A Bibliographic Introduction
By James J. Hughes
Center for Clinical Medical Ethics,
University of Chicago
Damien Keown
Goldsmiths,
University of London
---o0o---
Abstract:
This article provides an introduction to some contemporary
issues in medical ethics and the literature which addresses them from
a Buddhist perspective. The first part of the article discusses
Buddhism and medicine and outlines some of the main issues in
contemporary medical ethics. In the rest of the paper three subjects
are considered: I) moral personhood, II) abortion, and III) death,
dying and euthanasia. The bibliographic references appended to the
article will be updated periodically (contributions are welcome), and
the latest version of the bibliography will be available from the
journal's "Resources" directory.
BUDDHISM AND MEDICINE
It has not gone unnoticed that the Buddhist aim of
eliminating suffering coincides with the objectives of medicine
(Duncan et al, 1981; Soni, 1976). The Buddhist emphasis on compassion
finds natural expression in the care of the sick, and according to the
Vinaya the Buddha himself stated "Whoever, O monks, would nurse
me, he should nurse the sick" (Zysk, 1991:41). Buddhist clergy and
laity have been involved with the care of the sick for over two
thousand years. The Indian Buddhist emperor Asoka states in his second
Rock Edict that provision has been made everywhere in his kingdom for
medical treatment for both men and animals, and that medicinal herbs
suitable for both have been imported and planted.
Birnbaum (1979) and Demieville (1985) provide good general
introductions to Buddhism and medicine. Buddhism appears to have
played an important role in the evolution of traditional Indian
medicine (Zysk, 1991), and there are many parallels between Buddhist
medicine, as recorded in the Pali canon, and Aayurveda (Mitra,
1985). There are short monographs by Haldar on the scientific (1977)
and public heath aspects (1992) of medicine in the Pali sources. It is
likely that as Buddhism spread through Asia it would have interacted
with indigenous medical traditions promoting the cross-fertilization
of ideas. Redmond (1992) discusses the relationship of Buddhism to
medicine from Theravāda and Mahāyāna perspectives and compares
Buddhist and Daoist concepts of disease. Discussions of Tibetan
medicine may be found in Clifford (1984), Dhonden (1986), and Rechung
(1976), while Ohnuki-Tierney (1984) discusses illness and culture in
contemporary Japan.
Buddhism's holistic understanding of human nature
encourages a psychosomatic approach to the pathology of disease (Soni,
1976), something to which Western medicine is now increasingly
attuned. It may also be suggested that the Buddhist philosophy of
origination in dependence is both a fruitful diagnostic model and a
philosophy which encourages a preventive approach to healthcare.
However, disquiet has been voiced recently about how natural" certain
forms of traditional Buddhist medicine are - notably the Tibetan
"black pill" - some recipes for which specify rhinoceros horn and
bear-bile among the ingredients (Leland, 1995).
MEDICAL ETHICS
Despite Buddhism's long association with the healing arts,
little attention has been paid to the ethical issues which arise from
the practice of medicine. A small number of monographs provide
introductions to the issues and dilemmas which arise in medical
practice. These are Ratanakul (1986), Nakasone (1990) and Keown
(1995), and these volumes should be consulted in conjunction with the
sources listed under the specific subject-headings below. Also
relevant is the unpublished Masters thesis by Shoyu Taniguchi (1987a).
For general discussions in the periodical literature see Taniguchi
(1987b), Mettanando (1991), and Ratanakul (1988; 1990). A useful
discussion of Buddhism in terms of the "four principles" approach to
medical ethics developed by Beauchamp and Childress (1989) is provided
by Robert Florida (1994).
The Encyclopedia of Bioethics contains articles on
medical ethics in India (Jaqqi, 1987), Asia (Unschuld, 1987), and
Japan in the nineteenth century (Kitagawa, 1987). Also on Japan see
Umezawa (1988). On medical ethics in imperial China see Unschuld
(1979) and on Thailand Violette Lindbeck (1984) and Ratanakul (1988;
1990).
The principal issues to be addressed in contemporary
medical ethics may be summarised as moral personhood (the question of
who is and who is not entitled to moral respect), abortion, embryo
experimentation, genetic engineering, consent to treatment, resource
allocation, defining death, organ transplantation, living wills, the
persistent vegetative state, and euthanasia. Little systematic
attention has yet been directed to these subjects by Buddhist
practitioners or scholars, and some subjects have not been discussed
at all from a Buddhist perspective. The arrangement of the topics
below is neither comprehensive nor final. It is inevitable there will
be overlap between the sections, and items which appear under one
category may contain discussion of issues or principles which have
broader relevance.
