A Buddhist perspective on the death penalty

Buddhists, along with a growing number of members of other religions, believe that the death penalty is fundamentally unethical. From the Buddhist perspective, non-violence, or not harming others, is the heart of the Buddha’s teachings.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama signed Amnesty International’s pledge against the death penalty several years ago, and has spoken out against it on multiple occasions. He opposes the death penalty because it punishes the person and not the action.

Buddhism does allow ending the life of another when it is done in self-defense, and the argument could be made that, sometimes, capital punishment could be viewed as a society’s attempt at self-defense. But when there are other means available to prevent a person from harming others, such as imprisonment, it would seem that the less lethal option should be favored.

Countering violence with violence only results in more violence. The true enemy is our own self-cherishing and self-grasping tendencies, and the negative behavior that we engage in to defend, protect, and sustain ourselves even at others’ expense.

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Source: The Washington Post, Losang Tendrol, October 26, 2011. Losang Tendrol is a nun in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. She teaches meditation and Buddhism at the Guhyasamaja Buddhist Center in Reston.