Existence of Evil in Buddhist Philosophical Perspective

Abstract

The title of academic article is “Evil’s Being in Theravada philosophy”. It is the study through Theravada texts in the point of basic problem of evil’s being in Theravada philosophy. The evil in Theravada philosophy is classified in 2 levels: 1) Kammaniyama means the evil’s being in the law of Kamma(Action) and 2) Chitaniyama means the evil’s being in the feeing of person who has done evil. The evil is the results of action which is the root from unwholesome. It has 3 components: 1) Kilesa (defilement) 2)Kamma (Action) and 3)Vipaka (the results). They are the roots of evil in Theravada philosophy. The justice law of the evil’s being in Theravada philosophy proves that the evil is reality. Theravada philosophy believes that who ace bad thing, will get bad thing in the hell. “Hell” means the place for bad person. The results of bad action are complex. Because it is condition about “time” “duty” and “strong and weak”. Some is quick but some is slow. Some is this life and some in the next life. The confirmative conclusion of the point is the evil’s being in Theravada philosophy is real.