The Vajra Parrot Squawks!

Nobody is born 100% evil.

Nobody dies 100% evil.


We're most of us a bit of a mixed bag, really, caught between the positive and negative, both possessing (and occasionally yielding to) a capacity for both good and bad. For some it doesn't take much to tip the scales up or down. This itself is dependent on our psychological condition, our beliefs, experiences and socialisation, etc., which manifests in reactions to stimuli, our actions (or non actions) in this world.

Everything is the result of an untold number of causes and conditions which come to fruition in countless ways, for good or ill. We are often victims of circumstance, as well as victims of our own, deliberate choices, which themselves are dependent on other causes. The double tragedy is that, as well as injuring ourselves, the consequences of these sometimes also injures others, causing suffering all round.

But, I say again, none of us are 100% good or 100% evil, although our actions may largely be positive or negative.

Many of us felt a certain degree of 'good on ya!' when a certain villain from the film reels discovered that little spark of goodness inside him that still burned, however dimly, despite the unimagineable evil with which he had colluded or even caused. Even though this is from the realm of science fiction, the principle is very real. When the scales are tipped it can go either way.

When an individual or organisation deliberately causes the death of any human being, no matter how bad, it is negative in esso.

No matter how much suffering he or she may have caused, or wished upon others, that person is still a human being: one of us and, in their very marrow, possessing exactly the same capabilities, capacity and - dare I say - dignity. Even the worst criminal is some mother's son; maybe a father; a friend to others; someone who feels pain and happiness; a human being just like us. He or she is not irredeemable, not 100% evil. The spark burns, very deep down maybe, even if we can't see it. We don't know the causes or conditions that have come to fruition in their actions or attitudes. If we knew, maybe we would be not feel so angry towards them.

I don't for one moment condone the actions of the Darth Vaders of fiction or recent history: the suffering they cause is terrible and inexcusable; it demands justice.

However, I cannot condone the writing off of any human being as being totally without hope or merit, nor do I relish seeing their extinction as an occasion for celebration. Falling for the inflammatory words of demagogues who seek to polarise public opinion for their own, religious or political ends, is not wise, nor rational, nor Buddhist.

Consider this: if a certain person had renounced his terrorist activities and dedicated the remainder of his life to undo all the evil he had perpetrated, what then? How would you react? Would you still bay for blood or gloat over the morbid fantasy of his life being terminated? Or would you instead focus on the spark you and this person has in common? Would your opinions change about this person, as they did for the Dark Lord of the Sith, when he redeemed himself at the 11th hour?

Personally, when I hear about someone who turns their back on negativity, or who even makes a sincere effort to do good, yet fails habitually, I feel inspired. Knowing that everyone has this capacity is itself a cause for hope, isn't it?

However, by revelling in feelings of revenge or anger towards those people who harm us or those we love, all we do is destroy that hope and rob ourselves of our common dignity as human beings.