Thursday, April 20, 2017

The Bell Tolls: Opposing Death Penalty in Ark.

Wisdom Quarterly (ANTI-DEATH PENALTY BUDDHISTS); Associated Press (ap.org)
The Latest: Appeals court delays execution at least an hour
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The latest on Arkansas' efforts to carry out [an unprecedented number of] executions before the end of April (all times local): 7:00 pm A federal appeals court has delayed an Arkansas inmate's execution for at least an hour to review his request to stop his lethal injection scheduled for tonight (Thursday, 4/20/17).

We'll all be guilty of murder when state kills
[Ledell Lee is still on the chopping block because of being black while being accused of a crime, court inaction, unfair trials, poor representation, prison obtaining killer drugs from pharmaceutical manufacturer under false pretenses with court agreeing to this claim, no independent expert, not suitable for such a penalty (due to mental status, intellectual disability, mental health problems), a victim of Clinton's death culture in Good Ol' Arkansas.] More

Buddhism and Death
Maurice O’Connor Walshe (Wheel #261, rev. 2nd ed., BPS.lk) first published as Sangha Guide No. 3 by the English Sangha Trust, Dhammapadìpa, London ATI edition; edited by Wisdom Quarterly
What does Buddhism have to say about death? British Buddhist scholar Walshe explains.
The Traditional Christian View
This asserts that humans have an immortal soul, created by God. After death a human will, in some shape or form, receive the reward or punishment for deeds on earth....

The Modern Secular View
According to this view, which usually claims to be “scientific,” a human is just another animal and, like the animals in the Christian view, simply perishes totally at physical death....

The Buddhist Attitude
...The  Buddhist  attitude  to  both  of  these  types  of  view  is  that  they  are  extremes, neither of which is in fact true.

The first type of view is called in  Buddhism  “the  heresy [teaching or wrong view]  of  eternalism”  (sassataváda),  while  the  second  is  called  “the  heresy  of  annihilationism”  (ucchedaváda).  They  both  in  fact  miss the point.

What  actually  happens  according  to  Buddhism  can   only  be  clearly understood if we have some acquaintance with the Buddhist  view of the general nature of humans.

But before considering this  (as far as it is relevant  to our subject), it may  be as well to observe how the Buddhist view can  be  misinterpreted:

If  we say, for instance, that in the Buddhist view human are not distinguished from by the possession of an  “immortal soul,” then this looks very much like the Modern Secular position.

If, on the other hand, it is pointed out that according to Buddhism we reap the "rewards and penalties," after death, for our actions (karma) in this life, then this looks rather like the Traditional  Christian view.  If both propositions are stated to be correct, the result looks like a contradiction, though in fact it... More


No comments: