WHY DOES GOD PERMIT EVIL?

Evil is the opposite of good and occurs in the same way that all mutually arising opposites occur, according to Buddhism. You cannot have one without the other. They are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have solid without space, light without dark, or an inside without an outside. Nothing can be known without its opposite. In this way, good cannot be known without the possibility at least of evil. As St. Thomas Aquinas said, "Good derives it's virtue from evil."

Alan Watts adds, "In our present state of consciousness we are standing, as it were, with our eyes right against the painting, so that only one small, meaningless patch of color can be seen at a time. But in our eternal state we stand with the whole canvas in view. From this standpoint evil is not evil as we now know it; it is shadow harmonizing with light."

In the words of Buddhist Matthieu Picard, "evil is not a demonic power external to ourselves, and good is not an absolute principle independent of us. Everything occurs in our minds. Love and compassion are reflections of the true nature of all living beings--what we have called basic goodness. Evil is a deviation from this basic goodness which can be remedied."

Vedanta has a different view of it completely. The question "why does God permit evil?" is, to a Vedantist, as meaningless as "why does God permit good?" Brahman is neither kind nor cruel. Brahman does not intervene in the world's affairs. The extent to which one experiences evil, or for that matter good, is the result of karma operating in his or her life, karma being the effect of one's deeds in life. Meritorious deeds are those which move one closer to union with the divine, the ultimate purpose of human existence, while demeritorious deeds are those which move one away.