The search for microbial Martian life and American Buddhist ethics

Abstract

Multiple searches hunt for extraterrestrial life, yet the ethics of such searches in terms of fossil and possible extant life on Mars have not been sufficiently delineated. In response, in this essay, I propose a tripartite ethic for searches for microbial Martian life that consists of default non-harm towards potential living beings, default non-harm to the habitats of potential living beings, but also responsible, restrained scientific harvesting of some microbes in limited transgression of these default non-harm modes. Although this multifaceted ethic remains secular and hence adaptable to space research settings, it arises from both a qualitative analysis of authoritative Buddhist scriptural ethics as well as the quantified ethnographic survey voices of contemporary American Buddhists. The resulting tripartite ethic, while developed for Mars, contains ramifications for the study of microbes on Earth and further retains application to other research locations in our Solar system.

Religion, Science, and Space Exploration from a Non-Western Perspective

“…Indeed, it is possible that the locus where Buddhism may have a significant contribution that is distinct from religions such as Christianity is in the formation of an ethical framework for dealing with life on other worlds. Capper's survey research on American Buddhists has shown that most American Buddhists affirm a no-harm approach to living beings, regardless of where those beings reside, as well as a no-harm ethic toward the ecosystems in which they live and support for a "scriptural ethical complex regarding the taking of resource lives [as] respectfully as possible" when it comes to scientific research on other worlds (Capper 2020). Buddhism, as Capper notes, is rather vague on the ethics of killing of lifeforms such as microbes and recognizes that it is impossible for humans to live without killing such organisms, and also that Buddhism in general tends to have high regard for human life (due to its ability to attain enlightenment) even while emphasizing the need to avoid killing other life forms as a way of respecting life in general.…”

“…This presents something of a dilemma in Buddhism, because it is recognized that humans, like other life forms, kill simply to survive, even while it is best from an ethical perspective for humans to avoid killing. Capper notes the comment of one of his research participants who asks who humans think they are to assume our lives are more valuable than those of microbes, and I think this idea captures a perspective on life that is found in several manifestations of Buddhism in Japan (Capper 2020).…”

“…And in Japan, for example, while most Japanese see themselves as following Buddhist traditions, most also eat meat-including several of my friends who are monks. What we can, perhaps, say in general is that Buddhist sects maintain an ethic of concern for life that is balanced with the recognition that at times it is necessary to take life (Capper 2020;Traphagan and Traphagan 2015).…”