Are Our Actions Virtuous or Evil?

As I ponder living a moral life during the Trump administration, I turn to Martin Luther King. He explained how “the triple evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism” are related, and urged us to combat these evils in our society in order for people to live together with peace and prosperity.

Source: Clair Brown

To live morally means we must recognize evil actions and then stop them. How do we recognize evil actions, both in our daily lives and in government policies? Buddhism says to judge actions by their impact on people and earth—virtuous actions lead to benefit (good results) and evil actions lead to harm (bad results).

When our beliefs contradict reality, they cause problems. Racism that treats one group of people as inferior to another causes great harm; economic exploitation where people consume fancy goods made by people living in poverty causes great harm; and militarism where a country bombs another country that kills mothers and children and destroys dwellings causes great harm. By these harmful results, we know these actions are evil. In Buddhist economics, people must not undertake actions that harm other people or beings or harm the planet. Instead our goal is to undertake virtuous actions that relieve suffering and bring benefit to all beings and earth. (Payutto, Buddhist Economics, 1988)

Let’s apply this to the economic policies being discussed by Trump’s administration, which is using a free market economic model that ignores evil and morality. Free market economics is based on the belief that people spend their money wisely and buy what is most pleasing to them. This outcome is viewed as optimal on the basis that everyone knows what is best for themselves. The free market model puts a high premium on individualism and self-centered freedom, and on consuming more and more. Meanwhile the harm to others or to the planet caused by government action (or inaction) is ignored, and economic activities are not judged as either evil or virtuous.

Yet society can see the harm to the real world. To combat evil, and to create peace and prosperity, people around the world can care for each other, and care for Mother Earth. Buddhist Economics (Brown, 2017) teaches that we have the moral responsibility to demand that our country have economic policies that protect people and the planet, and create well-being for all.

As Ven. Payutto writes (Buddhist Economics, ch 1):

Our ethics—and the behavior that naturally flows
from our ethics—contribute to the causes and conditions
that determine who we are, the kind of society we
live in and the condition of our environment.