Evil may either be moral such as sin, or physical, such as sickness, epidemics, natural catastrophes. The problem of evil may be phrased in the questions which David Hume raised:
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then God is impotent. Is God able to prevent evil, but not willing? Then God is malevolent. Is God both willing and able to prevent evil? Then why is there any evil in the world?1
The problem of evil may also be phrased in the following questions. How can an all-good God make his creatures suffer? Sinners may enjoy better health and wealth, while the just suffer. A child has no fault at all; why does it die in a flood or in a big accident? Are God's intentions outwitted by his enemies? If so, is He less powerful? If God knows everything, why does He not abolish sickness and other causes of unhappiness?
The problem of evil as related to original sin has pre-occupied Western philosophers.2 Pascal, Cassirer, Voltaire, Rousseau, Kant, Leibniz, Hegel, Schelling, Kierkegaard, and Ricouer have original sin as a constant theme interwoven in their writings and connected with other basic philosophical themes. For example, Kant considered original sin as radical evil as part of his philosophical thinking.
One can look at things from different standpoints: (1) egocentric, (2) human feeling, or (3) divine.3
Sanford illustrates the first standpoint on the case of the Puritan settlers. They brought sicknesses to which the American Indians had no immunity. The contact decimated the Indian population of New England from 1616 to 1619. The church people of the settlers were delighted by the epidemic because it cleared the way for them as God's Chosen People.
The human feeling standpoint is slightly different from the first case. The tale of Moses and Khidr, the guiding angel, is found in the eighteenth Sura of the Koran:
In this tale Moses and Khidr are traveling together when they come to a village and Khidr unaccountably sinks all the boats. Moses is shocked at what he regards as an evil, but later he learns that robbers would have stolen the boats, and that Khidr, by sinking them, actually saved them for the villagers. Next Khidr falls upon a young man and kills him. Which apparent evil act shocks Moses again, but soon he learns that the young man was about to kill his parents and it was better for him to die this way, rather than to become his parents' murderer. Finally Khidr makes a wall collapse, much to Moses dismay, only later it appears that this discloses a treasure for two orphans. Because Moses persists in being shocked at what Khidr does, and consistently fails to perceive the goodness in his acts, Khidr is forced to leave him.4
In the third standpoint as illustrated in the example, what appears to be good or evil may appear differently from the divine perspective.
Is evil subjective? In the parable of the talents, the early-comers thought that they would get more pay than the late ones. But they got the same pay. They were mad (= evil thoughts) at the master for his generosity. Are we also having evil thoughts for the inequalities in life?
The story of Joseph is another example. We may consider his being sold into slavery as evil. But it turned out to be a good for his relatives, because they were saved from starvation. St. Paul says that all things turn out to be good for those who love God.
The same rain or sunshine can be displeasing and pleasing to several persons. The same sunshine melts wax but hardens mud. Here we shall take evil from the objective standpoint.
In this chapter, we shall first look at the paradigms of evil. The purpose of clarifying the paradigms is to form a basis of the second part, namely, to find out which is the paradigm of Filipino thought. Placing questions in the context of their proper paradigms will better clarify them.
PARADIGMS OF EVIL
We may cluster the various paradigms or models in the following way.5 We shall not make a critique on each paradigm because such critiques exist elsewhere.6 There are different paradigms of evil: (1) dualistic, (2) as perversity of the will, (3) as privation or illusion, (4) and as integral to evolution. Each of these paradigms may have variants.
Dualistic Paradigm
1. In the Near-East cultures, as typified in the Sumerian-Akkadian myths, chaos and evil pre-exist the creation of things. "Evil . . . belongs to the very origin of all things; it is what has been overcome in setting up the world as it now is, but it, too, contributed to this state of affairs."7
2. For the European man, as typified by the Homeric and Hesiodic myths, "evil is in a way shared by man and gods."8 Man falls because of the jealousy of the gods and because of tragic hero's pride (hubris).
3. Plato postulates two forces, Being and Non-being. Perfection exists in the World of Ideas. But this perfections get imperfect in the medium of nonbeing. In other words, "the good intentions of God are in a large measure thwarted by the recalcitrant stuff which is matter as non-being."9 Man, who is exiled from heaven, is imprisoned by his body. A fall preceded this exile. Hence evil is "identified with itself and even, in certain Far Eastern mythologies, with reincarnation."10 The dualism of Platonism is exaggerated in Neoplatonism.
4. Zoroaster, who lived in the sixth century B.C., founded an ancient Persian religion. Zoroastrianism teaches two ultimate principles, the good god (Ahura Mazda) and the bad god (Ahriman). The world is their battleground. Evil therefore is due to the evil god.
5. A variant to Zoroastrianism is found in some East African tribes. Their dualism is between a good god and his half-witted, half brother. The latter is the cause of evil in the world. But the good god, out of pity and goodness, spares the life of his brother.11
6. Another variant of Zoroastrianism is Manichaeism. Its founder, Mani, taught the two forces of light and darkness, good and evil, and destruction in eternal conflict.
7. Jacob Boehme proposed a cosmic duality between God and Lucifer.
8. The Samkhya school of Indian philosophy teaches the difference between matter (Prakrti) and spirit (Purusa). "All our sufferings and miseries are the penalties we have to pay for that initial mistakefor our original sin of eating from the tree of objective or empirical consciousness."12 The Samkhya school, however, is only one of the various schools of thought in Indian philosophy which have other views on evil. Four factors come into play: man, fate, demons, and gods.13 Man's present experiences are the result of his previous good or bad existence. This existence presupposes the doctrine of reincarnation, that one has to be reborn and suffer until he completely atones for his sins. Fate (karma) also gets the blame for suffering. Then the demons (good or bad) and gods (who also can cause evil) have their share in evil.
