幹細胞具有自我增生複製的能力，可做為醫療上之疾病控制、組織移植，或藥物開發與測試之用。而從胚胎取得研究用的多能性幹細胞，大都有奪取胚胎（或胎兒）生命之嫌。科學界傾向否定胚胎（乃至初期胎兒）等於整全之「人」。一般建議：胚胎研究可在卵子受精後十四天內進行，因為此時的胚胎發育，無知覺亦無感覺，不具「人」的道德意義。佛教可直下依「眾生平等」之理據，強調：不管胚胎是不是「人」只要它已是「生命」利用它就有「殺生」的道德之惡。再者，生命的始點，確實是從精卵結合的一刻就開始的。處於胚胎狀態的眾生，因為覺知苦樂的感官尚未育成，所以只有「不苦不樂受」。但這並不表示，利用這些胚胎不會具足「殺生」要件。遵行「不殺生戒」的佛弟子，當然無法認同奪取胚胎生命的行為。如果佛弟子是在公領域，介入此一議題之法律面與政策面時，面對廣大社會與各方利益，個人自主的空間相當有限，但也不宜放棄漸進而緩慢地以慈憫不殺的理念，少分影響著法規的品質。顯然在實踐層面，佛教還是要有一套「緣起中道」的行動哲學。

Stem cells have the ability to self-replicate. They can be used in medical therapy, organ transplant, and pharmacological development or testing. However, obtaining pluripotent stem cells from embryos, for research purposes, implies snatching away the lives of the embryos or foetuses. Scientists tend to deny that an embryo (even an early foetus) is a human being. The general suggestion is that research on the embryo can be carried out within fourteen days after the egg has been fertilised because the embryo at that stage does not have any senses or feelings and hence does not possess the significance of a human being ethically. Based directly on the belief that 'all sentient beings are equal', Buddhism emphasises that regardless of whether an embryo is a human being or not, as long as it is already a life form, using it constitutes the immoral act of killing. Furthermore, life actually begins at the time when the sperm and egg fuses. Although the embryo does not have the feeling of pain or pleasure, as its sensory organs have not fully developed, this does not mean that using such embryos does not constitute the act of killing. Buddhists who uphold the precept of no killing certainly cannot agree to the act of seizing the lives of the embryos or foetuses. When a Buddhist encounters the legal and the policy-making aspects of this issue in public, he/she has limited personal autonomy because he/she has to face all of society and the interests of various people. However, one should not give up in slowly and gradually putting the idea of mercy and no killing, little by little, into the quality of the laws and rules. Thus, it is obvious that, from a practical point of view, Buddhism still requires a guiding framework on how to practically apply the teaching of the Middle Path of Dependent Origination.