Evil silence?

[sonamdhargey]

"If we lack the courage to confront evil acts, or tendencies toward hatred and discrimination, both within ourselves and in society, they will spread unchecked, as history shows. Martin Luther King, Jr., lamented, 'We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.'"

Keeping silence about something bad does not mean we are free from any wrong doing. Keeping silence means we are selfish and do not want to speak up because we do not want to be involved and be troubled, fear and shamed. We do not want to be part of the problem and let the problem escalates.

"By oneself, indeed, is evil done; by oneself is one defiled. By oneself is evil left undone; by oneself, indeed, is one purified. Purity and impurity depend on oneself. No one purifies another." (Dhammapada, chapter 12, verse 165)

What do you think?

[Jessie Fong]

If we are privy to an act considered "evil", we should speak up, "confront" the person/s behind it and "right" the wrong doing.  Many a times people keep quiet for fear of being labelled a busybody, trying to get your nose in other people's affairs.

We do not realise that by keeping quiet, we are silently accepting that whatever wrong doing is happening, is ok, acceptable.  This is wrong, the murderer gets away with the crime, so to speak.

[Ensapa]

"If we lack the courage to confront evil acts, or tendencies toward hatred and discrimination, both within ourselves and in society, they will spread unchecked, as history shows. Martin Luther King, Jr., lamented, 'We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.'"

Keeping silence about something bad does not mean we are free from any wrong doing. Keeping silence means we are selfish and do not want to speak up because we do not want to be involved and be troubled, fear and shamed. We do not want to be part of the problem and let the problem escalates.

"By oneself, indeed, is evil done; by oneself is one defiled. By oneself is evil left undone; by oneself, indeed, is one purified. Purity and impurity depend on oneself. No one purifies another." (Dhammapada, chapter 12, verse 165)

What do you think?

On keeping silence, I tend to see it as this: if the situation could be improved if we speak up about it but we did not, any resulting negativity that comes from doing that is really our fault because we could have done something about it but we did not. That itself is a negative thing. This does not apply on every situation, of course. An easy example is this: if your country is ruled by a bad government but you do not exercise your right to vote, and people suffer because of the government's actions, keeping quiet is negative in that sense because as a result of not speaking up, others have to suffer.

[vajrastorm]

Keeping silent about actions or situations that have been proven to have  harmful consequences is an example of evil non-action. Take the  case of the current heated debate about limiting/restricting the sale of guns in US. The pro-gun lobbyists are very strong because the lobbyists for limited/restricted sale   of  guns are fewer in number at all levels. This in turn is the result of many who know about the harmful consequences of the open and unrestricted sale of guns  , and yet are keeping mum.US must have the most number of cases of random shooting of young people in schools and colleges. People keep silent and refuse to lend their weight to the restricted gun-sale lobbyists because it's 'other people's' problems so long as no one close to them have become victims of the crazy shooting sprees of mad men with guns.

Sad to say, people are generally only concerned about themselves and not about others.By keeping silent, they must realize that they are condoning acts of violence.Condoning is as good as supporting these acts because you allow them to be perpetrated.

[Tenzin K]

For one not to speak up or confront one doing bad thing, actually we are encouraging for the bad thing to happen. We indirectly allow on to someone creating negative karma which mean we assist one create the negative karma.

Because of our selfishness we witness someone doing bad thing. Keeping silent does not keep us on the safe side even though we are not the one carry out the negative action but we allow for negative action to happen. We are part of the negative action to be happened.

A lot of people today act like this! Don’t bother because doesn't want get involve. This is the current practice of the current society. So sad, spiritual teaching is very important for people to understand the great value of selflessness. Should one just let go selfish thought so many to be benefited.  Look at a bigger picture of everyone contribute to the positive act will bring peace and harmonious to family, society and eventually the country.   

[Ensapa]

For one not to speak up or confront one doing bad thing, actually we are encouraging for the bad thing to happen. We indirectly allow on to someone creating negative karma which mean we assist one create the negative karma.

Because of our selfishness we witness someone doing bad thing. Keeping silent does not keep us on the safe side even though we are not the one carry out the negative action but we allow for negative action to happen. We are part of the negative action to be happened.

A lot of people today act like this! Don’t bother because doesn't want get involve. This is the current practice of the current society. So sad, spiritual teaching is very important for people to understand the great value of selflessness. Should one just let go selfish thought so many to be benefited.  Look at a bigger picture of everyone contribute to the positive act will bring peace and harmonious to family, society and eventually the country.

The thing about keeping silent is, we create the causes for us to be collateral damage when the thing goes out of control. It is better to speak up whenever we can to avoid the problem from coming back at us, and even that would be something that would not be pleasant at all to bear when we know that we could have avoided it  earlier. Thus, the best thing to do is to speak up when the situation requires so that we do not regret or suffer the backlash from not speaking up.

[sonamdhargey]

Agreed Ensapa. However how many of us are willing to speak up and be placed on the chopping board? Especially if it is speaking out against your senior, how do we mindfully speak up and at the same time do not offend them? I myself have experience this many times in the previous company i worked with. We know our senior is wrong but because we depend our livelihood on them therefore out of fear and respecting the chair we just keep silence. In these type of situation in real life it is easier said than done.

[RedLantern]

The Buddhist understanding is that good and evil are innate,inseparable aspects of life. This view makes it impossible to label a particular individual or group as "good or "evil" Every single being is capable of acts of the most good or the biggest evil.
Unwillingness to acknowledge the potential of supreme good and evil can stem from the fact that as individual
we are reluctant to see ourselves as either very good or very bad,hiding instead behind a collective moral mediocrity that requires neither the responsibility of goodness nor the guilt of evil.
Some view Buddhism as a teaching of tranquility and repose.-of passivity even where as in fact the practice of Buddhism is not about 'staying safe' It is constant struggle to create value and change.
The evil over which we must triumph is the impulse toward hatred and destruction that resides in us all.The process of acknowledging 'confronting  and transforming our own fundamental darkness is the means by which we can strengthen the functioning of good in our lives.

