Confusion about the values of Buddhism and euthanasia

            I don’t think I can say I have an objection to the Buddhist beliefs about euthanasia because I do not have the background necessary to mount an objection within a Buddhist framework, but I do have a question about how and why certain values are weighed more than others in approaching the ethical issues involved in euthanasia.

           My first question concerns what I understood to be the crux of Buddhism.  I had interpreted one of the goals, if not the primary goal, of Buddhism as achieving nirvana or a state in which suffering no longer exists.  Skillful deeds lead people out of this world of suffering.  As such, I had trouble understanding why euthanasia could not be framed as an act that would reduce unnecessary physical and emotional suffering.

            Second, Buddhism seems to promote the understanding that nothing is permanent because of the fact that the universe constantly changes.  Therefore, it was strange to me that Buddhists appear to take an approach which, in a way, tries to cling onto a life that has no foreseeable good and only suffering without accepting the impermanence of life and all things in the universe.  The third noble truth says that suffering can be avoided by eliminating attraction and aversion and understanding this impermanent nature of reality; eliminating the attraction for prolonging life and the aversion to death through euthanasia does not seem to me to be discordant with this statement.

            Third, while I understand that reincarnation in Buddhism is not the personal type of reincarnation that may be seen in Hinduism, there still appears to be an element of reincarnation and rebirth in Buddhism.  If not literal rebirth, at least viewing oneself as an interconnected part of the universe and believing in the denial of self seems to be an accepted tenet of Buddhism.  Thus, it seems strange that there seems to be such a strong stance against euthanasia because I had expected that a belief system in which the self is not very important and in which one is simply reborn as another part of the universe would at most call euthanasia an moderately unskillful act.

            Of course, I doubt that I would know which values are more important than others than Buddhist experts – these are simply some aspects with which I was confused.