Is Choosing Euthanasia Suicide a Sin?

Everyone's life belongs to the individual, and the individual does have the right to choose life or death, but doing so constitutes irresponsible behavior. First, because a single individual life involves many causes and effects, exerting considerable influence on other lives, and by extension changing the destinies of related people, such as parents and children, as well as other family members and relatives. Second, the existence of life carries many meanings, and there are many opportunities to change one's destiny; giving up one's life is tantamount to giving up the opportunity to change one's destiny, and also giving up the opportunity to eliminate karmic retribution. When karmic retribution arrives, once it is endured it is gone; not enduring it in this life does not mean the karmic retribution disappears—one must still undergo it in future lives, so it is better to endure it all within one lifetime. Therefore, those who persuade others to undergo euthanasia or assist in euthanasia also incur corresponding negative karmic responsibilities; persuading someone to die or helping someone to die constitutes an unpardonable offense.

However, some acts of suicide may be a form of karmic retribution; perhaps the suicide's karmic retribution in this life has come to an end and their lifespan is exhausted, and the karmic causes from past lives have determined that they had no choice but to take their own life. But even if one's lifespan is exhausted, one can only decide one's own death oneself; one should not persuade others to die or help them die. If one persuades someone to die or helps them die, one commits an unpardonable offense and will suffer evil retribution in future lives. Long ago there was an emperor of meager merit (alpa-puṇya); during his reign wars were incessant and the people lived in misery, and in the end this emperor, having no alternative, died by suicide. He did not want to die, but he truly had no more blessings left and had no choice but to die. Some people commit suicide because they are forced by circumstances; this too is cause and effect, karmic retribution—an unavoidable repayment of the transgressions committed in past lives.

Asking someone to kill oneself belongs to the category of suicide, not homicide. When two armies are locked in battle, a captured prisoner, in order to avoid suffering or to avoid betraying intelligence, may ask his own comrades to kill him—these are acts of necessity, not selfish acts. The person who accepts the request to kill is also compelled by circumstances; in order to fulfill the other's wish, he has no personal motive for killing, nor has he persuaded anyone to die, so he does not commit the offense of killing. But cause and effect are still involved, and it must be judged according to the specific circumstances—there may be a slight evil result, or there may be a wholesome result.

If euthanasia is performed to help a patient be free from suffering, and it also accords with the patient's own wishes, does it also fall under the above situation? Assisting someone in euthanasia differs somewhat from helping an imprisoned person commit suicide to escape punishment: the latter is a matter of necessity that cannot be avoided and is not proactive, whereas the former could be avoided—there was a way to avoid it, yet it was not avoided, which is tantamount to assisting death, and carries evil retribution. The two situations differ in intention and in purpose, and thus the karmic retribution differs.

Why do some people want euthanasia? Because they cannot die on their own; no matter how gravely ill they are, they cannot die naturally, and can only ask others to take measures to end their lives. Since they cannot die naturally, it means the karmic retribution they should undergo in this life has not been exhausted; since it has not been exhausted, they should continue to undergo it until it is. If one dies before the karmic retribution is exhausted, one will continue to undergo it in future lives, and in future lives the retribution is often undergone in the three evil destinies, where the suffering far exceeds what is endured in the human realm. Therefore, no matter what setbacks or tribulations one encounters in the human realm, no matter how severe the illness, no matter how great the pain, one must tenaciously endure and resolve them, and not choose death. Karmic retribution cannot be escaped—one must carry on until the karmic conditions of this life are exhausted and the retribution of this life is complete.

How can karmic retribution be exhausted as quickly as possible? By undergoing more of it—the heavier what is endured, the faster it is exhausted. This is a clumsy method, but it is also one of necessity. A faster method is to sincerely repent of karmic obstructions every day, repenting of the evil karma committed in the past. After repentance, first, the mind becomes pure, and some karma is thereby dissolved; second, with regard to karmic creditors, they will then forgive some of your transgressions and let you off.