What is Dharma?

Dharma is a Sanskrit word that is very difficult to translate. Its literal meaning is "that to which we adhere." Originally, it referred to the ethical duties incumbent on each of the castes of ancient India; for example, it was the dharma of the Brahman or priestly class to concern themselves with spiritual matters by conducting and transmitting the complex ritual observances of the culture. The dharma of the warrior class was, of course, to fight wars; the dharma of the merchant class was to buy, sell, and keep honest accounts, while the dharma of the artisans was to make things well, and the dharma of peasants and laborers was, of course, to work the land. Even the outcastes, the "untouchables," had their dharma--to clean up the poop, stay out of the way, and do as they were told.

With the rise of Buddhism, the word Dharma took on a new set of connotations, seemingly more restricted but in actuality far broader and more inclusive than the original meaning. Its restricted meaning was simply the teachings of the Buddha; hence it is often translated as "doctrine." But this translation, I feel, is misleading--because the Buddha was not an ideologue, like Paul of Tarsus or Lenin, who took a party-line, "my way or no way" approach to things. Rather--almost alone among the charismatic founders of the great world religions, the Buddha's final message was not "follow me." Rather, it was "be a light unto yourself." In other words, you're on your own, buddy!

So again, what did the Buddha or his followers mean by "Dharma"? On the one hand, the word was used, in the small case, as 'twere, to simply mean something like "phenomenon" or "thing." Hence the frequent saying, as in the Heart Sutra, that "all dharmas are empty" or "all dharmas are impermanent." On the other, when capitalized, it referred to the universal and inexpressible truth to which the Buddha's teachings point, "like a finger pointing to the moon" as the saying goes. Hence, the early Buddhist traditions spoke of "87 Dharma Doors" referring to 87 different approaches to enlightenment. But of course, even this number is arbitrary; it could just as easily be 87 thousand, or 87 million different approaches to the same universal truth.

But wouldn't this strip the word "Dharma" of any useful meaning at all--since it simply refers to all things, or to all teachings? Well--not quite. The Buddha was a bit more explicit in offering us a set of litmus tests--which he called the Three Dharma Seals--for knowing whether or not any given teaching rings true--that is, whether it is authentic Dharma or not. The Dharma seals are as follows:

1. Impermanence--the observable and irrefutable fact that everything we see or know is subject to change, and does not stay the same. The doctrine of Impermanence corresponds quite closely to the Second Law of Thermodynamics--the law of entropy--and it is the easiest to grasp intellectually. But of course, we resist it emotionally--we all want to stay alive, yet we will die; we all want to keep what we have, yet we will sooner or later lose it all; we all want to stay healthy and happy, yet sooner or later we will be sick or sad or angry or frustrated or grief-stricken. This is why impermanence brings us suffering--yet that suffering is alleviated when we acknowledge and accept the reality of impermanence, rather than wishing it were other than it is.

2. Interbeing (or codependent origination)--the not-so-observable, yet equally irrefutable fact that everything we see or know--including ourselves and our own (impermanent) bodies--is what it is by virtue of its ongoing interaction with everything else. As the Buddha put it, "this is because that is." And vice versa. This corresponds to the First Law of Thermodynamics--the law of conservation of matter/energy--that is, that nothing is ever gained or lost--it is simply transformed from one state into another. We are who we are, now, only because of the ever-changing moire pattern formed by--
--the food we eat, and the topsoil that grew it;
--the oxygenated air we breathe;
--the water we must drink every day;
--the ongoing expression of the unique genotype bequeathed to us by our parents;
--the reciprocal influence on us of our family, friends, and everyone else we encounter;
--the language, values, and traditions of the culture into which we were born.
--the experiences we have had in the past, as they are stored in our memory and expressed in our habitual responses.

Without, or with a change in even one of these, we would not be who we are. Without many of them, we would not exist at all.

3. Oneness (or Nirvana). When it comes to understanding this one--forget it. It is utterly beyond our intellectual or affective grasp, since our feelings are formed from within our bodies, and our thoughts by our own minds, shaped by our own experience as separate selves. At best we have only brief glimpses of this awareness, in peak moments, where our sense of separateness from everything else simply disappears, and there is only One of us. There are several words in various languages and traditions pointing to this transcendent awareness--including "nirvana" (which means literally "extinction" of the illusion of separateness), Samadhi, Satori, etc.

But if it is any consolation, the third Dharma Seal follows logically and inevitably from the first two--as can be expressed in the following enthymeme: IF everything is impermanent BECAUSE it is both brought into temporary manifestation and subsequently dissolved through continuous reciprocal interaction with everything else, THEN it follows that everything we see, including ourselves, is in reality, only One Thing.