religious beliefs and practices. THERAVADABuddhism
uses the Pali variant dhamma; GandharPrakrit, as at-
tested in the Dharmapadafrom Khotan (second cen-
tury C.E., probably of DHARMAGUPTAKAaffiliation)
uses either dhama or dharma.Gandhar, the lan-
guage(s) of the Gandharan cultural area, including
Gandhara, Bactria, and Khotan, was the language used
by the Buddhist schools in that area, such as Sarvasti-
vada, Mahasamghika, Dharmaguptaka, and so on. It is
also the language from which most Chinese transla-
tions before the time of KUMARAJIVA(350–409/413)
derive. It is the Buddhist literature of the Gandhara re-
gion that was introduced to China during the first cen-
tury B.C.E. through at least the fourth century C.E. The
Chinese phonetic transliteration attests to the word
dhama,but in canonical literature the term is almost
always translated as fa(Japanese ho; Korean po ̆p). The
common Chinese meaning of fa is law, plan, or
method, but it is now vested with the full range of Bud-
dhist meanings as well.
The Buddhist interpretation of dharma
The traditional meaning of dharmacan be understood
as uniform norm, universal and moral order, or nat-
ural law; it also includes one’s social duty and proper
conduct. The Buddha understood this universal order
in terms of PRATITYASAMUTPADA(DEPENDENT ORIGI-
NATION), an eternal law governing all elements in this
conditioned world. This dharma, which was rediscov-
ered by the Buddha, was the subject matter of his teach-
ing; hence, dharmaalso means teaching or doctrine.
The twelve links in the chain of dependent origi-
nation are explained in the sutras of both the Pali
nikayas(divisions of the scriptural texts) and the Chi-
nese agamas(“transmission” of Buddha’s word), as
well as in many scholastic texts. Two links are said to
be in the past: ignorance (avidya), which produces for-
mations (samskara). The meaning of formationscomes
close to KARMA(ACTION). Eight links are in the pre-
sent: consciousness (vijñana), producing name-and-
form (namarupa), a quasi-person, which leads to the
six sensory faculties (sadayatana), which lead to con-
tact (spars ́a) between the six sensory faculties, their ob-
jects, and the resulting six consciousnesses. This leads
to feeling or experiencing (vedana), which leads to
craving (trsna), which brings grasping (upadana),
which leads to becoming or existence (bhava). Two
links are in the future: birth (jati) and old age and death
(jaramarana). This process explains the natural law
that is the dharma. The PATHtoward deliverance from
this process governing birth, death, and rebirth can be
found in the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS.The word dharmais also used for the corpus of dis-
courses, the scriptural texts, that expound the Buddha’s
teaching. The practice of dharma is found in the
VINAYA, the monastic instructions. The practical appli-
cation of dharma, involving the rules and regulations
and their sanctions, is contained in the PRATIMOKSA.
Each of these rules is also called dharma.Dharma and
vinaya together constitute the teachings of the Buddha;
what in the West is called Buddhism,the Buddhists
themselves call the Dharmavinaya.
The Buddha, who had realized enlightenment not
far from the capital of Magadha, preached his first ser-
mon, the Dharmacakrapravartana-sutra(Turning the
Wheel of Dharma), in Sarnath in the Deer Park, some
distance from the banks of the Ganges in Varanasor
Benares. This sermon explains the path to salvation via
the four noble truths. The Buddha’s diagnosis sees
everything as DUHKHA(SUFFERING), which has a cause
(samudaya), namely craving, which can be extinguished
(nirodha) through the noble eightfold path (marga):- Right view
- Right intention
- Right speech
- Right action
- Right livelihood
- Right effort
- Right mindfulness
- Right concentration
In the sequence of the eightfold path one distinguishes
the monastic practice of cultivating PRAJN
A(WISDOM),
morality (s ́lla), and concentration (samadhi). Steps
one and two of the path correspond to wisdom. Pra-
jña is commonly translated as wisdom, even though
this is the meaning that it received in a Mahasamghika
milieu in northwestern India as a reaction against the
Sarvastivada. The Sarvastivada sees prajñaas an ana-
lytical knowledge of factors, or dharmas. Steps three to
five of the path correspond to morality, which purifies
one’s conduct. Concentration corresponds to steps
seven and eight. All three practices are associated with
step six. Dharma, the doctrine, may also be understood
as the truth about the phenomenal world, and how toDHARMA ANDDHARMAS