When did I first learn about the dharma? The true answer would be I don’t know. The most likely answer is when I took a course in comparative religion when I was a sophomore in college. Did I understand the material I was trying to retain? I think I got a B in the class but I’m not sure. I did consider becoming a religion major at the time but decided that a religion major probably had even less chance of getting job than did a communication major. I wasn’t very concerned about a job at the time because I was certain to be drafted when I finished college and was already planning on graduate school after whatever happened to me.
What is this dharma that everyone is chasing. How does someone know they have found the dharma? Does everyone have the same dharma? What happens if I find the dharma?
Robert Thurman (1996, p. 291) lists 11 main meanings for Dharma.
- Thing
- Quality
- Duty
- Law
- Religion
- Doctrine
- Truth
- Reality
- Absolute
- Liberation
- Nirvana
I’m presenting all these definitions to point out that even as eminent a scholar as Thurman hasn’t really settled on a single definition. Though in listening to some of Thurman’s podcasts he seems to use the “reality” definition more often than not. Certainly the context in which the word “dharma” appears is central to the meaning. Thurman’s list indicates that no single word in English is sufficient to translate “dharma”. I will note that dharma is the Sanskrit word and dhamma is the Pali word.
I tend to think of the dharma as the path. Perhaps dharma is the path to reality or the path of prescribed by law or the path determined by your duty or destiny. Any of those interpretations have some validity. All of these interpretations are ripe topics for discussion.
Even if there is only one path or truth or reality the concept of dharma bum allows for many different ways of coming to the same end. So even if there is only one dharma we must all find our own way there. Equifinality is one of the many paradoxes in this type of study. Only one path but everyone on the path is on a different journey.
Thurman, R. A. F. (1996). Essential Tibetan Buddhism (Reprint edition). San Francisco: HarperOne.
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