Loving the Evil Minded

"Should a person commit evil, let one not do it again and again. Let one not find pleasure therein, for painful is the accumulation of evil." Dhammapada 9.11

Both the noble and the good are embraced because loving-kindness flows to them spontaneously. We also love unwholesome evil-minded people, because love embraces all beings, whether they are noble minded or low minded, good or evil.

The evil-minded are the ones who need loving-kindness the most. In many of them, the seeds of goodness may have died because warmth was lacking for its growth. It perished from coldness in a world without compassion.

[The Khmer Rouge did evil] did evil because they cling to hatred, so they are fighting always. They are pushed by the desire for power. They want to become prime minster or something. They want name and fame. And they want money. That is why they are always fighting.

[We can forgive them.] We always say, ‘Hatred is never pacified by hatred. Only through love is hatred pacified.’

That is the eternal law. I also remind people that the wars of the heart always take longer to cool than the barrel of a gun. We must heal through love, but it takes a bit of time. We must go slowly, step by step.

[Human beings are not essentially selfish and violent.] There are four categories of man. Some are violent and some are very peaceful. We compare these to light and darkness. Some people come from the light and again enter into the light. Some people come from the light but go into darkness. Some people come from the darkness but then go into the light. And some people come from the darkness and return to darkness. These are the four kinds of people. [Nipata Macala Vagga]

What decides if a person goes into light or darkness? According to the teaching of the Buddha, it is decided by mindfulness. Here! Now! This!

You are here, now, in this present moment. When I am speaking, you are listening. When you are speaking, I am listening. We are nowhere else but here. And when we are here together you and I have to speak the truth: right speech, lovely speech, timely speech, and useful speech. When these things happen, we are happy.

Why is there violence in Buddhist countries? These people do not know about the essential teachings, or they do not know how to apply them. Theory, practice, and enlightenment go together. Theory without practice us useless. If you write very good things, but you do not follow the teachings, then it is useless.

If you are mindful, you are a Buddha. Mindfulness is in the present. The past is already gone, the future has not yet come. You must take care of the present moment. The present moment is mother of the future. You and I speak at this moment about peace, and in the future it will give birth to many benefits, many children, in many countries.

The past is our teacher. it teaches us. The past is mother of the present.

[From The Future of Peace, by Scott Hunt]