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Today, as a result of medical technology, views on death have changed. Conventionally when the breathing and the beating of ones heart stop, it was considered as dead. Once such essential functions stop, immediate breakdowns in all other organic systems follow. This meant when one came close to death, it was appeared as a complete death of that individuals entire body to the observers. Within the current few decades, this kind of common view has been challenged by the development of machines to artificially maintain body organs.
Use of such machines put an end to the breakdown of both breathing and heart beating at the same time. This kind of situation is commonly found in the cases of almost every patients receiving concentrated medical treatment. These patients are getting artificial pressure from various mechanical devices. A complete breakdown of the entire body organs is the basis of the conventional view on death.
But if it doesnt involve all the organs of the body, the question is that functioning of which organ plays the main role in deciding the time of death.
In problems regarding brain death, Buddhist beliefs also show accordance with the brain death and this can be illuminated through various concepts in Buddhist beliefs. For instance, human philosophy in Buddhism related to the concept of selflessness no doubt supports the idea of organ transplant. Confucian idea of human body have dominated the root of Koreans minds and values for a long time and many positive elements can be found in their own way however they, can also be seen as hazards particularly regarding brain death and problems associated with organ transplant. To overcome various existing elements of hazards at a principle level, an introduction of new values were suggested. The idea of mercy in the Buddhists ethic was presented for that.
The fundamental mind of Buddhism lies in the thought of removing pain. Illness is perhaps the most painful of all. Therefore, in this paper the organ transplant will be seen as a positive solution to remove illnesses at a fundamental level.