What really is Dharma?

[WhiteCrow]

Good morning everyone, I am beginning down my path in search for enlightenment. I’ve been reading about Dharma here and there and there’s lots of different suggestions on what it is. The last answer I seen explained it as the principles of everyday existence. I’m sorry to ask such a beginner question but can someone possibly be able to give me a little better of an explanation? Thanks!

[Kim O'Hara]

Dharma usually means "Buddhist teachings" but its broader meaning is something like "spiritual law".

This page https://www.learnreligions.com/what-is- ... rma-449710 explains the broader sense fairly well but this one is better because it is specifically Buddhist - https://tricycle.org/beginners/buddhism/what-is-dharma/


Kim

[Genjo Conan]

It can be confusing because, in addition to the meaning that Kim noted, "a dharma"--here always with a lower-case d--can also just mean, like, "a thing; stuff".

[master of puppets]

my consideration is that you can not measure the dharma.

[PadmaVonSamba]

can someone possibly be able to give me a little better of an explanation? Thanks!

Prince Siddhartha left his palace and became a wandering yogin in search for an answer to why beings experience is marked by suffering and rebirth. After he realized the causes of suffering and the path that cuts off the causes of suffering and rebirth, he was known as the “awakened one” (Buddha). What he discovered, and what has been taught for some 2500 years is called the Dharma.
So, the Dharma is the path that leads one away from the causes of suffering and towards liberation from samsara, as explained by the Buddha. Everything that is called ‘Buddha-Dharma’ has to do, in one way or another, with leading beings out of suffering and rebirth.

[Kim O'Hara]

It can be confusing because, in addition to the meaning that Kim noted, "a dharma"--here always with a lower-case d--can also just mean, like, "a thing; stuff".

Yes, although that's a meaning that the OP is less likely to come across in general reading. For instance, it doesn't even rate a mention amongst many other meanings itemised in Wikipedia's extended definition at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma#Definition


Kim

[Bristollad]

In addition to the good answers you've already received, I'd like to mention the scriptural Dharma and the Dharma of realisation. The scriptural Dharma is the teachings preserved and passed down, first orally and then also in books. The Dharma of realisation refers to the wisdom of practitioners, their insights and understanding that come from contemplating and meditating deeply on the basis of those scriptural teachings. Both are critical.

[bowsamic]

It can be confusing because, in addition to the meaning that Kim noted, "a dharma"--here always with a lower-case d--can also just mean, like, "a thing; stuff".

Yes, although that's a meaning that the OP is less likely to come across in general reading. For instance, it doesn't even rate a mention amongst many other meanings itemised in Wikipedia's extended definition at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma#Definition


Kim

Actually, I have come across the lower case word dharma meaning phenomena far more often in my general reading than upper case Dharma meaning the Buddha's teachings or spiritual law. I think that both are very common, but if you are reading mainly commentaries on prajnaparamita texts and the like, which is common if you practise Zen for example, which is in turn common in the west, then dharma meaning phenomena is very common.

[Aemilius]

Dharma is actually uncountable thousands of millions of years old, because a Buddha's career lasts about three asamkhyeya kalpas, beginning with his first awakening of the bodhichitta or will to complete enlightenment. And because there have been countlessly many Buddhas before Shakyamuni's bodhisattva career.
"Dharma" may be known by different names in different universe, in different lands and during different eons or kalpas. This is so because in Lankavatara sutra Shakyamuni says that his known by millions of different names in different lands, and because in Avatamsaka sutra there is a whole chapter devoted to different formulations of the Four noble truths that exist in different universes or world systems.

[Könchok Thrinley]

Having good heart. There are many things one can study and practice but in the end the most important thing is having a good heart. And its actually pretty achievable I'd say.

[Aemilius]

Avatamsaka sutra, The Flower Ornament Scripture, says in Chapter 8. The Four Holy Truths:

“Disciples of the Buddha, in the world called Most Victorious, the Four Holy Truths can be described in forty trillion names such as these, which by according with living beings’ thoughts, can cause them all to be tamed and subdued.”

And further,

"At that time, Manjushri Bodhisattva Mahasattva told all the Bodhisattvas: “All of you Disciples of the Buddha, in this Saha world, the Holy Truth of Suffering is perhaps called offenses, perhaps called oppression, perhaps called flux and change, perhaps called grabbing onto conditions, perhaps called conglomeration, perhaps called thorns, perhaps called relying on the root, perhaps called vain and deceptive, perhaps called carbuncles and sores, perhaps called the conducts of stupid people.

"Disciples of the Buddha, in this Saha world, the Holy Truth of the Accumulation of Suffering is perhaps called being bound up, perhaps called decay and ruin, perhaps called the meaning of love and attachment, perhaps called false enlightenment and thoughts, perhaps called tending toward and entering, perhaps called decisive, perhaps called net, perhaps called idle speculation, perhaps called following along, perhaps called the root of inversion.

