"Today, many people can choose whether or not their organs will be donated to others after they die. What is the Buddhist position on organ donation?

"Organ donation is about reusing available resources to extend life, and that is a manifestation of the oneness and coexistence of all life. In the Buddhist tradition, the body is not considered something that belongs to the self, but rather it is something that results from the illusionary synthesis of the four elements. It is like a hotel room that we rent for a temporary stay.

"There is a famous parable relevant to this topic: Once there was a traveler who, having not found lodging along the way, ended up having to stay at the very remote and rustic temple of some local deity. In the middle of the night, a small ghost carrying a dead body suddenly appeared. Frightened, the traveler exclaimed,

" 'I have seen a ghost!'

"In that same moment, a large ghost appeared and pointing at the small ghost, said, 'Why are you carrying my corpse?'

"The small ghost replied, 'This is mine. How can you say that it's yours?'

"The two quarreled for quite some time, while the traveler trembled with fear. Then, the small ghost saw the terrified traveler and said, 'Hey, there's somebody in there hiding under the altar!' It called to him, 'Come out, come out. Don't be afraid. Please help us decide who the corpse belongs to.'

"The traveler thought to himself, 'It seems like there's no escape and no matter what I do, I'm going to die. I may as well tell the truth.' With that, he said, 'This corpse belongs to the little ghost.'

"As soon as the large ghost heard this, it became enraged. It rushed forward and tore off the traveler's left arm, and in two or three bites devoured it. When the small ghost saw this, it thought to itself, 'The traveler was only trying to help me, so how can I just stand by and watch?' With that, it tore the left arm off the corpse and stuck it on the traveler's body. In response, the large ghost became further incensed and bit into the traveler's right arm, consuming the whole thing in just a few bites. The small ghost tore the right arm off the corpse and again attached it to the traveler's body. The two ghosts repeated the same acts with the traveler's legs. After playing out this outrageous scene, the two ghosts walked away whistling, leaving the bewildered traveler to ask himself, 'Who am I?'

"This parable is taken from a Buddhist sutra, and though it is meant to illustrate that 'the four elements are essentially empty and the five aggregates are without self,' doesn't it aptly reflect today's issue of organ transplantation?

"There are four key ways in which organ donation is meaningful and useful for society:

1) "It extends lifespans: Life never ends! Though bodies grow old and die, life is eternal and without end like flame passing from one torch to another. Life is bound together by the force of karma, and the force of karma is like the thread that holds together a string of prayer beads through all time and space. When someone donates an organ, he or she is giving someone else a chance to live, while simultaneously allowing his own life to continue.

2) "It demonstrates inner generosity: There are three kinds of generosity in the Buddhist tradition — material generosity, Dharma generosity, and the generosity of fearlessness. Material generosity can be further divided into internal and external generosity. External generosity includes the giving of money, property, and other material things, while internal — or inner — generosity is the donation of organs and body parts. In former lives, the Buddha cut away some of his flesh to feed an eagle and sacrificed himself to feed a tiger. There is a Buddhist saying: 'Do that which is difficult to do, and bear that which is difficult to bear.' Over two thousand years ago, the Buddha provided us with the best example of this teaching. Following his example, the entire human race should be willing to open themselves by giving their organs freely in order to bestow compassion to humanity.

3) "It promotes the renewal of resources: In Taiwan, an organ donor may need to sign a donor's card in order to donate one's organs legally upon death. However, from the Buddhist practitioner's perspective, if there is the intention to donate an organ, then it is enough just to have family members sign on behalf of the deceased. The donation of organs is a renewal of resources, for it enables us to recycle usable parts of the body that would have otherwise been discarded. When you donate the cornea of your eye, you are giving the gift of sight. When you donate your heart, you are giving the vitality of life. Similarly, when you donate bone marrow, you are passing on the current of life to another person.

