Dharma in Buddhism and Hinduism

Dharma is a Sanskrit word and a concept of eastern religions. Simply explained, it is the way of the higher Truths, a lifestyle that leads to minimum accumulation of karma and is therefore the fastest path to personal liberation.

It is difficult to provide a single concise definition for "Dharma" ("life" fails to convey a connoted complexity); the word has a long and varied history and complex set of meanings and interpretations. Certain Westerners and Orientalists have proposed any number of possible translations, from "justice" to "religion." All of them have a moral connotation, however, that, as any true scholar of Sanskrit and of Traditional Metaphysics would quickly point out, has no real place in Hinduism.

"Dharma" derives from the verbal root dhri, which simply means "manner of being." The term must therefore be understood in its original (i.e. metaphysical) context, that of a "conformity" to a Divine or Creative Principle at work in an individual. It represents the individual's internal "law," to which an obedience must be given if that individual life is to live in accordance with a Divine Will. This, we should note, is what Hindus or, for that matter, all metaphysical traditions, consider the sole or primary "purpose" of life. In "dharma," therefore, we find the founding principle of the caste system — one in which individuals owe their allegiance to an "internal decree" from which they cannot stray. It also explains how "justice," for example, finds its place among the many modern definitions of the word "dharma."

Rene Guenon, father of the 20th century "school" of Perennial Philosophy, defines it as such:

It [dharma] is, so to speak, the essential nature of a being, comprising the sum of its particular qualities or characteristics, and determining, by virtue of the tendencies or dispositions it implies, the manner in which this being will conduct itself, either in a general way or in relation to each particular circumstance. The same idea may be applied, not only to a single being, but also to an organized collectivity, to a species, to all the beings included in a cosmic cycle or state of existence, or even to the whole order of the Universe; it then, at one level or another, signifies conformity with the essential nature of beings… (from Guenon's "Introduction to the Study of Hindu Doctrines")

This said, certain "Western" definitions of the word must be considered in the light of this original definition — that is, as branches from a single root. Monier Monier-Williams, for example (while covering the entire scope it would seem), gives its primary definition as:

that which is established or firm, steadfast decree, statute, ordinance, law; usage, practice, customary observance or prescribed conduct, duty; right, justice (often as a synonym of punishment); virtue, morality, religion, religious merit, good works,

of which the first, "that which is established or firm" seems to be the most ancient and etymological. "Dharma" is cognate with the Latin firmus, the origin of the word "firm." Meanings related to law, morality, scripture, and teachings were probably acquired through analogy, by being regarded as firm and called as such. For the phenomenological or psychological meaning, see below.

In Hinduism, Yama, the god of death, is also known as Dharma, since he works within the laws of karma and morality, regulated by divine principles. More familiar to most Hindus is the embodiment of Dharma in Lord Rama, an avatar of Vishnu. Within Hindu communities, Dharma can also refer to the Hindu religion in general.

In Buddhism, the Dharma most often means the body of teachings expounded by the Buddha. Confusingly, the word is also used in Buddhist phenomenology as a term roughly equivalent to phenomenon, a basic unit of existence and/or experience.

In scripture translations dharma is often best left untranslated, as it has acquired a lively life of its own in English that is more expressive than any simplistic translation. Common translations and glosses include "right way of living," "Divine Law," "Path of Righteousness," "order," "faith," "natural harmony," "rule," "fundamental" and "duty". Dharma may be used to refer to "rules" of the operation of the mind or universe in a metaphysical system, or to rules of comportment in an ethical system.

Within Indian philosophy "dharma" also means "property" and "dharmin" means "property-bearer". In a Sanskrit sentence like "zabdo 'nityaH" (Sanskrit transliterated according to the Kyoto-Harvard convention), "sound is impermanent", "sound" is the bearer of the property "impermanence". Likewise, in the sentence "iha ghataH", "here, there is a pot", "here" is the bearer of the property "pot-existence" - this just goes to show that the categories property and property-bearer are closer to those of a logical predicate and its subject-term, and not to a grammatical predicate and subject.

A common manner of describing Hinduism among its adherents is as a way of life, as "Dharma." It defies dogma and thus seeks to instead align the human body, mind, and soul in harmony with nature.

Our very limitation is guided under a universal understanding, that of Dharma. The Atharva Veda, the last of the four books of the Vedas, utilizes symbolism to describe dharma's role. Thus we are bound by the laws of time, space and causation according to finite reality, which itself is a limitation imposed by the self-projection of the infinite Brahman as the cosmos. Dharma is the foundation of this causal existence, the one step below the infinite. Indeed, dharma is the projection of divine order from Brahman, and as such:

"Prithivim Dharmana Dhritam"

"This world is upheld by Dharma"

-- (Atharva Veda)

To assess a concept whose explication is bewildering in range, it is useful to trace its nascence and subsequent development in Vedic culture. In the Vedas, which span back to 2000 BCE (and much further in oral tradition), the first concept that is strikingly dharmic is that of rta.

Rta literally means the "course of things." At first, the early Hindus (or followers of the "Sanatan Dharma") were notably confused as to the inscrutable order of nature, how the heavenly bodies, the rushing winds and flowing waters, the consistent cycling of the seasons, were regulated. Thenceforth sprang rta, whose all-purpose role it was to signify this order, the path that was always followed. Through all the metamorphoses and permutations of nature, of life in general, there was one unchangeable fact: rta.

Soon it transcended its passive role as a mere signifier and took on a greater one, that of an active imposition of order. Not only the natural principles, but the gods and goddesses themselves, were obliged to abide by rta. Rta became the father, the law of justice and righteousness, unyielding but eminently fair. It grew, as Radhakrishnan states, from "physical" to "divine" in its purvey.

Developing conceptions

Dharma In Buddhism

The teachings of the Buddha

Dharmas in Buddhist phenomenology