Do Not Create Evil

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[@user-tc7nd5fq5d]

Good morning brand My name is Boaz I am from Tel Aviv Israel. this is a difficult and terrible time our heart is broken.I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for this video. He supports and strengthens amidst the feeling of confusion and grief, so thank you very much

[@HardcoreZen]

Thank you, Boaz!

[@bodomatthes8560]

21:53

[@dr.jeffreyzacko-smith324]

We cannot untangle the mess … it is only solved when we step out of it completely and step into this moment and the situation right in front of us. *BRILLIANT*

[@user-ol7bl1iy8u]

This video prompted me to listen to your latest book again on audible. Was so inspired I bought my 6th Brad Warner audiobook. You have been very helpful to me :). Thanks Brad :)

[@user-ol7bl1iy8u]

Perfect, thank you so much Brad. Definitely a lesson in this one. Glad you broke a rule today.

[@shawnhampton8503]

This totally jives with what St. Thomas Aquinas said about evil: that evil does not have being per se... but it is rather the absence of the good. The cycle of violence is truly vicious and counter to our true nature. And St. Thomas also said that "evil" is never something that is marketed as joyful and pleasure in murder, cruelty, hatred, lying, etc. is never the case. Evil actions always masks themselves as "good" - even virtuous. Thank you for this Brad.

[@fhoniemcphonsen8987]

Thanks. Hope Ziggy feels better soon.

[@jeremyfirth]

I agree with you completely about evil having no ontological existence. Instead, it's an absence of good, and only comes to life when we act it out in the world. One thing I wanted to add that I think is related and was a huge key for me was forgiveness. The "stepping out of the mess of the past" (my poor paraphrase of your words) is only fully possible when we are willing to look at the past through a lens of forgiveness. This may be more on the personal level than on a national level, but regardless, I think forgiveness is essential for enabling one to "live in the present" in a relationship that may have a twisted, dark past.

[@pertinaciousD]

This is a really nice clear talk, thanks. I just wish more people would pay attention.

[@MattG9988]

Thanks for braking your own rules. I was going to write you today asking what you thought about what is going on. Very much appreciated, similar to my thoughts but with greater detail and clarity.

[@christophepomes1496]

That was very useful, thanks.

[@YS-ne3tg]

Hello Brad. Thank you for the video. As a Ukrainian I completely understand feelings of Israeli people right now, many Ukrainians got retraumatised watching those videos. The world could have first called evil acts of terrorists as the evil. But very similar to our situation the world first started denying Israelis' right to defend themselves saying they are responsible for the attack on themselves. At the same time I more and more get convinced that people from other countries should not think they are so knowledgeable about this kind of situations. Not that long ago I heard a Bosnian woman telling Ukrainians: none from outside your country will ever truly understand what you are going through, because they don't have first hand experience. I stopped trying to explain or even just discuss anything what is going in my country with any foreigner. Social media creates a very harmful delusion that we do have that experience of the war somewhere in Afghanistan or Syria or Israel or Gaza or Ukraine. But it is just an illusion.

[@lazerlloyd1]

Thank you my friend for speaking the truth -

[@joeg3950]

I’m with you on the ‘stepping out of the situation.’ My understanding of just being able to step out of the situation takes years of practice. So, the application to this situation is sound but almost impossible. Where I do get behind you 100% is the choice of evil - from the leaders that issue the orders to the person that executes those orders (in this case it is execution). I’ve dedicated study and conversations with Palestinians and some rabbinical scholars. You’re right no one really knows that exact point where it all went to sh#t. However, history does inform the present even if it’s just a dusting from the past. An influence that is most often misinterpreted to justify slaughter. How else could someone be manipulated into extreme hate? Whether it’s our past with slavery always rearing its ugly head with confederate symbols, statues, current laws, etc., the past is used most often as justification instead of the example of what we should not be doing in the now or in the future. It’s one of the reasons I dropped theological training. It’s the one thing that Zen practice offers that could be of great help. I hope Ziggy feels better. My cat Sylvester suffers from health issues. My buddy Dexter, a russian blue, passed away in May of this year. I hope he recovers well and gets to play.

