Buddhists have adopted a variety of strategies for re-
lating theory with practice. In Thailand, for example,
one approach makes the distinction between the or-
dained clergy, who are forbidden to be involved with
abortion, and lay followers, who are allowed to have
abortions without any religious or moral sanction.
Some monks argue that while abortion is morally
wrong in terms of Buddhist teachings, the decision for
or against it is a matter of individual judgment. Other
Thai Buddhists invoke the teaching on UPAYA(SKILL-
FUL MEANS) by which an act can be justified if the in-
tent behind it is pure. If pregnancy threatens the health
or life of the mother, then its termination through
abortion can be justified because the intention is to
save the mother.
Modern Japanese Buddhists likewise have devel-
oped means for dealing with the problem of carrying
out abortions in the face of the precept against killing.
Using the modern term mizuko,literally “water child,”
for the fetus, William R. LaFleur in his influential book,
Liquid Life(1992), explains the strategy of obscuring
the point at which life begins and seeing fetal devel-
opment as a continuum of liquid slowing becoming
solid. This watery ambiguity disallows a fixed defini-
tion of the precise point at which life begins, and ter-
mination of the process through abortion likewise
obscures any judgment that killing has taken place.
LaFleur argues that fetal life is not so much terminated
as returned to its origins, where it is put on hold and
can await another occasion for its birth. While there is
as yet little evidence to indicate the extent to which or-
dinary Japanese share this liquid life theory, it is not
without its influence.
Another modern development among Japanese
Buddhists for dealing with abortion is MIZUKO KUYO,
or rite for aborted fetuses. Popular in the 1970s and
1980s, the rite has been criticized by Jodo Shinshu
(True Pure Land School) and other Buddhists as be-
ing a moneymaking scheme that takes advantage of
people’s superstitious fears that the souls of the aborted
fetuses will curse them. Others defend mizuko kuyoas
a legitimate Buddhist ritual that can help people deal
with their feelings of sadness and guilt. That some peo-
ple feel guilt over abortion indicates that they feel that
in some way a wrong has been committed.
Abortion is widely practiced in Buddhist countries,
and the Buddhist responses vary from condemnation
to justification. As indicated by studies showing that
the majority of Japanese women having abortions do
not feel guilt, the most popular response is toleration
and acceptance of the act despite teachings that reject
it, and many Buddhists remain silent, voicing no moral
judgment one way or the other.See also:PreceptsBibliography
Hardacre, Helen. Marketing the Menacing Fetus in Japan.Berke-
ley: University of California Press, 1997.
Keown, Damien, ed. Buddhism and Abortion.Honolulu: Uni-
versity of Hawaii Press, 1999.
LaFleur, William R. Liquid Life: Abortion and Buddhism in
Japan.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992.GEORGEJ. TANABE, JR.AGAMA/NIKAYAThe terms Agamaand Nikayadenote the subdivi-
sions of the Sutrapitaka (Pali, Suttapitaka; Basket of
Discourses) within the CANON. Agamahas the basic
meaning of (received) tradition, canonical text, and
(scriptural) authority, while Nikayameans both col-
lection and group. Nikayaalso denotes an ordination
lineage that allows the joint performance of legal acts
of the Buddhist order (SAN ̇GHA), a meaning that will
not be explored in this entry.
It is not known when monks started to gather in-
dividual discourses of the Buddha into structured
collections. According to tradition, the Buddha’s dis-
courses were already collected by the time of the first
council, held shortly after the Buddha’s death in order
to establish and confirm the discourses as “authentic”
words of the Buddha (buddhavacana). Scholars, how-
ever, see the texts as continuously growing in number
and size from an unknown nucleus, thereby under-
going various changes in language and content. For at
least the first century, and probably for two or three
centuries, after the Buddha’s death, the texts were
passed down solely by word of mouth, and the preser-
vation and intact transmission of steadily growing col-
lections necessitated the introduction of ordering
principles. The preserved collections reveal traces of an
earlier structure that classified the texts into three, four,
nine, or even twelve sections (an ̇ga), but this organiz-
ing structure was superseded by the Tripitaka scheme
of arranging texts into the three (tri) baskets (pitaka)
of discipline (VINAYA), discourses (sutras), and sys-
tematized teachings (ABHIDHARMA). All BuddhistAGAMA/NIKAYA