9. Buddhism situates evil in Mara, the mythical figure of evil. Mara symbolizes the internal enemy of meditation.14
The above-mentioned dualisms seem "to sacrifice the absoluteness of the divine in order to make room for evil."15
Evil as Perversity of Will
Criminals know that what they do is wrong. But why do they do it?
They look at their crimes as good to themselves. Ignorance (avidya) is not
the root cause of evil from the viewpoint of theism. The root of suffering is
perversity of will, which ultimately goes back to original sin.16 This is the
ultimate explanation of evil by Ricouer, according to whom it is man's bad
use of freedom puts him in bondage.
As Privation or Illusion
1. An ancient solution to evil was as a deprivation of the good (privatio boni). The solution goes back to Aristotle, was picked up by Origen, and echoed by such thinkers as Basil of Caesarea, Dionysius the Areopagite, St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas.17 This deprivation of the good is analogous to sickness and health.
If all living creatures were perfectly healthy, there is no illness. And if an illness has succeeded in completely destroying a healthy organism, that illness also ceases to exist. For instance, if a person succumbs to a disease such as cholera, once the health of that person's body has been totally destroyed, the illness of cholera also ceases to exist there, for how can there be an illness except in a relatively healthy host? The cholera bacteria might continue to exist, but cholera bacteria are not an illness until they are activated in a healthy body. They do not harm until they are destroying an organism.18
Thus Augustine says that evil will cease to exist at the end of the world when creation shall have been perfectly fulfilled. Evil has no place in the highest Good which is total Wholeness.
2. Zen Buddhism eludes evil by looking at it from the standpoint of original nature.
Nature cannot be spoken as good, for the goodness that is truly original cannot admit contrast. As soon as you describe nature as good, you are already contrasting it with evil, and when you speak of it in terms of the opposites of good and evil, it is no longer the original nature you are talking about. Original nature is transcendent, absolute, and beyond comparison, whereas goodness applies to the mundane world. The moment you say it is good, you are contrasting it with evil and you are no longer talking about original nature.19
3. Pantheism denies evil as a mere passing illusion. "Evil is bound to melt away upon the emergence of a total and comprehensive view of reality, a view of reality sub specie aeternitatis.20 Painters need light and dark (chiaroscuro) colors to bring out beauty; classical musicians use both slow and fast tempos, even chord and discord to bring about the beauty of music. Pantheists therefore also look at evil as something needed to bring out the beauty of life and of creation.
4. Hinduism also teaches that evil, like good, is an illusion.
In Hindu philosophy, good and evil are both illusions, and the opposition of good and evil vanishes in Brahman (God). As far as this earthly existence is concerned, good and evil are both necessary, or at least inevitable, but they have no place in the nature of God. Since God is not responsible for good and evil, or even concerned with good and evil (for in Hindu thought, God cannot be said to be "concerned" about anything), there is no need for a devil who is the originator of the evil principle, though there are plenty of demonic forces that personify the evil elements in the world.21
The problem therefore, says Hinduism, lies in man's ignorance. The submission to evil is a product of ignorance and the tolerance of evil will lead to apathy. Man must rid himself of all earthly desires, and in being saved, extinguishes his individuality in the ocean of the Godhead. If man does not repent he has to undergo reincarnation until he is purified.
Evil as Integral to Evolution
1. This view says that God allowed evil in the world in order to purge, cleanse, and perfect humankind. For example, Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyon, regarded the Fall as a means intended to bring humankind to perfection.22 A similar view was held by Origen, Lactantius, and the early church as reflected in homilies attributed to Pope Clement.23
2. In modern times Pierre Teilhard de Chardin says that all things evolve until they reach the Omega Point which is the Cosmic Christ. In this process of evolution, the evil of disorder and failure, the evil of decomposition, of solitude and anxiety, the evil of growth are "by-products" of man's evolution.24 In his neologism, evil is the part of the process of hominization, which is in the level of the noosphere.
3. The process theologians like J. Cobb and L. Ford, also belong to this category. "Evil enters the world as a price one pays for evolutionary progress or when actual entities willfully resist the divine lure to the best."25
4. Sri Aurobindo, the Indian philosopher also holds that evil is an incidental accompaniment of spirit's manifestation in matter.26
How does one face suffering? Sri Aurobindo notes four stages. The first stage is to shrink from pain (juqupsa). The second stage boldly faces suffering (titiksa). The third stage leads to equality (samata). This third stage has the stoic stage of indifference to suffering, which later develops into "equality or poise of being such a springs from an integral realization of the Spirit, both in its cosmic universality and supracosmic transcendence."27 The fourth and final stage is pure delight (ananda) in the face of suffering.
Sri Aubindo therefore thinks that other schools of thought wrongly attribute suffering to the Absolute.
Two analogies, in our opinion, will illustrate evil as evolutionary. If one goes to a river, one finds that most of the stones are round. Earlier they were rough, but constant friction with the water made them round and smooth. We may compare that friction to evil, and the process toward perfection as illustrated by the round stones.
The other analogy is that of pearls. We know that oysters ordinarily do not have pearls. Foreign materials like pebbles which get into the oyster are "evil" matters which the oyster neutralizes by coating them with its substance, which results in pearls. Evil, as illustrated in the two analogies, is part of evolution.