[dondrup]

Remaining silent and not doing anything to right the wrong causes the downfall in two of the secondary Bodhisattva Vows i.e. “not correcting others who are motivated by delusions” and “not acting with whatever means are necessary according to the circumstances to stop someone who is doing harmful action”

Our inaction shows the lack of love or compassion for others who had been our "mothers" in countless past lives.  It is a clear sign of our self-cherishing mind manifesting.  Is there no gratitude for our “mothers”?  Shouldn’t we repay their kindness towards us by helping them to right their wrong?

[fruven]

Agreed Ensapa. However how many of us are willing to speak up and be placed on the chopping board? Especially if it is speaking out against your senior, how do we mindfully speak up and at the same time do not offend them? I myself have experience this many times in the previous company i worked with. We know our senior is wrong but because we depend our livelihood on them therefore out of fear and respecting the chair we just keep silence. In these type of situation in real life it is easier said than done.

Yes, it is quite hard to speak up in the real world. It is a common issue for all because the speaker get labelled and get targeted, and get entangled into office politics. Speak on the issue not the individual. If we lack of courage then we really need to check within ourselves. Fear of reprimand can be biggest factor of not speaking up and thus we don't because we depend the current job as our livelihood. Therefore we are comfortable with our job our comfort zone and we do not want to move out from our comfort zone be in speaking up or changing our job if the circumstances warrant it. Anyway begin by changing our mentality our attitude, personal change from within, gain courage from the work done, and maybe maybe one day you can speak up for the right reason, not because of the individual but because the issue at hand and the general benefit for all to hear your stand, to let others aware of it. You never how the others think until you speak up. Maybe everyone is not on the same side.

[Dorje Pakmo]

If we are privy to an act considered "evil", we should speak up, "confront" the person/s behind it and "right" the wrong doing.  Many a times people keep quiet for fear of being labelled a busybody, trying to get your nose in other people's affairs.

We do not realise that by keeping quiet, we are silently accepting that whatever wrong doing is happening, is ok, acceptable.  This is wrong, the murderer gets away with the crime, so to speak.

I agree with what Jessie wrote. When we see something not right and keep quite about it, we are actually silently encouraging and supporting the person to continue doing things that are wrong which may cause that person to become more and more habituated to do the wrong things naturally over time.

Probably if we or someone have spoken up and confronted the person, he/she may realize, regret and stop doing what is wrong. But when we allow them to continue doing the wrong things, from a very small problem it may become a much  much bigger problem later on. Better to speak up and be disliked by one person or even a group of people (well ofcourse we must be clever about the situation if we do not want to be beaten up) than to allow them to hurt many others.

[Ensapa]

Agreed Ensapa. However how many of us are willing to speak up and be placed on the chopping board? Especially if it is speaking out against your senior, how do we mindfully speak up and at the same time do not offend them? I myself have experience this many times in the previous company i worked with. We know our senior is wrong but because we depend our livelihood on them therefore out of fear and respecting the chair we just keep silence. In these type of situation in real life it is easier said than done.

That is why i mention earlier also that speaking up also has to be at the right place and time. If we speak up when we are in a position where speaking up would bring more harm than good then why speak up? If we know very clearly for sure that speaking up would bring benefits then we should speak up. It is all about situations. Also we need to make sure that our conscience is clear when we speak up or when we dont speak up because that is the most important part of the whole thing. If after we speak up we cannot go past our conscience, it means we are doing it wrong.

[buddhalovely]

Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation. Tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding, and trilling bolster his ego. His anxiety subsides. His inhuman void spreads on like a gray vegetation. - Jean Arp

[kris]

I agree that keeping silence when seeing wrong doings is as bad, if not worse than doing the wrong things, because if the don't voice out, it means we agree to the wrong doings and hence not making noise.

Sometimes we keep silence because we want to be "safe", don't want to be "caught", or at times we just want to look good. Either way, it is because of selfishness.

[Q]

Actually, to me, to classify something as evil in the context of Buddhism... I find it very strange. There is nothing in this world, even samsara that can be considered evil.

Evil is something that is based on a person's perspective. So for example I was brought up in a regular society that tells me stealing is bad, while my friend was brought up in a society that tells him stealing is good... then our perspective of what's evil will be different.

What I believe is not about 'evil' but I believe in Karma, for that is the universal truth that is equal to all regardless of what his or her believes that is controlled and contaminated by delusions anyway.

So the question here if we remain silent when it comes to something that can potentially hurt someone is not the best character a person should have... But is it considered evil? No, I dont think so... If it is not evil, what is it then? It means we are excessively, overly SELFISH that we do not care what happens around us or even to people closely associated with us causing us to remain silent just to preserve our own self (which wouldn't last long anyway).

I do not believe keeping silent is 'EVIL', but I believe if the action or result that come from us keeping silent is harmful, then we too are the cause of it, we allowed it to happen because we did not say anything against it. And yes... karma will catch up that when we are in that situation, we will face the similar or worst situation.

Therefore, if we are Buddhist, then we will practice first to open our heart and make everything that harms others OUR BUSINESS... then we can speak up with wisdom that will not damage anyone. After all, sometimes even with our best intentions to speak up to prevent something bad from happening, due to lack of wisdom, we end up making things worst.