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Hindu Bioethics for the Twenty-First Century

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Hindu Bioethics for the Twenty-First Century Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies Volume 14 Article 9 January 2001 Hindu Bioethics for the Twenty-First Century S. Cromwell Crawford Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Crawford, S. Cromwell (2001) "Hindu Bioethics for the Twenty-First Century," Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies: Vol. 14, Article 9. Available at: https://doi.org/10.7825/2164-6279.1252 The Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies is a publication of the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies. The digital version is made available by Digital Commons @ Butler University. For questions about the Journal or the Society, please contact [email protected]. For more information about Digital Commons @ Butler University, please contact [email protected]. -- Crawford: Hindu Bioethics for the Twenty-First Century Hindu Bioethics for the Twenty-First Century s. Cromwell Crawford University of Hawaii Introduction focus on these three distinctive features of Hindu bioethics, namely: its medical basis; IN his Cross Cultural Perspectives in its philosophical framework; its ethical Medical Ethics: Readings, Robert Veatch orientation. observes, "The religions of Judaism and Christianity and the secular thought of the Distinctive Features of Hindu Bioethics political philosophy of liberalism in the Anglo-American West are not the only Medical Basis alternatives to a Hippocratic medical ethic."J A unique feature of Hinduism is that a fully In fact, the new pluralistic approach to world fledged system of medicine evolved within .cultures is introducing us to several religious its complex ethos. The historical and philosophical alternatives from outside developments are shrouded in mystery due the Anglo-American West. Just· as to their long antiquity. Yet, inasmuch as all alternative medicine is becoming recognized primitive societies have survived by and respected, and is being incorporated into recourse to some rudimentary system of mainstream medicine, there is a growing medicine, it is fair to assume that during the admission that the ethical problems we face protohistoric Harappa Culture, which today have dimensions that are not preceded and followed 2000 B.C., a adequately addressed by the standard rudimentary system of medicine was responses of Judaism, Christianity, and practised in the northwestern region of secular philosophies. From among these new India. Archaeological excavations at the two Eastern perspectives, Hindu bio·ethics stands main capitals of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro out. Its strength lies in the fact that it is give evidence of a technically advanced integrated in an indigenous system of society that built its houses, streets, and medicine, and is more alive today than at public facilities with a knowledge of the any time in its 2000 year history. It principles of good hygiene and sanitation. addresses the preventive and promotive Water was valued for its purifying and aspects of medicine;· mind-body therapeutic qualities. Terra cotta figurines connections; connections between the and images on seals, suggest powerful microcosmos and macrocosmos; and relies sentiments for Mother Earth and her bounty solely on nature. In addition to this scientific of plants and animals. The figure of a orientation, Hindu bioethics is homed deity, ritualistically seated in a yogic . philosophically pluralistic and ethically position, typifies an ancient medicine-man. contextual, gIvmg it that conceptual The Harappa Culture collapsed by around flexibility which is often missing in its 1500 B.C.E. Western religious counterparts, but which is Data covering the end of the second demanded by the complexities of millennium B.C.E. are drawn from the Rg contemporary issues. All this proceeds from Veda, the earliest literature of India, which the focus of Hindu bioethics on the person gives us clearer glimpses of the state of as a composite of somatic, psychic, social medicine in the early Vedic period. More and spiritual dimensions. In this piece, we important than the Rg Ve.da for knowledge Hindu-Christian Studies Bulletin 14 (2001) 25-30 Published by Digital Commons @ Butler University, 2001 1 Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies, Vol. 14 [2001], Art. 9 26 Cromwell Crawford of ancient Indian medical lore are the hymns Psychiatry; (7) Rejuvenation; (8) of the Atharva, which should be read with Knowledge for increase of virility. the Kausikasutra. One is impressed by the range of topics Vedic medicine' was predominantly the medical manuals of Ayurveda cover, magi co-religious, but mixed in with sorcery reading almost like modern medical texts, and witchcraft are certain empirical facets of notwithstanding