Expert: John Willemsens aka Advayavadananda - 5/23/2011

Question
What is your perspective on embryonic stem cells? also is there any specific/doctrine which founds this belief? It is to my understanding that the Five Skandhas must be present for an organism to be considered sentient, if so what is the moral status of an embryo? To your understanding what is the primary difference between Mahayana Buddhism and Theravada Buddhism and would it affect the perception of embryonic stem cells?

Answer
Hello Hamish,
I see that Justin Choo has already given you a very useful answer to your rather 'leading' question.
Kind regards,
Advayavadananda.
ps you might want to read our page http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/qanda3.htm on the skandhas more generally.