[@gunterappoldt3037]

As the saying goes (see also Marshall McLuhan´s interesting version): "We learn from the past (i.e., being in the remembering mode), while marching into the future (i.e., being driven/driving towards what seems to be coming)." - Time, the familiar stranger, seems to be the big master, to whom even Old Buddha had to pay his respects...

[@HardcoreZen]

Thank you. I think you're right. The lessons of history are mostly: Don't do this again. And yet so many people fail to learn that lesson.

[@sawtoothiandi]

thank you 🙏

[@gerrykitt4145]

Good One !!

[@scottr9159]

Well said. The world is the way it is because people are the way they are.

[@albertarnswald]

Very true. Perennial wisdom. We must do the practice ourselves and we or me alone. At the same time: what if we found ourselves right there and right now, at the core of the chain of causes and effect so right there on the 'battle ground': I guess almost all of us would get soaked into the same deep and destructive emotions we now are still able to merely observe.

[@jugsewell]

Have you not read how the Second Patriarch of Zen used to expound the teaching wherever he was, and everyone who heard him attained true mindfulness? He did not set up written formulations and did not discuss practice and realization or cause and effect. , , At the time, a certain meditation teacher heard about the Zen patriarch and sent a senior disciple to spy on his lectures. When the disciple didn’t come back, the meditation teacher was enraged. When they met at a major convocation, the teacher personally said to his former disciple, “ I expended so much effort to plant you; how could you turn your back on me this way?” The former disciple replied, “ My vision was originally right, but was distorted by teachers.” This is what Zen Study is like. Later, someone asked Xuefeng, “How is it when one’s vision is originally correct but distorted by teachers?” Xuefeng said, “ Confused encounter with the founder of Zen.” The seeker asked, “Where is one’s own vision?” Xuefeng said, “It is not gotten from a teacher.” This is the way you have to be before you attain realization. Of old it was said, “Enlightenment is always with people, but people subjectively pursue things.” In scripture it says, “ If you can turn things around, they are the same as realization of suchness.” But how can things be turned around? It is also said, “All appearances are unreal; if you see appearances are not inherent characteristics, the you see realization of suchness.” Just step back, stop mental machinations, and look closely. When suddenly you see, nothing can stop you. Grand Master Foyan (1067-1120 CE)

[@brokeboyswagger666]

Totally unrelated to whats going on in israel, I appreciate this video. It applies to something in my personal life. Always great to see what you have to say.

[@dansheppard2965]

I'm sure you'll wade through the comments with a certain dread (though it's not so bad so far, from what I can see). So I put this one here to say thank you for the thoughtful video, and go you. 😀

[@HardcoreZen]

Thank you!

[@RC-qf3mp]

FYI… at the music concert massacre there was a giant Buddha statue in the background of one of the videos of people fleeing Hamas gunfire.

[@gunterappoldt3037]

Sometimes, alas, it seems that Budha-statues are just that: statues "starring" Old Buddha. There´s no magic in this world - or is it?

[@HardcoreZen]

I saw a photo of that.

[@mirror-magic]

Thanks! Our family and friends in Israel are all broken and really miserable. I'll tell you the truth I did not want to watch this video. I was certain something that will make me upset and never want to watch your videos again will be said. I feel better after watching your video. Thanks a lot.

[@HardcoreZen]

Thank you. I'm glad I could do a little bit to help. I hope your family comes through this OK.

[@JimTempleman]

The problem is that one cannot afford to be nice all the time. Tibet was so mild that they lost the capacity to defend themselves, and had to be nice. Then they got gobbled up by the CCP. Luckily some of them got out. There is something to be said for “Peace through strength,” and part of that strength is the willingness to apply it. “Therefore flowers fall even though we love them; weeds grow even though we dislike them.”

[@HardcoreZen]

I agree. I'm not advocating complacency or "being nice." What I'm talking about in the 2nd part of this video is a long term solution that will take centuries to establish. One has to defend oneself. This is why Buddhists developed martial arts. Monks were being attacked all the time in ancient China, so they developed a method of self defense that accorded with Buddhist principles. You could not call that simply "being nice."

