also be a direct result of karma. Therefore they themselves would have to exhaust this karma by experiencing the effects of what is happening rather than avoid and cut it because it does come back.
On another thinking, if one would not have Dharma, euthanasia would be an option that would be frequently considered, because it is choosing to end misery, for both parties, to avoid having to go through suffering any longer, which is what samsara would always teach us, because ultimately, it is easier for ourselves..
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Mercy killing as in euthanasia is to me a selfish way to end someone else's life. Whichever way you look at it, it is to stop the person's pain as well as our pain and that is selfish. Because we created that pain ourselves and who are us to take the "easy way" out by snuffing out a life.
That said, if one was in a scenerio whereby one has to kill one or more in order to save many more, what would one do? Would this be "mercy" killing as in the lesser of two evils? How would one choose in this case. Is it the same as euthanasia or is this any different. The motivation is somewhat the same, we want to lessen the pain of one or more. But is it?
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Great topic for debate and discussion, I am sure many people would love to participate in this discussion..
I would like to share some basic information about Euthanasia, information from BBC website:
Active and passive euthanasia
(1) Active euthanasia
Active euthanasia occurs when the medical professionals, or another person, deliberately do something that causes the patient to die.
(2) Passive euthanasia
Passive euthanasia occurs when the patient dies because the medical professionals either don't do something necessary to keep the patient alive, or when they stop doing something that is keeping the patient alive.
switch off life-support machines
disconnect a feeding tube
don't carry out a life-extending operation
don't give life-extending drugs
The moral difference between killing and letting die
Many people make a moral distinction between active and passive euthanasia.
They think that it is acceptable to withhold treatment and allow a patient to die, but that it is never acceptable to kill a patient by a deliberate act.
Some medical people like this idea. They think it allows them to provide a patient with the death they want without having to deal with the difficult moral problems they would face if they deliberately killed that person.
Personally, I think active euthanasia is a big NO NO from karmic point of view - it is plain killing !
On the other hand, passive euthanasia is letting the person's karma takes it course, without medical aids, if he lives, it is meant to be and vice versa.. Some people will definitely think I am taking this 'karma' theory a bit too far and not providing medical aids to any living beings is wrong.. Well, you can put forth your argument and let's debate!!
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I think it is very good that we can discuss this between buddhists, it proves that buddhists are not dogmatic.
A DOGMA would be to say that killing is bad, that killing is absolutly unacceptable, and a DOGMA would posit this as a rule without explanation nor debate, nor possibility to question it.
What buddhism says is that killing is an act that is motivated and that has consequences.
So we must look at the motivation and at the consequences very carefully before deciding to engage or not to engage in the act.
On top of this, as buddhists, we must look at our vows carefully, are we braking our vows? Or are we holding our vows at the expense of somebody suffering a great deal?
To do mercy killing holds a specific motivation, but we should really make sure what motivation is there... Is it based on wisdom and compassion or is it based on something else?
Would this act of mercy killing benefit the person?
Would it benefit me on my spiritual journey, short-term and long-term?
Not a simple topic, because the answer is not applicable to every case.
It shows that every case is different.
But am I glad that we don't have a definite answer to this question and that we are able to recognize that every being, every situation is specific...
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Killing is killing. The act of killing is negative already. How can one be the judge of another one' s life ?
Mercy and killing does not go and in hand. It does not make any sense. Some people kill their pets on the grounds that they do not like to see their pets suffer therefore killing them to relieve thier suffering. It is a misconception. There will be a karma reaction no matter how you kill be it merciful or not. By mercifully killing, we are just preventing the working of one's karma, the debt Will have to pe paid in another existence. The Buddhist way is to reduce the pain and suffering of other's as much as we can.
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Killing is killing. The act of killing is negative already. How can one be the judge of another one' s life ?
Mercy and killing does not go and in hand. It does not make any sense. Some people kill their pets on the grounds that they do not like to see their pets suffer therefore killing them to relieve thier suffering. It is a misconception. There will be a karma reaction no matter how you kill be it merciful or not. By mercifully killing, we are just preventing the working of one's karma, the debt Will have to pe paid in another existence. The Buddhist way is to reduce the pain and suffering of other's as much as we can.
