Teaching Awareness in the Buddhist Tradition - Essays in Honour of Professor Corrado Pensa - Chiara Neri
8. Evil According to Buddhism
Teaching Awareness in the Buddhist Tradition - Essays in Honour of Professor Corrado Pensa - Chiara Neri
Francesco Sferra [+]
Univeristà degli Studi di Napoli L’Orientale
Francesco Sferra (b. 1965) is full professor of Sanskrit language and literature at the University of Naples ‘L’Orientale,’. His primary areas of expertise are connected to Sanskrit philology, history of Indian religions, tantric studies, and classical Indian philosophy. His works include the critical edition and translation of the longer Ṣaḍaṅgayoga by Anupamarakṣita with its commentary by Raviśrījñāna (2000), the Sekoddeśaṭīkā by Nāropā (2006) and (together with H. Isaacson) the Sekanirdeśapañjikā by Rāmapāla (2014). He is founder and co-editor of the series Manuscripta Buddhica (first vol. 2008).
Description
This paper is an inquiry into the ontology of evil in early Buddhist texts. It is shown that according to ancient Buddhist texts, the sphere of action of evil is limited to the conditioned (and not the absolute or unconditioned) reality. The most relevant canonical passages dealing with Māra, the personification of evil, and with the ways of getting rid of it are examined and commented on.