At this time, however, it seems useful to identify three
groups of issues and related literature. These concern: moral
personhood, issues surrounding life at its beginning, and issues
surrounding life at its end. There is insufficient literature on
resource-allocation, socio-economic issues, or other questions about
general medical practice to justify a category on those topics in this
review. There are signs, however, that a Buddhist perspective on
certain aspects of medical treatment is beginning to appear, for
example Epstein (1993) and Kabat-Zinn's (1990, 1994) integration of
Buddhist meditation into medical practice, and the growing literature
on Buddhism and social justice, such as Jones (1989) and Sizemore and
Swearer (1993).
MORAL PERSONHOOD
Personhood is both a central problem for Buddhist ethics
and Western medical ethics, and consequently a very promising area for
a dialogue between the two. The problem for Buddhist ethics has always
been why should people act ethically if there is no act, no actor and
no consequences of action (Collins, 1982). If there is no self or
other, how can there be karmic consequences, responsibility, loyalty,
or even compassion? Theravādin scholars continue to be divided over
whether Buddhism suggests different ethics for those who persist in
the illusion of self (kammic ethics) and for those who would transcend
the illusion of self (nibbanic ethics). The paradoxical unity of
compassionate ethics and nihilistic insight into selflessness has been
the central koan of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Tantra and Zen suggest that the
person who sees that there is no "I" is beyond good and evil.
For bioethics, struggles over abortion, animal rights and
brain death have brought personhood to the forefront (Nelkin, 1983).
Opponents of abortion and euthanasia, and advocates for the disabled
and animals, on the other hand, assert that mere humanness or merely
being alive should bestow a "right to life." But most bioethicists
believe that human beings and animals take on ethical significance to
the extent that they are "persons." Some, such as Tooley (1984), would
set a standard which would exclude almost all animals, newborns, and
the severely retarded or demented. When they specify which elements of
sentience and neurological integrity create the illusion of
personhood, Western bioethicists begin to sound remarkably Buddhistic:
"the awareness of the difference between self and other; the ability
to be conscious of oneself over time; the ability to engage in
purposive actions" (see, for instance, Fletcher, 1979).
At the same time, Western bioethicists have become
increasingly troubled by questions about the autonomy, continuity and
authenticity of the self. Do anti-depressants create an inauthentic
self, or is the self more authentic when its cheerful? Is one
respecting a patient's autonomy by respecting the treatment
preferences they expressed when healthy, or those they express in the
throes of illness? Is it ever possible for a patient to give truly
free and informed consent to treatment?
The most radical challenge to Western ethics of self-
determination came in 1984 with the publication of British philosopher
Derek Parfit's Reasons and Persons. In this meticulously argued
tome, Parfit rejects the existence of continuous selves and concludes
that an individual is as discontinuous from itself at some later time
as it is from other individuals. Consequently, working for the future
welfare of all beings is the same as working for one's own future
welfare, since there will be no "I" to benefit in the future.
Bioethicists are only now incorporating Parfit's argument.
For instance, researchers find that is impossible to accurately
anticipate one's state of mind when one is sick or dying, much less
when one is unconscious, undercutting the assumption of continuous
personhood undergirding "living wills."
From a Buddhist/Parfitian perspective, the search for
"real" preferences, central to the identity of the person, is a
pointless one. With this acknowledgement, it is less troubling to
place our trust in our family and friends to make decisions for our
future selves (Kuczewski, 1994). More to the point, a Buddhist/Parfitian
would encourage citizens to look beyond their personal preferences in
dying, which may be to "die with dignity" but may also be to use as
many resources as possible to stave off death, and instead participate
in creating a health care system that served the needs of everyone in
society.
Another area of potential dialogue is in the efforts to go
beyond Cartesian (and Hindu etc.) mind-body dualism in defining life
and death. Over the last twenty years the West has slowly accepted
that a "person" is dead if their brain is destroyed, even if the body
continues to function. Yet it still troubles many Westerners and
Buddhists to declare the permanently unconscious "dead," believing
that this is an example of inappropriate mind-body dualism. Other
Westerners and Buddhists believe that only a "neocortical" definition
of death recognizes the centrality of consciousness and personhood in
ethics (Gervais, 1986). More challenging, some Western ethicists have
begun to discuss the status of personhood as future technologies make
possible the continuity of personality from one body to another (More,
1994). When medical technology offers reincarnation, Buddhist
bioethics will certainly flourish.
ABORTION
Buddhism, like all religious and secular philosophies,
focuses on two central questions concerning abortion: (a) when does
the embryo or fetus acquire the property which makes termination of
pregnancy "killing"?; and (b) is termination of a pregnancy, before or
after this point, ever justifiable?
