The Good vs. the Bad

One of the most popular sutras in Buddhism is the Prajñāpāramitā ("Perfection of Transcendent Wisdom"). In Mahāyāna Buddhism, Prajñāpāramitā is a central concept, and its understanding and practice are essential for understanding the Bodhisattva Path. In that sutra there is one line that goes like this: "Nothing is pure nor impure." What does that mean?

When you examine objects, events or phenomena in the universe closely and carefully, you can only see them in their constant interactions, movements or transformations. They actually are not themselves any more the moment you observed them. It is your mind, and the way you are observing them or thinking about them that make them so. But they are really not so, being themselves just combinations and interactions of various elements or factors. Hence, nothingness. If so, why should there be any discrimination?

Shakespeare wrote: "There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so." It is true. We have gotten used to thinking in a dual way so long that it becomes very hard for us to maintain a clear and truthful view of objects and events around us. Our mind also changes constantly, from one moment to another. Thus, the same object or event might have opposite values to the same person at different moments of time and in different locations. Not to mention there are diverse views about the same thing or event by people of different backgrounds.

A mother may think drinking more milk will be beneficial to her baby, but the baby, having been full, refuses to empty the bottle. To the mother, the action of feeding the baby more milk is good; to the baby, very bad, and it cries to protest. In one of his previous lives, the Buddha had to kill one robber to save the whole group of passengers in a boat. Was the Buddha's action good or bad in that situation? Killing is of course not allowed or acceptable in Buddhism, but killing one person in order to save many others must be much better than watching them die without doing anything to save them. Some may think the Buddha in that scenario is a killer, while others could consider Him a savior.

Should we then have any judgment? Let's remain calm, and be very cautious in our judgment, because there seems to be something wrong in judging or evaluating people and phenomena. Why don't we look into ourselves and be our "judge" first?