The Spirit first hides itself behind Nature, and then seeks its rediscovery through her evolutionary endeavors. Nature first gets separated from Spirit, and then seeks reunion through the finite's longing for the Infinite.28
5. Carl Gustav Jung looks at evil from the standpoint of depth psychology. The evil in each person is the dark (shadow) side of the Self. Humans have in themselves the seeds of good and evil, like the famous story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Each person must recognize and accept the dark side in his/her personality. This evil is like a different drive, which has to be confronted. Without evil in us, there can be no psychological growth in a process called individuation. This relative evil can be changed when integrated in one's personality.29
Since Jung in his psychological stance considers the Devil as important to wholeness, he thinks the trinity is incomplete; it must be completed with Evil to make a Quaternity.30
6. The Neo-Confucianism paradigm may be classified under the evolutionary type. Is human nature good or bad? Confucius was not clear about the question. On the one hand, he says, "Man is born with uprightness."31 But on the other hand, he says: "By nature men are alike. Through practice they have become far apart."32 He continues: "Only the most intelligent and the most stupid do not change."33 Does this not mean human nature is varied? He says elsewhere: "Those who are born with knowledge are the highest type of people. Those who learn through study are the next. Those who learn through hard work are still the next. Those who work hard and still do not learn are really the lowest type."34
However, the Neo-Confucians clarified the question. They viewed nature as originally good, but its physical manifestation may be flawed. In other words, the substance is good, but its function may not be. Neo-Confucianism explains evil through its concept of ch'i.
All metaphysical principles (li) are inherently good. But their physical manifestations may be good or bad, according to the quality of ch'i. The ch'i that gives physical substance to li may be pure, clear, and good, or it may be turbid and flawed. A person whose ch'i is "muddy" will exhibit a flawed moral nature and will be capable of acting in evil ways, despite the fundamental goodness of man.35
Wang Fu-Chih (1619-1692 AD), a neo-Confucian philosopher, held that while nothing is inherently evil, "evil arose simply as excessive or incongruous activity in natural encounters within the movement of the organic whole."36
Another neo-Confucianist, Master Ch'eng Hao, uses the analogy of water to explain evil. As water is naturally clear, why does it get muddy? He says: "I am afraid that clearness and calmness are the physical nature of water and that what is turbid is a mixture with earth which is originally absent from the nature of water, just as human nature is subject to attraction, obscuration, and bad influence."37
Mencius and Hsun-Tzu, both followers of Confucius, debated about human nature. While Mencius said that human nature is good by nature, Hsun-Tzu said human nature is evil. But their dispute amounted to semantics. "The dispute between Mencius and Hsun-Tzu was not on the goodness of human nature, but on the means of reaching excellence."38 Mencius stressed interiorization while the latter emphasized sublimation, by elevating man's "actions to the highest excellence through the highest possible norm of conduct which he called `the ritual principle.'"39 Both agreed that human nature is perfectible.
The way of Mencius was to achieve deep awareness in nourishing and expanding the divine love in man. The way of Hsun-Tzu was to emphasize strenuous effort in the search for the highest good. Both ways are essential for the realization of the humanistic religion.40
The Neo-Confucianist paradigm of evil may be related to the Taoist principle of Tao or Dao. "The value of Dao lies in its power to reconcile opposites on a higher plane of consciousness."41 In Taoism good and evil are related paradoxically. Thus Lao Tzu writes:
When beauty is universally affirmed as beauty, therein is ugliness.
When goodness is universally affirmed as goodness, therein is evil.42
Christian Paradigm?
Is there a Christian paradigm of evil? The various parts of the Bible have different models of evil which may be assigned to the paradigms mentioned earlier.
The Old Testament has four references to Satan and all four are found in the post-exilic books.43 Reference to Satan being responsible for evil was not necessary, because "in the Old Testament it was a Yahweh Himself Who was responsible for evil."44
We must distinguish the gospels from the rest of New Testament. The gospels do not have a dualism between good and evil, but "a monistic view of evil."45
Although the devil is an important figure for Jesus he does not perform his ministry as part of a Divine Plan to eliminate either the devil or evil. Nor does he go to the Cross because of the machinations of the devil, but rather in order to fulfill a Divine Plan. The teachings of Jesus . . . are primarily concerned with the development of consciousness and the fulfilment of the personality. . . . In all of what Jesus taught, and in the events of the Crucifixion and Resurrection, the main emphasis is not upon evil as such, but upon the development of the individual, and the relationship of the individual to God. If this is accomplished, it seems to be implied, the problem of evil will take care of itself.46
The rest of the New Testament, especially Second Thessalonians and Revelation, teach "an outright dualism in which Satan and evil play no part at all in the Divine Economy."47
There is no one Christian standpoint.48 Furthermore, the history of Christianity shows how different paradigms were used in interpreting the Bible. Various theologianslike the Fathersused different paradigms in interpreting the Bible. For example, St. Augustine used the Platonic paradigm and gave a Platonic interpretation, especially in his teaching on Original Sin. His Gnostic influence emerges when he taught that since the sole purpose of sex is procreation, to enjoy sex is sinful.49 St. Thomas Aquinas used Aristotelian categories in theologizing about evil.
THE FILIPINO PARADIGM
Now to which of the above-mentioned paradigms does the Filipino one correspond? The data point to the evolutionary paradigm, which we shall approach it from different angles. But first, it is important to see the terms used.