4) "It shows the oneness and coexistence of all life: All of the myriad dharmas in this world arise out of causes and conditions. Human relationships also depend on causes and conditions to exist. Each of us depends on farmers and professionals to supply us with the things that we need to survive. Because we rely on the conditions provided by others in order to live, we should also give others supportive causes and conditions. Donating organs is a good way to break down the distance between self and others and eliminate the superstition that a corpse must remain intact for the afterlife. It shows us a way to put a heart of compassion into action and to experience the coexistence of all life. If we have the will, all of us can become organ donors. Organ transplants allow us to assure the endless continuity and legacy of compassion and lovingkindness throughout the world!

"In the past, the Chinese believed in the age-old notion of preserving the wholeness of a corpse, and that it should not be moved for at least eight hours after death. However, beliefs such as these no longer fit in the modern world. We must learn to adjust our thinking to keep up with the times. To support the cause of organ donation, I myself signed an organ donor agreement over thirty years ago. I hope that all people will respond to this dignified and noble endeavor, that society will continue to progress, and that all of us will build a beautiful world founded on oneness and coexistence.

Embracing the benefits of organ donation

"So how can we transcend the belief held by many that the corpse must remain intact such that everyone will value the sacredness of organ donation instead?

"Organ transplantation is a great achievement of modern medical science and technology. It has enabled many dying people to continue with their lives, and it has also ensured that the legacy of the compassionate spirit of the organ donor is passed on. But there are many controversies sparked by organ transplants, which everyone in contemporary society is unanimously concerned about and trying to understand.

"Regarding organ transplants in Taiwan, the 'Regulations Concerning Human Organ Transplants' were promulgated and implemented by the government as early as June 19, 1987, and some of these regulations were later amended in 1993. Among these, the sixth regulation stipulates that in order for doctors to remove organs from the deceased, one of the following three conditions must be met:

"1) Before death, the deceased must have given written consent or left a will consenting to the procedure.
"2) The closest relative of the deceased must have given written consent.
"3) Before death, the deceased expressed willingness to be an organ donor, as certified in writing by two or more medical doctors.

"When considering the issue of organ donation and transplantation, we need to realize that the body actually does not belong to the 'self.' The body is a temporary combination of the four elements, just as a hotel room is merely supplied for temporary residence. Therefore, when a person's life comes to an end it is better to donate one's organs and enable the life of another to continue living rather than allowing them to simply rot and decay.

"An article entitled 'If You Want to Remember Me' said it best: 'There will come a day, when I will lie in the hospital beneath that white sheet; and there will come a time, when the doctors determine that my brain function has ceased. This shows that my life has already ended. At such a time, under no circumstances should you say that I am lying on my deathbed; rather, please call it my life-bed. This is because I want to offer my body as a way of helping others, so as to extend and enable their lives to become even richer. . .'

"Organ donation encompasses such ideas as the extension of life, donating one's internal wealth, the resource for supporting rebirth, and living together as one. Therefore, true life cannot die! Though the body has its time for old age, sickness, and decay, life is a burning fire that is passed from torch to torch, eternal and unlimited. Giving others a chance to live by donating our organs also means that our own life will continue.

"To be sure, advances in modern medical science have enabled many people on the verge of death to have an organ transplant and go on living their lives. However, it is important to remember that organ removal must occur during that short period of time after the declaration of brain death, but before the organs die. Yet many Chinese people today still maintain the outmoded belief that the corpse must remain intact and cannot be disturbed for an eight-hour period after death. For this reason, the idea of organ donation has never been widely popular among the Chinese, ensuring that demand for organs always outstrips supply. There are many people in desperate need of heart, liver, and kidney transplants, for example, who wait in vain for a kind soul to make a donation. This leads to all sorts of regret.

"People should consider the generous spirit of people in Catalonia, Spain, which has the highest rate for organ donation in the world. Their citizens feel that if one donates his or her organs to others today, perhaps tomorrow when a relative or friend needs an organ transplant, other people will be similarly willing to donate theirs. One could say that this attitude is truly in accord with the idea of 'coexisting together as one,' and is worthy of our emulation.”