What Is Considered Good?
Question: “What and who are considered good in your faith?”Answer: Good and bad are relative terms. For example can you say with certainty whether a knife is good or bad? In the hands of a killer, a knife is obviously bad. However, a knife, in the hands of a skilled surgeon, can be lifesaving and therefore is good. So it depends upon the context whether a thing is good or bad. Shakespeare said, "Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
When speaking about karma, the Buddha said that wholesome acts produce wholesome results and that unwholesome acts produce unwholesome results. Through our own experience and observation we can see that all beings want to avoid pain and want only to be happy. So we can conclude that harming others is bad, while helping others is good. You can find this same teaching in other religions including Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Abraham Lincoln said, "When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion."
From the Buddhist perspective, the positive qualities of generosity, discipline, patience, effort, meditation, and wisdom are considered good because they benefit other beings. These eight virtues are referred to as the six paramitas or six perfections. It is through meditation that we can learn to begin to cultivate these virtues. Through meditation we can begin to transform the gross negative emotions of our mind that harm others into positive virtues that benefit others.
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