Mercy Killing

　　仁慈與殺生

　　Mercy and Killing can never go together.

　　仁慈與殺生永遠無法並存。

　　According to Buddhism mercy killing cannot be justified. Mercy and killing can never go together. Some people kill their pets on the grounds that they do not like to see the pets suffer. However, if mercy killing is the correct method to be practised on pets and other animals, then why are people so reluctant to do the same to their beloved ones

　　佛教不認爲殺生可以合理化，仁慈和殺生根本就無法並存。很多人殺死他們心愛的寵物，是因爲不忍心看見牠們受苦。如果這種做法是正確的，那麼他們爲什麼不用同樣的手法殺死那些生命垂危、忍受極大痛苦的親人呢？

　　When some people see their dogs or cats suffer from some skin disease, they arrange to kill those poor animals. They call this action, mercy killing. Actually it is not that they have mercy towards those animals, but they kill them for their own precaution and to get rid of an awful sight. And even if they do have real mercy towards a suffering animal, they still have no right to take away its life. No matter how sincere one may be, mercy killing, is not the correct approach. The consequences of this killing, however, are different from killing with hatred towards the animal. Buddhists have no grounds to say that any kind of killing is justified.

　　當人們看見他所蓄養的寵物患病時，因不忍心牠們受苦而將牠們殺害，他們把這種行爲叫做仁慈的殺生。其實這對那些寵物並不仁慈，他們只不過是爲了避免和防範將來可怕情景的發生。如果人類對動物有真正的仁慈，就不會因爲要解除動物的痛苦而殺害動物。不管人類是多麼的誠意和仁慈，殺生同樣是不正確的處理方法。雖然說，這類的殺生並沒有嗔恚的成份，可是人類還沒有理由來使殺生合理化。

　　Some people try to justify mercy killing with the misconception that if the motive or reason is good, then the act itself is good. They then claim that by killing their pet, they have the intention to relieve the unhappy animal from its suffering and so the action is good. No doubt their original intention or motive is good. But the evil act of killing which occurs through a later thought, will certainly bring about unwholesome results.

　　很多人誤解以爲動機是善良的，殺生也可以是一種善行。殺害病患的寵物是爲了解除牠們的痛苦，這種行爲如果是善良的，我們懷疑他甚至有更善良的意圖和動機。殺生是意識産生後的行爲，注定會帶來有害的結果。

　　Keeping away from mercy killing can become a nuisance to many. Nevertheless, the Buddhist religion cannot justify mercy killing as completely free from bad reaction. However, to kill out of necessity and without any anger or hatred has less bad reaction than to kill out of intense anger or jealousy.

　　因此，佛教認爲「仁慈的殺生」和「安樂死」是不會産生善業的。佛陀說，只要人人都不殺生，就能和睦共處。佛教無法承認「仁慈的殺生」的合理性。但是，在無嗔恚也非嫉妒，並非蓄意傷害的情況下殺生，是可以被原諒的。

　　On the other hand, a being (man or animal) may suffer owing to his bad kamma. If By mercy killing, we prevent the working out of one”s bad kamma, the debt will have to be paid in another existence. As Buddhists, all that we can do is to help to reduce the pain of suffering in others.

　　話說回來，衆生的苦是惡業造成的，如果要「仁慈的殺生」不如防範惡業的形成。佛教有一套完善的系統來減輕和消除痛苦。

　　Killing for Self Protection

　　自衛與殺生：

　　The Buddha has advised everyone to abstain from killing. If everybody accepts this advice, human beings would not kill each other. In the case where a person”s life is threatened, the Buddha says even then it is not advisable to kill out of self-protection. The weapon for self-protection is loving-kindness. One who practises this kindness very seldom comes across such misfortune. However, man loves his life so much that he is not prepared to surrender himself to others; in actual practice, most people would struggle for self-protection. It is natural and every living being struggles and kills others for self-protection but kammic effect depends on their mental attitude. During the struggle to protect himself, if he happens to kill his opponent although he has no intention to kill, then he is not responsible for that action. On the other hand, if he kills another person under any circumstances with the intention to kill, then he is not free from the kammic reaction; he has to face the consequences. We must remember that killing is killing; when we disapprove of it, we call it ”murder”. When we punish man for murdering, we call it ”capital punishment”. If our own soldiers are killed by an ”enemy” we call it ”slaughter”. However, if we approve a killing, we call it ”war”. But if we remove the emotional content from these words, we can understand that killing is killing.

　　佛陀告誡人們不要殺生，如果每個人都遵守這一項原則，就不會自相殘殺了。佛陀說，即使當生命受到威脅時，爲了自衛也不能殺生。以武器來捍衛自己，但是不傷及其他生命，是一種仁慈的行爲，人類太愛惜自己的生命了，不准備放棄。有這種仁慈的心就不會遭遇不幸。實際，人類爲了捍衛自己的生命而鬥爭是一種自然的反應，自衛卻是另一回事。當自衛時，無意的殺害對方，是不需要爲自己的行爲負責的，如果是蓄意的，就會造成惡業，就得面對果報。我們必須認清一個事實，殺生就是殺生，不能因爲不贊成時稱爲「謀殺」，贊成時稱爲「處死」，我們的戰士被殺害時，稱爲「犧牲」，贊同殺生也就是贊同戰爭。如果我們排除了一切情緒的因素，我們就會了解到殺生就是殺生。

　　In recent years many scientists and some religionists have used the expressions like ”humane killing”, ”mercy killing”, ”gentle killing” and ”painless killing” to justify the ending of a life. They argue that if the victim feels no pain, if the knife is sharp, killing is justified. Buddhism can never accept these arguments because it is not how the killing occurs that is important, but the fact that a life of one being is terminated by another. No one has any right to do that for whatever reason.

　　在過去，很多科學家和宗教家都以「神聖的戰爭」、「仁慈的戰爭」、「正義的戰爭」、「無痛苦的戰爭」來奪去他人的生命。他們聲稱，只要刀刃是鋒利的，死亡就不會痛苦。佛教絕對不承認有合理的殺生存在，當一個生命受到另一個生命威脅時，任何人都有權力阻止這種事情的發生。

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