Japan to allow children to receive organ donations

[Coventina]

Source: Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japan passed a law Monday that will allow children to receive organ transplants for the first time, reversing a ban that doomed many young patients or forced them to seek medical care abroad.

The new law also allows children, defined as those under 15, who are declared brain dead to donate organs — a sea change in this country, which suffers chronic organ shortages largely because of Buddhist beliefs that consider the body sacred and reject its desecration.

Until 1997, Japan had barred organ donations from the brain dead. A law enacted that year still placed several restrictions on donations, banning them from children and from those who did not specifically release their organs.

The law passed Monday will give relatives the authority to consent to donations in cases where the patient's own intentions were unclear, according to the document, which was posted on the legislature's Web site. It will take effect in the summer of 2010, a parliamentary official said on condition of anonymity, citing policy.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jaRyOHnE6AdtXUNDAA9dgstgzc2AD99DIF100

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Wow, I had no idea Japan had this policy. I also would have never guessed that such a policy would come from Buddhist belief. I've studied Buddhism and have never come across this teaching, ever. I'm not claiming expert status, but am just surprised by this.

Oh well, glad to see the policy is set to be changed.

[Warpy]

1. I've never encountered that kind of reverence for the body, either

and I've been a (bad) Buddhist for many years. I'm wondering if the author of the article is a typical religious illiterate who confused Shinto with Buddhism. Shinto is still the dominant belief in Japan.

It is good to open transplant medicine to kids, though. They actually do much better than adults do, on the whole.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. The author's name is 'Mari Yamaguchi'

That could be a western woman who's married into a Japanese family, I suppose; but I'd still guess they have a decent knowledge of Japanese religion.

[Warpy]

4. I did read the article and note the author

and someone raised on the Jesus road in Japan still wouldn't know one from the other. Christianity seems to encourage religious illiteracy wherever it is practiced, the god being a jealous one and all that.

[Art_from_Ark]

16. Mari is a common Japanese girl's name

There are even many ways to write it in the Chinese characters, and even give it meaning. For example, Mari written as 真理 could mean "true intelligence/wisdom"

[Art_from_Ark]

5. I don't think you can say there really is a dominant belief in Japan

I think for funerals the family usually calls in the local Buddhist priest to perform the rites such as reciting the nenbutsu (sort of like giving Catholic services in Latin). Also, it appears that a lot of Japanese cannot clearly distinguish Shintoism from Buddhism, if you pose the question to them, and it would not be uncommon for their personal belief systems to be a juxtaposition or integration of the two.

[kristopher]

7. Shinto is the dominant religion?

Japan has roughly 165,000,000 people. When you total the number of members claimed by the various religions it comes to approximately 325,000,000.

Shinto has two facets: State Shinto, a belief in the divinity of the emperor; and the animistic traditions that permeate the culture as a type of folklore.

It is a stretch to say that either of these are in any way a dominant belief system. Buddhism is unquestionably the most widely practiced religion.

Finally, in Buddhism death is an ill defined process where the spirit leaves the body. This is often thought to take a great deal of time, with the exact moment of separation being very hard to determine. If the body is treated in a manner to cause abnormalities in this process, some believe that the transition to the next life will be affected in a negative fashion, causing the spirit to be reborn in a lower state.

Others argue that since organ donation is definitively an act that is a positive affirmation of life, there is a trade off that outweighs potential damage from interrupting the separation process.

[Art_from_Ark]

8. Actually, Japan has closer to 125 million people

expected to top out at around 126 or 127 million.

Maybe some Buddhist sects believe that "if the body is treated in a manner to cause abnormalities in this process... the transition to the next life will be affected in a negative fashion, causing the spirit to be reborn in a lower state". However, considering that no bodies are buried whole in Japan (they are cremated), and Japanese as a whole don't seem to particularly subscribe to the possibility of coming back in a lower state, then that point is probably moot in Japan.

[kristopher]

10. You need to learn a bit more of the details

Do you have any idea of the funeral rites and practices that occur before the body is buried? There is no contradiction in the practice of cremating a fouled container, and waiting until the container is empty to begin the cremation. Organ harvesting frequently requires the removal of organs from a body where life is still present as measured by observation of respiration and heartbeat.

As to where you get the idea that Japanese are just funning about having a worldview predicated on reincarnation, I don't buy it. That's like saying that westerners of the christian tradition who don't profess a desire to go to heaven are not motivated by beliefs that have root in the concept of heaven and hell.

[Art_from_Ark]

11. I have seen Zen Buddhists do a daily prayer

to ensure that their ancestors stay in heaven. Not the same as reincarnation, I would think. And they do have various rituals associated with certain days after death, but I suspect that has more to do with keeping the priests busy.

