Who Are The Sentient Beings?
In
Buddhist teachings, many times the term 'sentient beings' is mentioned without
a definition being offered for its meaning. In the boddhisattva vow, the Buddhist
practitioner takes an oath to liberate all sentient beings. But who are these
sentient beings? Are they the same as living beings?
Before attempting a definition,
it is necessary to start with an interesting story. Alan Turing,one of the pioneers
of the computer industry, developed a test to determine when a computer would
reach the level of intelligence of a human being. The test started with a person
in a closed room with two screens and keyboards in front of him. The subject typed
questions in both keyboards and received answers on each of the screens. On the
other side of the wall, there was a real person answering the questions and dialoging
with the subject on one screen, while a programmed computer sent responses to
the second screen. The moment the subject was unable to distinguish which of the
answers was coming from the human and which from the computer, the computer was
thought to have matched human intelligence. This experiment was called the Turing
test.
The short answer for the definition of a sentient being is that "sentient
beings are those who are capable of experiencing suffering (Dukkha)". In
the same way that the Turing test is a machine intelligence test, one can develop
a sentience test based on the ability of a being to experience suffering. For
example, when a hunter shoots at a rabbit, it runs away because its instincts
detect a threat to its life. The rabbit does not want to be killed. It wants to
avoid the suffering and death caused by a gunshot wound. This is the reason not
only human beings are considered sentient beings, because animals also experience
Dukkha. Plants are living beings, but not sentient because they don't experience
Dukkha. Sentience is also the source of our liberation, because in order to avoid
suffering we start studying and practicing Buddhism, wanting to reach liberation
as soon as possible.
This test of sentience is interesting if it is related
to the concept of life on other planets (I am a big Star Trek fan). If someday
we were to meet Vulcans or Klingons and observe them suffering, then they would
be considered to be sentient beings, and they might be interested in studying
Buddhism and obtaining liberation from this suffering.
A Tibetan teaching
says that sentient beings are all beings that have mind and mind is found in all
beings that breathe.