While there was a minority tradition in classical Hindu
embryology that held that incarnation does not occur till as late as
the seventh month (Lipner, 1989), most Buddhist commentators have
adopted classical Hindu teachings that the transmigration of
consciousness occurs at conception, and therefore that all abortion
incurs the karmic burden of killing. Before modern embryology,
however, in both Buddhist countries and the West, ideas about
conception were scientifically inaccurate, and often associated the
beginning of life with events in the third or fourth month of
pregnancy (for a discussion of traditional Tibetan embryology, see
Dhonden, 1980 and Lecso,1987).
Another problem in early Buddhists' embryology is their
assumption that the transmigration of consciousness is sudden rather
than gradual. Based on the findings of modern neuro-embryology
Buddhists today might maintain that the fetus does not fully embody
all five skandhas and the illusion of personhood until after
birth; this is the argument developed by most Western ethicists to
defend abortion (Tooley, 1984; Flower, 1985; Bennett, 1989). If the
fetus is not yet a fully embodied person, then the karmic consequences
of abortion would be even less than the killing of animals, which
Buddhism teaches do have moral status. This neurological
interpretation of the skandhas may be more consistent with
Western Buddhism, which often sees the doctrine of rebirth as
peripheral or interprets rebirth metaphorically rather than literally
(Batchelor, 1992; King, 1994).
The second question is whether abortion always generates
bad karma, or in Western terms, is it ever "justified." This relates
to the debate about whether Buddhist ethics are absolutist,
utilitarian or "virtuist," i.e. seeing the good in the development of
personal qualities. The absolutist would hold that bad karma is
incurred from any act of murder, whatever the justifications. The
utilitarian would argue that murder can be a compassionate act with
positive karmic consequences, taking into account factors such as the
health of the fetus or mother, the population crisis, and the
readiness of the parents to raise a child.
A virtue-oriented Buddhist would argue that the attitude
and motivations of the pregnant woman and her collaborators would
determine the ethics of an abortion. Along this line, Tworkov (1992)
argues that the karmic skilfulness of an abortion is related to
whether the person became pregnant and made her decision to abort
without serious mindfulness. From this perspective, aborting a fetus
conceived without an effort at contraception would be more karmically
significant than an abortion necessitated in spite of contraception.
The much discussed Japanese tolerance for, and
ritualization of, abortion appears to combine both utilitarian and
virtue approaches. The Japanese believe that abortion is a "sorrowful
necessity," and Buddhist temples sell rituals and statues intended to
represent parents' apologies to the aborted, and wishes for a more
propitious rebirth. The Japanese have reached these accommodations
consensually, with little debate, and without discussion of the rights
of women or the unborn (LaFleur, 1990, 1992).
The Theravādin commentator Buddhaghosa appears to have
combined all three views. He held that killing produces karma jointly
through the mental effort and intensity of the desire to kill, and the
virtue of the victim (Florida, 1991). Since killing big animals
required more effort, and was therefore worse than killing small
animals, the karma of feticide would be less than murder of adults,
and less in earlier stages of pregnancy. On the other hand, for
Buddhaghosa, the karma of feticide would be greater than that of
killing villains in self-defence.
Buddhists have thus far given little thought to the third
important question, the connection between morality and law,
specifically how, and on what grounds, the state should regulate
abortion. Some Buddhists have adopted the stance of many moderates in
the West: abortion is murder of a person, but women should have that
choice (for instance, Imamura, 1984 and Lecso, 1987). Since most
Buddhists have no problem with laws to discourage and punish murder in
general, implicit in this position is that murder is either
justifiable when it conflicts with bodily autonomy or, since few
Buddhists would imprison butchers, that fetuses are closer in status
to animals. Clearly there is much room for clarification of the
relationship between religious ethics and law in pluralistic
societies.
Some scholars (such as Ling, 1969, and LaFleur, 1992) have
looked beyond the strictly ethical concerns with abortion to examine
the cultural aspects of the question. From this perspective it is
sometimes pointed out that Buddhism is not "pro-natalist," i.e. does
not hold that reproduction is a religious duty - quite the reverse in
fact - and does not advocate "family values," at least in the sense
that Confucianism did. Buddhist skepticism about family and
reproduction was a central cause of Confucian and Shinto persecution.
The Sinhalese embrace of contraception and abortion was so
enthusiastic in the 1960s, compared to Sri Lanka's Muslims, Catholics
and Hindus, that racialist monks began to argue that Buddhists had an
obligation to "race-religion-nation" to reproduce.
DEATH, DYING AND EUTHANASIA
The themes of impermanence, decay and death are
omnipresent in Buddhist literature. In many Asian cultures Buddhism is
identified as the authority par excellence on matters pertaining to
death, and is closely linked to the rites and ceremonies associated
with the transition from this life to the next. Buddhist literature
emphasises the importance of meeting death mindfully since the last
moment of one life can be particularly influential in determining the
quality of the next rebirth.