[kristopher]

14. I suspect you are trapped by language

heaven and hell aren't exactly the same thing to a Buddhist as they are to a monotheist (google it).

Another example of the language issue is the idea of "sin". Since a sin is an affront against God (with a big "G") and since there is no "God" in Buddhism...

[Art_from_Ark]

15. Trapped by language?

That is how it was explained to me by Japanese themselves. And no, Japanese are not afraid of coming back as a pig or a dog, they do seem to have a concept of heaven ("tengoku") although not the same as the Christian version to be sure. And the Zen practitioners I mentioned prays that their ancestors will stay in heaven (perhaps so that they won't come back to earth and bother people).

[kristopher]

17. Yes, trapped by language.

Heaven (tengoku) simply isn't the same *idea*. There is no god you are sitting alongside, there is no higher plane of existence required (it can literally be heaven on earth) it isn't an eternal state (note that the plea is for the ancestor to remain there); in short, it isn't "heaven" as you are attempting to using the word to refute reincarnation.

And again I'll repeat the point that someone doesn't have to believe the details of the culture's mythology to have that mythology establish the values they possess. So the idea that someone isn't "afraid of coming back as a pig or a dog" doesn't mean that they don't use the set of values of those that do.

[Art_from_Ark]

18. Saa...

天国というところは、キリスト教のheavenと違って、神様がいないところだから、この世にも天国がある可能性があります。でも「神様」に信じる日本人もいます。

[kristopher]

19. Ok, but

When discussing large populations, cultural beliefs and traditions, simply pointing to an example of variation isn't a successful way to make your case.

[Art_from_Ark]

20. Jitsu wa

日本では宗教ということが複雑で、個人の問題だから、イメージと違う例外が多いだろう。

[kristopher]

21. It's personal and complicated everywhere.

As for "images", it really depends on what the foundation of the image is, doesn't it? If it is cursory knowledge gained by reading a couple of newspaper articles, then we can expect the image to lack accuracy. If, however, the image is a composite of detailed study and decades of intimate personal experience...

[Art_from_Ark]

24. Watashi no baai

そのイメージが数十年間の親密な対人関係からできたものです。

:hi:

[miyazaki]

9. I suppose those tens of thousands of Shinto Shrines

are there just for the tourists? Its very dominant and traditional to go through its ritual motions as practiced throughout
the year by the Japanese. Culturally its everywhere.

[kristopher]

12. Yes it is. And they are usually co-located with Buddhist temples.

The belief structure of Shinto has been so integrated with Buddhism that it is really not possible to disentangle the two and proclaim that "Shinto beliefs" form the dominant religious thought in the country. The animistic aspect of shinto is what I view as a collection of folk beliefs serving a similar role to folk beliefs everywhere. The only real force ever achieved by shinto was the nationalistic movement that co-opted it as State Shinto where they attempted to divorce it from Buddhism and use it as the foundation for the restoration of the emperor as a descendant of Japan's creation deities. This, in turn, laid the groundwork for the rise of militarism resulting in the ultimate catastrophe of the 4 pillars viewpoint. To say this view is now rejected by the bulk of the country would be putting it mildly.

I do think traditional nonBuddhist beliefs also have a role in the aversion to bodily mutilation such as pierced ears and tattoos. The idea of filial piety is one of the strongest core beliefs in the psyche of most Japanese, and a core element of that is that one honoring one's parents requires one to respect the body the parents gave the child. To disfigure the body is to dishonor the parents. If I recall, this obligation to parental respect is traced back to China (earlier writings there) where it is strong in Taoism, Confusionism and Buddhism.

[Art_from_Ark]

13. "Ritual motions"

Lots of people go through "ritual motions"-- not just in Shinto, but also in other activities. Sumo wrestlers go through a ritual motion of throwing salt into the ring to "purify" it. It doesn't mean that they actually believe the salt actually does purify the ring.

As far as Shinto shrines go, a lot of them are remnants of the time when Shinto was the state religion. Some of them have gone by the wayside. And believe it or not, a lot of Shinto shrines do derive a bit of income from tourists (lots of shrines are written up in travel guidebooks), as well as people seeking some charm for safety in driving or childbirth, or to pass an exam.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Leslie speakers too ?

:shrug:

[Nihil]

22. You are *so* going to get smacked for that!

:spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank:

[B3Nut]

23. You beat me to that, or a similar joke!

:rofl:

They'd probably end up with those weird Yamaha rotary speakers with the styrofoam-cone driver on a stick...Yamaha used to make amps for their combo organs using those rotors. ;)

[Art_from_Ark]

6. So Japanese Buddhists believe that the body is sacred

and reject its desecration? Interesting, since all dead bodies that aren't used for science are cremated in Japan.