This is a very touchy subject, which of course the Buddha never talked about this because they were not into organ donations in those days. There is a certain attitude within Theravadin Buddhism not to be an organ donor, because it may interfere with your own dying process. The greed factor which sometimes centers around wanting an organ can interfere with possibly rushing somebody's death. We know of people who have wanted, wanted, wanted an organ. That wanting first of all denies the Kamma of their own body. If my liver fails, my kidneys, whatever, if they fail, that is my Kamma, that is my destiny. If it happens that I am able to be fixed by modern science, that may be nice, but to actually want somebody else to die to have their liver, kidney, this is not a pleasant thought, it doesn't fit in our practice. A lot of doctors in the organ business, so to speak, may not always be looking at humans as humans, but organs as money. There are these different aspects in that.
So Rosemary and I are not organ donors. When we die we would like to just be able to die without somebody over us or waiting for us to grab some of our body. In Buddhism, they teach that if a person dies not totally content, then sometimes they hang around their body, and it may be that their loved ones are crying a lot while they are dying and they feel kind of: "Oh, I want to be with them, I want to stay with them, I want to help them..." It is almost like a ghost state and Buddhism teaches that some people get stuck in those states and they hang around their body. In that ghost state, it can affect them greatly if doctors are cutting open their body and taking their parts. So this is an issue that is something new and something that each person has to look at within themselves. But for me and Rosemary personally we are not organ donors.
Somebody could ask, would I accept an organ if I myself was dying of kidney failure or such - that is an interesting question, but quite frankly, I am ready and content to die now. I feel I have done a pretty good job with my life, and that is ok. So for me personally if my kidneys started failing, that is my Kamma, ok, can I die based on my own Kamma? Or will I want to live, will I want to hold on to life? I believe there is another life after this one, so why should I worry so much about this one especially if I get a nice one after this one? Yes, it is an interesting thought, I haven't been faced with that decision yet, but quite frankly I feel, no, I don't really need somebody's else's kidney, that is ok.
But students may want me to stay alive... be careful with your greed. On the one side it is ok, you have a good teacher, you want them to stay. A lot of you have come here many times, you have been students for 17 years, that is great. You have nice friends in me and Rosemary, we are willing to help you and one day we are going to die and that may be before you. For most people it will be before you because we are older than all of you, but how much you want me to stay alive when I am dying, be careful about that.
It happened to one teacher, Ajahn Buddhadasa from Suan Mokkh. When he was dying they rushed him to Bangkok. Almost everybody said, no, he was like 85 tears old, he was ok, ready to die, he had diabetes for a long time, whatever, now they rushed him to Bangkok and they did everything they could to keep him alive. A lot of people were saying that this was wrong thinking, he loved Suan Mokkh, he loved his little hut in the woods there, he had been there 60 years or something, let him die in peace at his home. After keeping him in Bangkok for four or five weeks on machines they decided to take him back to Suan Mokkh to let him die there and that was the right thing to do. And then he did die. So if I am dying and you are craving for me to live, watch over that and just wish me well, wish me well and make me comfortable, maybe I am still listening, so if you guys are all in a huff and a puff I may hear the huff and the puff. If you guys maybe want to chant for me or want to read a Sutta for me, that would be nice.