General reflections on death will be found in Philip
Kapleau's 1972 anthology The Wheel of Death and his 1989 The
Wheel of Life and Death. Stephen Levine is the author of several
books dealing with the subject of death from a Zen perspective while a
contemporary Tibetan perspective is provided by Sogyal Rinpoche's
popular Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Glenn H. Mullin
(1986) and John Powers (1995, Ch.10). James Whitehill (1974) discussed
what can be learned from the death of the Buddhist masters, and the
development of a corpus of "Great Death" stories of various Buddhist
masters is examined by LaFleur (1974). Other writings on death in
Buddhism include Smart (1968), Amore (1974), and Bowker (1991).
In a 1993 monograph on the subject of death in Buddhism,
Becker asserts that the Buddhist tradition, especially in Japan, is
very tolerant of suicide and euthanasia. Evidence of this is the
Buddha's tolerance of suicide by monks (Wiltshire, 1983) and Japanese
stories praising suicide by monks, samurai and laypeople. Becker
suggests that Buddhism values self-determination and praises those who
decide when and how they will die when they do so in order to have a
dignified conscious death. Becker also concludes that the key point is
not whether there is still warmth or reflexes (as suggested by some
readings of the Visuddhimagga) but whether the patient's
skandhas have permanently left, i.e. the patient is permanently
unconscious. In other words, Buddhism would endorse a brain death
definition of death. On the understanding of death in Japanese
religion see also Picken (1977).
A number of issues in medical ethics turn upon the problem
of defining death, but few writers have addressed the question of a
Buddhist definition of death directly. Only van Loon (1978), Keown
(1995), and Mettanando (1991) have argued for a specific definition:
van Loon equates death with neocortical death whereas Keown and
Mettanando support the "whole brain" criterion.
There has been considerable resistance to the adoption of
the brain death standard in Japan, both from the public and within the
medical profession, due in no small measure to its association with
organ transplantation. The brain death criterion allows organs to be
harvested with the minimum delay, thereby enhancing the prospects for
a successful transplant. Japanese tradition, however, requires the
performance of rituals over a lengthy period before an individual is
regarded as having passed on, and is also reluctant to countenance
plundering the bodily organs of future ancestors. Some commentators
suggest that public acceptance of brain death is growing as
professional groups and universities develop criteria, and as pressure
from potential beneficiaries grows. Also, countries such as the
Philippines have raised objections to Japanese patients going abroad
for transplants rather than building an organ retrieval system of
their own. The best analysis available (in English) of the Japanese
situation is Hardacre (1994), but relevant material may also be found
in Lock and Honde (1990), Feldman (1988), Becker (1990), and Nudeshima
(1991). For discussions of the issue outside of Japan see Ratanakul
(1988, 1990), Sugunasiri (1990), and Nakasone (1994).
A more positive attitude towards transplantation is
revealed in Tsomo (1993). The author surveyed teachers from many
different traditions about their attitudes to donation. All were very
positive, and emphasized that the corpse is merely an empty vessel,
and that to give of oneself is a great thing, and an act of
compassion.
EUTHANASIA
There are no monographs devoted specifically to euthanasia
in Buddhism. There are a few periodical articles and the subject is
dealt within one or two books. Relevant issues are the distinction
between various forms of euthanasia (e.g. "active" and "passive") and
the use of narcotics in palliative care which may cloud the mind and
interfere with the process of dying (Keown, 1995; Kapleau, 1989; Lecso,
1986; Ratanakul, 1988, 1990).
Kapleau's volume The Wheel of Life and Death (1989)
contains a short discussion of euthanasia in conjunction with suicide
and it is suggested that Buddhism would reject the practice of either.
Ratanakul concurs, reporting "a growing consensus among the Thai
public that euthanasia (passive or active) is morally unjustifiable"
(1990:27). Keown and Keown (1995) explore Buddhist and Christian
attitudes to euthanasia and suggest both oppose it for similar
reasons. Nakasone, however, is of the opinion that "Evidence indicates
that Buddhists would favor the 'right-to-die' position" (1990:76).
Jennifer Green's short article "Death with Dignity: Buddhism"
(1989:40-41) discusses only the practicalities of funeral arrangements
and does not mention euthanasia. Neuberger (1987) is likewise
concerned with practical as opposed to moral issues.
Euthanasia has been a special feature in two Buddhist
magazines, Raft, and Tricycle. London-based Raft, the
Journal of the Buddhist Hospice Trust, devoted its No. 2 Winter
1989/90 issue to Euthanasia. Sixteen pages in length it contains short
pieces by authors such as Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Ajahn Sumedho, Dame
Cicely Saunders and David Stott, exploring the cases for, against, and
in terms of a middle way. A similar range of opinions will be found in
the Winter 1992 edition of Tricycle, which contains short
articles by Patricia Anderson, Jeffrey Hopkins, Philip Kapleau,
Chogyam Trungpa, and an interview with author Stephen Levine.
