A painting of the Ten Kings of Hell, a Buddhist painting from the Joseon Dynasty depicting the world of the underworld and hell where the sins of the deceased are judged. [Photo=National Museum of Korea] The language of Buddha's Birthday is compassion. It is a day to light lamps, humble our hearts, and reflect on suffering beings. 

However, looking at the current political landscape of South Korea, it is difficult to speak only of compassion. 

This is because politics is transforming from a means to alleviate suffering into a device that creates suffering.

There is a point where compassion becomes an exception. 

It is not out of hatred for people. It is to prevent more people from being dragged into suffering. 

When falsehoods are repeated, responsibility disappears, and power uses institutions as a means of self-protection, compassion cannot remain silent. At such times, compassion demands a stop before forgiveness. 

What Buddhism warned against was not mere wrongdoing, but the root of the mind that gives rise to such wrongdoing. That is greed, anger, and ignorance (탐진치).

Greed is covetousness, anger is rage, and ignorance is delusion. Greed is endless attachment, anger is the mind that seeks to harm others, and ignorance is the darkness that cannot see clearly. 

Greed, anger, and ignorance are the causes, and the three lower realms (삼악도) are the results. Precepts, concentration, and wisdom (계정혜) are the paths to break this vicious cycle. 

Greed is to be restrained by precepts, anger is to be calmed by concentration, and ignorance is to be illuminated by wisdom. 

Therefore, the compassion of Buddha's Birthday is not unconditional forgiveness. It is a demand to stop the community from tilting towards the three lower realms, without neglecting greed, anger, and ignorance.

While the three lower realms refer to the suffering world of reincarnation in Buddhism, they can also be interpreted as metaphors reflecting today's political reality. 

The hell realm is a world dominated by anger and hatred. 

The hungry ghost realm is a world of insatiable greed. 

The animal realm is a world of ignorance, where one does not try to see for oneself, does not ask, and merely follows. 

Today, the political scene in South Korea is increasingly resembling these three paths simultaneously.

Greed (貪)- When greed uses law as a shield

The politics of greed does not stop at seeking more positions and power. The moment law is used as a shield for one's own convenience, rather than as a standard for the community, politics stands at the threshold of the hungry ghost realm. The law must be the same standard for everyone. 

However, when double standards are repeated, demanding immunity for one's own side and punishment for the opponent, the word "reform" becomes a mask for greed.

The controversy over the special prosecutor law for fabricated indictments (withdrawal of prosecution) is therefore not a simple legislative debate. 

It may be necessary to scrutinize the appropriateness of investigations and prosecutions. It is impossible to deny the need to verify whether prosecutorial power has been abused or if political prosecutions have occurred. 

However, the issue changes if doubts arise that the decision to maintain prosecution in a case already on trial can be re-influenced by the political sphere within a new special prosecutor structure. 

At that moment, the public will ask: Is this a law to establish justice, or a law to protect power? 

The moment the law is suspected of being a shield that covers those in power, rather than a sword of scrutiny directed at them, the greed of politics becomes blatant. 

The hungry ghost realm is not a world of lack. It is a world where greed, which feels insufficient no matter how much power is held or how much is won, creates its own sense of lack. 

The solution to greed is precepts (계).

Precepts are not suppression but boundaries. It is knowing the lines that must not be crossed. 

In politics, precepts are the unwritten rules that prevent law from being used as a shield for one's own side. It is the restraint that prevents power from twisting the direction of the law to protect itself. In politics where precepts disappear, law becomes a tool, not a standard. 

Anger (瞋)- When anger labels opponents as traitors

The politics of anger does not see opponents as subjects to be persuaded. They are seen as objects to be eliminated. Legal responsibility must be determined in court. If there have been acts that have undermined the constitutional order, responsibility must be strictly enforced. 

However, the moment this pursuit of responsibility extends to labeling the entire political opposition as traitors, anger becomes the language of hell, not justice. 

The word "rebellion" is tossed around too easily in the political arena these days. Rebellion is the most severe language of constitutional destruction. That word must be used with strictness, and legal judgment must be distinguished from political incitement. 

However, if the entire opposing camp is branded as a rebellious force in an election, and even opposing opinions are pushed into the shadow of defending rebellion, democracy becomes not a forum for debate but a battlefield for the desire for punishment. 

When anger dons the guise of justice, the first thing to disappear is standards. The anger of one's own side becomes righteous, and the objections of the opponent become anti-democratic. Questions are misunderstood as attacks, and counterarguments become grounds for punishment. 

If politics becomes accustomed to such language, the public no longer compares policies. They only learn whom to hate. That is the realm of hell. 

The solution to anger is concentration (정). 

Concentration is the power to calm the mind. It is the power to stop and look again. In politics, concentration is about stopping the language that labels opponents as rebels. It is the restraint of distinguishing facts from responsibility and separating law from politics, instead of the easy path of mobilizing anger to gather votes. When concentration disappears from politics, language becomes violence. 

