Capital punishment is another way of describing the death penalty; the act of killing a human being based on the crime(s) that they have committed. It is a punishment that has been carried out by almost every society throughout history as a punishment for criminals and was more often than not accompanied by torture. As it stands today, 36 countries still carry out the death penalty, whilst 103 have completely abolished it. An additional 50 have not used it for at least ten years.
From a Buddhist point of view, we need look no further than the first of the five precepts to get an idea of what the Buddhist view on this is:
"Abstain from injuring or killing all living creatures."
Buddhist doctrines hold non-violence and compassion in absolute paramount, but as with all religion, there are those who can misinterpret their own doctrines, and resort to extremist means.
The Buddha never spoke about capital punishment directly, but it can be assumed from the lessons he taught, that he had zero support of it.
"An action, even if it brings benefit to oneself, cannot be considered a good action if it causes physical and mental pain to another being." - The Buddha
As far as punishment itself goes, Buddhism teaches that the inhumane treatment of an offender does nothing to solve their misdeeds, nor does it truly benefit the punisher or humanity in any way. A punishment given should only be given to the extent required to make amends.
Of course, it is not only the offender we need take into consideration. The person administering the punishment will be doing more damage to themselves than they are aware. If you consistently carry out evil, damaging actions, you will find yourself harming yourself in such a way that you will become bitter, twisted and hateful in nature. The Buddha said:
"Holding onto anger is like holding onto a hot coal with the intention of throwing it at someone. You are the one who gets burned." - The Buddha
And this statement is true for any negative feeling you may be holding towards another person. The longer you hold on to those feelings, and the more you fuel fires of hatred and anger, the more damage you will be doing to yourself.
Despite the Buddha's teachings, however, largely Buddhist countries like Thailand still continue to use the death penalty. Many countries still do this out of popular public opinion, reaction to political unrest, or possibly worst of all, tradition. Apparently a long history of blood and violence is justification to keep doing the same.
Conclusion
All in all, despite the differences in opinion over various cultures, we can comfortably say from a Buddhist point of view that Capital punishment is against the five precepts, and against Buddhist culture. All life is sacred, and all human beings have the capacity for redemption.
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