Dhamma

[Vaska Tumir]

Is it also not true that in "demotic" or everyday usage it primarily refers
to something like one's social fate, the path and station one has
predetermined and ordained for one during a lifetime?  And hence the social
duties that go with it?  Often used to bolster the rigidities of the caste
system, which Buddhism has hardly made a dent on in the Indian subcontinent?  

Vaska

At 08:40 AM 9/17/97 -0500, Shubha Ghosh wrote:

>Dharma has a meaning that is rooted in the Vedas which predate Buddhism by
>several centuries.  Dharma means very broadly civilization, culture,
>religion, similar to Weltanschaung but encompassing more than just
>worldview or outlook.  You can think about Dharma as including 
>spiritual, material and epistemic dimensions. [SNIP]