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| Euthanasia by Venerable Lama Karma Samten Gyatso Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I'm very happy to be here in Christchurch again. Our subject tonight is of particular importance to twentieth century people and is also my favourite topic. Because we all die eventually, it is important we prepare for this time and talk about it. One moment we are born, the next we die. Because there's no escape from this process, it is better that we face it than hide from it. Death is a very important part of life. My experience is that most people in the West hardly ever talk about death; it is not considered a proper topic of conversation. It's even hard to ask someone how old they are. When you ask them, they often feel embarrassed or insulted. It is interesting how different cultures have such different attitudes towards this subject. Tibet was not a very developed country in the material sense but spiritually it was highly advanced and we always talked about death. In the West, it seems everyone talks about sex and nothing else, especially the advertising industry. Tonight, I want to share some ideas on euthanasia. Euthanasia is a problem brought about in part by modern technology. It is often complicated by religious and self-motivated attitudes. I don't want to talk about the views of other religions, as I'm not in a position to judge them, but I will share with you some ideas from the Buddhist perspective and some of my own observations. From the Buddhist point of view, there is not much of a problem with the idea of euthanasia. "Euthanasia" literally means, "To die well" in English, doesn't it? There's nothing wrong with that. The other reason is the Buddhist belief in karma. "Karma" means "causes, conditions and results". Karma has these three different aspects. When you have pain and suffering, this isn't a punishment or anything unreasonable. Whatever you suffer is due to some previous action you have done. If you do something wrong, the results come back to you. It is a process of purification rather than punishment. It is part of your journey, a passing through of something for duration of time. You are finishing your bad karma, your bad deeds; it is not as though what is happening is bad or useless. It might be a terminal illness, anything. You might discover you have AIDS or cancer, for instance. You might have five, seven or ten years of suffering ahead of you but this is still a part of your life, part of a purification process. In a way, it's good to know you have only a few months left to do something as you can then spend this time with your family and share your experience with them. In doing so, you will help them prepare for the process of dying that they too will undergo at some stage. You can also use this time to reconcile any differences you might have or to say things you have been meaning to say. In this way, you are not going to feel you have wasted your time or energy. From the Buddhist point of view, this is all part of a purification process. Something I find interesting is, when someone has a terminal disease and spends that time with their family, that family's grieving process comes to an end when they die. Because they have shared the experience together, the dying person also dies happy in the knowledge they have done there best. They are also happy their family has been looking after them. At that time, they realise all their time and energy has run out and nothing more can be done. They feel they have given it their best shot and both sides feel it's a good way to finish. If you understand karma - how everything around you is dependent on causes and conditions - you won't experience many problems when you die. On the other hand, if you don't understand karma, you will make excuses for yourself and many problems will arise. I have seen this myself when working with dying people. Not understanding karma, they blame everyone else for their problems. They blame their doctor, their medication and their nurse. They blame their friends and whomever they think gave them their disease. Their attitude is completely negative. Their situation may be bad but they make it even worse with all the mental suffering they create. Not only do they suffer by blaming everyone around them but also they turn their death into something very cold and black they want to avoid. Because they don't accept their death, they experience much suffering. Feeling like this, they just want to kill themselves. They don't want to experience their pain and suffering. They also tend to squander all their money with no regard for those they are leaving behind. They make the excuse they are going to die anyway, sort of thing. They think like this because basically they think their pain is unnecessary and useless. From the Buddhist point of view, pain is very useful. It is regarded as a type of purification. When you die, there's often more suffering than there is pain but even when you experience tremendous suffering, you still have a degree of freedom. I have asked people who have wanted to kill themselves, why they wanted to die. Usually they say it's because they didn't want to experience pain. But, how do they know their pain will be gone when they die? This is ignorance. Where is their evidence? Where is their proof? Even if they don't believe in reincarnation, still there must be some uncertainty in their mind. If they were to find out the pain after their death was going to be worse than when they were alive, what would they do then? Do you see what I mean? You have to think about it. From the Buddhist perspective, dying is not really a big problem. We accept life and death and simply do our best. The important thing is to look after each other, to appreciate each other. It's a much nicer way to say goodbye. The Buddhist meaning of "Goodbye" is very much the same as the Christian way of saying goodbye. I think the Christian "Goodbye" means "God be with you". Is that right Paul? Maybe I'm wrong? But then, Buddhists don't believe "God" is something external rarther that "God" is like "Goodness". When we say goodbye, we mean, "Good be with you". Whatever you've done that's positive is with you; whatever you've done that's negative is with you. When you say goodbye, it means your mind is more focused on whatever's good. When you die, this is your comfort, your companion. You could say the Buddhist approach to dying is more like a funeral, where everyone, including yourself, says goodbye. You generate a positive state of mind, reflecting on the good things you have done in your life. You concentrate on the positive. That's the Buddhist way of preparing for death. Euthanasia, from that perspective, is not much of a problem. I can't see any problem with it. However, the twentieth century has brought with it an added complication we didn't have in ancient times. This complication arises due to modern technology. In the past, if you couldn't eat or drink you didn't survive, you would die naturally. There was no such thing as