Note: not all the items in the bibliography which follows
are mentioned in the discussion above.
BIBLIOGRAPHY BUDDHISM AND MEDICINE
Birnbaum, Raoul
-1979. The Healing Buddha. Boulder,Co: Shambhala.
Clifford, Terry
-1984. Tibetan Buddhist Medicine: the Diamond Healing.
York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser.
Demieville, P.
-1985. Buddhism and Healing: Demieville's article 'Byoo'
from Hooboogirin, translated by Mark Tatz. Lanhan, Md:University
Press of America.
Dhonden, Dr. Yeshe
-1986. Health Through Balance: An Introduction to
Tibetan Medicine. Ithaca: Snow Lion.
Duncan, A. S., G. R. Dunstan, and R. B. Welbourn.
-1981. "Buddhism", Dictionary of Medical Ethics.
London: Darton, Longman and Todd.
Fenner, Edward Todd.
-1982. Rasayana Siddhi: Medicine and Alchemy in the
Buddhist Tantras. Ann Arbor, Mich: University Microfilms
International.
Haldar, J. R.
-1977. Medical Science in Pali Literature. Indian
Museum Monographs, 10. Calcutta: Indian Museum.
-1992. Development of Public Health in Buddhism.
Varanasi: Indological Book House.
Jaqqi, Q. P.
1987. "India" (Medical Ethics of). In Encyclopedia of
Bioethics, ed. W. Reich, London: Macmillan, 906-11.
Majupu, Trilok Chandra.
-1989. Religious and useful plants of Nepal and India:
medicinal plants and flowers as mentioned in religious myths and
legends of Hinduism and Buddhism. Lashkar (Gwalior): M.Gupta.
Massin, Christopher.
-1982. La medicine Tibetaine. Paris: Editions de la
Maisnie.
Meulendbeld, G. Jan (ed.).
-1991. Medical Literature from India, Sri Lanka and
Tibet. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
Mitra, J.
-1985. A Critical Appraisal of Ayurvedic Materials in
Buddhist Literature (with special reference to Tripitaka).
Varanasi: The Jyotirlok Prakashan.
Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko
-1984. Illness and Culture in Contemporary Japan.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rechung Rinpoche, Ven.
-1976. Tibetan Medicine: Illustrated in Original Texts.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
Redmond, Geoffrey P.
-1992. "Concepts of Disease in Buddhism," in Buddhist
Studies Present and Future, ed. Ananda W.P. Guruge, Paris: The
Permanent Delegation of Sri Lanka to Unesco, 143-159.
Soni, R. L.
-1976. "Buddhism in Relation to the Profession of
Medicine" in Religion and Medicine, ed. D. W. Millard, Vol.3.
London: SCM Press, 135-51.
Unschuld, P.U.
-1979. Medical Ethics in Imperial China. A Study in
Historical Anthropology. Berkeley: University of California Press.
-1987. "General Historical Survey" (of Asian Medical
Ethics) in Encyclopedia of Bioethics, ed. WṚeich,
London: Macmillan, 901-6.
Umezawa, K.
-1988. "Medical Ethics in Japan," Biomedicine and
Pharmacotherapy 42:169-172.
Zysk, K. G.
-1991. Asceticism and Healing in Ancient India:
Medicine in the Buddhist Monastery. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
BUDDHISM AND MEDICAL ETHICS
Beauchamp, Tom L. and James F. Childress
-1989. Principles of Biomedical Ethics, Third ed.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Epstein, Mark.
-1993. "Awakening with Prozac: Pharmaceuticals and
Practice." Tricycle Fall:30-34.
Florida, R. E.
-1994. "Buddhism and the Four Principles". In
Principles of Health Care Ethics, ed. R. Gillon and A. Lloyd,
Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 105-16.
Jones, Ken.
-1989. The Social Face of Buddhism: An Approach to
Political Activism. Boston: Wisdom Publications.
Kabat-Zinn, Jon.
-1990. Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of
Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness. New York:
Dell.
-1994. Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness
Meditation in Everyday Life. Westport, Conn.: Hyperion.
Keown, Damien.
-1995. Buddhism & Bioethics. London and New York:
Macmillan/St. Martins Press.
Kitagawa, J.
-1987. "Medical Ethics of Japan through the Nineteenth
Century," in Encyclopedia of Bioethics, ed. WṚeich,
London: Macmillan, 922-924.
Leland, Charmiere.
-1995. "Bear Bile and Musk," International Journal of
Alternative and Complementary Medicine 13:16-17.
Lindbeck, Violette.
-1984. "Thailand: Buddhism meets the Western Model,"
The Hastings Center Report 14:24-26.
