Election 2008: The Death Penalty

Neither of our U.S. presidential candidates is running against the death penalty, but it may be an issue in some state elections. In any event, in all of the vast literature and teachings of Buddhism I know of no argument in favor of the death penalty, and plenty of arguments against it.

For example, the first verse of the 10th chapter of the Dhammapada is "All tremble at violence; all fear death. Putting oneself in the place of another, one should not kill nor cause another to kill." (Acharya Buddharakkhita translation)

In Buddhism it is important for individuals to be given every opportunity to learn the dharma, no matter what they have done. At the same time, a society that approves of such extreme retribution is generating harmful karma and planting seeds of violence and hate within itself.