When I was a kid, my favorite anime TV series was Dragon Ball Z. I didn't know enough back then to get mad at all the filler episodes, and recycled story lines.
I just loved the corny jokes, cool attacks, and the chance to fight with my friends over who had the highest power levels.
Recently, Dragon Ball Z has come back into vogue as these things always do. I'm not the devoted fanboy that I once was, but I like to catch an episode here and there. Recently, however, I saw something that made me think.
In episode #460 a new villain is introduced. His name is Majin Buu, he has incredible regenerative powers, and he takes great joy in both killing people and causing random destruction. In fact, he's so powerful that he ends up killing most of earth's population.
That being said, Majin Buu isn't your typical anime super villian. With a body that best resembles a giant, pink marshmallow and a high-pitched, squeaky voice, he doesn't exactly look the part. Additionally, outside of his combat prowess Majin Buu has the intellect of your average three year-old.
He doesn't want to conquer the world or settle a vendetta against humanity. He's just a super-powered, pink blob who enjoys blowing things up. And he's not smart enough to realize that all of his "fun" is hurting people.
Majin Buu is a lot like humans in that way
As I walk this path I realize more and more that people aren't evil. We're just really dumb sometimes. We get so caught up in the chase for short-term pleasure that we don't stop to think if someone will be hurt by all of our "fun".
We are the most powerful creatures to ever walk on planet earth. We have the ability to cross continents in a matter of hours, send astronauts into space, and build sky scrapers that block the sun. But we aren't smart enough to use that power responsibly
That's why we do foolish things like start wars, poison waterways, and generally make life difficult for ourselves and others. It's not because we're bad people. We're just uneducated. We need to learn a better way.
That being said, things are slowly improving. In fact, Steven Pinker, a Harvard Psychologist, has done a great deal of research on violence. His studies have concluded that while violence is still a reality, we're actually living in one of the most peaceful times in human history.
We're not perfect, but we're a lot better than we used to be.
As I learned more about his study, I couldn't help but think what life must've been like for some of my Dharma ancestors like Buddha and Dogen. If our current century is one of the most peaceful on record, I truly can't imagine what life was like when they were alive.
Buddha's cousin , Devadatta, tried to kill him on a semi-regular basis. And the river near Dogen's temple often ran red with blood and body parts from the battles that took place upstream. These men saw the absolute worst that humanity has to offer, but they still believed in our basic goodness.
If they can keep faith in the face of that kind of tragedy, then so can I. People do terrible things to each other. But it's not the result of evil. It's the result of ignorance. And that's a good thing because ignorance can be cured; even if we are slow-learners.
This was good and true. Thanks.
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