A God-believing guest speaker mentioned something interesting but illogical at a Buddhism and Science seminar. He said that because there is free will, the problem of good and evil arose. So does that make free will good, evil or neutral? For creator God-believers of original sin, it is clear that free will cannot be good or neutral on the whole, as all are by now sinners. Does that not make the giver of free will evil? And if so, how can this creator be good? The simplest way to answer this is that there is simply no good creator who gave free will to anyone.
This is one simple reason why many (including Buddhists) don’t believe there is an almighty and all-good creator God. (Such a being cannot be almighty since he can’t even prevent or contain one single original sin. Does this not make him the most original sinner?) He also said he’s not sure why he’s invited to the event. I’m not sure too, because he even spoke of evolution over millions of years, which is in essence anti-creationism… along with other mish-mash ideas not really about Buddhism. He left the event early – but should had stayed on… to learn more about Buddhism.
佛法难闻
Goes to show that even when an opportunity is there, there will be other obstacles/hindrances to learning the Dharma.
We should be so grateful for the many avenues available to learn about Buddhism and the good fortune that we are able and receptive to the teachings.
Amituofo.
The Buddha does not need servants to serve his whim and fancy but he hopes to groom masters like him. Like a patient teacher he trains us so that we can be independently successful using his syllabus. How much of a ship we can be to others is our own hardwork, determination and what the bodhi heart aspires.
The question on whether free will is evil very much depends on the context of why evil exists? If evil does not exists becos it was never allowed by an entity so even you have the free will to choose between good and excellent, no matter how free your will is, it will only be for the better. While theistic conceptualist may defend the point that one need to know evil in order to know good without which we will be robots. The reality is in an autocratic setup where the ultimate will overwrites the free will of all. How much then is really your free will? In a setting where you are already part of the plan. How much free will is that since everything is happening as planned.
Free will is an illusion. There is no free will in dictatorship or autocracy because the highest will overwrites the rest and nobody can ever be an equal. If you create a robot with free will. Will you create a robot with full admin rights or one who deluded himself tt he has free will when you have an emergency button parked in his butt that he will never know till the situation arise.
Some people used to think about evil as being a by-product of the devil. The truth is evil exists long before the head of evil was officially the object of contention. If evil does not exists before the head of evil. Then from where did the evil intention arise? In theistic context, the devil was perfect until unrighteouness was found in him. It is often conflicting to know that if something is perfect as defined by the divine, how then can perfect regress to a state of flaw. If perfect can become flawed then the same flaw lies in any perfect being no matter how perfect they may claim to be. Therefore some may say evil exists due to the absence of the divine being while good exists becos of the presence of the divine being. While this logic may sound simple but is it that simple? Is it not the presence of the divine being who allowed evil which is what brought about the presence of evil?
There is something more powerful than the devil and in Buddhism we call it Mara. Like a bug or parasite planted within someone, the Mara has the ability to turn good into evil as easy as a game of reversi. Whether one is a heavenly being or anything else. Mara makes all beings in the six realms corruptible. This bug is no more than the illusion of self and as long as pride and ego exists, next come the fall.
If evil is not created by the divine yet it exists and it is allowed by the divine. There can only be one explanation. One can only allow evil unless it has been there all along since nobody created it and nobody knows how it got there in the beginning. If u can’t get rid of it, u have to live with it. Therefore there are indeed worlds above worlds and realms above realms. The Buddha speaks of the Mara. If one rebellion can take place in the upper planes. It can always take place another time as long as Mara is there. It will tinker w ur ego, pride, jealousy, anger, ignorance and desire. How many of mankind are not victims of these and wars were fought, blood were shed and plotting and scheming abound. How many of heavenly beings are not victims of it where they regress and fall into an eternity of condemnation? Only the Buddha had conquered Mara and none have come this far.
It is interesting to note that sometimes evil is referred to as not something like a rock or electricity by theistic conceptualist. One cannot have a jar of evil. If so, what would a jar of poison with an intention to poison someone be then? Evil has no existence of its own and can only exists in the absence of good. If so, if evil thinks evil is good. How then can evil not continue to exist on the pretext of good? In recent years, we have all witnessed the extremistic love for a particular beliefs which got the world on its toes. These perpetrators think that they are good and doing a good cause for their beliefs. Is that good?
In Buddhism, too much of anything is not good. That is why Buddhism walks the middle path. The path that slice through the conflicts and paradox of dualism. Not all good things are good for everyone. What we think is good for someone may not end up the same way for everyone. Thats what Buddhism has 84000 teachings to cater to all forms of problems in their varying capacities.
In some context, theists used the analogy of holes to relate to the idea. Holes are real but they only exist in something else. Theists call the absence of dirt a hole, but it cannot be separated from the dirt. If so, evil and good can never exists separately and can never be taken apart. One can only hope to reach a more good vs less evil state of mind since they must always be there for each other. The moment one create good, one automatically produces evil as well. Like a potato, the moment you slice it into half, automatically two faces of a potato is produced. Is it 50 by 50 ratio that they exist proportional to each other, this depends on where you cut the potato into two. The discriminating mind produces conflicting dualistic concepts which is what Buddhism moves away from. Is the world totally black and white?
Supposedly you produce a colour strip from white to black using powerpoint gradient tool, does it produce black and white or they are transited by a grey portion that one cannot make out whether it is good or evil which is beyond concepts? Dualistic principles are like the x and y axis and will only be shuttling between two ends of two points. The Buddha with his middle path made the z-axis and with that all things becomes 3 dimensional and space-like.
We live in a realm of desire and being surrounded by forms and functions, we forgot to pay homage to one thing that is more prevalent than anything in our lives. EMPTY SPACE is what makes all things function. A bowl can be filled and refilled many times simply because it was empty to begin and empty to end with after consuming. As long as the space endures, it is functional. Space may have no form but it functions. If u fill the bowl with cement, it becomes non functional. A empty bowl can be a bowl for porridge, noodle, soba, salad……etc simply because it is an empty bowl without an ego, it can support many causes. Once the bowl start thinking that it is for porridge, it won’t serve other purposes and is limited.
Holes being associated with the absence of good is not justified. We cannot blame such a form of understanding because humans do not regard absence as a form of presence. Humans take space for granted. Look around us. How many things do not have holes in them? Our nostrils allows us to breathe because air can enter simply because there is space inside. Holes allows things to be assembled with screws and nuts. The empty holes in injection molds from manufacturing processes produce forms when the molds are all empty to begin with. Filters allows fine particles to be filtered out. Our skin has holes to breathe. All these can only take place in the presence of the unlimited empty space that extends since the beginning of time which knows no end. A thousand artists can produce a thousand painting in many different themes some even depicting heaven and hell. Did not all painting start from an empty canvas that side neither dualistic points of good and evil? Do all art need an artists to create it? Nope. Look at nature and its magnificent the eroding rocks and terrains. They are all a form of art and
> ‘How many of heavenly beings are not victims of it where they regress and fall into an eternity of condemnation?’
There is no eternal condemnation as bad karma cannot be infinite.
> ‘Only the Buddha had conquered Mara and none have come this far.’
There are countless Buddhas.
> ‘Evil has no existence of its own and can only exists in the absence of good.’
Evil in Buddhism is whatever arises from greed, hate and delusion. The absence of good can be neutrality, which is not always evil.
> In Buddhism, too much of anything is not good.
It is always good to have more compassion and wisdom and such.
> ‘One can only hope to reach a more good vs less evil state of mind since they must always be there for each other. ‘
There is the state of purity that is beyond dualistic good and evil – Buddhahood.