life support. If your body was falling apart, nothing much could be done. It was final. Your body was gone, the light was turned off, and you couldn't do much about it. Under those circumstances, you couldn't decide to prolong your life, nature decided that for you. Twentieth century technology has its good side and it's bad side. It is good in that it makes it easier to survive but it's bad in that it artificially prolongs situations and forces you to make life and death decisions you wouldn't have had to make before. When you couple this with a selfish motivation, you then have a dilemma. If someone doesn't want to die, they may want you to keep them artificially alive forever or others might want to, all for selfish reasons. A person may want to die but others may not want them to die. This happens quite a lot these days. I don't want to judge people but I find the whole situation rather sad. Some people never want to let go which just causes problems. If you really like someone, then your love should be free. If you love with attachment, it is not free; it is an entanglement. If you have genuine love, there is no entanglement. If a dying person or their loved ones are selfish, this causes a difficult situation. If you really love someone, you don't try to keep him or her for yourself. In this way, you're free and they're free. This is my observation and also the idea behind Buddhist teachings and philosophy. If you have genuine love, situations become much lighter, more wonderful and open. Everyone deserves that. Complications arise when the motivation of your love is negative. It is also possible the motivation to euthanase may be negative too because people are really crazy these days and crazy people do all kinds of strange things. If euthanasia is legalised, it could be used as an excuse for people who don't like old people to get rid of them. Already, when you reach forty, no one seems to want you much. It's very hard to get a job. Maybe it's started already! What happens when you are in your sixties or seventies and people want your money and don't want you? They mightn't want you to waste your money and think you deserve to die. If euthanasia is legalised, you might not have much say in the matter. This is also possible. Then there's the situation of the physically and mentally impaired. Where do you draw the line? At the moment, at least, we still have moral values. We feel it is our responsibility to look after our children and our families until they die. At least we still have some kind of morality and dignity in our lives. When people go crazy, they loose their morality and anything is possible. Under these circumstances, legal euthanasia would be a little bit dangerous. It would also encourage those who don't want to go through pain to take their own life. I know of people who would do that. Some people who suicide leave letters behind saying they don't want their families to go through their problems or they don't want to spend all their money on their problems when they are going to die anyway. They just want to end their life. This is very selfish; this is the cowboy way of doing things. In cowboy movies, when a horse has a broken leg, they just shoot it in the head. They think the horse doesn't want to live, but this is wrong, actually the horse wants to live. If I had a broken leg, I would still want to live. I wouldn't want anyone to shoot me in the head just because I had a broken leg! If you compare your feelings with those of others, you would see they felt the same way. Wanting to kill someone is like not caring for them, not understanding their feelings. It is actually very selfish. You should look from the perspective of both sides. If both sides are totally agreeable, then it's okay, if not, then the judgement is yours, not theirs. In doing so, you might even generate a terrible feeling of guilt, which will far outweigh any monetary gain. Material things in themself are not that important. What is important is human touch, loving kindness, caring for each other. These are what are important. Why I say people are crazy is because people are loosing these qualities. We really need to be quite concerned about this. Sometimes we just get carried away and loose what it means to be truly human. If we loose that, then life just becomes very plastic. I believe you have to face your death, no matter what. You have to share your experience of suffering with others; you have to share each other's burden, both your sad times and your happy times. This is what it is to be human. We need to understand each other. It doesn't matter if you're young or old, powerful or weak, it's important to share each other's experiences. In a way, the four-part process of birth, sickness, old age and death is like a work of art. It is something you have to finish. You wouldn't want to cut out the middle because it is a very important part of life. It helps us to prepare for our death. From the time you were born to the time you are fully grown, you are changing. When you are forty, you stop growing. From there on you are heading towards your death. It's like climbing a mountain. When you reach the top, you have to go down. You can't climb any higher; you have to go down. When you're young, you should follow your head but when you're forty and getting older, you must listen to your body and not your head. This is because your head still thinks you can do things your body can't. This is what it means to prepare for death. When you're forty, you have to curtail your daily activities. You need to think more of the quality of your life. You have to preserve your energy and be kind to yourself. You shouldn't plan for the next hundred years when you're only going to live fifty, then you're over doing it. And you shouldn't think you haven't got enough shoes, that you need black shoes and blue shoes and red shoes and that you need twenty-five of everything to match everything else. When you're dead, you have to leave it all behind, Besides, why do you need all these things? These sorts of things are not necessities; they are more than you need. If you are happy, harmonious and have reasonable food and shelter, that is all you need. Otherwise, however much wealth you have, you have that much suffering. If you do not enjoy life, then I think you've wasted it. Some people might say, "Oh, it doesn't matter, when I die I will leave lots of things behind and other people can use them", but actually, the generosity that counts is the generosity you give during your life. When you're dead, what you leave behind doesn't count because it is a somewhat desperate type of generosity. You don't have any choice but to leave it behind because you can't take it with you. When you leave things behind, you don't leave your attachment, anger or jealousy behind with your material things. It is therefore important to think ahead and prepare for your death. So, that is what I want to share with you tonight. If you have any questions, you are most welcome. |
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