Terms on Evil
Cebuano Visayan has terms like `daut' (destroyed, sick) with build-up words like `dautan' (disaster and other physical evils). `Maut' (ugly) applies to bad habits (`maut nga batasan') or an ugly face, etc." (similar to karma) is divine retribution. `Buyag' applies to sickness caused by evil spirits.
Tagalog has `sama' (bad) which implies something negative either in physical nature (as in `masama ang daan', the road is bad); or in the moral dimension. `Mali' (wrong), `sala' (sin, fault), `baluktot' (crooked, not symmetrical or not beautiful), `kulang' (lacking, wanting) denoted that good stands in the middle as `tama' (right) between `sobra' (too much) or `kulang' (wanting).
Ilocano has `dakes' which encompasses the following nuances evil (either as moral or physical); `didigra' (natural disaster), `perdi'/`dadael' (small disaster), `basol' (sin), `naalas' (ugly), `asing' (when evil spirits wrong somebody), `angkurang' or `agbaktit' and `agnaoyong', words applied to lunatics.
These three major languages have terms which equate evil with ugliness. We have shown in Chapter IV that Filipinos prefer the beautiful as a transcendental over good.
Creation Myths and Evil
If dreams reflect the unconsciousness of an individual, myths reflect the collective unconscious of a people. While psychoanalysts try to decipher the meaning of dreams, anthropologists and other folklore specialists study the myths of a people as scientific objects.
In Philippine creation myths, one typical example is how Filipinos became brown. The creator baked the first human beings in the oven of life. The first try was overdone, resulting in black people. The second try was underdone, resulting in white people. The third try was the best (medium) resulting in the brown complexion. In this myth, being black (if considered as evil) was an oversight. This oversight seems to imply that evil was not intended by the creator, but was only an accident.
Two Bukidnon creation myths on the origin of the world and of humankind reveal the concept of evil.50 The first one is older while the other one is a Christianized variant of the former.
The older one is about two primordial brothers, Magbabaya and Mangilala. Magbabaya lived in the seventh heaven while Mangilala "came up to the earth from the seventh tier of the Underworld which was his abode."51 The two brothers have complementary roles like right and left, light and dark, above and below, heaven and earth. Their complementarity is not dualistic as in case of Ahura Mazda and Ahriman. Mangilala is analogous to the "trickster" who counteracts every action which his brother does. The interference of Mangilala introduces evil and death to Magbabaya's good creation. So good and evil also are complementary, something like an expression of the yin and yang principles.
In the Christianized variant, the two agents become three primal gods. Two primal deities sit facing each other inside a circular space (banting) while a third, hawk-like deity hovers on top of the two and balancing the banting. The first deity is the god of good, the second is the god of evil, while in the third "good and evil are perfectly equal and inherent."52 The third deity, who seems to be an adaptation of the Holy Spirit (from dove to hawk) plays no role in the origin of the world or of humankind and therefore becomes almost like an ornamental god. In this Christian variant, the same insight on the complementary of good and evil is found.
The creation myths therefore point to evil and good as forces in dialogue and in process.
Evil as Reflected in Proverbs
The proverbs, those short wisdom sayings, mirror the world view of a people.53 The Damiana Eugenio collection of Philippine proverbs is the most comprehensive of its kind. The collection ranges from the indigenous to those borrowed. In between are those with Spanish words like Dios, gracia, etc. The borrowings also mirror Philippine culture, which is the result dynamic growth.
In Chapter V we have shown how proverbs on gaba or retribution indicate that the Filipino is more bent on becoming than on being. The metaphors range from fate as wheel, to up and down, and the changes of nature. The following are more adages on retribution.
Ang gaba dili magsaba. [Ceb.]
(Divine retribution acts silently.)
Ang sayop dili kastiguhon
diha-diha sa ginoo. [Ceb.]
(The wrong will not be punished immediately by God.)
It gaba diri pareho hit harang
Nga katiris maghaharang. [Waray]
(A curse is not pepper which when
crushed becomes pungent at once.)
What can be concluded from the above? Life is seen as a of purification. In that purification, evil is part of the process. In other words, good and evil are complementary forces.54 The antinomies of good and evillike good fortune and disaster in constant cycleare part of life.55 Life is unthinkable without the ingredients of joys and sorrows. A few examples illustrate the point.
Mapait ang magtiis
ngunit ang bunga'y matamis. [Tag.]
(To suffer is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.)
Ang di marunong magbata
walang hihinting ginhawa. [Tag.]
(He who does not know how to suffer will not obtain com-
fort.)
Pagkatapos nin bagyo, katoninungan. [Hlg.]
(After the storm comes fair weather.)
Di kadon makapantao ko pagkatan
A mapiaoding kakapanagali su too-a mangun. [Mar.]
(One who never suffered will never bring out the best in
himself.)
Ang tawo nga anad sa kalisud
Maga-ani ug kalipay sa kaulahi-an. [Ceb.]
(A man inured to suffering will come to great happiness.)
Kon waray pag-antus
waray man himaya. [Waray]
(If there is no suffering, there will also be no glory.)
The proverbs indicate that purification through suffering is the way of attaining the good.
Pag may hirap may ginhawa. [Tag.]
(If there is hardship there is comfort.)
Or,
No awan padas, awan met baligi. [Ilk.]
(No trials, no triumphs.)
Human nature then is capable of doing both good and evil things. Instead of questioning its existence, Filipinos think more about how to cope with it.
