(Originally Cont’d from 999 reasons why a Buddhist can sit on jury 1-31-10)

The attack ended, according to Tshering, as Angulimala fell to the ground and the Buddha consoled him offering loving kindness and compassion. This experience completely transformed the criminal. He asked to be ordained a monk, and he practiced meditation and self-purification while living in a Sangha community.

What does all of this have to do with jury trial duty?

Well, the story doesn’t end here. Throughout his life, families of those Angulimala had assaulted tracked him down and beat him with stones. “He used to go to the monastery with wounds and bloodshed to be reminded by the Buddha that it is his former karmic deeds that he is undergoing this hardships in this life itself,” said Tshering (underline added for emphasis).

After his death, someone asked Buddha about the ex-criminal. He answered, “[M]y son Angulimala has attained Nirvana,” Tshering said.  Followers of the Buddha  could hardly believe it and asked how could such a person attain Nirvana. And Buddha replied:

“. . . Angulimala had done much evil because he did not have good friends. But later, he had good friends and with their help . . . he became steadfast . . . in practicing the dharma and meditation. Thus, his evil deeds have been overwhelmed by good karma and his mind has been completely rid of all defilements.”

— Tshering

“Whose evil deed is obscured by good, he illumines this world like the moon freed from a cloud,”

— the Buddha

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Sitting in judgment of another requires a good student of Buddhism to be a good citizen of the country in which they live. As a criminal defense attorney with more than 100 jury trials under my belt, I can tell you that I always sought “to seat” jurors with strong spiritual beliefs. I believed they provided a just reasoning for their actions, no matter how they voted. I can see a juror helping to  provide a karmic experience by a verdict of guilty or not guilty, as well no verdict, when jurors are unsure following deliberations, and a judge declares a “mistrial” because of a “hung jury.”