[@mattrkelly]

😢

[@hhhsss6076]

You could perhaps read a book. The hundred year's war on Palestine.

[@That_Freedom_Guy]

✌️

[@zardoz7900]

Norman Finkelstein

[@t.c.bramblett617]

My only contention would be that I think there are definietly pople who do "evil" acts and are not aware, or could not be aware, of it within their souls. I am afraid the acts of good and evil are more contingent on cultural pressures and power structures than on any moral sense... but I appreciate the idea that evil only exists when it is enacted. Then the question becomes... does good exist even when it is not enacted?

[@CaptMang]

I think that's where Zazen comes into play. It's been a while sense I've read that chapter, but I think Dogen says that Zazen is what can help people act un-jerk-like bc it releases them from their prior "conditions and circumstances" (i think that's the phrase he uses). Definitely double check me on that ha.

[@HardcoreZen]

Dogen says that good also doesn't exist unless someone does it. Also, you're correct, some people are so deeply entrenched in a certain way of seeing things that they will never be consciously aware of the evil of their actions. But they still know. You can know without being consciously aware that you know. This is why we do zazen (as someone else already said).

[@OldSchopenhauer]

I find the idea that humans even have the capability to go to war to be weird. On one hand it's a seemingly self-sacrificial behavior, but on the other hand you're sacrificing yourself to wreak havoc. And a lot of it is that you think the havoc you're wreaking is justified, but that's exactly what the other side thinks as well. I kind of suspect there's some kind of sexual motivation to it, really.

[@gunterappoldt3037]

Master Schopenhauer, didn´t I. Kant already write something like this in a famous essay: "As long as differing interests exist, there will be conflicts/wars..."? ("Über Krieg und Frieden"[?]) Maybe, we should start to re-read our classics, because: "Nothing new under the sun!" [King Salomon(?)], and so on, and so forth.

[@OldSchopenhauer]

@@gunterappoldt3037 I miss when KZbin didn't show the Schopenhauer name.

[@gunterappoldt3037]

@@OldSchopenhauer I began to understand Schopenhauer´s philosophy better, after I´d read his biography.

[@HardcoreZen]

I think you're right about the sexual motivation for violence. Some people do seem to get an erotic thrill from it.

[@austinbrown7574]

As someone who finds IMMENSE value in the content you post on KZbin as it relates to Buddhism, but also finds myself with almost the TOTAL opposite set of opinions from those that I can glean that you may have concerning the public health issue we've been dealing with for the past few years I can say with all sincerity, thank you for agreeing to keep those discussions largely separate. In the mental state that I was in when I first discovered your channel and was first getting into Buddhism, I probably would have dismissed you if I'd found out about those opinions before I had read your books and come to respect you as a Buddhist teacher.

[@yarqo8202]

Totally agree, I would never think Brad is an antivaxxer and still… I appreciate him greatly as a Buddhist and I hope he will one day see things as they are…

[@MrStrocube]

It’s an ancient scorpion fight. There are no “good guys” here. The whole thing is tragic and unnecessary. Yes, you’re right, most people have no idea WTF is really going on, myself included.

[@4imagesmore]

It isn't complicated. An apartheid state exists on stolen land. People kept by this state in an outdoor prison, are being ethnically cleansed. They are fighting back.

[@sparrowsparrow4197]

Hey thrill seeker what's the buzz tell me what's happening

[@walterforsyth1414]

Wrongness could be tacit acceptance of brutal land theft and apartheid. I wonder if you could maintain such equanimity if you were so treated.

[@HardcoreZen]

Maybe not. It's hard to know.

[@seachd2268]

How anyone can justify or make excuses for the murdering of hundreds of people dancing at a music festival ? Or the callous massacre of children and babies asleep in their beds is beyond me.

[@littledarkone1995]

As far as I can tell, it's for the same reason it's been done again and again throughout human history. They believe what their mind. They believe what they think. They believe what they're doing is right and justified. Minds create false worlds. In addition to Brad's point in his video, Shakespeare's famous quote seem to fit this matter very well, "there is neither right nor wrong but thinking makes it so." I would change that to "appear so". To close with ol Zen Master Rumi, "There is a field beyond right and wrong. I'll meet you there."

