do away with its defilements. Thus, dharma also means
knowledge, freeing one from phenomenal existence.
The whole process of dependent origination begins
with ignorance or nescience (avidya). Dharma also
means morality because it contains a code of moral
conduct, and it means duty because one has a duty to
comply with it while striving for NIRVANA. These in-
terpretations of dharma join the age-old understand-
ing of the term as natural law and social duty, but this
time given a Buddhist interpretation.
Dharma is also the second of the three JEWELSor
REFUGES(triratna)—Buddha, dharma, SAN ̇GHA. Tak-
ing this triple refuge is nowadays an essential criterion
for being considered a Buddhist. The dharma is the
truth and protector. The Buddha is the teacher of the
dharma and becomes its personification. The disciples
were advised to take the dharma as their guide after
the Buddha’s death. The dharma is the essence of the
Buddha. Upon discovering the dharma, S ́akyamuni at-
tained buddhahood. The san ̇gha, the monastic order,
puts dharma into practice in daily life.
MAHAYANABuddhism explains buddhahood by dis-
tinguishing two, three, or four aspects or bodies (kaya).
The two bodies are the law-body (dharmakaya), which
is the dharma, the essence of a buddha, and the mate-
rial body (rupakaya), the physical aspect. The law-body
is a personification of the truth of the universal law.
Better known is the three-body breakdown, which in-
cludes the body of enjoyment (sambhogakaya) or the
reward-body, the body that enjoys the reward for pre-
vious meritorious conduct. It is the ideal buddha-body
in the realm of the real (DHARMADHATU). An example
would be AMITABHA, who made forty-eight vows while
he was the bodhisattva Dharmakara, and he gained
buddhahood in the Western Paradise of Sukhavataf-
ter a long period of practice. The transformation-body
(nirmanakaya) appears as a person during his or her
earthly existence, and belongs to a specific time and
place; S ́akyamuni, the historical Buddha, is an exam-
ple of transformation-body.
The Tripitaka,the “three baskets” of the canon that
contain the teaching, are also regarded as the teach-
ing, the dharma. The first basket, the sutras, is tradi-
tionally divided into either nine or twelve parts, based
on literary form. The Sutrapitakais now divided into
nikayasor agamas.The second of the three basketsDHARMA ANDDHARMASA golden dharma wheel between two deer, representing the Buddha preaching the first sermon at the Deer Park, Sarnath. Sculpture at
the Jo khang temple, Lhasa, Tibet. © Brian Vikander/CORBIS. Reproduced by permission.