6.2: Suffering and the Problem of Evil

Adam and Eve in Paradise, Peter Wensel

All world religions are concerned with addressing the question of why the world is full of evil and suffering. When they do, it is known as theodicy; the word is a combination of two Greek terms: theos, meaning god, and dike (pronounced "dicey"), meaning justice. Thus, a good working definition of theodicy is "divine justice." Philosophies and theologies that attempt to explain suffering and evil are known as theodicies, and they differ depending upon if it is a monotheistic, polytheistic, or nontheistic faith. One key difference is the monotheistic, or Abrahamic, faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are concerned with how evil and suffering entered the world while Hinduism and Buddhism are not.

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam address the question of how evil and suffering entered into the world with the shared story of the Adam and Eve being tempted, being disobedient, and then falling into a sinful state, which results in being separated from God and evil entering into the world: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15); “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12); “I will certainly come to them from before them and from behind them, and from their right-hand side and from their left-hand side; and Thou shalt not find them thankful” (Sura 7:16-17). However, differences emerge with their respective theodicies afterwards.

Judaism stresses entering into a covenant with God. For example, God promised to make Abraham the father of a great people while Abraham and his descendants must obey God. In return, God would guide them and protect them and give them the land of Israel.

When entering into a covenant, each party makes a promise. When someone breaks the covenant with God by being disobedient and not keeping the promise, the individual removes him or herself from the protection of God, thus suffering punishment. The result can be found in Leviticus 26:14-16, “If you will not listen to me…if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease." Thus, suffering occurs for violating the covenant with God.

Christianity refers the fall of Adam and Eve as original sin. As everyone is a child of Adam and Eve, everyone is born with the stain of sin, resulting in a natural tendency to be disobedient and choose evil over good. Any parent can share countless stories that serve as examples of this concept; for instance, imagine it is little Johnny's third birthday, and a chocolate cake is bought for the birthday party two hours away. The cake is put on the kitchen table, and little Johnny is told one thing: "don't touch the cake." What happens when mom and dad leave the kitchen? Everyone knows! Like Adam and Eve, little Johnny cannot resist the temptation. Original sin, as well as all sins, is removed by the Christian ritual of baptism, which we will discuss in a future chapter. Christians believe Jesus of Nazareth defeated the powers of sin and death through his death and resurrection. Thus, those who experience suffering may understand it will soon cease. Many Christians view suffering as an opportunity to grow in virtue and in faith.

Islam, however, does not teach the concept of original sin. After Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they repented and asked for forgiveness. God then forgave them. They had to suffer the result of their disobedience by living a mortal life on earth, yet their relationship with God never changed, and God remained accessible. Islam teaches humans are born without sin and with a desire to please God, yet everyone has free will, which causes people to be disobedient at times. Still, God is always willing to forgive. Returning to idea of disobedience exhibited by Adam and Eve, many Muslims consider suffering a test to see if one will continue submitting oneself to God.

Moving to Hinduism and Buddhism, the teachings change as their respective theodicies are not concerned with how evil and suffering entered the world. In Hinduism, there are malevolent gods/goddesses whose actions sometimes result in evil and suffering. In addition, both Hinduism and Buddhism share the teaching of karma, which is widely misunderstood as "you reap what you sow" and is confused with reciprocity. For example, imagine a thunderstorm hits your neighborhood one night, and the next morning branches were blown down and cover everyone's lawn. Before you begin clearing your front yard, you see your neighbors working on theirs, and you decide to help. Your neighbors then help you clean your yard. Chances are if you don't help your neighbors, they won't help you. This is reciprocity and works on many levels in families, workplaces, and so on. However, reciprocity is a part of human nature and is not karma.

Karma literally means "action," "work," or "deed." It is the sum of one's actions in this and in previous lives which serve as antecedents deciding one's fate in this and future lives and should be thought of in terms of cause and effect. A good image to think of is a very still pond. When you drop a pebble into it, ripples extend, slowly expanding. Eventually, the ripples reach the edge of the pond and bounce back and return to the center, where you first dropped the pebble. One's karma as far as one's present life is concerned is deemed to have been set by the choices one has made and the merit one has accumulated in previous lives. It is important to note reincarnation, also known as the transmigration of the soul, is part of this process, and without it, there can be no karma. As such, when followers of an Abrahamic religion imply the effect of karma in their lives, they do so in error since Judaism, Christianity, and Islam do not teach the idea of reincarnation.

A Buddhist dharma wheel in Tibet

The forces of karma keep the endless cycle of life, suffering, death, and rebirth turning. This idea is often represented as a turning wheel. Samara is the condition of being caught in the endless cycle and is bad. A person wants to stop the wheel from turning and be released. However, samsara continues because of one's own selfish cravings, wrong thoughts, and ignorance.

For instance, imagine you drive home from work or running an errand. You step out of your car, lock the doors, and begin to walk inside. You hear a car honking and turn towards your neighbor's house and see him stop in his driveway with a brand new car. You turn to look at your own car, and suddenly you see it differently: it is old, worn-out, covered in scratches and dents. It is not worthy to be driven by you. But just the moment before, the car was fine and went without notice, but now? You are filled with the selfish desire and craving to buy a new car because you believe having a car better than your neighbor's will bring you happiness and fulfillment. Instead? You spun the wheel of samsara. You unlock the door to your house and open a nearby laptop to browse car selections. A pop-up add appears of an incredibly fit and half-naked person. You gaze at this person just like as you did your neighbor's car. And the wheel of samsara spins faster!

The wheel of samsara is kept turning by actions such as the above, as well as karma from past lives. The goal is to move from ignorance to knowledge, generate merit, and stop the endless cycle of samsara. In Hinduism, this is known as moksha. Moksha is experienced when one is still living and is not to be confused with other concepts, such as Heaven or Paradise. When a person achieves moksha, he or she reaches a state of self awareness to such a degree that all elements of ego, greed, hatred, and so forth are eliminated. When this person reaches the end of his or her current life, the individual's Atman is liberated and returns to Brahman, the Ultimate.

Turning to Buddhism, there are similarities. Like Hinduism, Buddhism is not concerned with how evil and suffering entered the world. The Buddha illustrated this by telling a story of how a young man shot by a poisoned arrow is foolish to be concerned about what kind of arrow it is and where it came from; the real concern is to remove the arrow and stop the poison. The Buddha sought and taught a deliverance beyond all of the pain, suffering, disease, and ego-centeredness that plagues human life and characterizes samsara while seeking an attainment of the pure bliss of atonement with an ultimate, unconditioned reality transcending all definite reference and finite description. Evil and suffering are explained by the Buddha as the product of ignorance, attachment to the pleasant, and antipathy toward the unpleasant. A problem, in short, between you and yourself, a failure to realize what you ultimately are. Like samara, Buddhism also teaches the concept of karma and its role in keeping the wheel of samsara turning.

A difference between Hinduism and Buddhism is found regarding liberation from samsara. The ultimate goal is Enlightenment, which is deliverance from having to continue in the cycle of life, suffering, death, and rebirth. Like moksha, it is experienced in one's own lifetime. When one reaches Enlightenment, the individual reaches nirvana, a state of bliss and freedom from attachment and ignorance so pure that it cannot be explained because of the limitations of language. It is neither an aspect of personality or, like Heaven, a place.

Though we can find parallels in these different doctrines and teachings, it is important not to freely exchange or equate terms of one faith with another. Still, we can see all major world religions address common questions, such as what is the Self? what happens when I die? as well as, how do I deal with suffering and evil?