[8Zgkdeee]

1 2 3

And this interesting long read from another site that has linked to this book
• Buddhism and Organ Transplants

By Bhikshuni Karma Lekshe Tsomo

There are many contemporary social issues that need to be investigated from a Buddhist point of view. One of these is the question of organ transplantation. Since organ transplants were not medically possible until very recently, there are no explicit statements on this question to be found in the texts. What might we infer from the texts and what do the living Buddhist traditions have to say about this vital ethical concern?

When I returned to the United States after spending fifteen years in Asia, there were many colloquial English terms that were new to me. I often had to ask people to explain the significance of one or another slang expression. Sometimes, for example, I heard young people riding motorcycles referred to as "organ donors." I asked a friend why this term was used. My friend explained that people with young, healthy bodies riding motorcycles without helmets were prime candidates for donating their vital organs for transplantation using modern surgical methods. Therefore, these foolish young people were facetiously called "organ donors." Re-acculturation to modern American life was full of enlightening experiences such as this.

On another occasion, I went to the Honolulu Police Department to apply for a driver's license. The spectre of a Buddhist nun driving a motor vehicle in an Asian Buddhist country would be met with incredulous horror, for sure, but in America driving is practically essential. Like most patriotic Americans, I had been driving cars since I was sixteen years old, so now when someone kindly offered a used car to facilitate my work , I resigned myself to the inevitable. A surprise awaited me at the HPD, however: I was asked whether I wished to have "organ donor" marked on my license. That experience started me thinking about possible Buddhist views on a very new problem.

To begin with, all Buddhist schools agree that nothing is dearer to a sentient being than its life. 11 In fact, reverence for life is taught in practically all religious traditions and can itself be deemed a definition of spirituality as, for example, among the native Hawaiian people. Buddhism in particular teaches us to cherish life and to protect the life of even the smallest living creature. To refrain from taking life is the first precept for Buddhists, both lay and ordained. To protect the lives of animals, to say nothing of humans, is said to ensure long life, both in this and future lives. It is said to be the karmic cause of good health, beauty, and rebirth in a pleasant place. To save the lives of living beings by purchasing them from the butcher is a time-honored custom among Buddhists in Tibet, China, and other Mahayana countries.

• Nowadays, with the globalization of practically everything, I thought it would be a good idea to consult Buddhist followers of various traditions to see how they felt about the idea of organ transplantation. So I spoke with Japanese, Chinese, Burmese, Vietnamese, Tibetan, Canadian and American Buddhists on the subject. When I asked "How do feel about the idea of people donating their organs when they die ?" the response was always spontaneously positive. Every person I questioned, of every Buddhist persuasion, believed that giving organs was clearly an act of compassion as well as an act of generosity. When I asked "How do you feel about the idea of donating your organs when you die ?" the response was still always positive, even if there was a very slight hesitation or perceptible glassing over of the eyes in a few cases.