If you don't 'hate' it, then you either love it or are equanimous towards it. Since loving evil is out of the picture, and equanimity towards evil to me smells of apathy and leads to non-action towards the vital task of opposing and exterminating evil, what you're left with is the hatred of evil as the spur to extricate it. Evil, and evil actions do not have feelings - people do have feelings though. You can hate evil all day long without harming yourself because it is not directed at beings who have feelings but towards actions, and that will aid in moving in the other direction - towards good. If you hate evil, it means you dearly love good - it doesn't mean you make bad kamma out of the root of dosa, hatred. What I am saying is "if you hate hatred, it means you love love; if you hate evil then you surely love good." (Double negation = positive). But with regards to people, hating them is evil. It is the root of bad kamma and therefore evil. Also, it doesn't help, since you increase your own unskilful tendencies and you can't get them out of the grip of hatred either. This is why the Buddha said in Dhp. 5 that hatred is never overcome by more hatred, but only by love (or non-hatred). Out of compassion, get them to know that their actions are wrong and if they have some wisdom, they will see that and correct it and move in a positive direction. Always criticize the action, not the person.Sam Vara wrote: ↑Mon Dec 18, 2017 9:22 pmYes, depending on what it is, my understanding is that we should indeed oppose evil. The trick is, though, not to give in to hating as a means of getting rid of it.Stiphan wrote: ↑Mon Dec 18, 2017 9:07 pm
You are 100% right there, maybe. I am also awaiting canonical quotations regarding whether we shouldn't hate anything, including evil or the evil things people do. I personally 'abhor' evil - I do not use the word hate, but it's more akin to 'disgust' or 'loathe'. However, I do not hate anyone. Also, do you not think you should oppose evil, in the name of good?
But what would be your own attitude or reaction if you saw someone being bullied, abused, tortured, discriminated, raped or murdered? Would you love that, be equanimous or wouldn't you be totally horripilated? Would you love those actions, be neutral or wouldn't you 'hate' such evil? If you loved it, you'd join the perpetrator; if you were neutral and equanimous, you'd just continue watching the action without doing anything about it; but if you hated it, you'd try to stop it.