Dharma (Buddhism)

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For a general discussion of the concept, see Dhamma.

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Dhamma (Pali: धम्म) or Dharma (Sanskrit: धर्म) in Buddhism has three meanings:

• The Universal Law of Nature.
• The teachings of the Buddha which apply an understanding of this law to the conduct of human life.
• A phenomenon and/or its properties.

Contents [hide] 1 Etymology and Linguistic variants 2 Dharma within Indian Religions 3 Dhamma-vinaya; the Buddha's Path of Practice 4 Understanding Nature; dhamma vicaya 5 The Buddha's Dharma Body 6 Qualities of Buddha Dharma 7 Dharmas in Buddhist phenomenology 8 Meanings of "Dharma" 9 References

[edit] Etymology and Linguistic variants

Dharma is derived from Sanskrit of the same spelling, meaning "what is established, law, duty, right". The derived Prakrit word is Dhamma Template:Turner, Ralph 1939, entry.
In East Asia, the character for Dharma is 法, pronounced fǎ in Mandarin Chinese, hō in Japanese and beop in Korean. The Tibetan translation of this term is chos (Tibetan: ཆོས་; Lhasa dialect IPA: [[tɕǿʔ]]).^{[citation needed]} In Uyghur, Mongolian, and some other Central Asian languages, it is nom, which derives from the Ancient Greek word νόμος, nómos, meaning "law".^[1]

[edit] Dharma within Indian Religions

Religion in India is referred to as Dharma, a word which signifies a particular life-path or lifestyle (see Dharma). Therefore a Jain practises Jain-dharma; a Hindu follows Sanatana-dharma; and a Buddhist practices Buddha-dharma. Each of these formulations signifies that a person is following a particular religious form with its own rules and practises. The word Buddhism was invented by British scholars and Christian missionaries who were trying to make sense of Indian religion during the nineteenth century. Just as Latin and Greek have been the languages of Christian scripture throughout the greater part of Christianity's history Sanskrit has in the main been the medium of transmission for Buddhist scriptures during its spread to other Asian countries (particularly to the North and North-East of India). Throughout these countries what is today called in the West Buddhism has been referred to for centuries as it is today as Buddha-dharma. Since dharma refers to a particular life-path, Buddha-dharma signifies the path of the Buddha (namely the path of disciplined practise that Gautama Buddha undertook and espoused).

[edit] Dhamma-vinaya; the Buddha's Path of Practice

Gautama Buddha referred to the path that he prescribed his students as dhamma-vinaya (dhamma is the Pali variant spelling of Sanskrit dharma) which means this path of discipline (vinaya means discipline). The path of the Buddhas (Gautama Buddha saw himself as one in a long line of Buddhas stretching back into remote antiquity) is a path of self-imposed discipline. This discipline involves celibacy (Brahmacarya), a strict code of ethical behaviour (Śīla) and effort in the cultivation of mindfulness and wisdom. (See also Threefold Training)
In the Buddhist Scriptures, the expression "The Dharma" often refers to the Buddha's teachings and their scriptural recension (e.g. the Vinaya and Sutta Pitaka of the Pali Canon), and can more broadly include the later traditions of interpretation and exegesis that the various schools of Buddhism have developed to help explain and expand upon the Buddha's teachings. In later Mahayana tradition, this was seen as the 84,000 different teachings (the Kangyur/bka.'gyur) that the Buddha gave to various types of people based on their needs.
In this sense of being synonymous with the Buddha's teachings the Dharma constitutes one of the Three Jewels of Buddhism in which practitioners of Buddhism take refuge (what one relies on for his/her lasting happiness). The three jewels of Buddhism are the Buddha (mind's perfection of enlightenment), the Dharma (teachings and methods), and the Sangha (the community of committed practitioners of the buddha dharma who provide mutual support, encouragement and spiritual friendship).

[edit] Understanding Nature; dhamma vicaya

The cultivation and attainment of wisdom is part of the goal and practise of Buddhism. In order to attain wisdom one must understand the nature of things (the dharma) and part of the practise of Buddhism is the investigation of Nature - dhamma-vicaya. This means to adopt an objective, scientific approach to understanding the causal relationships between various phenomena. The Buddha himself has been called a great or even a super-scientist^[2] because his teachings on the way out of suffering use analyses of the causal relationships between the different factors which constitute mind and body. The crowning achievement of this analysis is the doctrine of dependent origination.

[edit] The Buddha's Dharma Body

The qualities of the Dharma (Law, truth) are the same as the qualities of the Buddha and form his "truth body" or "Dhamma Kaya": In the Samyutta Nikaya, Vakkali Sutta, Buddha said to his disciple Vakkali that,

"Yo kho Vakkali dhammaṃ passati so maṃ passati"

O Vakkali, whoever sees the Dhamma, sees me [the Buddha]

Another reference from the Agganna Sutta of the Digha Nikaya, says to his disciple Vasettha:

"Tathāgatassa h'etam Vasettha adivacanam Dhammakayo iti pi ...":

O Vasettha! The Word of Dhammakaya is indeed the name of the Tathagata

[edit] Qualities of Buddha Dharma

The Teaching of the Buddha has six supreme qualities:

1. Svākkhāto (Sanskrit: Svākhyāta "well proclaimed"). The Buddha's teaching is not a speculative philosophy but an exposition of the Universal Law of Nature based on a causal analysis of natural phenomena. It is preached, therefore, as a science^[3] rather than a sectarian belief system. Full comprehension (enlightenment) of the teaching may take varying lengths of time but Buddhists traditionally say that the course of study is 'excellent in the beginning (sīla – Sanskrit śīla – moral principles), excellent in the middle (samādhi – concentration) and excellent in the end' (paññā - Sanskrit prajñā . . . Wisdom).
2. Sandiṭṭhiko (Sanskrit: Sāṃdṛṣṭika "able to be examined"). The Dhamma is amenable to scientific scrutiny and is not based on faith alone. It can be tested by personal practice and he who follows it will see the result for himself by means of his own experience.
3. Akāliko (Sanskrit: Akālika "timeless, immediate"). The Dhamma is able to bestow timeless and immediate results here and now, for which there is no need to wait until the future or next existence. The dhamma does not change over time and it is not relative to time
4. Ehipassiko (Sanskrit: Ehipaśyika "which you can come and see" — from the phrase ehi, paśya "come, see!"). The Dhamma invites all beings to put it to the test and come see for themselves.
5. Opanayiko (Sanskrit: Avapraṇayika "leading one close to"). Followed as a part of one's life the dhamma leads one on to liberation. In the "Vishuddhimagga" this is also referred to as "Upanayanam."
6. Paccattaṃ veditabbo viññūhi (Sanskrit: Pratyātmaṃ veditavyo vijñaiḥ "To be personally known by the wise"). The Dhamma can be perfectly realized only by the noble disciples (Ariyas) who have matured in supreme wisdom.

Knowing these attributes, Buddhists believe that they will attain the greatest peace and happiness through the practice of the Dhamma. Each person is therefore fully responsible for himself to put it in the real practice.
Here the Buddha is compared to an experienced and skillful doctor, and the Dhamma to proper medicine. However efficient the doctor or wonderful the medicine may be, the patients cannot be cured unless they take the medicine properly. So the practice of the Dhamma is the only way to attain the final deliverance of Nibbāna.
These teachings ranged from understanding karma (Pāli: kamma) (literal meaning 'action')) and developing good impressions in one's mind, to reach full enlightenment by recognizing the nature of mind.

[edit] Dharmas in Buddhist phenomenology

Other uses include dharma, normally spelled in transliteration with a small "d" (this differentiation is impossible in the South Asian scripts used to write Sanskrit), which refers to a phenomenon or constituent factor of human experience. This was gradually expanded into a classification of constituents of the entire material and mental world. Rejecting the substantial existence of permanent entities which are qualified by possibly changing qualities, Buddhist Abhidharma philosophy, which enumerated seventy-five dharmas, came to propound that these "constituent factors" are the only type of entity that truly exists. This notion is of particular importance for the analysis of human experience: Rather than assuming that mental states inhere in a cognizing subject, or a soul-substance, Buddhist philosophers largely propose that mental states alone exist as "momentary elements of consciousness", and that a subjective perceiver is assumed.
One of the central tenets of Buddhism, is the denial of a separate permanent "I", and is outlined in the three marks of existence. The three signs: 1. Duḥkha (Pali: Dukkha) - Suffering, 2. Anitya (Pali: Anicca) - Change/Impermanence, 3. Anātman (Pali: Anatta) - Non-self. At the heart of Buddhism, is the realization of no "self" or "I" (and hence the delusion) as a separate self-existing entity.
Later, Buddhist philosophers like Nāgārjuna would question whether the dharmas (momentary elements of consciousness) truly have a separate existence of their own. (ie Do they exist apart from anything else?) Rejecting any inherent reality to the dharmas, he asked (rhetorically):

śūnyeṣu sarvadharmeṣu kim anantaṃ kim antavat
kim anantam antavac ca nānantaṃ nāntavac ca kiṃ
kiṃ tad eva kim anyat kiṃ śāśvataṃ kim aśāśvataṃ
aśāśvataṃ śāśvataṃ ca kiṃ vā nobhayam apyataḥ
sarvopalambhopaśamaḥ prapañcopaśamaḥ śivaḥ
na kvacit kasyacit kaścid dharmo buddhena deśitaḥ

When all dharmas are empty, what is endless? What has an end?
What is endless and with an end? What is not endless and not with an end?
What is it? What is other? What is permanent? What is impermanent?
What is impermanent and permanent? What is neither?

Auspicious is the pacification of phenomenal metastasis, the pacification of all apprehending;
There is no dharma whatsoever taught by the Buddha to whomever, whenever, wherever.
—Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, nirvāṇaparīkṣā, 25:22-24

[edit] Meanings of "Dharma"

Dharma in the Buddhist scriptures has a variety of meanings, including "phenomenon", and "nature" or "characteristic".
Dharma also means ‘mental contents’, and is paired with citta, which means heart/mind. In major sutras (for example, the Mahasatipatthana sutra), the dharma/citta pairing is paralleled with the pairing of kaya (body) and vedana (feelings or sensations, that which arise within the body but experienced through the mind).
Dharma means the source of things and Truth.
Dharma is also used to refer to the teachings of the Buddha, not in the context of the words of one man, even an enlightened man, but as a reflection of natural law which was re-discovered by this man and shared with the world. A person who lives their life with an understanding of this natural law, is a "dhammic" person, which is often translated as "righteous".

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