Great Construction
Foolish One! Thy Name Is Evildoer
To the question of what is an evildoer, the answer is of course, the opposite of a good individual, a person of virtue. Not only are evildoers indifferent to sacrificing others and putting their own interests first, among evildoers there is even one type who does evil for the fun of it. Here I would like to analyze the mentality of evildoers. People speak of evil persons being short and fat, but like the old saying, bad news travels fast, it probably means that evil acts cannot be covered up for a long time. Therefore, from the very beginning, evildoers probably steel themselves for the day when their luck will eventually run out. When the phrase “evil deeds” is used, people tend to think of some street ruffian who steals or kills, but this is not all there is to evil. Those with substantial social positions commit crimes of quite a dangerous nature. Since the end of the war, the fact is that there have appeared in the newspapers and magazines far too many articles about abominable crimes such as cover-ups, diversion of funds and goods, tax evasion, bribery, and so forth. Such so to the extent that people are astounded to hear of individuals of rather high station being sent off to prison. These kinds of illegals acts are committed because perpetrators think they can deceive others and skillfully get away with their illegal activities without being found out. Evil acts, however, cannot remain unknown. This is because divine beings in the invisible spiritual world are watching. We repeatedly say that those without faith are dangerous, and it is difficult to distinguish this type in individuals considered to be great.
But when the misdeeds of individuals have been exposed and they have become criminals, social trust is lost, and of course recovering the confidence of the members of society takes quite a lengthy amount of time, and there are frequently those individuals who unluckily end their lives in obscurity. Give this a moment’s thought: just think about how many more times than what can be gained lawfully is what is lost due to some minor illegality.
During the Meiji era, when Sadakichi Shimizu, the first person in Japan to commit a robbery using a pistol, was apprehended, he vividly recounted this very predicament. “There is no enterprise more unprofitable than robbery. What I stole when calculated on a daily basis amounts to only 45 sen [approximately 1897 US$0.23] per day,” he said, but even considering the cheap prices of the Meiji era, his crimes were not worth it.
As has been described, whether in terms of faith, or in terms of cold calculation, while waiting for their evil acts to be exposed, evildoers tremble in fear nor can they sleep peacefully, so there is no one more foolish than the evildoer, hence the title of this essay: “Foolish One! Thy Name is Evildoer.”
Hikari, Issue 7, page 1, April 30, 1949
translated by cynndd* * *
“Oroka Naru Mono yo! Nanji no Na wa Akunin Nari,” originally published on the front page of Hikari, Issue 7, April 30, 1949, and reprinted in the essays anthology for ministers Goshinsho: Shūkyōhen (Divine Writings: Volume on Religion), page 44, March 25, 1954, has appeared in translation. Citation is given below for reference.
“Evil Doers Are Fools,” Foundation of Paradise, 1984, page 157.