Filipinos take evil as concrete parts of reality. Evil emanates in many forms. It may take the form of idleness.56 It may also arise from fear.57 It may come as retribution and as a consequence of sin.58 It may take the form of bad character.59 People see evil as the cause of misfortune and of suffering.60 But there is also goodness in suffering.61
Evil in terms of personal misfortune is also social. The concept of gaba (or karma in Hinduism) has societal consequences. For example,
Katakutan mo ang sumpa ng magulang. [Tag.]
(Beware of the curse of parents.)
Since becoming is dominant in Filipino philosophy, the flux of good and evil illustrates that evolutionary nature.
Filipino Primal Religion
The religion of tribal Filipinos reflects the mind of the people before the colonizers came. The lowland Filipinos have been influenced by Christianity. On the other hand, Filipinosas we have seen in previous studiesseem to retain much of their pre-colonial forebears in spite of the centuries of colonial exposure.
In Philippine lower mythology, people believe in evil spirits which inflict sickness (e.g., buyag) on people. Filipinos believe in good and evil spirits who may help or impede their lives. Hence a favorite curse word among Visayans in `Pisting yawa' (literally, the devil is pest). Another is `hala ka!' which is said after one does something wrong. The word, which comes from Allah, is believed to have a supernatural sanction.62 The good and bad spirits were to be appeased with food offerings as a way of improving life.
The belief in both good and bad spirits seem to reflect a dualistic paradigm of good and evil. However, these two forces again seem to be complementary as we have shown above under creation myths.
Fate and Reaction to Calamities
Filipinos are compared to the bamboo which sways, but does not break with the strong winds. Typhoons and floods come and go, but the people are not discouraged. People seem to take natural calamities as a part of life that has to be faced with equanimity, just as there is day and night, good fortune and bad fortune, life and death. Hence physical evil is not a problem because it is natural.
We asked somebody why an innocent baby could die young in the Mt. Pinatubo earthquake. He answered "Baka nadamay." Damay (to feel mercy with) has a sakop orientation. A person, guilty or innocent, may be included with others in an accident because he is part of the group.
A poor vendor explains his poverty thus: "Ang lahi namin ay sadyang mahirap lamang" (our clan/race has always been poor). He submits to the fate that his ancestors and he have always been poor. But he also knows that fate is like a wheel which turns around. Sometimes it can be up, sometimes down.
The belief on gaba as attested in several proverbs seems to mean that suffering is cyclic. Although a person may be successful (on top of the wheel), his fortune may later fall as the wheel turns. Therefore natural calamities and fate seem to indicate that evil is a natural, transitional thing.
Does fate (palad) mean determinism; does it remove the freedom to make one's future? Palad means resignation to forces which human effort cannot thwart. Positively, palad includes human cooperation and risk- taking.63
The data converge on the conclusion that the Filipino paradigm of evil is the evolutionary one. Since that model has many nuances, which nuance is Filipino? We see a proximity with the Jungian and Neo-Confucian models. Jung and Neo-Confucianism look at good and evil from different perspectives. In his background as a depth psychologist, Jung described human nature as containing both good and evil. However, the evil part can be changed if integrated with the whole person. On the other hand, NeoConfucianism has the philosophical view of good and evil through its concept of ch'i. In Neo-Confucianism all meta-physical principles are inherently good. But when this goodness is manifested physically, evil may come in.
Every person then has both good and evil as in the following proverb:
Magkapangit-pangit ng babae ay may sariling buti. [Tag.]
(The ugliest woman has her own goodness.)
Likewise, what is bad can be corrected.
Ang masama ay napabubuti,
Ang baluktot ay pilit naitutuwid. [Tag.]
(What is bad can be made good;
what is bent can be straightened.)
1. T. W. Tilley, "Evil, Problem of, The New Dictionary of Theology, ed. by Joseph A. Komonchak, Mary Collins, and Dermot A. Lane (Pasay City: Daughters of Saint Paul, 1991), p. 360.
2. Peter Henrici, "The Philosophers and Original Sin," Communio, 18 (Winter, 1991), 489-501.
3. John A. Sanford, Evil, The Shadow Side of Reality (New York: Crossroad, 1981), p. 9.
4. Ibid., p. 8.
5. Here we partly follow Harias Chauhuri, Being, Evolution, and Immortality, An Outline of Integral Philosophy (Wheaton, Ill.: The Theosophical Publishing House, 1974); Paul Recouer, "Evil," The Encyclopedia of Religion, V: 199-208.
6. For example, Tilley's article mentioned earlier gives the limitations of several paradigms.
7. Ricouer, "Evil," p. 202.
8. Loc. cit.
9. Chaudhuri, Being, Evolution, and Immortality, p. 146.
10. Ricouer, "Evil," p. 202.
11. Chaudhuri, Being, Evolution, and Immortality, p. 146.
12. Ibid., p. 147.
13. Ricouer, "Evil," pp. 204-205.
14. Ibid., pp. 205-06.
15. Chaudhuri, Being, Evolution, and Immortality, p. 146.
16. Ibid., p. 154.
17. Sanford, Evil, pp. 134-35.
18. Ibid., p. 142.
19. Hu Ta-Shih, quoted by andrew Chih, Chinese Humanism, A Religion Beyond Religion (Taipei: Fu Jen Catholic University Press, 1981), pp. 176-177.
20. Ibid., p. 148.
21. Sanford, Evil, p. 45.
22. Ibid., p. 133.
23. Ibid., pp. 133-34.
24. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man (New York: Harper and Row, 1965), pp. 311-313; The Vision of the Past, trans. by J.M. Cohen (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), pp. 74 ff.
