| World Scripture - Good And EvilWorld ScriptureGOOD AND EVIL How can we define what is good and what is evil? Are thereuniversal indicators behind, within, or consequent upon an action bywhich one can determine whether it was a good or an evil act? How canone tell whether a person is good or evil? The scriptures of the world'sreligions provide a variety of answers to these questions. The first group of passages define good and evil by their fruits.A good person or a good deed bears good fruits; and an evil person or anevil deed produces evil fruits. From the fruits, the person's heart andsincerity can be known. Among the good fruits, of special importance fortheir traditions are the Confucian Five Happinesses and the ChristianFruits of the Spirit. Second are passages which define good and evil by purpose andintention. Purpose may mean to follow an objective standard: the Dhamma orthe will of God or Way of Heaven. Or, intention may be known inwardly andintuitively. Defining good and evil by purpose or intention permits one toknow good or evil even when the result is not visible. But sinceintention is often hidden, it may have to be brought to light by testing,as in the final selections.You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, orfigs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the badtree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a badtree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut downand thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.1. Christianity. Matthew 7.16-20If you, Rahula, are desirous of doing a deed with the body, you shouldreflect on that deed of your body, thus: "That deed that I am desirous ofdoing with the body is a deed of my body that might conduce to the harm ofself and that might conduce to the harm of others and that might conduceto the harm of both; this deed of body is unskilled, its yield is anguish,its result is anguish." If you, Rahula, reflecting thus, should find itso, a deed of body like this, Rahula, is certainly not to be done by you.2. Buddhism. Majjhima Nikaya i.415, Ambalatthika-Rahulovada SuttaThe five sources of happiness: the first is long life; the second, riches;the third soundness of body and serenity of mind; the fourth, love ofvirtue; the fifth is an end crowning the life. Of the six extreme evils,the first is misfortune shortening the life; the second, sickness; thethird, distress of mind; the fourth, poverty; the fifth, wickedness; thesixth, weakness.3. Confucianism. Book of History 5.4.9Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity,licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger,selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, andthe like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do suchthings shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spiritis love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.4. Christianity. Galatians 5.19-23God's messenger said, "Do you know the thing which most commonly bringspeople into Paradise? It is fear to God and good character. Do you knowwhat most commonly brings people into hell? It is the two hollow things:the mouth and the private parts."5. Islam. Hadith of Tirmidhi and Ibn MajahHear and understand: not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but whatcomes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.... Do you not see thatwhatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and so passes on?But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defilesa man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery,fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man.6. Christianity. Matthew 15.11-20How can activity be good or wicked? That which is performed with goodintention is good; and that which is performed with evil intention iswicked.... That which purifies the soul or by which the soul is purified,is merit--producing a happy feeling. That which keeps the soul away fromgood is demerit--producing an unhappy feeling.7. Jainism. Pujyapada, Sarvarthasiddhi 6.3Is there a "righteous man" who is good and a righteous man who is notgood? He who is good to Heaven and good to man, he is a righteous man whois good; good to Heaven but not good to man, that is a righteous man whois evil... But a wicked man who is evil to Heaven and evil to man, he isa wicked man who is evil; he who is evil to Heaven but not evil to man,that is a wicked man who is not evil.8. Judaism. Talmud, Kiddushin 40a "All who commit crimes, robbing, stealing, practicing villainy andtreachery, and who kill men or violently assault them to take theirproperty, being reckless and fearless of death--these are abhorred byall." The king says, "O Feng, such great criminals are greatly abhorred,and how much more detestable are the unfilial and unbrotherly--as the sonwho does not reverently discharge his duty to his father, but greatlywounds his father's heart, and the father who can no longer love his son,but hates him; as the younger brother who does not think of the manifestwill of Heaven, and refuses to respect his elder brother, and the elderbrother who does not think of the toil of their parents in bringing uptheir children, and is very unfriendly to his junior. If we who arecharged with government do not treat parties who proceed to suchwickedness as offenders, the laws of our nature given by Heaven to ourpeople will be thrown into great disorder and destroyed. You must resolveto deal speedily with such according to the penal laws of King Wen,punishing them severely and not pardoning."9. Confucianism. Book of History 5.9Whosoever seeks, by whatever means, merely the happiness of cyclicexistence for personal ends, he is to be understood as a mean person.Whosoever reverses deeds done from base motives and turns back thehappiness of worldly pleasures for the sake of his own liberation, thatperson is called middling.Whosoever wishes to eliminate completely the sufferings of others throughhis own sufferings, that is the excellent person.10. Buddhism. BodhipathapradipaGod's definition of goodness is total giving, total service, and absoluteunselfishness. We are to live for others. You live