The Eastern Religious Answer to the Problem of Evil and Suffering Tom Price What are you waiting for? You're faster than this. Don't think you are, know you are. Come on. Stop trying to hit me and hit me. Morpheus, (The Matrix) Introduction While in the East Buddhism and Hinduism are seen as normal and part of the establishment, people in the West see the Eastern religious and mystical answers, the answers that come from pantheism (everything is god), Hinduism and Buddhism, and the New Age as exotic, progressive and exciting. What are these answers? Are they useful and persuasive? Are they true? And what kind of a response (affirmative or positive) should we make to the basic Eastern religious answer to the problem of Evil and Suffering? It is one of our perennial problems, whether there is actually a God. From the Hindu point of view each soul is divine. All religions are branches of one big tree. It doesn't matter what you call Him just as long as you call. Just as cinematic images appear to be real but are only combinations of light and shade, so is the universal variety a delusion. The planetary spheres, with their countless forms of life, are naught but figures in a cosmic motion picture. One's values are profoundly changed when he is finally convinced that creation is only a vast motion picture and that not in, but beyond, lies his own ultimate reality. Former member of The Beatles, George Harrison When you want something with all your heart, that's when you are closest to the Soul of the World. It's always a positive force... Everything on earth is being continuously transformed, because the earth is alive... and it has a soul. We are part of that soul, so we rarely recognize that it is working for us. Author Paulo Coelho, (The Alchemist, The Zahir)
The Problem of Diversity Eastern religious and philosophical perspectives are widely divergent They flow from a huge number of influences o Cultural o Religious authority (scriptures, prophets, priests, gurus etc.) o Experiences and 'visions' o Political (e.g. Caste system in India) There are some dominant streams and common ideas Two main flavours of Eastern perspective are Hinduism Buddhism Hinduism A varied system of religion, philosophy and cultural practices born in India. Core beliefs of Hinduism Body/Soul - According to Hinduism a soul reincarnates again and again on earth until it becomes perfect and reunites with its source During this process the soul enters many bodies, and assumes many forms. It dies and is born many times. This is the idea of Reincarnation Polytheism - supreme being of many forms and natures multiple gods Dates back to 1500 B.C. System of ritual Shiva, Vishnu, Kali, Ganesh are the most popular deities Millions of other gods tied to a particular village or family are also worshipped Hinduism is very complicated hard to systematise "Just as a man discards his worn out clothes, and puts on new clothes, the soul discards worn out bodies and wears new ones." Bhagavad gita (Hindu scriptures) The goal of Hinduism is to achieve Moksha or Nirvana, a release from rebirths and a merging with the Oneness of the universe Everything that exists consists of one and the same essence or reality Monism (All is one) Ultimate reality is neither dead matter nor unconscious energy. It is Being, Awareness, and Bliss The Hindu conception of 'god' is that of an impersonal, infinite consciousness and force Law of Karma human life is a cycle of reincarnation, circumstances of the new life (animal or human) will be determined by the good and evil of past actions The self ultimately becomes god Focus is on a way of life, rather than a doctrine of belief this is what makes it hard to draw a clear line between Hindu belief and Hindu culture The earliest and primary Hindu scriptures are known as the Vedas. There are other writings too, but the Vedas are the most important to a Hindu There are 750 million Hindus worldwide most live in India Hinduism holds that opposing religious theories/beliefs are aspects of one eternal truth The story of the Elephant There is an old parable about six blind Hindus touching an elephant. One blind man touched the side of the elephant and said it was a wall. Another blind man touched the ear and said it was a large 2
leaf of a tree. Yet another blind man was holding a leg and thought it was a tree trunk. Still another blind man took hold of the elephant s trunk and said it was a snake. Someone else was touching the elephant s tusk and believed it was a spear. Another blind man had the elephant s tail in his hand and was calling it a rope. All of the blind men were touching the same reality but were understanding it differently. They all had the right to interpret what they were touching in their own personal way, yet it was the same elephant. People have used this old parable to share their opinion or viewpoint that no one religion is the only route to God (pluralism). Pluralists believe that the road to God is wide. The opposite of this is that only one religion is really true (exclusivism). Buddhism A religion of great variation, with the central teaching, that suffering is an inherent part of life, and that freedom from suffering comes from moral and mental self-purification. Every human being is the author of his own health or disease All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true. Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) Estimated number of Buddhists worldwide 310-350 million There are three kinds (based on traditions / geographical /cultural areas) Theravada (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Burma) Mahayana or East Asian Buddhism (China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam) Tibetan Buddhism (Tibet, India, Bhutan, Mongolia, Nepal and the Russian Federation) The Four Noble Truths 1. "The noble truth that is suffering" 2. "The noble truth that is the arising of suffering" 3. "The noble truth that is the end of suffering" 4. "The noble truth that is the way leading to the end of suffering" Gautama Siddhartha (Buddha) Buddha s entire philosophy centres around his answer to the problem of suffering. Whether that philosophy is true or false, here is a man who descended deep into the mystery of suffering His name was Gautama Siddhartha. Buddha is not a name but a title, like Messiah or Christ. It means, awakened one. He was born a prince, and his father the king kept him in the royal palace for years in order to win him over to the idea of being a king. For there had been prophecies at his birth that this child would become either the greatest king in India s history or the greatest world-denying mystic. Though Gautama s father did all he could to make kingship attractive, Gautama was a curious youth, and one night he bribed the charioteer to drive him outside the palace walls into the city which his father had forbidden him to see. There, in the city he saw the four distressing sights. 3
Sight 1 A sick man His father had allowed no sickness into the palace Why does that man cough and wheeze? Why is his face red? He is sick, O lord Gautama Can anyone get sick? Yes, my lord, even you Why do people get sick and suffer so? No one knows, O lord Gautama That is terrible! I must read this riddle So Gautama spent the night in fruitless meditation and did not read the riddle of suffering Sight 2 An old man His father had allowed no old men into the palace Why is he walking on a cane? Why is his skin all wrinkled? Why is he so weak? He is old, O lord Gautama Can anyone get old? Yes, my lord, even you will one day be old Why do people get old? No one knows, O lord Gautama That is terrible! I must read this riddle So Gautama spent the second night in fruitless mediation on two riddles Sight 3 A dead man Gautama had never seen such a thing No motion No breath No life Why does that man lie so still? He is dead, O lord Gautama Will he rise again? No, lord Gautama Can anyone become dead? Yes, everyone, my lord. Life s one certainty is that we will all die one day Why? Terrible! Terrible! The riddle must be read But a third night produced no solution to the terrible riddle Sight 4 A sanyassin (an old Hindu mystic and holy man, who had renounced the world and sought to purify his soul and find wisdom an old man and a begging bowl) What is that? A sanyassin What is a sanyassin? One who has renounced all worldly possessions Why would anyone do that? 4
To become wise What is it to be wise To understand the great mysteries What mysteries? Why we suffer, why we get old and die I shall become a sanyassin And Gautama renounced his princedom and his palace and become a sanyassin Life as a Sanyassin Gautama felt that this had made him no wiser, than the life of worldly indulgence After fruitless years he decided on the middle way Just as much sleep, food, and creature comforts as he needed, no more, no less; neither to indulge nor to torture his body He took a decent meal for the first time in years, thereby alienating all the other sanyassins, except five, who stuck around and became his first disciples Then he sat under a tree, the sacred Bo tree, or Bodhi tree, in full lotus posture, determined not to rise until he had read the great riddle. When he arose, he proclaimed, I am the Buddha and enunciated his four noble truths The Four Noble Truths 1. Life is suffering 2. The cause of suffering is desire 3. The way to end suffering is to end desire 4. The way to end desire is the Noble Eightfold Path of ego reduction. Life is divided into eight aspects, and in each of them the disciple practices a gradual releasment, simplification, and purification. It is a total lifelong task Core beliefs of Buddhism Buddhism grew out of teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (563-483 B.C.) who become known as Buddha, the enlightened one Buddha rejected Hinduism because: o He could not accept the final authority of the Vedas o He wanted to reject the caste system Buddha is revered not as God but as a spiritual master who points the way to enlightenment At the core of Buddha s teaching are four basic or noble truths 1. Life is suffering 2. The cause of suffering is desire 3. Suffering can be ended by getting rid of desire 4. Freedom from desire is achieved via an eightfold path of: 1. Right views 2. Right intention 3. Right speech 4. Right action 5. Right livelihood 6. Right effort 5
7. Right mindedness 8. Right contemplation The goal of Buddhism is to be freed from the cycle of death and rebirth A Buddhist who ceases to desire is Enlightened and achieves the state of Nirvana, an abstract nothingness There is no real self in Buddhism Buddhism, strongest in eastern and central Asia, has some three hundred million adherents Buddhism is uncertain about the existence of God Three Key Ideas Enlightenment Enlightenment = learning to successfully manipulate the idea that reality is an illusion and ceasing to desire Monism Monism = everything is one Relativism Relativism = "truth" and things that are true are not true for all, or true in all times and in all cultures but only are only ever personal/psychological/emotional/cultural. Evaluating and Assessing The Eastern Answer Positives Buddhism starts off by taking the problem of suffering seriously it is something to be answered All of life is spiritual spirituality of the everyday moment The Four Noble Truths and the eightfold path is an attempt to address the human predicament. It is trying to deal with not just the evil out there, but the evil in here too Negatives Enlightenment (reality is illusion / not real) is counter intuitive Relativism is logically self-defeating "The man who tells you that there is no such thing as truth, or that truth is relative, is asking you not to believe him. So don't" Philosopher Roger Scruton 6