25. Tilley, "Evil," p. 362.
26. Chaudhuri, Being, Evolution, and Immortality, p. 158.
27. Ibid., p. 166.
28. Ibid., p. 158.
29. Sanford, Evil, pp. 126-128.
30. Ibid., pp. 138-39.
31. Analects 6:17. We follow here the edition of Wing-Tsit Chan Trans. and comp.) A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1963).
32. Ibid., 17:2.
33. Ibid., 17:3.
34. Ibid., 16:9.
35. John S. Major, "Ch'i," The Encyclopedia of Religion, III, 238.
36. Ian McMorran, "Wang Fu-Chih," The Encyclopedia of Religion, XV, 333.
37. Wing-Tsit Chan (trans. and comp.), A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, p. 706.
38. Chih, Chinese Humanism, p. 169.
39. Loc. cit.
40. Ibid., p. 177.
41. Alfredo P. Co, The Blooming of a Hundred Flowers, Philosophy of Ancient China (Manila: UST Printing Office, 1992), p. 137.
42. Ibid., p. 143. See also Poems 7, 20, 36, 45, 58.
43. Sanford, Evil, p. 35.
44. Ibid., p. 26.
45. Ibid., p. 43.
46. Ibid., p. 39.
47. Ibid., p. 43.
48. Loc. cit.
49. The City of God, Book XIV, chaps, 16, 17, 23, 24; Book XVI,. chap. 25.
50. Francisco R. Demetrio, "The Bukidnon Concepts of Sickness, Death and Afterlife," paper delivered as the Second Conference on Non-Biblical Revelation, St. Andrew's Theological Seminary, Quezon City, Nov. 6-7, 1992. I am indebted here to the insights of Jose Luis Lana in his response to the paper of Francisco Demetrio.
51. Ibid., p. 7.
52. Ibid., p. 3.
53. Here we use the compilation of Damiana L. Eugenio (comp. and ed.), The Proverbs (Quezon City: The U.P. Folklorists, Inc., 1992). In this section, we are greatful to our research assistant, Maxwell Felicilda, whom we directed in the study on proverbs. The appendix of this article has an edited presentation of proverbs related to evil.
54. More on good and evil as complementary can be seen in numbers 069, 070, 071, 072, 075, 085, 086, 087, 088.
55. See proverbs nos. 150, 051, 052.
56. Proverbs nos. 003, 005, 055.
57. Nos. 004, 011, 012, 013, 081.
58. Nos. 022, 025, 026, 027, 029, 030, 033, 035, 039, 040, 054, 065, 066, 067.
59. Nos. 001, 002, 009, 010, 015, 016, 019, 028, 034, 039.
60. Nos. 007, 014, 020, 058, 067, 078.
61. Nos. 069, 070, 071, 072, 074, 077, 084, 085, 086, 087.
62. Jaime A. Belita. (ed.), And God Said: Hala! Studies in Popular Religiosity in the Philippines (Manila: De la Salle University Press, 1991), p.v.
63. Leonardo N. Mercado, Elements of Filipino Theology (Tacloban City: Divine Word University Publications, 1975), pp. 71-73.
Abbreviations:
Bhl = Boholano Ilk = Iloko
Bkl = Bikol Mar = Maranao
Ceb = Cebuano Png = Pangasinan
Chvc = Chavacano Tag = Tagalog
Dum = Dumagat
Hlg = Hiligaynon
SOCIO-ETHICAL EVILS
Towards Self: Evil as Greediness, Idleness, Guilt
001
Ang maramot at masakim
Lubhang mahalay sabihin
may pilak, ayaw gugulin
kumain may kani't asin. [Tag.]
Miserly and covetous persons, it is shame to say, have money but refuse to spend it; if they at all, eat only rice and salt.
002
Ti tao nga awan nakemna
casla banca nga awan timonna. [Ilk.]
An ill-mannered person is like a rudderless boat.
003
Ti nasadot nga pampanunot, balay ti demonyo. [Ilk.]
An idle mind is the home of the devil.
004
Ang masamang iniisip puso't loob ay ligalig. [Tag.]
The evil that you are thinking disturbs the heart and mind.
005
Dacol sa manga mararaot na naiisip
Nin tao na daing guiniguibo. [Bkl.]
Many evil thoughts get into the mind of an idle person.
006
Taong sa masama galing, bumuti ma'y sasama rin. [Tag.]
He who comes from evil, though he improves, becomes evil again.
007
Ang kinita sa masama sa masama nawawala. [Tag]
What was acquired by evil means will also be lost in evil.
008
Nakakahiling lang sala ning iba
Pero a sadiri dai iniiba. [Bkl.]
He can see the faults of others, but he ignores his own.
009
Pakawanen dagiti managdakdakes ti biddutda
ikayan dagiti naimbag a tao. [Ilk.]
Bad men excuse their faults, good men avoid them.
010
Ang hamak na tao't mura
Sa gawa makikilala. [Tag.]
The cheap and vulgar person is known by his actions.
011
Ang may gawang buktot, nagtatakbo't sumusukot
nagdadalang takot, walang sumusubok. [Tag.]
He who does evil runs and skulks, fearful though no one pursues him.
012
An may gibong marigsok piniling agihan an tinampong
madiklom. [Bkl.]
He who does evil walks along dark roads.
013
Ti adda babacna, adda aluadanna. [Ilk.]
He who does something evil has something to be aware of.
014
In ngi' nahinang sin ta'u
Makabin ha hulihan niya. [Tausug]
The evil man does, remains after him.
