Ervin wrote:Maybe there are people who choose evil and are enlightened at the same time. It seems as if knowledge would be out of reach for evil people. I disagree. There are evil doctors out there. And there are very good people who weren't capable of finishing primary school.
Dear Erwin,
that does not realy count as insight, wisdom or panna. Of coures there are people who do evil even if they are intelectual from much knowledge, there are even "good" people who do at least evil. That is all about defilements, not understanding the reality.
Non of them will act without the idea of "I" and "you" and as long there is the idea of persons and beings rather then actions and its effects, one will at least always do more or less evil till the time when it is understood.
The reason for each desire is the not understanding. There is no good or bad desire, good or bad (in our frame of normal thinking) is at least just an agreement. Desire is desire and alsways the cause of suffering. Not causing kamma means being free of deire because the is no more wrong view. To come to this we need some noble desire, to get free of desire, to ubstain from what is unskillfull (bad) and to develope skillfull (good) ways and in this way get free from our defilements (wrong view) step by step.
Actually there is much danger in gaining Buddhist knowledge and techniques without having a general tendency to virtue. You might know such things like kamikaze as sample, also "crazy wisdom" (which is found often amoung Zen, or Tibetan traditions) falls into this category.
When knowledge is mixed with desire it is called "
maya"
In some cases, tanha lobha is called maya. Therefore, the nature of maya will be explained herein. Maya is like a magician, a conjurer. Just as the magician picks up a stone and makes the audience believe it to be gold nugget; just so maya does conceal one's faults. It means one who exercises maya pretends to be flawless though he is not.
and also "
Satheyya" fits well to your thoughts, but that has nothing to do with wisdom, insight or enligthenment.
Along with maya, satheyya should also be understood. When one pretends to have certain qualities and make other think highly of him, such kind of lobha is called satheyya. Maya conceals one's faults and pretends to be faultless, whereas satheyya pretends to have non-existence qualities. Both of them are trickeries or deceptions.
You will find some samples for it in the links. Take them with responsibility and put virtue always higher, you can nothing but hurt your self at least and it would hurt if one denies virtue, no way to run away.
There is for example a Dhammapada story which might show also the danger for a fool who gains knowledge rather than to trust his own goodness:
The Story of Satthikutapeta
While residing at the Veluvana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (72) of this book with reference to a peta-ghost named Satthikutapeta.
The Chief Disciple Maha Moggallana saw this enormous peta-ghost while going on an alms-round with Thera Lakkhana. In this connection, the Buddha explained that Satthikutapeta, in one of his previous existences, was very skilful in throwing stones at things. One day, he asked permissions from his teacher to try out his skill. His teacher told him not to hit a cow, or a human being as he would have to pay compensation to the owner or to the relative, but to find a target which was ownerless or guardianless.
On seeing the paccekabuddha, the idiots lacking in intelligence, thought the paccekabuddha, having no relative or guardian, would be an ideal target. So he threw a stone at the paccekabuddha who was on an alms-round. The stone entered from one ear and came out of the other. The paccekabuddha expired when he reached the monastery. The stone-thrower was killed by the disciples of the paccekabuddha and he was reborn in Avici Niraya. Afterwards, he was reborn as a peta-ghost and had since been serving the remaining term of the evil consequences (kamma) of his evil deed. As a peta-ghost his enormous head was being continuously hit with red-hot hammers.
In conclusion, the Buddha said, "To a fool, his skill or knowledge is of no use; it can only harm him."
Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
Verse 72: The skill of a fool can only harm him; it destroys his merit and his wisdom (lit., it severs his head).
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