Dear SD, I agree with you, the karmic consequences of the act of killing are very serious, and even more so when a vow is broken.
I agree with that.
Yet, you also say: " The Buddhist way is to reduce the pain and suffering of other's as much as we can. ", and for some people this might mean "to kill our horse when he is down, injured and slowly dying in pain".
How do we debate with them?
Do we explain them that it is better for the horse to experience this painful agony in order to exhaust the karma so he does not have to go through that again?
What would you say?
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This is a tricky one and it is easy to see why some people feel that Euthanasia is justified as an act of mercy. I used to subscribe to mercy killing until a relative explained to me the karmic significance of mercy killing.
A person or animal may suffer tremendously but we need to remember that this is their karma in action. No one can suffer until they have the karma to suffer. And that karma has to be totally exhausted for the sufferer to be free from the negative effects of their past actions.
In our belief that killing a person or an animal to put them out of their misery, we in fact commit 2 wrong acts: (i) we commit a grave sin by killing or causing a life to be killed and (ii) in ending their life prematurely we actually deny them the opportunity to fully exhaust that negative karma that is causing them to suffer. They have to take rebirth to suffer yet again. How cruel is that?
The Law Of Karma is very logical but we human beings try to assert our interpretation on it, interpretations which sadly are corrupted with the 8 Worldly Concerns.
We also need to be careful that we are not mixing up wanting to end someone else's apparent suffering, from not wanting ourselves to suffer vicariously from another's pain.
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It is not an easy question.
The term "mercy killing" itself use the adjective "mercy" to the act "killing". The best description to mercy in this case is the word kind. So "mercy killing" is "kind killing". So how can one be kind and yet kill. The only answer is that killing the particular being is a kind act for that being. Better kill that being than let that being go on living. Usually, that being is suffering greatly and there is no hope for recovery and more importantly in great pain or living for that being will bring much more sufferings then killing that being.
I find that it is all in the motivation. If one is truly compassionate, investigated and has all the facts right, then with compassion it is "mercy killing". The dangers lies with the question of how do we get all the facts right? Do we really know? People from the "outside" cannot really judge and there are laws against it as applied to humans but allowed in some cases for animals.
I am not prepared to condemn this act and my feelings is that if I am faced with it and I am sure the act is kinder I will do it. Om Mani Peme Hum!
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Thank you for sharing this topic.
While writing this, my family is currently facing with this situation. The person keep asking and like begging us to take her home and ask us to let go. The doctor told us that without the supporting equipment she might go anytime. While I was with her one of the most crucial time is that she wanted to pull all the needles and oxygen host. She was so strong that it takes 3 to 4 people to pull her down that very moment. I was there with other 3 nurses… At that very moment I calm her down while she scolded me. Here I don’t want to see her suffer there I cant just stand there without doing anything. The last 1 day is been difficult as her both her hands are swollen and they can find any of her vain and have to now jab trough her neck area. Today she has water in her lungs, which they have successfully, drain away.
Question:
If we decide to take her home upon request is this still consider killing?
If Dr says that there is no other way to treat her and ask us to take her home? Izit still consider killing?
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If we believe in karma and reincarnation, then it is logical to say that mercy killing or Euthanasia is not acceptable. It is very difficult and unbearable to see our love ones suffering and in pain and we think that if we can pull out all the life support so that the person can go off than we are wrong. Who are we to determine or take away a person's life? The pain and the negative karma that the person experience if not purified before death will accumulate and continue in the next life. So in my opinion, though hard it may be, it is better for that person to exhaust the negative karma so he/she does not have to go through that in the next life.
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Thank you for sharing this topic.
While writing this, my family is currently facing with this situation. The person keep asking and like begging us to take her home and ask us to let go. The doctor told us that without the supporting equipment she might go anytime. While I was with her one of the most crucial time is that she wanted to pull all the needles and oxygen host. She was so strong that it takes 3 to 4 people to pull her down that very moment. I was there with other 3 nurses… At that very moment I calm her down while she scolded me. Here I don’t want to see her suffer there I cant just stand there without doing anything. The last 1 day is been difficult as her both her hands are swollen and they can find any of her vain and have to now jab trough her neck area. Today she has water in her lungs, which they have successfully, drain away.