015
Ang banyaga mao ra'y dili moila sa mga maayong buhat. [Ceb.]
Only the evil cannot recognize a good work.
016
Taong mahinunahunaon amo ang mabinuhaton. [Hlg-Akl.]
He who thinks evil does evil.
017
Ti agbiag no dakes ti gapuananna,
Matayto nga awan tumaliaw kencuana. [Ilk.]
One who does evil while he lives will die ignored.
018
Ay pagni en maducas ay matay
ay tehud ay pakwaran. [Dum.]
When the evil person dies, there is victory.
019
Ang tao nga malaw-ay amo gid ang palahikay. [Hlg.]
The ugly person is the one who is wont to be critical.
020
An maraot na gawi sa buhay minapoli. [Bkl.]
A bad deed comes home to your own life.
Towards Others: Evil as Retribution
021
Maski magtirios
basta burugkos. [Bkl.]
It does not matter if we suffer as long as we are together.
022
Ang mapagkanulo sa kanyang kapwa
sa sariling bitag napapanganyaya. [Tag.]
He who betrays his fellowmen is caught in his own trap.
023
An maraot na kadara likayan mo ta marara. [Bkl.]
Avoid bad companions because they are venomous.
024
No adda aramid ti anac nga dakes
pati pamilya mairamanda amin. [Ilk.]
The bad deed of a child reflects on his family.
025
Iti pumatay iti igam
Igam met la ti inna pacatayan. [Ilk.]
He who kills with a weapon will also die by a weapon.
026
Aoan can iti mangulib
nga dinto can mabales. [Ilk.]
There is no one who wrongs another that will not suffer revenge.
027
Walang sala na di pinagbayaran. [Tag.]
There is no sin that is not paid for.
028
Maginibo, matinao. [Bkl.]
A wrongdoer often suspects others of wrongdoing.
029
An maraot mong gibo mabuelto man sa imo. [Bkl.]
The evil that you do will come back to you.
030
E ca darapat maroc, bacang e mipacaroc. [Pamp.]
Do not do any harm so that you will not be harmed.
031
Ang masama sa iyo, huwag mong gawin sa iba [Tag.]
What is bad for you do not do to others.
032
Wala sing malain sa ana nga manami sa iba. [Kin.]
There is nothing bad for you and yet good for others.
033
Ta basolmo sarakennakanto. [Ilk.]
Your misdeed will seek you out.
034
Ang taong madinudahin
ay maginawa-gawain. [Tag.]
A man who suspects others of evil is usually the one doing evil.
035
An para guibo nin maraot,
pirming nakakauna nin castigo. [Bicol]
Kinsa kadtong dautan ug binuhatan paga silutan,
Ug kinsa kadtong malinis ug binuhatan sa gracia pagahatagan. [Ceb.]
He who does evil will always gets his punishment.
036
Ang isang masama't, pag siyang gumaling
pagpapalaluan ang sa ibang ningning. [Tag.]
He who is evil when he reforms outshines others.
037
Alang demonyong manucsu, nune ing calupa mung tau. [Pamp.]
There is no tempting devil other than your fellow man.
038
Walang masamang kanya
Walang mabuti sa iba. [Tag.]
Nothing that he owns is bad, nothing that belongs to others is good.
039
Ang taong walang kasalanan
hindi takot mamatay. [Tag.]
A person without sin is not afraid to die.
040
Gibo mo, pakinabangan mo. [Bicol]
Suffer the consequences of your evil deeds.
AESTHETIC-SPIRITUAL EVIL
Towards God
041
An tataong matios
may grasya sa langit. [Bkl.]
He who knows how to suffer will obtain blessings from heaven.
042
Hindi cao mag pahamak hamac
cay con ang Diyos gani ang maghampak, hindi bation ang
hinagpak. [Hlg.]
Don't be harmful because when God strikes, the slap cannot be heard.
043
Ang tawo nga dunay debosyon sa kadautan dili mo-uyon
makadaog siya guihapon, kay dunay panabang nga Diyosnon.
[Bhl.]
Evil will not triumph if you have faith in God.
044
Mapalar iray totoo ya ag nagiing
na tukso ta no onsabi lay anggaay
mundo naalagar day bilay ya maando. [Png.]
Fortunate are the people who are not tempted by the devil for when the end of the world comes, they await eternal life.
045
Ang gaba dili magsaba. [Ceb.]
Divine retribution acts silently.
046
Ang pagpakasala tawhanon
Ang pagpasensiya langitnon. [Bhl.]
To be sinful is human; to be patient is godly.
047
Ang sayop dili kastiguhon
diha-diha sa Ginoo. [Ceb.]
The wrong will not be punished immediately by God.
Towards Cultural Value
048
Katakutan mo ang sumpa ng magulang. [Tag.]
Beware of the curse of parents.
049
It gaba diri pareho hit harang
Nga katiris maghaharang. [Waray]
A curse is not pepper which when
crushed becomes pungent at once.
GENERAL CONCEPT OF EVIL
Towards Fate or Wheel of Fortune
050
Pag may hirap may ginhawa [Tag.]
If there is hardship there is comfort.
051
No awan padas, awan met balligi. [Ilk.]
No trials, no triumphs.
052
Nasaysayaat no isiman ti rigat
Ngem tay missuotan a ninigat. [Ilk.]
It is better to smile at your misfortune, than to frown at it every morning.
053
Sunod-sunod nga kasakitan
Sinyales hin kaupayan. [Waray]
A series of misfortunes signals good fortune.