Truth is objective not personal, private/cultural Truth is true even if no one knows it Truth is true even if no one admits it Truth is true even if no one agrees what it is Truth is true even if no one follows it Truth is true even if no one but God grasps it fully If you have to rid yourself of desire, then you have rid yourself of good desires too, enjoying desire Good and Evil are ultimately meaningless. If objective right and wrong are merely an illusion and are fundamentally one and the same, then, the categories of right and wrong are meaningless and pointless. This is strongly counterintuitive The first step in dealing with the problem of evil and suffering is to properly acknowledge its reality. Generally the Eastern answer that starts from monism doesn't acknowledging the reality of evil and suffering in an adequate way to allow it to be dealt with. Contrast this with the honesty of Jesus as he refuses to say that everyone is basically good, or that You have to suffer alone, there is no personal help, the Eastern outlook is impersonal Instead of achieving an integrated self the result can be withdrawl and dehumanisation. It leaves Jesus, at best, as a mistaken fool. Does that match the way he taught, spoke and acted? Everything we know about him suggests the exact opposite he was the most intelligent human being that has ever lived. Contrasting with Irenaeus and Augustine Two contrasting answers to the problem of evil and suffering, from the Christian faith, are the Irenean and Augustinian theodicies. Irenaeus (130-200) Irenaeus inspired a 'soul-making' theodicy, which justifies suffering as part of the process whereby humans become all they can be. Pain and suffering are meant by God to act as means of producing a good person. Humanity wasn't created perfect. God needed to use suffering and evil to achieve it. Augustine (345-430) "Evil is a privation (a lack or corruption) of goodness" If evil is real. And God made the world. Didn't God make evil? Augustine's basic answer: Evil is a privation (lack) of the good. It isn't a "thing" that God made. Augustine Knew that evil was real Knew that God was good Knew that everything God made was good Said that evil was something real, but not a thing in the usual sense 7
Conclusion The Eastern answer to the problem of evil and suffering comes to us with many beautiful, interesting, creative ideas. Positively, it appropriately stresses a moment by moment spiritual existence and reality, this is the opposite of putting God in the Sunday morning box or somewhere in the garage with the baubles, tinsel and fairy lights. The Christian Francis Schaeffer emphasised exactly such an understanding of God's interaction with us through his Holy Spirit. "All of life is spiritual, except what is actually sin" Francis A. Schaeffer (The God Who Is There, Escape from Reason, l'abri) "He is not far from each one of us 'For in him we live and move and have our being.'" Apostle Paul (Acts 17) Negatively, the Eastern answer leaves us with many unanswered questions. While Buddha was right to take the problem of evil and suffering seriously, the solution that he offers us, has a tendency to leave us all alone in an impersonal universe without anyone to help us. According to Buddha we must make our own way alone, without help or power from outside by following the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold path. Hinduism suggests so many different god's that it is hard to see how this is not the product of human imagination since if one divine being exists, then by its very definition, being god, it can have no peers or equals, and again the Hindu solution leaves us alone, hoping that we can offer enough worship and praise to please the gods, in the hope that they will judge in our favour. Even more seriously, the doctrines of monism and relativism, which are common in many Eastern answers are profoundly counterintuitive, logically flawed and end up relegating right and wrong to the arbitrary and ultimately meaningless. If all things are fundamentally the same then the most evil deed is no different from the most virtuous. In the final result, right and wrong become meaningless categories. This is ridiculous. As the Eastern outlook relegates the problem of suffering to the impersonal and illusory it is unable to rationally, emotionally and physically help us during the dark night of the soul. The most serious problem however, is that the Eastern answer requests that we take Jesus as merely a sage. His incredible ministry, raising the dead, demonstrating power over nature, teaching with so much clarity that some have said that 'it would take more than a Jesus to make up a Jesus', was all designed to present us with one single question. Who was he? In my view the Eastern approaches often duck the question; for if he really did and said those things, then doesn't any reasonable, and open minded person, from the East or the West, have to turn to him as the real solution to the problem of suffering. Sources: Jesus Among Other Gods, Ravi Zacharias Making Sense of Suffering, Peter Kreeft "If you were born in India you would be a Hindu", Paul Copan (http://www.bethinking.org/resource.php?id=46) 8