their antiquity, and also for healing. These procedures include surgery; their concern for the moral dimensions of methods for stopping hemorrhage; bone­ .medicine. This orientation bodes well for setting; hydrotherapy; and extensive use of our attempt to construct a distinctive system plants and herbs. Underlying a good deal of of Hindu bioethics. the ritualistic actions is a clever use of the This symbiosis between medicine and power of suggestion and visualization.2 morals follows from common assumptions During the millennium preceding the which underlie both disciplines. We here Christian era, developments take place highlight some of the salient features of which precipitate a paradigm shift from the Indian medicine which provide the bases for earlier magico-religious tradition to the new ethical analysis: . empirico-rational medicine of Ayurveda. In his Asceticism and Healing in Ancient India (1) Ayurveda is rational in its approach (1991), Kenneth G. Zysk traces the to medicine. In place of the contribution made by Buddhism to Indian supernatural therapy (daiva­ medicine through its institutionalization in vyapasraya) of the Vedic phase, it monasteries, which led to new models ·for introduced rational therapy (yukti­ vyapasraya) to make the system medical manuals; through the emergence of logical and scientific. monk-healers; and through the establishment (2) Ayurveda is holistic. It views the of monastic hospices and infirmaries. person as an integrated whole and not During the Gupta period, Zysk states just an aggregate of several body parts "Hinduism assimilated the ascetic medical that are the domain of specialists. repository into its socioreligious and (3) Ayurveda sees the person as intellectual tradition," thus making it an grounded in nature: a microcosm orthodox Hindu science.3 within the macrocosm. Diet, climate, Ayurveda is "the science of (living to a soil, season, time and place are all ripe) age." The term is semantically factors with which to reckon. (4) Health and healing are regarded as significant. Basham notes: "its first acts of nature. In medico-ethical terms: component (ayur) implies that the ancient the natural is the good. Indian doctor was concerned not only with (5) Health is identified as a positive curing disease but also with promoting state, and not just the absence of positive health and longevity, while the disease. second (veda) has religious overtones, being (6) Health is multi-dimensional: the term used for the most sacred texts of physical, mental, social and spiritual. Hinduism.,,4 (7) Ayurveda apprehends the person as The standard texts on Ayurveda are an individua~ having a unique certain extant collections known as The constitutional type, and as the bearer of an unmatched set of life experiences. Great Trio (Brhat-Trayi). They are (i) the (8) Ayurveda gives prominence to the Caraka Samhita (100 A.D.), (ii) the Susruta notion of balance. It promotes an Samhita (3-4 A.D.), and (iii) Vagbhata's ethics of moderation in matters of sex :I!' Astangahrdayam (med-7 A.D.). " and abstinence, food and drink, work I!I' Ayurveda is divided into eight and play, sleeping and awaking, faith I!' branches: (1) Internal Medicine; (2) and common sense. ., Surgery; (3) Diseases of the Supra­ (9) Medicine is essentially preventive ···.1( " clavicular area; (4) Pediatrics, including and promotive, elevating caring above Obstetrics/Gynaecology; (5) Toxicology; (6) curing. I, I https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs/vol14/iss1/9 DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1252 2 Crawford: Hindu Bioethics for the Twenty-First Century Hindu Bioethics for the Twenty-First Century 27 (10) Longevity is. measured not in that the medical literature embodies a vision number of days, but quality of time. of life that is supported by interesting ethical (11) Death is an inevitable part of the instructions not present in works of natural process, and is therefore not an philosophy. The manuals also cover many evil or the object of divine punishment. other interesting details which "throw a Death is the opposite of birth, not of life. flood of lights on the scholastic methods of (12) Health and disease, happiness and Indian thinkers." Moreover, scholars in suffering, life and death are the touch with "the importance of Hatha Yoga consequences of an individual's or Tantra physiology or anatomy in relation karma, hence the emphasis on human to some of the Yoga practices of these responsibility. schools will no doubt be interested to know (13) Health is more ·than what the for purposes of comparison or contrast the doctors do; it is a total life-style that speculations of the medical schools on carries one from cradle to the grave. kindred points of interest." Dasgupta (14) Health is not the ultimate good concludes his case for the inclusion of the but the penultimate good. medical literature in
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