Experiential-historical: Sin as the Consequence of Evil and Suffering; Idleness as Source of Evil
054
Ang nagahimo sang sala nga butang
Pareho lang sang nagahimo kang lulubngan. [Hlg.]
A person who does sinful deeds is like one who digs his own grave.
055
Lahat ng kaguluhan ang nanggaling sa katamaran. [Tag.]
All mischief comes from idleness.
056
Ang isang bagay na galing sa masama
Sa masama rin mauuwi. [Tag.]
What comes from a bad origin will come to a bad end.
057
Ang masama ay napabubuti
Ang baluktot ay pilit naitutuwid. [Tag.]
What is bad can be made good; what is bent can be straightened.
058
Saan a makaiburay iti naimbag a gasat ti dakes a natgedan.
[Ilk.]
Anything ill-earned will not bring good fortune.
059
Iti pinagsursuro iti dakes
Atiddog unay ti maysa nga oras. [Ilk.]
To learn evil an hour is much too long.
060
An mamomoton sa pagalaman, pagagalam nagagadan. [Bkl.]
One who loves wrongdoing dies in wrongdoing.
061
Kon hin-o an nag-ako
amo an hararaysang. [Waray]
Whoever owns a wrong suffers thereby.
062
No aliwa so gapo
Aliwa so kasongpalan to. [Png.]
A wrong beginning makes a wrong ending.
063
Say gawan mauges, lanang ya onlereg. [Png.]
An evil deed will not triumph.
064
Say kaugsan dakerakel balet ag ira manalon ontapew. [Png.]
There is much evil in this world but it will never triumph.
065
An mamomoton sa kasalanan magagadan. [Bkl.]
He who loves sin will fall by it.
066
Ti aglangoy iti pagbasolan
malmesto iti leddaang. [Ilk.]
He who wallows in sin will drown in grief.
067
Sala niya, dusa niya. [Tag.]
His sin, his suffering.
068
Pasig a panagsagaba
ti pakasaritaan ti lubong. [Ilk.]
The story of the world is all suffering.
ANTINOMIES OF GOOD AND EVIL
Good and Evil: Dichotomy
069
Aduna kay ganti
kon ikaw mag-antus. [Ceb.]
There is always a reward when you suffer.
070
Ang mag-antus masantus. [Ceb.]
He who suffers becomes a saint.
071
Mapait ang magtiis
Ngunit ang bunga'y matamis. [Tag.]
To suffer is bitter but its fruit is sweet.
072
Ang di marunong magbata
Walang hihinting ginhawa. [Tag.]
He who does not know how to suffer will not obtain comfort.
073
Ang masamang mila kapag kinonsiti
pagtubo'y siya nang makapangyayari. [Tag.]
Bad grass, if allowed to grow, will dominate over the good grass.
074
Ti dakes nga sinagabam, addanto imbag nga inca malac-am.
[Ilk.]
For the evil you have suffered, you will achieve some good.
075
Ang panulay modu-ol sa mga kugihan, apan ang tanang panulay
mo-ataki gayud sa mga tapulan. [Ceb.]
Evil approaches the industrious, but all evil attacks all the idle or lazy.
076
Ang masama ay iwaksi, pulutin ang mabuti. [Tag.]
Reject what is evil and imitate what is good.
077
Pagkatapos nin bagyo, katoninungan. [Hlg.]
After the storm comes fair weather.
078
No dakes ti aramiden, nacaro ti lac-amem. [Ilk.]
If you do evil, you'll suffer.
079
Magkapangit-pangit ng babae ay may sariling buti. [Tag.]
The ugliest woman has her own goodness.
080
Madaling hanapin ang kasamaan ngunit mahirap ang kabutihan.
[Tag.]
It is easy to look for evil, but hard to look for goodness.
081
Ang masama ay tumatakas ng walang taong humahabol,
Ngunit ang matuwid ay matapang na parang leon. [Tag.]
The evil one flees even if not pursued; the good is brave like a lion.
082
Say toon matudyo arawi sodemonio. [Png.]
The devil shies away from the sober and serious man.
083
Say toon malinis, arawi'd sikatoy sakit. [Png.]
The person who is clean is far from sickness.
084
Ang maraot na aldao, iyo ang kabanguihon
na marhay na aldao. [Bkl.]
A bad day is the dark side of a good one.
085
Di kadon makapantao ko pagkatan
A mapiaoding kakapanagali su too-a mangun. [Mar.]
One who never suffered will never bring out the best in him.
086
Ang tawo nga anad sa kalisud
Maga-ani ug kalipay sa kaulahi-an. [Ceb.]
A man inured to suffering will come to great happiness.
087
Kon waray pag-antus
waray man himaya. [Waray]
If there is no suffering, there will also be no glory.
Avoidance of Evil
088
Maagap na umilag ka
sa masamang malayo pa. [Tag.]
Quickly avoid the evil that is still distant.
089
Ilagan ang masamang malayo pa. [Tag.]
Avoid the evil that is still far.
090
Ang mabaho nga pagtinagu-on
ha dauday naggangalimyon. [Hlg.]
Evil that is hidden will soon come out.
091
Ang guibong maraot madaling makalakop. [Bkl.]
A bad deed is easily known.
092
Ang sala nga taguon
Mosubang daw bitoon. [Bhl.]
A hidden sin shines like a star.
093
Si no quirre mira malo
no mete na oscuro. [Chvc.]
If you do not wish to see something bad, do not go into the dark.
Edited by Maxwell Felicilda