Mettanando, Bhikkhu.
-1991. "Buddhist Ethics in the Practice of Medicine" in
Buddhist Ethics and Modern Society: An International Symposium,
ed.C.Wei-hsun Fu and S. A. Wawrytko, New York, etc: Greenwood Press,
195-213.
Nakasone, R. Y.
-1990. Ethics of Enlightenment. Fremont, Ca: Dharma
Cloud Publishers.
-1994. "Buddhism". Encyclopedia of Bioethics.
London: Macmillan.
Ratanakul, P.
-1986. Bioethics, an introduction to the ethics of
medicine and life sciences. Bangkok: Mahidol University.
-1988. "Bioethics in Thailand: The Struggle for Buddhist
Solutions," Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 13:301-12.
-1990. "Thailand: refining cultural values." The
Hastings Center Report 20:25-27.
Sizemore, Russell and Donald Swearer, eds.
-1990. Ethics, Wealth and Salvation: A Study of
Buddhist Social Ethics. Columbia SC: University of South Carolina
Press.
Taniguchi, S.
-1987a. "A Study of Biomedical Ethics from a Buddhist
Perspective". MA Thesis, Berkeley: Graduate Theological Union and the
Institute of Buddhist Studies.
-1987b. "Biomedical Ethics from a Buddhist Perspective".
Pacific World New Series 3 Fall:75-83.
Umezawa, K.
-1988. "Medical Ethics in Japan," Biomedicine and
Pharmacotherapy 42:169-172.
BUDDHIST APPROACHES TO PERSONHOOD
Chaube, D. B.
-1991. Mind-Body Relation in Indian Philosophy.
Varanasi: Tara Book Agency.
Collins, Steven.
-1982. Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in
Theravada Buddhism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Harvey, P.
-1987a. "The Buddhist Perspective on Respect for Persons".
Buddhist Studies Review 4:31-46.
-1987b. "A Note and Response to 'The Buddhist Perspective
on Respect for Persons'". Buddhist Studies Review 4:97-103.
Klein, A.
-1987. "Finding a Self: Buddhist and Feminist
Perspectives" in Shaping New Vision: Gender and Values in American
Culture, ed. C. Atkinson, C. Buchana, and M. Miles, Ann Arbor: UMI
Research Press.
Koyeli, G. D.
-1987. "Individual Autonomy in Traditional Indian
Thought," Journal of Indian Philosophy 15:99-107.
EDICAL ETHICISTS ON PERSONHOOD
Fletcher, Joseph.
-1979. Humanhood: Essays in Biomedical Ethics.
Buffalo: Prometheus Books.
Gervais, Karen.
-1986. Redefining Death. New Haven: Yale University
Press.
Lizza, John P.
-1993. "Persons and death: what's metaphysically wrong
with our current statutory definition of death?" Journal of
Medicine & Philosophy 18:351-74.
More, Max.
-1993. "The Diachronic Self: Identity, Continuity,
Transformation" (Unpublished dissertation thesis, available at
gopher://gopher.etext.org:70/00/Politics/ Extropy.Institute/more.03049*
Nelkin, Dorothy.
-1983. "The Politics of Personhood," Milbank Quarterly
61(1):101-12.
Tooley, Michael.
-1984. Abortion and Infanticide. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
PARFIT'S DECONSTRUCTION OF PERSONHOOD
Gruzalski, B.
-1986a. "Parfit's impact on utilitarianism," Ethics
96:760-83.
-1986b. Symposium on Reasons and Persons. Ethics
96:832-72.
Kuczewski, Mark G.
-1994. "Whose Will Is It Anyway? A Discussion of Advance
Directives, Personal Identity and Consensus in Medical Ethics,"
Bioethics, 8(1):27-48.
Parfit, Derek.
-1984. Reasons and Persons. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
BUDDHISM AND ABORTION
Florida, R.
-1991. "Buddhist Approaches to Abortion," Asian
Philosophy 1:39-50.
Imamura, Ryo.
-1984. "The Shin Buddhist Stance on Abortion." Buddhist
Peace Fellowship Newsletter 6:6-7.
Jones, K.
-1989. The Social Face of Buddhism. London: Wisdom
Publications.
Lecso, P. A.
-1987. "A Buddhist View of Abortion," Journal of
Religion and Health 26:214-18.
Stott, D.
-1985. A Circle of Protection for the Unborn.
Bristol: Ganesha Press.
Tworkov, H.
-1992. "Anti-abortion/pro-choice: taking both sides,"
Tricycle Spring:60-69.
KEY WESTERN WRITINGS ON ABORTION
Bennett, Michael.
-1989. "Personhood from a Neuroscientific Perspective" in
Abortion Rights and Fetal Personhood, eds. Edd Doer and James
Prescott. Long Beach, California: Centerline Press, 83-86.
