Bad here is obviously loaded and murky, but I mean someone who habitually caused suffering to others either intentionally or with wanton disregard for their well-being. Someone who profited off of inciting violence against others. Someone who was unrepentant and unlikely to have changed their ways.
That happened today. My reaction was... not compassionate and equanimous, but I am unsure how one should view events like these.
On the one hand this was a person theoretically capable of goodness and compassion even if they did not typically manifest those traits. They had a family who loved them. They were a person deserving of compassion as are their family members.
On the other hand, this person will not continue to cause suffering to others. Their death might be used as a pretext to cause greater suffering, but they themselves will not cause further harm. The way by which their capacity for harm was diminished was not good, but the fact that they will not continue to cause harm is good.
Are there suttas or any other works that touch on these topics? Or on right view/right thought about people who have caused a great deal of harm dying/being killed?
Edit:
I found 2 suttas that clarify the Buddhist view:
The question I am still struggling with is how Buddhism would address the paradox of tolerance - that toleration of the intolerant will lead to a destruction of tolerance.
Saw this on all so take it for a grain of salt but this is just one of those things, to me, that’s beyond good or bad. It’s just a consequence that occurred because the individual kept causing harm to others. And a reaction can only be that, just a reaction and then you can either let it die or feed it. I have read some Buddhism stuff before and recall something about thinking in terms beyond good or bad because good/bad and right/wrong can be subjective to how the individual grew up. But I feel stuff on that applies here because yes it’s weird to feel maybe apathy at best for sure but he really did a lot of damage and angered a lot of people. Doing that just ends up causing consequences sometimes