I don't think of Nii/Ukoku as particularly evil. I think he's driven by knowledge. Think Jekyll and Hyde or any other number of scientists who have gone against the social norm of so-called good in order to further their knowledge. After all, in our history, disecting a human body was considered filthy, sinful and evil. And yet, in today's ideals, we wouldn't have the medical or biological knowledge of human beings that we do today without those so-called "evil" scientists.
To me, that is Nii. He is niether good nor evil, he just is in the pursuit of knowledge.
As for Koumyou...I'd have to go back and re-read, but my impression of him was rather similar to that of Nii. I think Koumyou was neither good nor evil, but was, perhaps, just more personable than Nii. But, I don't know what drives Koumyou, if it is anything that we can comprehend at the moment.
And really, in order to be either good or evil, one would have to be unbalanced. It takes both, in a way, to be balanced in life. And if you think about the principle goal of Buddhism versus Western monotheastic religions, Buddhism would be considered evil, since it's goal is the "destruction" of the "soul" rather than the infinite "existance" of the "soul". Nirvana is Nothingness, whereas Heaven is Eternal. In Buddhism, enlightenment is to attain Nirvana, therefore Nothingness, therefore, in Western thought, destruction. (And by Western thought, I mean in comparison to the values and beliefs of Western religion versus that of Buddhism, just to clarify).
And while there is a Heaven in Buddhism, it is not the exulted place of amazingness that it is in Western religion. In actuality, though the "gods" have great power and long life, Heaven is more of a hell, as within the cycle of reincarnation, "gods" tend to get stuck there on the path to enlightenment and eventually fall from grace, as it were. Instead of continuing to seek enlightenment, they relish in their power and in their next life, that karma sets them back, and considering how long the gods live, they'll be thrown down into the animal kingdom and almost have to start from scratch. So is Heaven, in this case, really that great when it turns into a dead end and sends you back to the beginning?
And really, in any time and any place with any person, the concept of "good" and "evil" are subjective and not objective. Of course, there are certain actions that are "evil" all of the time, but again, is murder really so bad when one is defending themselves? So there are gray areas to almost every "evil" action.
And with regards to Kanzeon, the Merciful Goddess, mercy doesn't have to be good. After all, a parent punishes their child when their child does something wrong. That is mercy, since you are teaching that child. The child will learn from the punishment and not make the same mistake again (one would hope ^^;; ). Mercy isn't about the short term good, it is about the end result or the long term. Of course punishing a child by spanking or standing in the corner or being grounded or whatever form the punishment takes is not good in and of itself. However, when the child learns and grows from it, that is good.
Was it merciful to imprison a being who would end up without knowledge of why he was imprisoned? Was it more merciful to spare his life than to take it? Mercy is a gray area on the scale of "good" and "evil".
Also, there is also the mythos of Taoism to consider, as the story has influences and references to both Buddhism and Taoism, but I don't know very much about Taoism, though if I recall correctly, there wasn't much emphasis upon "good" and "evil", either.
no subject
To me, that is Nii. He is niether good nor evil, he just is in the pursuit of knowledge.
As for Koumyou...I'd have to go back and re-read, but my impression of him was rather similar to that of Nii. I think Koumyou was neither good nor evil, but was, perhaps, just more personable than Nii. But, I don't know what drives Koumyou, if it is anything that we can comprehend at the moment.
And really, in order to be either good or evil, one would have to be unbalanced. It takes both, in a way, to be balanced in life. And if you think about the principle goal of Buddhism versus Western monotheastic religions, Buddhism would be considered evil, since it's goal is the "destruction" of the "soul" rather than the infinite "existance" of the "soul". Nirvana is Nothingness, whereas Heaven is Eternal. In Buddhism, enlightenment is to attain Nirvana, therefore Nothingness, therefore, in Western thought, destruction. (And by Western thought, I mean in comparison to the values and beliefs of Western religion versus that of Buddhism, just to clarify).
And while there is a Heaven in Buddhism, it is not the exulted place of amazingness that it is in Western religion. In actuality, though the "gods" have great power and long life, Heaven is more of a hell, as within the cycle of reincarnation, "gods" tend to get stuck there on the path to enlightenment and eventually fall from grace, as it were. Instead of continuing to seek enlightenment, they relish in their power and in their next life, that karma sets them back, and considering how long the gods live, they'll be thrown down into the animal kingdom and almost have to start from scratch. So is Heaven, in this case, really that great when it turns into a dead end and sends you back to the beginning?
And really, in any time and any place with any person, the concept of "good" and "evil" are subjective and not objective. Of course, there are certain actions that are "evil" all of the time, but again, is murder really so bad when one is defending themselves? So there are gray areas to almost every "evil" action.
And with regards to Kanzeon, the Merciful Goddess, mercy doesn't have to be good. After all, a parent punishes their child when their child does something wrong. That is mercy, since you are teaching that child. The child will learn from the punishment and not make the same mistake again (one would hope ^^;; ). Mercy isn't about the short term good, it is about the end result or the long term. Of course punishing a child by spanking or standing in the corner or being grounded or whatever form the punishment takes is not good in and of itself. However, when the child learns and grows from it, that is good.
Was it merciful to imprison a being who would end up without knowledge of why he was imprisoned? Was it more merciful to spare his life than to take it? Mercy is a gray area on the scale of "good" and "evil".
Also, there is also the mythos of Taoism to consider, as the story has influences and references to both Buddhism and Taoism, but I don't know very much about Taoism, though if I recall correctly, there wasn't much emphasis upon "good" and "evil", either.