Question:
If we decide to take her home upon request is this still consider killing?
If Dr says that there is no other way to treat her and ask us to take her home? Izit still consider killing?
Am sorry to hear about your family member VajraD. It must be a difficult time however do take comfort in the fact you have Dharma to guide you. I believe when a person is close to death, it is important for them to have peace of mind and not worry.
Perhaps if the doctors say there really is nothing else they can do and the member of your family wants to be home... I say let the person go home. It is giving them a sense of peace. I personally hate hospitals. To have to pass on in a hospital is truly miserable and I would not want to stay in a hospital too.
I do not think it is "killing" if there is nothing else one can do for her medically... In fact I think it would be the best thing to do. The key is to be at peace and when death comes we are not afraid.
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If the patient and family has understood and accepted Karma, I think there is no need for mercy killing. To kill them with mercy, we thought we are helping the patient. From the surface it looks like as if we are helping them to end their sufferings, but in fact we are not. If they leave this world with regret, with grief, with anger, they are going to be reborn in a place that is not so nice.
I think it will be better to explain to the patient (if the patient is conscious) what karma is, help them to accept. Then teach them how to recite mantra, have a connection with Buddha. If they are not conscious, we can do our part by praying to the Buddha (or protector) to help the patient.
When we kill with mercy, are we really helping the patient or we do it out of our selfishness because we are not able to cope anymore?
I have read a Buddha story before about Buddha himself killing a person:
"The Buddha, in a past life as a ship's captain named Super Compassionate, discovered a criminal on board who intended to kill the 500 passengers. If he told the passengers, they would panic and become killers themselves. With no other way out, he compassionately stabbed the criminal to death. Captain Compassionate saved the passengers not only from murder, but from becoming murderers themselves. Unlike him, they would have killed in rage and suffered hell. He saved the criminal from becoming a mass murderer and even worse suffering. He himself generated vast karmic merit by acting with compassion."
So, examine our motivation to kill in depth. Since we are not Buddha, I think when we kill, we will not generate karmic merit but negative karmas.
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Thank you for sharing this topic.
While writing this, my family is currently facing with this situation. The person keep asking and like begging us to take her home and ask us to let go. The doctor told us that without the supporting equipment she might go anytime. While I was with her one of the most crucial time is that she wanted to pull all the needles and oxygen host. She was so strong that it takes 3 to 4 people to pull her down that very moment. I was there with other 3 nurses… At that very moment I calm her down while she scolded me. Here I don’t want to see her suffer there I cant just stand there without doing anything. The last 1 day is been difficult as her both her hands are swollen and they can find any of her vain and have to now jab trough her neck area. Today she has water in her lungs, which they have successfully, drain away.
Question:
If we decide to take her home upon request is this still consider killing?
If Dr says that there is no other way to treat her and ask us to take her home? Izit still consider killing?
Dear VajraD,
I am sorry for the difficult situation one of your relative is going through at the moment and I feel for her.
I do like what Positive Attitude did write about it.
I have not had to face such complex situation myself (yet), but I would like to think that if it was my mother I had to deal with, I would do what I conclude to be the best for her, even at the cost of facing karmic consequences for myself that may be difficult to deal with, I am ready to do that for the well-being of my mother. I would put the well-being of my mother before the fear of my karma. And the well-being may not necessarily be the longest life, it may be the comfort of home and a peaceful dying process with the right company and with a peace of mind.
The well-being of my mother comes before mine.
The well-being of others come before mine.
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When the doctor told me that my late mum had only maybe 3 months to live, I asked why did she have to suffer being bed-ridden for a few more months? Why did she not die earlier than to suffer the pain for so long? She slowly lost the use of her limbs, her sight, her hearing ... then she became bed ridden and slowly losing her appetite until she only survived on a small bowl of cereals or rice porridge/broth. To see her just lying there, not being able to do anything by herself for herself was heart wrenching.