for others and otherslive for you. God lives for man and man lives for God. The husband livesfor his wife and the wife lives for her husband. This is goodness. Andhere unity, harmony, and prosperity abound.Evil is the emergence of selfishness into this world. God's principle ofunselfish giving was twisted into an ungodly principle of selfish taking.The ungodly position of desiring to be served rather than to serve wasthereby established. The origin of evil is Satan. He was in the positionto serve God, but instead he posed as another god and subjugated man forhis own benefit.... His motivation was selfishness. Out of hisselfishness comes the origin of evil and sin.11. Unification Church. Sun Myung Moon, 10-20-73Evil and good are not equal, even though the abundance of evil may amaze you;so heed God, you men of wits, so that you may prosper!12. Islam. Qur'an 5.100Easily known is the progressive one; easily known the one who declines.He who loves Dhamma progresses, he who hates it declines.13. Buddhism. Sutta Nipata 92The things which men greatly desire are comprehended in meat and drink andsexual pleasure; those which they greatly dislike are comprehended indeath, exile, poverty, and suffering. Thus liking and disliking are thegreat elements in men's minds. But men keep them hidden in their minds,where they cannot be fathomed or measured. The good and the bad of thembeing in their minds, and no outward manifestation of them being visible,if it be wished to determine these qualities in one uniform way, how canit be done without the use of the rules of propriety?14. Confucianism. Book of Ritual 7.2.20The Master said, "The true gentleman is easy to serve, yet difficult toplease. For if you try to please him in any manner inconsistent with theWay, he refuses to be pleased; but in using the services of others he onlyexpects of them what they are capable of performing. Common people aredifficult to serve, but easy to please. Even though you try to pleasethem in a manner inconsistent with the Way, they will still be pleased;but in using the services of others they expect them [irrespective oftheir capacities] to do any work that comes along."15. Confucianism. Analects 13.25That again which is virtue may, according to time and place, be sin. Thusappropriation of what belongs to others, untruth, and injury and killing,may, under special circumstances, become virtue.Acts that are apparently evil, when undertaken from considerationsconnected with the gods, the scriptures, life itself, and the means bywhich life is sustained, produce consequences that are good.16. Hinduism. Mahabharata, Shanti Parva 37.11, 14 No creature shall be harmed for one's own sake, one's ownenjoyment. All depends upon the purpose; not even a blade of grass shallbe cut without a worthy purpose. What is called sin becomes a merit if itis done for a higher purpose, even as what is considered uplifting becomesa force for binding if done in disregard of the higher Truth. Rightlyused, rightly directed, the very means of fall become the means forrise.... [In Tantric ritual] wine is not to be taken as wine nor flesh asflesh; nor is it permissible to partake in the ceremonies as a mere humananimal ridden with greed and desire. The wine is the Shakti, the DivineEnergy; flesh is the Shiva, the Divine Substance, and he who partakes isnone other than Bhairava himself, the Divine Enjoyer. The bliss thatarises when all these three are fused in the consciousness of theworshipper is real Release. Bliss is the intimate form of Brahman and itis there installed in each individual body; wine brings out, releases intomanifestation this indwelling Bliss... and awakens the sense of godhoodwhich unties the knots of life. To be otherwise, to do otherwise, issimply to be drunk.17. Hinduism. Kularnava Tantra 5And verily We shall try you until We know those of you who really striveand are steadfast, and until We test your record.18. Islam. Qur'an 47.31 Once there lived a housewife named Vedehika who had a reputationfor gentleness, modesty, and courtesy. She had a housemaid named Kali whowas efficient and industrious and who managed her work well. Then itoccurred to Kali the housemaid, "My mistress has a very good reputation; Iwonder whether she is good by nature, or is good because my work, beingwell-managed, makes her surroundings pleasant. What if I were to test mymistress?" The following morning Kali got up late. Then Vedehika shouted ather maid, "Hey, Kali!" "Yes, madam?" "Hey, what makes you get up late?""Nothing in particular, madam." "Nothing in particular, eh, naughty maid,and you get up late?" And being angry and offended, she frowned. Then it occurred to Kali, "Apparently, my mistress does have atemper inwardly, though she does not show it because my work iswell-managed. What if I were to test her further?" Then she got uplater. Thereupon Vedehika shouted at her maid, "Hey, Kali, why do you getup late?" "No particular reason, madam." "No particular reason, eh, andyou are up late?" she angrily hurled at her words of indignation. Then it occurred to Kali, "Apparently, my mistress does have atemper inwardly, though she does not show it because my work iswell-managed. What if I were to test her still further?" She got upstill later. Thereupon Vedehika shouted at her, "Hey, Kali, why do youget up late?" and she angrily took up the bolt of the door-bar and hit heron the head, cutting it. Thereupon Kali, with cut head and bloodtrickling down, denounced her mistress before the neighbors, saying,"Madam, look at the work of the gentle lady, madam, look at the action ofthe modest lady, madam, look at the action of the quiet lady. Why must sheget angry and offended because I got up late and hit me, her only maid,cutting me on the head?" Thus the housewife lost her good reputation. Analogously, brethren, a person here happens to be very gentle,very humble, and very quiet as long as unpleasant things do not touch him.It is only when unpleasant things happen to a person that it is knownwhether he is truly gentle, humble, and quiet.19. Buddhism. Majjhima Nikaya i.123-24, Kakucapama Sutta |
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