Tibetan and Himalayan Library - THL

Description: What is Buddhism's perspective on cloning? While ethicists and review boards have engaged in much discussion on the ethics of cloning from the perspective of the world's great theistic religions, little attention has been given to Asian traditions. The author takes up the question of cloning based on principles found in Zen and Indian Buddhism. Buddhists, the author, suggests, may not have a problem with the cloning of a human as much as they may disfavor the process of cloning research itself in which there is the possibility of harming a sentient being. The author outlines the basic principles of Buddhism and notes how the Buddhist view of non-self offers a much different perspective on the ethics and motivations involved in cloning. The non-existence of a truly existent self, as well as reified notions of "good" and "bad", or any solid, concrete reifications whatsoever are rejected by Buddhism. If one maintains the theoretical stance that no individual has an intrinsic, independent self, the author suggests, motivations for cloning that falsely presumed independent and truly existent selves, such as the wish to clone in order to pass on "my" exact genes and perhaps create another "I", are misguided. When one thinks in terms of causal interdependences and absence of intrinsic and independent selves, the ethics of cloning become much less black and white. This tendency to recognize shades of gray, (or rather, not to reify concepts or dualities) based on its philosophy of non-self and interdependence, the author notes, goes against much of the modern debates in bioethics on the issue of cloning. (Zach Rowinski 2004-08-03)