Orange County Buddhist Church
Orange County Buddhist Church
Terri Schiavo and a Buddhist View
Although this recent major news story has passed, I thought that I would write an article reflecting on the perspective that Buddhism might offer this highly debated and inflamed issue that was so much in the news recently.
First, in order to discuss this case, we have to understand the difference between morality and ethics and Buddhism, a religion that goes beyond morality and ethics. In the west, we equate morality and ethics with religion. This is especially strong in the Judeo Christian sense of religion. A moral, ethical life is a religious life. In Buddhism, morality and ethics are a basis for one’s life, however true religion must go beyond morality and ethics. Morality and ethics cannot resolve the deepest spiritual questions and yearnings of our heart. Let me attempt to explain the differences between morality and ethics, and religion.
Morality and ethics are a basis for living as a society. We cannot live without a sense of morality and ethics. Life would be chaotic if we had no laws or any sense of morals. How could we live if people ran around stealing, killing, or doing whatever they pleased? How could we drive if there were no traffic laws? However, we also have to understand that morality and ethics change with time, and also change with culture. What people feel is right and wrong in this country might be quite different than in another country. What people felt was right or wrong 50 years ago is different than today.
My mother-in-law was brought up in a time when men always took their hats off indoors. She is forever telling us young guys to take off our hats in the house. However, in today’s generation, guys wear baseball caps all the time. This is just a simple example of how a sense of right or wrong changes with time.
Buddhism has teachings of morality and ethics, such as not to kill, lie, steal, etc. However the path to Buddhahood, the path to enlightenment is not restricted to only those who live a moral and ethical life. One of the most striking examples from the Buddhist tradition is the case of Angulimala, one of the most feared mass murderers of his time. Angulimala was a feared criminal who was running rampant throughout the country, killing many people. One day he happened to encounter the Buddha walking along the road. He threatened the Buddha, but the Buddha did not cower in fear or run away. He instead looked upon Angulimala with the greatest of compassion and understanding. Angulimala had never been treated that way before. He always received the scorn and hatred of others. He was so struck by the Buddha’s tender kindness to him, that he became a follower, and then later one of the Buddha’s closest disciples. In this case, a mass murderer became an enlightened monk.
Morality and ethics are also not the ultimate solution in terms of our religious life in other ways. Let’s say a horrible thing happened to you, like having a child murdered. Let’s also say that the murderer was caught, was convicted, and received the death sentence. In the realm of morality and ethics, you could say that justice was served. The criminal was caught, given a fair trial, convicted, sentenced and punished. Case closed. In a moral, ethical sense the case might be closed, but is the anguish and tragedy in your heart gone? Just because justice was served, could you say that your suffering and loss has been resolved? I don’t think anyone would be able to say that. Truly, your anguish and sorrow would remain, even if in a moral and ethical sense the case was resolved. That is why we need a teaching that goes beyond morality and ethics. Morality and ethics cannot resolve all of the tragedy and sorrow that we face. In actuality, it is today’s sense of morality and ethics that might cause more anguish and sorrow than it resolves. Terri Schiavo’s parents and Terri’s husband each had a different sense of what was right and wrong, and that led to great anguish and sorrow.
To me, the greatest tragedy was that as a family they could not work out together, what should be done in regards to Terri’s condition and life. This too, is a reality of our human life. We do not always agree with family members, friends, or with work associates on many things. We are faced with a deep, sensitive, ethical issue to decide upon, and conflicts within a family can truly tear apart and divide a family. Every person feels that they are doing the right thing. Every person has their own sense of what is right and wrong and asserts that.
One of the great Buddhists in history, Prince Shotoku of Japan, made a wonderful statement that I think reflects a Buddhist view in relation to this kind of situation where every person has an opinion and idea about what is right and wrong. Prince Shotoku said the following:
Let us cease from wrath, and refrain from angry looks. Nor let us be resentful when others differ from us. For all men have hearts, and each heart has its own leanings. Their right is our wrong, and our right is their wrong. We are not unquestionably sages, nor are they unquestionably fools. Both of us are simply ordinary men. How can anyone lay down a rule by which to distinguish right from wrong? For we are all, one with another, wise and foolish, like a ring which has no end.
p. 9, Senshin Temple service book
Prince Shotoku (Shotoku Taishi) imparts great wisdom in this passage. Who can say what is absolutely right and absolutely wrong? Am I asserting what is really right, or am I just asserting my own ego? Sometimes I am right, but sometimes I am also wrong. Who is to say what is absolutely right or wrong?
This kind of humble standpoint, to be able to say, I really don’t know what is the right thing to do. Let’s share our thoughts and try to resolve this together. Maybe I’m right, but maybe I am wrong. What is your opinion?
Wasn’t this kind of dialogue missing in the Terri Schiavo case? Wasn’t it one side against another, each asserting their own absolute right? What if Terri’s parents had said, “As her parents, we love her deeply, and wish for her to live, even in this kind of condition, but we don’t know if that is the right thing, or the best thing to do.” What if Terri’s husband had said, “I think it was Terri’s wish to not live in this manner, but I know that it is hard to pull the plug. I don’t know what is really the best thing to do.”
If this kind of dialogue had occurred, perhaps a decision could have been made together as a family, a decision that is beyond right and wrong. It would have been a decision not in favor of the parents or in favor of the husband. It would have been a decision that all could have accepted together.
Morality and ethics allow us to live as a society, but sometimes we must stand on a deeper level of truth, one in which there is no absolute right or wrong, good or bad. That is the ultimate standpoint of Buddhism, and the ultimate standpoint of Shin Buddhism as well.
Namuamidabutsu,
Rev. Marvin Harada
