Understanding and Overcoming Evil, Part 2: What Can We Do About It?
In Understanding and Overcoming Evil, Part 1 (August 31), we learned that the Buddha taught that all harmful acts are due to ignorance rather than evil. So if what we call “evil” is more appropriately seen as ignorance, the question arises: “What do we do about ignorant and harmful behavior when it arises? Do Buddhist teachings offer us help?” Our typical response to “evil” for most of human history has been to punish those who harm others (make them suffer) in the hope that they will refrain from harming in the future and that others who know about their punishment will be deterred from similar actions. But consider the fact that a 2021 US Bureau of Justice Statistics study found that 66% of people released from prison were re-arrested within three years. At the decade mar...