So when I heard what the doctor, I was almost relieved that she did not have to suffer much more as her time was almost up. She passed on not long after that.
If I had been given the choice to end it for her, I don't think I would have had the courage to do so. I don't think it is right to take away someone else's life.
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If the patient and family has understood and accepted Karma, I think there is no need for mercy killing. To kill them with mercy, we thought we are helping the patient. From the surface it looks like as if we are helping them to end their sufferings, but in fact we are not. If they leave this world with regret, with grief, with anger, they are going to be reborn in a place that is not so nice.
I think it will be better to explain to the patient (if the patient is conscious) what karma is, help them to accept. Then teach them how to recite mantra, have a connection with Buddha. If they are not conscious, we can do our part by praying to the Buddha (or protector) to help the patient.
When we kill with mercy, are we really helping the patient or we do it out of our selfishness because we are not able to cope anymore?
I have read a Buddha story before about Buddha himself killing a person:
"The Buddha, in a past life as a ship's captain named Super Compassionate, discovered a criminal on board who intended to kill the 500 passengers. If he told the passengers, they would panic and become killers themselves. With no other way out, he compassionately stabbed the criminal to death. Captain Compassionate saved the passengers not only from murder, but from becoming murderers themselves. Unlike him, they would have killed in rage and suffered hell. He saved the criminal from becoming a mass murderer and even worse suffering. He himself generated vast karmic merit by acting with compassion."
So, examine our motivation to kill in depth. Since we are not Buddha, I think when we kill, we will not generate karmic merit but negative karmas.
Dolce Vista,
I like your post the most! It had given me a whole new angle to think and reflect on my decision. I alway tell my family and friends that if there comes a day I am bed ridden, no hope of cured n I am depending on life support system to prolong my miserable life - PLS PULL THE PLUG!
After reading your post, I realsized that I DO have to exhaust as much negative karma in this very lifetime, so that we have a better chance to be reborn as human being and able to meet dharma ! So if being bed ridden and totally depending on other people / machines to stay alive is a form of purification - so be it !
Off to change my little will now!
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Personally I do not agree with Euthanasia even if it is voluntary or legal in some countries. If we believe in karma it’s not acceptable. Whatever suffering we going through are the effect from our action before.
Yes, it’s very painful to see suffering but we should accept it as our karma. This doesn’t mean nothing can be help. What I meant of help her might be directly lessen the suffering or a better future rebirth. There are purification practices can be done. As long that one have not died or dead but within 49 days we still can do something to generate or dedicate merits for them.
Terminating life is not the right way but just an easy way out. Does not bring any benefit in long term. Trust the protector and do our protector practice, at the time of difficulties or death, if our samaya with our Guru is good the protector under the blessing of our Guru will help us at that time.
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This is a difficult question to answer because of its complexity. It's always difficult to make decisions when in a situation that involves one's religious beliefs and conscience. It's easier if one was an atheist and one is only compelled by one's compassion for another living being. In Buddhism, one has to consider one's karma because killing is not allowed.
In Buddhism, killing is done in exceptional cases, to prevent more negative karma from being committed. But one has to accept the consequences. Lama Yeshe once replied to a question on whether he would kill in self-defence if that was the only way to stop someone from killing him. Lama Yeshe said, " Then it would be better that you kill me."
This shows how important it is to avoid killing because the results will ressemble the cause. Whatever the reason, killing is a major transgression of Buddhist vows.
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This is tough!!! I am trying to imagine one of my loved ones being bed ridden and dependant on life support to continue living, i imagine they are pleading for me to pull the plug... would i do it? how would i feel if the person struggles and then dies after i pulled the plug?
I won't be able to do it. Even if the act doesn't technically fulfil the 4 components of killing... I'd feel that i have killed my loved one.
Wikipedia'd this topic and here is what's in the literature:
... in the monastic code (Patimokkha), it states:
"Should any bhikkhu intentionally deprive a human being of life, or search for an assassin for him, or praise the advantages of death, or incite him to die (thus): 'My good man, what use is this wretched, miserable life to you? Death would be better for you than life,' or with such an idea in mind, such a purpose in mind, should in various ways praise the advantages of death or incite him to die, he also is defeated and no longer in communion."