Flower, Michael J.
-1985. "Neuromaturation of the human fetus," Journal of
Medicine and Philosophy 10:237-251.
Luker, K.
-1984. Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
Tooley, Michael.
-1984. Abortion and Infanticide. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
WRITINGS ON EMBRYOLOGY, REBIRTH AND KARMA
"Abortion" in Encyclopaedia of Buddhism.
Batchelor, Stephen.
-1992. "Rebirth: A Case for Buddhist Agnosticism,"
Tricycle Fall:16-23.
Dhonden, Y.
-1980. "Embryology in Tibetan Medicine" in Tibetan
Medicine. Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.
King, Winston.
-1994. "A Buddhist Ethics Without Karmic Rebirth?"
Journal of Buddhist Ethics 1:33-44.
Lipner, J. J.
-1989. "The Classical Hindu View on Abortion and the Moral
Status of the Unborn." In Hindu Ethics, ed. H. G. Coward, J. J.
Lipner, and K. K. Young, Albany, New York: State University of New
York Press, 41-69.
McDermott, James Paul
-1984. Development in the Early Buddhist Concept of
Kamma/Karma. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.
O'Flaherty, W. D., ed.
-1980. Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
Saksena, B.
-1935. "Pali Bhūnahan," Bulletin of the School of
Oriental and African Studies 8:713-14.
JAPAN AND ABORTION
Brooks, Anne Page.
-1981. "Mizuko Kuyoo and Japanese Buddhism,"
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 8:119-47.
Eiki, H., and T. Dosho.
-1987. "Indebtedness and comfort: the undercurrents of
mizuko kuyoo in contemporary Japan," Japanese Journal of
Religious Studies 14:305-20.
LaFleur, W. A.
-1990. "Contestation and Confrontation: The Morality of
Abortion in Japan," Philosophy East and West 40:529-42.
-1992. Liquid Life: Abortion and Buddhism in Japan.
Princeton: Princeton University Press.
-1995a. "The Cult of Jizo: Abortion Practices in Japan and
What They Can Teach the West," Tricycle Summer:41-44.
-1995b. "Silences and Censures: Abortion, History, and
Buddhism in Japan. A Rejoinder to George Tanabe," Japanese Journal
of Religious Studies 22/1-2:185-196.
Miura, D.
-1983. The Forgotten Child. Henley-on-Thames,
England: Aidan Ellis.
Rand, Yvonne, Sensei.
-1994. "The Buddha's Way and Abortion - Loss, Grief and
Resolution." Mind Moon Circle Autumn:5-8 (also available
electronically, filename jizo.zip, original site coombs.anu.edu.au).
Smith, B.
-1988. "Buddhism and Abortion in Contemporary Japan:
Mizuko Kuyoo and the Confrontation with Death," Japanese
Journal of Religious Studies 15:3-24.
Werblowsky, Z.
-1984 "Mizuko Kuyoo; Notulae on the most important
'New Religion' of Japan," Japanese Journal of Religious Studies
18:295-354.
Young, R. F.
-1989. "Abortion, Grief and Consolation: Prolegomenon to a
Christian Response to Mizuko Kuyoo," Japanese Christian
Quarterly (Tokyo) 55:31-39.
BUDDHISM ON SEXUALITY AND CONTRACEPTION
Ling, T.
-1969. "Buddhist Factors in Population Growth and
Control," Population Studies 23:53-60.
-1980. "Buddhist Values and Development Problems: A Case
Study of Sri Lanka," World Development 8:577-586.
GENETICS AND REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES
Kimura, R.
-1990. "Religious aspects of human genetic information" in
Science, Law and Ethics, Ciba Foundation Symposium. Chichester:
Wiley.
Schenker, J. G.
-1992. "Religious views regarding treatment of infertility
by assisted reproductive technologies," Journal of Assisted
Reproduction & Genetics 9:3-8.
DEATH, DYING AND EUTHANASIA
Amore, R. C.
-1974. "The Heterodox Philosophical Systems" in Death
and Eastern Thought, ed. Frederick H. Holck. Nashville, Tennessee:
Abingdon, 114-163.
Becker, C. B.
-1990. "Buddhist views of suicide and euthanasia,"
Philosophy East and West 40:543-56.
-1993 Breaking the circle: death and the afterlife in
Buddhism. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University
Press.
Bilimoria, P.
-1992. "The Jaina Ethic of Voluntary Death," Bioethics
6:330-55.
Bowker, John.
-1991. The Meaning of Death. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Feldman, E.
-1988. "Defining Death: Organ Transplants, Tradition and
Technology in Japan," Social Science and Medicine 27: 339-43.
Florida, Robert
-1993. "Buddhist Approaches to Euthanasia," Studies in
Religion/Sciences Religieuses 22(1):35-47.
