The Oriental Outlook on Abortion :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

The Oriental Outlook on Abortion    Even Buddhism recognizes the abortive womans subscribe to to come to terms with residual grief. Yvonne Rand, a Soto Zen priest teach at the San Francisco Zen Center, has adapted the mizuko ritual to help American women who founder lost children come to terms with their grief. Each woman sews a bib which she offers to an image of Jizo Bodhisattva with prayers for the well-being of the child who has met with an accidental death or died with induced or spontaneous abortion. This ritual has proved to be an glorious way for women to deal with the psychological consequences of abortion.    Even so, both in the join States and Japan, there is concern that the ritual can be interpreted as condoning abortion or as a kind of penance. In Japan, a schedule of fees for these services has replaced the donation system and abortion has become bounteous business, with sizable amounts of money changing hands. Unscrupulous entrepreneurs have taken wages of women by raising the specter of harmful influences from the vengeful spirits of mizuko and charging for rites to settle and exorcise these spirits.   In the Tibetan tradition, unwholesome actions may be purified by applying the Four Opponent Powers recognizing ones unwholesome action as a mistake, generating remorse, find out not to repeat the action, and doing some purification practice, such as meditation, prostrations, or the repetition of mantras or prayers. Purification practices such as these serve as antidotes or methods to counteract the effects of unskillful deeds. In addition to aid purify ones karma, these practices have the effect of preventing debilitating feelings of guilt and self-blame. Meditations on lovingkindness and lenity for oneself, the aborted fetus, and all sentient beings help to replace feelings of sadness and depression.   Buddhistic cerebration on reproductive ethics recognizes the complexity of the issues. Today traditi onal Buddhist perspectives atomic number 18 being examined anew in light of technological discoveries such as amniocentesis and nonsurgical abortion techniques such as the RU486 yellow journalism developed in France.   There are no moral absolutes in Buddhism and it is recognized that ethical decision-making involves a complex nexus of causes and conditions. Buddhism encompasses a liberal spectrum of beliefs and practices, and the canonical scriptures leave room for a range of interpretations. All of these are grounded in a theory of intentionality, and individuals are encouraged to analyze issues guardedly for themselves.