American Buddhist monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote:
Thus, from the Buddha's perspective, encouraging a sick person to relax her grip on life or to give up the will to live would not count as an act of compassion. Instead of trying to ease the patient's transition to death, the Buddha focused on easing his or her insight into suffering and its end.
Asked his view on euthanasia, the Dalai Lama said Buddhists believed every life was precious and none more so than human life, adding: 'I think it's better to avoid it.'
'But at the same time I think with abortion, (which) Buddhism considers an act of killing ... the Buddhist way is to judge the right and wrong or the pros and cons.'
He cited the case of a person in a coma with no possibility of recovery or a woman whose pregnancy threatened her life or that of the child or both where the harm caused by not taking action might be greater.
"These are, I think from the Buddhist viewpoint, exceptional cases," he said. "So it's best to be judged on a case by case basis."
Instead of trying to ease the patient's transition to death, the Buddha focused on easing his or her insight into suffering and its end What do you think this means?
Now i'm trying to imagine i am the person who is bedridden and on life support, and suffering a lot of pain and anguish. Why would i rather die? It is because i think i am going to die anyway and my pain will stop after death. If i think i have a chance to live, or if i think i can still do something useful with the little life i have left, would i bear with the pain and make the most of it? would my suffering be a little less with that kind of mind frame? Would i put the responsibility of letting me live or die onto someone else? (However these kind of questions arguably can't be applied if i was in a vegetative state... hmm)
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Thank you for posting this topic and started this discussion.
Previously, I do think it is OK for mercy killing or Euthanasia as long as we know it will be good to relief the sufferings of the patients and be ready to take on any karma due to this act.
Recently, I started to think it may not be the case. How would I know the act will be beneficial to the patient? It is only from what we know and see which is at a very surface level as we are not enlightened yet. When I think it deeper, I maybe still think that once he die, all the sufferings will cease but this may not be real!! I find that if I really believe in future lives and Karma, I will hold my act on mercy killing. It is because I do not really 100% sure that the patient can still rebirth as a human being and practice Dharma again in his next life. At least now he can still have the chance to practice Dharma although physically he is suffering. He can still create positive Karma and merits while he is alive. If he has more Dharma understanding, he will find the peace within despite physical sufferings.
Therefore, for now, I will think prayer will help the person. I will pray to the protector, if the karma is for the person to leave, please bring him to a good rebirth. If it is for him to stay, then please bless him and support him to live longer and to have conducive conditions to understand Dharma better.
I would think Palliative care will be more Dharmic than mercy killing. What do you all think?
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For many people, it is easier to end a person's life as it ends one's responsibilities, heart ache, hospital bills, etc etc. So many many selfish reasons I can think of. Even if someone is suffering from pain, it's better to let him suffer and end it once and for all then having to experience this again next life.
Perhaps it would be better to let this person live a little longer and during this period before death to help him collect as much merits as possible by practicing dharma, take a vegetarian vow, liberate an animal, do pujas and then dedicate the collection of merits to this person as the merits are more when a person is alive than dead.
We should think about what we can do for this person rather than giving up and taking the easy route out.
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I think most of the time it is our mind that play trick on us. When we are alone and in a dark, eerie place even the wind blowing or the door squeaking will make us jump. Supernatural beings do exist but not everyone can see those beings. If we do not have the karma to see it , then we will not. However, if we are sensitive, we may feel a presence lingering us......
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Mercy killing may be the means to an end --- to end someone else's suffering, provided that person does not have any more hope of a better life. The doctors must have exhausted all means of saving him and is sure that if he should continue to live on, he would not be in a vegetative state. If he stays on to be in a vegetative state or comatose, what else can he do but suffer pain until his last breath. Would not euthanasia be a better alternative?
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Whatabout a story in Buddha's life, because he killed one person who has the potential to kill a 1,000 person by way of his clairvoyance and yet he is enlighTened. So do we name this as mercy killing?