"Disciples of the Buddha, in this Saha world, the Holy Truth of the Extinction of Suffering is perhaps called non-contention, perhaps called leaving filth, perhaps called still quiescence, perhaps called markless, perhaps called without demise, perhaps called without a self-nature, perhaps called freedom from impediments, perhaps called extinction, perhaps called true and actual substance, perhaps called abiding in the self-nature.

“Disciples of the Buddha, in this Saha world, the Holy Truth of the Way Leading to the Extinction of Suffering is perhaps called the One Vehicle, perhaps called inclining toward stillness, perhaps called instructing and guiding, perhaps called ultimately without difference, perhaps called level equality, perhaps called renouncing one’s burden, perhaps called without tendencies, perhaps called according with the sagely intent, perhaps called the conduct of immortals, perhaps called ten treasuries.

“Disciples of the Buddha, in this Saha world, the Four Holy Truths can be described in forty trillion names such as these, which, by according with living beings’ thoughts, can cause them all to be tamed and subdued."

from the City of Ten Thousand Buddha's translation of The Flower Adornment Sutra



Lankavatara sutra, chapter XII:

"Then said Mahamati to the Blessed One: It has been taught in the canonical books that the Buddhas are subject to neither birth nor destruction, and you have said that "the Un-born" is one of the names of the Tathagatas; does that mean that the Tathagata is a non-entity?

"The Blessed One replied: The Tathagata is not a non-entity nor is he to be conceived as other things are as neither born nor disappearing, nor is he subject to causation, not is he without significance; yet I refer to him as "The Un-born." There is yet another name for the Tathagata. "The Mind-appearing One" (Manomayakaya) which his Essence-body assumes at will in the transformations incident to his work of emancipation. This is beyond the understanding of common disciples and masters and even beyond the full comprehension of those Bodhisattvas who remain in the seventh stage. Yes, Mahamati, "The Un-born" is synonymous with Tathagata.

"Then Mahamati said: If the Tathagatas are un-born, there does not seem to be anything to take hold of – no entity – or is there something that bears another name than entity? And what can that "something" be?

"The Blessed One replied: Objects are frequently known by different names according to different aspects that they present, -- the god Indra is sometimes known as Shakra, and sometimes as Purandara. These different names are sometimes used interchangeably and sometimes they are discriminated, but different objects are not to be imagined because of the different names, nor are they without individuation. The same can be said of myself as I appear in this world of patience before ignorant people and where I am known by uncounted trillions of names. They address me by different names not realizing that they are all names of the one Tathagata. Some recognize me as Sun, as Moon; some as a reincarnation of the ancient sages; some as one of "ten powers"; some as Rama, some as Indra, and some as Varuna. Still there are others who speak of me as The Un-born, as Emptiness, as "Suchness," as Truth, as Reality, as Ultimate Principle; still there are others who see me as Dharmakaya, as Nirvana, as the Eternal; some speak of me as sameness, as non-duality, as un-dying, as formless; some think of me as the doctrine of Buddha-causation, or of Emancipation, or of the Noble Path; and some think of me as Divine Mind and Noble Wisdom. Thus in this world and in other worlds am I known by these uncounted names, but they all see me as the moon is seen in the water. Though they all honor, praise and esteem me, they do not fully understand the meaning and significance of the words they use; not having their own self-realization of Truth they cling to the words of their canonical books, or to what has been told to them, or to what they have imagined, and fail to see that the name they are using is only one of the many names of the Tathagata. In their studies they follow the mere words of the text vainly trying to gain the true meaning, instead of having confidence in the one "text" where self-confirming Truth is revealed, that is, having confidence in the self-realization of noble Wisdom."

[master of puppets]

Don't know if you notice but every milestone of the teaching defines an aspect of a practicing mind.

means when you are practicing you 'll be in a definite situation or mind. such as emptiness, dependant arising, etc. or a summary of the sum.

[Vajrasvapna]

Good morning everyone, I am beginning down my path in search for enlightenment. I’ve been reading about Dharma here and there and there’s lots of different suggestions on what it is. The last answer I seen explained it as the principles of everyday existence. I’m sorry to ask such a beginner question but can someone possibly be able to give me a little better of an explanation? Thanks!

It can signify the teachings of Buddha; Buddha Dharma. It can also mean phenomena or experiences: "Beings and Dharma are empty".

[kirtu]

Good morning everyone, I am beginning down my path in search for enlightenment. I’ve been reading about Dharma here and there and there’s lots of different suggestions on what it is. The last answer I seen explained it as the principles of everyday existence.

Dharma, in the sense of Buddhadharma, means literally "truth" or the "way of reality", the way things are. The first is claimed by all spiritual traditions, the second sounds too Taoist. They are all expressions of what Shakyamuni Buddha awakened to. Most of what has been written here are characteristics of Buddhadharma, a vast topic/teaching/world view.