Green, J.
-1989. "Death with dignity: Buddhism," Nursing Times
85: 40-41.
Hardacre, Helen.
-1994. "Response of Buddhism and Shinto to the Issue of
Brain Death and Organ Transplant," Cambridge Quarterly of
Healthcare Ethics 3:585-601.
Kapleau, P.
-1989. The Wheel of Life and Death. New York:
Doubleday.
-1972. The Wheel of Death. London: George, Allen
and Unwin.
Keown, D. and Keown, J.
"Killing, Karma and Caring: Euthanasia in Buddhism and
Christianity," Journal of Medical Ethics (forthcoming, October
1995).
LaFleur, W. R.
-1974. "Japan" in Death and Eastern Thought, ed.
Frederick H. Holck. Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 226-256.
Lamotte, E.
-1987. "Religious Suicide in Early Buddhism," Buddhist
Studies Review 4:105-26.
Lecso, P.A.
-1986. "Euthanasia: A Buddhist Perspective," Journal of
Religion and Health 25:51-57.
Levine, S.
-1982. Who Dies? An Investigation of Conscious Living
and Conscious Dying. New York: Doubleday.
Lock, M. and C. Honde
-1990 "Reaching Consensus about Death: Heart Transplants
and Cultural Identity in Japan," in Social Science Perspectives on
Medical Ethics, ed. G. Weisz, New York: Kluwer, 99-119.
Miura, D.
-1983. The Forgotten Child. Henley-on-Thames,
England: Aidan Ellis.
Mullin, Glenn H.
-1986. Death and Dying in Tibetan Tradition.
London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Nakasone, R. Y.
-1994. "Buddhism," in Encyclopedia of Bioethics,
London: Macmillan, 312-318.
Neuberger, J.
-1987. Caring for Dying People of Different Faiths.
The Lisa Sainsbury Foundation Series, ed. V. Darling and P. Clench.
London: Austen Cornish Publishers.
Nudeshima, J.
-1991. "Obstacles to brain death and organ transplantation
in Japan," Lancet 338(8774):1063-64.
Picken, S.
-1977 "The Understanding of Death in Japanese Religion,"
Japanese Religion (July) 9,4,48.
Powers, John
-1995. Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism. Ithaca:
Snow Lion.
Raft.
-1989. "Euthanasia." Raft, the Journal of the Buddhist
Hospice Trust 2 Winter:1-16.
Ratanakul, P.
-1986. Bioethics, an introduction to the ethics of
medicine and life sciences. Bangkok: Mahidol University.
Sharma, A.
-1987. "Emile Durkheim on Suicide in Buddhism,"
Buddhist Studies Review 4:119-26.
Smart, N.
-1968. "Attitudes towards death in eastern religions," in
Man's concern with death, ed. Arnold et al Toynbee, Kent:
Hodder and Stoughton, 95-115.
Sogyal Rinpoche
-1992. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. San
Francisco and London: Harper/Rider.
Sugunasiri, S. H.
1990. "The Buddhist view concerning the dead body,"
Transplantation Proceedings 22:947-49.
Thakur, U.
-1963. The History of Suicide in India. New Delhi:
Munshiram Manoharlal.
Tsomo, K. L.
-1993. "Opportunity or Obstacle: Buddhist views of organ
donation," Tricycle Summer:30-35.
Van Loon, L. H.
-1978. "A Buddhist Viewpoint." In Euthanasia. Human
Sciences Research
Council, Publication No.65, ed. Oosthuizen.G.C., H. AṢhapiro,
and S. A.
Strauss, Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 56-79.
-1983. "Some Buddhist Reflections on Suicide," Religion
in Southern Africa 4:3-12.
Whitehill, James
-1974 "Mystological Death: Some Buddhist Lessons on Dying
and Selfhood," The Drew Gateway:82-99.
Wiltshire, M. G.
-1983. "The 'Suicide' Problem in the Pali Canon,"
Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies
6:124-40.
KEY WESTERN WRITINGS ON EUTHANASIA
Grisez, Germain and Joseph M. Boyle
-1979. Life and Death with Liberty and Justice.
Notre Dame and London: University of Notre Dame Press.
Gormally, Luke, ed.
-1994. Euthanasia, Clinical Practice and the Law.
London: The Linacre Centre for Health Care Ethics.
Horan, Dennis J. and David Mall, eds.
-1980. Death, Dying and Euthanasia. Frederick,
Maryland: Aletheia Books, University Publications of America Inc.
Humphry, Derek and Ann Wickett
-1986. The Right to Die. London: The Bodley Head.
Keown, John, ed.
-1995. Euthanasia Examined: Ethical, Clinical and Legal
Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rachels, James
-1986. The End of Life. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Copyright 1995
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