Ignorance (癡)- When ignorance shuns verification

The politics of ignorance is not simply the politics of being unknowledgeable. It is the politics of an attitude of not wanting to study, a mind that refuses to see what should be seen, and the laziness of not verifying what needs to be verified. 

Ignorance in Buddhism refers to delusion. It means being in darkness. In politics, ignorance manifests in ways such as not fully showing the public, preventing them from asking, and mocking demands for verification. 

Elections are the starting point of democracy. When doubts are raised at the starting point, what is needed is verification, not mockery. This is not to say that fraudulent elections have been definitively proven. 

However, if the very act of questioning the possibility of fraudulent elections is driven to abnormality, and citizens demanding transparency in electoral procedures are targeted with stigmatization, it is not a sign of democratic confidence. It is the ignorance of politics. 

Democracy that fears verification will not last long. It is not an act of hostility towards democracy for citizens to question ballot papers, counting procedures, differences between early voting and election-day voting, the election commission's system, or the structure of observation and monitoring. Rather, through these questions, elections become stronger. 

The best way to resolve suspicion is not to mock those who raise it, but to explain transparently to the point where suspicion has no ground to stand on. 

The politics of ignorance is not politics that definitively claims fraudulent elections. It is politics that mocks and evades reasonable demands for verification of electoral procedures. It is an attitude of making assumptions without studying, labeling without confirming, and controlling without explaining. 

When such politics leads to legislation that blocks the public's eyes and mouths, democracy loses its spirit, leaving only its procedures. 

The solution to ignorance is wisdom (慧). 

Wisdom is the wisdom to see clearly. In politics, wisdom is the attitude of studying, asking, confirming, and verifying. 

When doubts are raised about electoral procedures, it is about responding with facts, not mockery. It is about restoring trust through more explanations and more transparent procedures, rather than blocking critical media and citizen questions. 

In politics where wisdom disappears, the public becomes a target for mobilization, not citizens. 

Compassion is not an absolution

Buddhism speaks of precepts, concentration, and wisdom (계정혜) as solutions to greed, anger, and ignorance (탐진치). Greed is controlled by precepts, anger is calmed by concentration, and ignorance is illuminated by wisdom. 

This is the language of religious practice, but it applies directly to politics as well. Politics of greed requires boundaries, politics of anger requires a pause, and politics of ignorance requires verification and wisdom. 

Compassion is the mind that does not give up on humanity. There must be a way back for those who have done wrong. The door must be open for those who repent, and those who have made mistakes need an opportunity to stand again. 

However, repeated actions without repentance, excuses without responsibility, and forgiveness without victims are not compassion. It is an act of erasing the suffering of victims for the comfort of perpetrators. 

Compassion must be directed towards the weak. It must be directed towards those who are suffering. However, to cover up lies, embrace greed, allow the stigma of anger, and shun verification cannot be called compassion. 

This is not tolerance but negligence. It is not peace but subjugation. It is not harmony but forced silence. 

On Buddha's Birthday, what we must ask is not simply how compassionate we are. The more difficult question is how far should compassion extend. 

What should compassion be in the face of greed that uses law as a shield for its own side? 

What should compassion be in the face of anger that labels opponents as rebels? 

What should compassion be in the face of ignorance that shuns electoral verification? 

The hell depicted in Buddhist teachings is not merely a place of post-mortem punishment. It is the world of karma created by greed, anger, and ignorance. 

When anger reaches its extreme, the hell realm opens; when greed knows no end, the hungry ghost realm opens; and when ignorance blinds the eyes, the path to the animal realm opens. 

When politics is fueled by anger, cloaks greed in law, and falls into the ignorance of shunning verification, hell is no longer the name of the afterlife. It becomes the face of real politics. 

Compassion is not a word that covers everything. Compassion is the eye that sees suffering and the power that stops suffering. 

When greed opens the door to the hungry ghost realm, compassion must demand precepts. 

When anger turns politics into the hell realm, compassion must demand concentration. 

When ignorance drags the community onto the path of the animal realm, compassion must demand wisdom. 

The three lower realms are not far away. They are within the political language we use every day. 

The mind that covers the wrongdoings of its own side and punishes only the wrongdoings of the opponent is the hungry ghost realm. 

The mind that seeks to eliminate opponents instead of persuading them is the hell realm. 

The mind that gives up on asking, confirming, and studying is the animal realm. 

The lamp on Buddha's Birthday does not only illuminate the darkness of the heart. It must also illuminate the darkness of society. If politics leads the people to the path of the three lower realms through greed, anger, and ignorance, compassion cannot remain silent in the face of it. 

The point where compassion becomes an exception is clear. 

It is when the absolution of one person leads to the suffering of many. 

It is when covering up lies results in punishing truth. 

It is when tolerating the greed of power deprives citizens of their freedom. 

It is when shunning electoral verification obscures the starting point of democracy. 

At such times, compassion must become a warning, not forgiveness. 

A warning that demands precepts for greed, concentration for anger, and wisdom for ignorance. 

That is the boundary of compassion we must re-examine on Buddha's Birthday, in the face of a political scene tilting towards the three lower realms.