Satan and Man's Potential for Evil

"Satan is cool" — George Carlin

I wonder if George ever heard of the UK band, Satan. :p

No matter.

Since I'm Buddhist, I am open to the LaVey form of satanism, which is a symbolic interpretation.

Anything else which involves unnecessary violence and deluded people totally missing the point is diabolism.

Satan is cool but being a supernatural entity, he can only make suggestions about exploring the dark side of morality, and man's potential for evil.

Oh, and I don't worship satan. As a Buddhist, I view him as the monotheistic version of Mara, who represents human temptation.

As well, the Bahá'í view of satan is closest to my view:

"This lower nature in man is symbolized as Satan — the evil ego within us, not an evil personality outside." - Abdu'l-Bahá

In Buddhism, the demon Mara was conquered by the Buddha. Yet Buddhists view demons differently from the way they are in the West. Being nuisances, their purpose is to distract the Buddhist from practising the Dharma, the Buddha's teachings.

Likewise, I view satan as a pest rather than the actual embodiment of evil.

For evil is an impediment to Enlightenment when it leads to disrespect of the Buddha, his teachings, and fellow Buddhists.

Indeed, we all make choices, and the fruit of those choices ripen in our life. That fruit is called "karma". Choices which harm us are deemed "bad", "evil", or "negative", while choices which do not harm us are deemed "good" or "positive"; but choices which have no consequence are deemed "neutral".

To me, "Satan is cool" means "the potential for evil in human beings is fascinating". Yet such fascination would not lead me to worship satan.

Instead, my open-mindedness regarding Satan as the symbol of rebellion is tempered by my adherence to Buddhist ethics.

For I hold no belief of evil as a supernatural entity because it violates the Buddhist principle of non-self (anattā), the illusion of "self".

Belief in satan is to worship him. In not believing in satan, I show respect in Buddha's teaching that all things, including "self", are temporary.

Given that satan was invented by men as symbolic of the potential for evil in people, he has no existence in this world, for such inventions are temporary.

Still, the potential for evil in people is fascinating.

Nym Nym (poem)

Heaps of rubbish piled high in the sky,
a wind comes along, and the heaps change sizes
but the heaps remain: life's like that, I say.
You do something for someone else, but no surprizes.
Rub another's back, aim to satisfy:
this is the stuff of karma,
everyone's dharma.
What you owe, you work yourself to the bone to pay.
Life is like this, each action is not hit or miss.
Life is like this, everyone may achieve bliss.

Nym nym, everyone has a nym on the Internet
Nym nym, anonymity is the rule, not the exception
Nym nym, yeah. Nym nym, yeah.
Nym nym, nobody is really anonymous but
Nym nym, everyone buys into this deception
Nym nym, yeah. Nym nym, yeah.

Yet there are the misinformed who to their dying day
pretend that their good lot in life is inherited.
From generation to generation they maintain their class
In a manner quite arbitrary and unmerited.
"Your karmic debt you must continually pay,
for yours and your ancestors; just give us no sass!"
This view is not at all karma:
It corrupts the dharma,
Anyone who perverts it this way is an ass!
Life soon falls apart, when man forces karma like this.
Life comes to an end miserably for all without bliss.

Nym nym, everyone has a nym on the Internet
Nym nym, anonymity is the rule, not the exception
Nym nym, yeah. Nym nym, yeah.
Nym nym, nobody is really anonymous but
Nym nym, everyone buys into this deception
Nym nym, yeah. Nym nym, yeah.

Yes, it's true that everyone makes their destiny!
Yes, it's true that no one may sit idly to get their reward!
Yet those who abuse the dharma also suffer karma,
and get their just desserts without fail like an award.
So carefully tread this present life, or misery
is your constant reward as karma.
In living right practise the dharma.
All choices in life, to make we are free.
Life is like this, each action is not hit or miss.
Life is like this, everyone may achieve bliss.

Nym nym, everyone has a nym on the Internet
Nym nym, anonymity is the rule, not the exception
Nym nym, yeah. Nym nym, yeah.
Nym nym, nobody is really anonymous but
Nym nym, everyone buys into this deception
Nym nym, yeah. Nym nym, yeah.


Life is like this, each action is not hit or miss.
Life is like this, everyone may achieve bliss.
Life is like this, each action is not hit or miss.
Life is like this, everyone may achieve bliss.
Life is like this, each action is not hit or miss.
Life is like this, everyone may achieve bliss.


* The above poem is based on Nim ( see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nim ), in that karma is a living dynamic not fixed by man yet is neither good nor bad, though right action begets further karma. In Hindu society, the art of following dharma is to not follow it so rigidly that you cause unnecessary suffering to self and, especially, to others. Thus, tradition is not really dharma at all, but the root of current evil both in society and on the Internet.