But seriously if mercy killing is by way manifested by ordinary human beings, I do not believe it is Buddhism at all. Buddhism teachings are entirely based on not hurting others. Mercy killing by ordinary human beings makes me want to believe it is manifested from a personal agenda of trying to subdue/overpower/terrorise another clan or of different belief.
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i do not agree with Euthanasia and i don't think mercy and killing can go together.
Yes, in our point of view we think we are release/help them from their suffering but its just from our perceiving from what we see. However killing have repercussion even it from the good intention to help without anger or bad motive.
i never come across any case of mercy killing but i have a story to share. There is an old lady who was sick in hospital and she has to go through of lot of suffering in her last period. Dr. has informed the family members that she won't recover and the family members can make the decision that they want to keep her with the on going machine or just take out the support machine and let her die.
It was very difficult for them to make decision and they chose to keep her until her last minute. One day she getting better and able to talk with people and it was a same day that she was getting worse and showed sign of going to pass on, during the suffer process which the family member didn't know how to deal with it, a nurse who in the room whisper next to her ear and asked her that : what you have done that made you the most happy in this life? the old lady thought and said made offering to the monks so the nurse told her that we are going to the temple and make offering to the monks now and lead the old lady think about the monks she going to make offering and finally she died with peaceful.
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I personally believe that Euthanasia is wrong and shouldn't be encouraged for killing is killing. We are not at the level of a Boddhisatva to transform the motivation into compassion hence our motivation may not be as pure. Only when it is, that the action is considered a virtuous action.
What if their karma turns out to be worse than it is now after they take rebirth in the next life? Since we are not at the level, we do not have the clairvoyance to see whether our actions are correct or not.
While they are still alive and although suffering, we can always do as many pujas as we can for them for a better rebirth, for their mind to be more at ease, purifying their negative karma and plant the seed of Dharma.
Found a teaching on this:
One must do everything within one’s capacity to prevent such a compromising decision, to ascertain that there is no alternative treatment or other method at all possible, and even then, the decision is not an easy one. Your decision depends on many factors. A sentient being’s consciousness does not stop after this life ends. If you were to kill a suffering animal in this life, but it’s karma at that stage was such that it were to be reborn into a lower realm, the pain that it is currently experiencing in this life (and that you are jeopardising your own karma for) is no different. In fact, such a suffering animal would be much better off for even just two minutes to remain in the pain it is experiencing in this life. Again, we can see it makes for a very difficult decision!
In the Mahayana teachings, killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and telling lies are permitted in tantra, but to do these actions one needs strong compassion for the other sentient being. When bodhisattvas engage in these actions they have to have a brave heart and totally give themselves up to be born in the hell realms, so as to totally accept the heavy negative karma, the incomparable suffering in the hell realms, from the act of killing. Also they have to have wisdom, seeing that by doing these actions there will be great benefit. So, one needs strong compassion for other beings and wisdom to know what is beneficial.
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There is so much contradiction in these two words. What is so merciful in killing something?
Emotionally, we may feel that mercy killing is to put that person or thing out of misery by ending the life. But isn’t this action passing judgement on a certain situation which we are not supposed to do. How are we to know what is best for that person or being. If we believe in karma, we would believe that what is happening, is the result of karma ripening and that it should take its course to completion. Therefore according to Buddhist teachings, if the course of karma is stopped prematurely, one would have to come back to complete its course, maybe resulting in greater suffering. Therefore is this merciful? Because it stops pain and suffering, physically it may seem merciful. But spiritually it is not, because one cannot escape from the karma ripening and one has to go through it.
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I have read somewhere that says mercy killing or euthanasia cannot be carried our without the ill-will of the perpetrator towards the fact of the patient’s suffering. Even though the motivation behind this action may have been good (e.g. to prevent further suffering for the patient), the thought that leads to action becomes an act of aversion.
So when a doctor performs mercy-killing, it is actually the patient’s pain and suffering which disturb his mind. Additionally, the doctor experiences negative emotions toward this disturbance and projects it on the suffering of the patient but disguises his real feeling as a moral deed to justify himself as mercy killing. Therefore, from the Buddhist view, mercy killing is an act of malevolent. It is done from ill will and thus has bad karmic effects both for the doctor and the patient.