Dhamma

[andrew at cee.hw.ac.uk]

Vaska Tumir writes:
> 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?

I looked Dhamma up in Xmas Humphrey's Dictionary of Buddhism (the
layman's edition) and it gave a list of about 30 alternative
renderings in English (most bizarre being form as in the English
notion of `good form'). It also gave five principle meanings, one of
which seemed pretty much akin to Karma or phenomena as seen from the
perspective of unfolding cause and effect. And yes Karma was used to
bolster the caste system in India, although it should be noted that
Buddhism and the Dhamma rejected the notion of caste for most of the
religion's history, both inside and outside of India, providing an
escape route for many Indians from an oppressive system. Also, for a
long period Buddhism was a dominant force in `Indian' culture and
politics (in so far as there was a single `India'), it's high point
being under Emperor Asoka.

Another definition was `right' or `rightness'. The Pali word used by
Theravada Buddhists is Dhamma. Mahayana Buddhists use the Sanskrit
Dharma. The Dictionary also confirmed Shubha Ghosh's post yesterday
(not that it needed such, but . . .) that Dharma in Sanskrit means
learning, teaching, culture, lore, wisdom, justice, order, etc etc
etc.


Andrew Dinn
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How do you know but ev'ry bird that cuts the airy way
Is an immense world of pleasure clos'd by your senses five