[Buddha-l] Evil

[Curt Steinmetz]

"Why do we complain of Nature? She has shown herself kindly; life, if 
you know how to use it, is long. But one man is possessed by an avarice 
that is insatiable, another by a toilsome devotion to tasks that are 
useless; one man is besotted with win, another is paralyzed by sloth; 
one man is exhausted by an ambition that always hangs upon the decision 
of others, another, driven on by the greed of the trader, is led all 
over lands and all seas by the hope of gain; some are tormented by 
passion for war and are always either bent on inflicting danger upon 
others or concerned about their own; some there are who are worn out by 
voluntary servitude in a thankless attendance upon the great; many are 
kept busy either in the pursuit of other men's fortune or in complaining 
of their own; many, following no fixed aim, shifting and inconstant and 
dissatisfied, are plunged by their fickleness into plans that are ever 
new; some have no fixed principle by which to direct their course, but 
Fate takes them unawares while they loll and yawn -- so surely does it 
happen that I cannot doubt the truth of that utterance which the 
greatest of poets delivered with all the seeming of an oracle: 'The part 
of life we really live is small.' For all the rest of existence is not 
life, but merely time....

"And then certain men show the most senseless indignation - they 
complain of the insolence of their superiors, because they were too busy 
to see them when they wished an audience! But can anyone have the 
hardihood to complain of the pride of another when he himself has no 
time to attend to himself? After all, no matter who you are, the great 
man does sometimes look toward you even if his face is insolent, he does 
sometimes condescend to listen to your words, he permits you to appear 
at his side; but you never deign to look upon yourself, to give ear to 
yourself. There is no reason, therefore, to count anyone in debt for 
such services, seeing that, when you performed them, you had no wish for 
another's company, but could not endure your own."

Seneca, De Brevitate Vitae

Executive summary: don't blame the Buddha for your own failings or those 
of others.

Curt

Jayarava wrote:
> I'm not so good at philosophical thinking - tend to shoot from the hip. But tonight I'm doing a presentation to a small group on the problem of Evil. My reading for this has been quite stimulating.
>
> I've never found the Buddhist explanations for the existence of evil very satisfying, though curiously I find the proposals for action in the face of evil quite compelling. 
>
> One particular problem, it seems to me, is the Mahayana idea of the Buddha vowing to save all beings. It seems to me that if we start by accepting the idea that the job of a Buddha is to save all beings, then we'd have to conclude on the evidence that the Buddha is pretty useless and possibly getting worse. It is rather like the arguments against the existence of God. The prevalence of evil, and to mind my it's advancement, argues against any large scale effective force for good.
>
> Any thoughts on this?
>
> Best Wishes
> Jayarava
>
>
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