[@4imagesmore]

The thumbnail shows your bias.

[@OldSchopenhauer]

I'm out of the loop here. Could you explain?

[@HardcoreZen]

I had one version with a thumbnail of the carpet bombing of Gaza. But I decided it was more likely people would think I was on the "other side" if I used that one. Using both images would be visually confusing since ppl are often looking at phones with tiny images. Actually I find both sides reprehensible. Though, having Jewish family members probably makes me somewhat biased.

[@druma9691]

This is why it is so important to be vegan.

[@OldSchopenhauer]

I’m doing my part!

[@CaptMang]

oh geez... there's nothing wrong with eating meat in moderation. to label eating meat as "making evil" is highly problematic. The Buddah ate meat. some people need to eat meat. I know two people who have suffered personal injury from going vegan. It's not for everybody. Yes, it'd be ideal if everyone had the dietary intelligence and cooking skill to eat a balanced plant-based diet, but that's not possible. There are so many socio-economic factors that go into it, and imposing a vegan diet as "the right thing to do" is flirting with elitism/superiority complex. It's totally fine to eat meat if you have to. So many people struggle with their relationship with food. Vegans need to keep their mouth shut on the whole "ethical eating" bs.

[@OldSchopenhauer]

@@CaptMang tl;dr

[@CaptMang]

@@OldSchopenhauer I'll dumb it down: Eat meat okay sometimes. Eating hard for some. Ethical eating arguments ignore socio-economic struggles. Dietary preference is personal choice; not ethical.

[@OldSchopenhauer]

@@CaptMang I actually did read it. I just thought it was a rationalization gamut. I mean you personally can't afford beans? Really?

[@madameblatvatsky]

Its like walking in on an armed mugger beating your girlfriend in the face and going - oh, well, i don't have any way to understand what's going on. 😊 This is a horrible take. Welcome to the club. You could choose at least to use a photo of carpet bombed neighborhood in Gaza? Meanwhile, you are perfectly entitled to not have a view about these events far away.

[@HardcoreZen]

Huh?

[@madameblatvatsky]

@@HardcoreZen The whole thing about oh it's two sides having an argument and they each have their pros and cons which is implied which is not the case when a deranged human is beating up someone who's just going about their business (which is the case here, essentially except played out since 1882). Then use of the paraglider in the thumbnail, not taking sides but I could look at a whole neighbourhood bombed to rubble. Anyway, I'm just tired of all this it's two sides which is being done by half the world that has anything to say about it when this is one of the most non-nuanced things that's ever happened.

[@HardcoreZen]

@@madameblatvatsky I honestly cannot figure out if you're saying that the Israelis are obviously at fault or the Palestinians are obviously at fault.

[@madameblatvatsky]

@@HardcoreZen that's what's so weird, not in relation to you specifically but in general. There is no way the Palestinians are at fault. Obviously individual Palestinians are at fault for their individual actions. The people killing are doing bad things. They have to do those things but they are still bad. The thing making them do the bad things is a far far worse thing. There's a thing where people say, oh well both sides do bad things. But it's a trick. That's the case sometimes but it is often the case there is a doer of violence and there is a receiver and the receiver can't do violence no matter what they do. Although their response might include bad acts. So maybe the individual with the parachute is doing something evil in the same sense the F16 pilot is but the parachute is reacting. Nonetheless, I recognise the idea that we're all just the universe looking at itself, we are all the parachute guy and we are all the F16 pilot. And none of us have any agency anywhere. If more people just sat and looked at the wall, at least the animals and plants could pass their days more pleasantly.

[@real_pattern]

yeah.. but we are evolved cell clusters tho.. all this don't act like a jerk tho is trivial. unless you're making a strong claim that you are some magical libertarian free-willed agent, which btw is really dumb, bc if that's true, well, just freely will the desired mental state in any situation et voila! all problems solved ever, instantly. but anyway.. everything that happens, happens according to yahweh's freely chosen plan, which is good. this is a belief of people in power in israel, in palestine. okay, then. 🤷🏼‍♀️