Akusala

The word 'akusala' is a term used in Buddhism.  Here is a definition from the website about.com:

The word akusala often is translated into English as "evil".  However, it doesn't mean what most English-speakers usually mean by "evil."

Akusala refers to acts that are karmically unwholesome and that carry the seeds of future suffering.  In particular, it refers to the "unwholesome root" or "three poisons," which are greed, hate and delusion.  However, anything that is a hindrance to realization of enlightenment, such as laziness or mental agitation, are akusala.



A further explanation taken from the website quangduc.com:

What is evil or wrongful is renounced (akusala"m pajahati) while the good should be cultivated (kusala"m bhaaveti) is the constant advice to human beings given by the Buddha.  In the Anguttaranikaaya, observing clearly the possibility of pursuing the good (kusula) and destruction of the evil (akusala) by human beings, the Buddha urges his disciples to abandon what is akusala while cultivating what is kusala.



From existentialbuddhist.com:

Buddhism has no concept equivalent to that of sin.  While there may be gods in Buddhism, there is no God, The Eternal Creator and Judge.  In Buddhism actions are judged by their utilitarian value:  whether they lead to greater happiness for the person and affected others, and whether they lead to better karma, rebirth, and progress on the path to Enlightenment.  The Buddhist terms for judging whether actions have a felicitous or unfelicitous effect are (in the Pali language) kusala and akusala, which usually get translated as either wholesome and unwholesome, or skillful and unskillful.