Buddhist Dharma and Dharmas.

Encyclopedia of Religion.

Mircea Eliade, Editor in Chief.

New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1987,

volume 4, 332-338.

The pan-Indian term dharma (from the Sanskrit root dhr, "to sustain, to hold"; Pali, dhamma; Tib., chos) has acquired a variety of meanings and interpretations in the course of many centuries of Indian religious thought. Buddhism shares this term and some of its meanings with other Indian religions, but at the same time it has provided a set of unique and

exclusive interpretations of its own. Dharma can imply many different meanings in various contexts and with reference to different things. Here we shall consider it under two general headings: the first as dharma in a general sense, comprising a variety of

meanings, and the second as dharma(s) in a technical sense, denoting the ultimate constituents or elements of the whole of the existing reality. Page 332-333 General Usages. Dharma was and still is employed by all the religious denominations that have

originated in India to indicate their religious beliefs and practices. In this sense, dharma refers broadly to what we would term "religion." Dharma also designates the universal order, the natural law or the uniform norm according to which the whole world (saṃsāra) runs its course. Within the Buddhist context this universal order is

coordinated in the doctrine of dependent origination (pratītya-samutpāda). This rigorous natural law, which controls the sequence of events and the behavior and acts of beings, has no cause or originator. It is beginningless and functions

of its own nature. It is said in the Aṅguttara Nikāya and the Samyutta Nikāya, and later rephrased in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, that the nature of things is such that the causal law as the inevitable determination of karman continues to evolve spontaneously whether or not the

tathāgatas appear in this world. It is an inherent and all-pervading law that does not depend for its existence on the appearance of the Buddhas, whose mission in this world is merely to reveal it. Śākyamuni Buddha first perceived and

understood this fundamental law and then proclaimed and explained it to his followers. The discovery of the nature of dharma is compared in some sūtras to the discovery of an old and forgotten city. In the Mahāyāna, especially within the context of the doctrine of the three Buddha bodies (trikāya) and the reinterpretation of the relationship between samsara and nirvāṇa

as two aspects of the same reality, dharma as the universal norm received a wider and deeper interpretation. As a part of the compound dharmakāya, it signifies both the immanent and transcendental reality of all beings and appearances. Thus, it clearly denotes the

essence of sentient beings as well as the nature of the Buddhas. In the sense of denoting phenomenal existence, it is also referred to as reality (dharmatā), the essence of reality (dharmadhātu), suchness (tathatā), emptiness

(śūnyatā), or store-consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna). In the sense of referring to the nature of the Buddhas, it is known as Buddhahood (buddhatā), as the self-nature of the Buddhas (buddhasvabhāva), or as the womb of the Buddhas

(tathāgata-garbha). Page 333 Dharma as the Buddha's teaching or doctrine as a whole comprises his exposition of the universal order of nature as described above and his proclamation of the path toward deliverance. Thus, when his

teaching is meant as a whole system it is the term dharma (or śāsana) that is employed. When his teachings are referred to or explained from two different angles, that is, when theoretical and practical aspects are differentiated, two terms are employed: dharma, as a body of religio-philosophical

discourses as contained in the Sūtras, and Vinaya, or monastic discipline, the rules and regulations for the application and practice of dharma. The Prātimokṣa (monastic code) contains rules of conduct, each of which is also called dharma.

The shortest and yet the clearest exposition of dharma as the Buddha's word (buddhavacana) is epitomized in Sakyamuni's first sermon, when he "set in motion" (i. e., proclaimed) the wheel (lore) of dharma: the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Noble Path. There is suffering and it has a cause that can be eliminated through the

knowledge and practice of the path of dharma as summarized by the Eightfold Noble Path: right views, right conduct, and so forth. Another presentation of the same path is articulated within the basic trilogy of monastic practice of cultivating wisdom (prajñā), morality (sīla), and meditation (dhyāna). Through wisdom one acquires a full

vision of dharma, through morality one purifies all that obscures the vision of dharma, and through meditation one matures dharma within oneself and indeed transforms oneself into an epitome of dharma. [See Four Noble Truths.] Page 333 Dharma denotes truth, knowledge, morality, and duty.

It is the truth about the state and function of the world, the truth about how to eliminate its evil tendencies, and the truth about its immutable spiritual potentiality. It is knowledge in the sense that once one

becomes aware of dharma one acquires the knowledge to become free from the bonds of phenomenal existence. It is morality, for it contains a code of moral conduct that conduces to spiritual purification and maturation. It is duty, for whoever professes dharma has a duty to comply with its norms and to achieve the goal that it sets forth. In this

sense there is only one duty in Buddhism: the ceaseless and constant effort to strive for nirvana. Page 333 Dharma, together with the Buddha and the saṃgha, constitute a "threefold jewel" (triratna) before which one makes prostrations and in which one takes refuge. Here dharma does not so much represent a body of

teachings as it assumes a character of awesomeness, protection, and deliverance wholly appropriate to the Truth. One stands in awe of dharma as a self-sustained righteousness whose universal legacy is to protect through its righteousness those who profess it. Soon after his enlightenment, realizing that there is no one more perfect than himself in virtue,

wisdom, and meditation under whom he could live in obedience and reverence, Śākyamuni decided that he would live honoring and revering dharma, the universal truth he had just realized. As one of the Three Jewels, the Buddha is

dharma's embodied personification, revealer, and teacher. The saṃgha constitutes a body of dharma's followers among whom dharma thrives as the norm of daily life, becoming an inspiration and a path to deliverance. The Three Jewels as conceived in the early period can be paralleled, as a

somewhat general compar-ison, with the later concept of the three Buddha bodies. Dharma as dharmakāya represents its own sublime and absolute aspect, the Buddha as a saṃbhogakāya represents the pure and glorified state of

dharma, and the saṃgha as nirmāṇakāya represents dharma as discovered and operating within the world. Page 333 Technical Usages. The strictly technical meaning of dharmas as ultimate elements or

principles of existence as systematized in the Abhidharma literature, especially in the Abhidharma works of the Sarvāstivāda school, is not so distinct or rigidly formulated in the four Nikāyas (Āgamas). In the sūtras of the four Nikāyas we find many descriptions of dharmas and their various classifications, but their

systematization into what we could call "dharma theory" took place within the Abhidharma literature. Thus, in the Nikāyas dharmas are usually characterized as good or bad concerning ethical conduct, but receive little attention as coherent metaphysical or epistemological systems. The Dasuttara Sutta enumerates some 550 dharmas to be cultivated or

abandoned. The Saṅgīti Sutta gives an even larger number of them, and the Mahāparinibbāna Suttanta lists some 1,011 dharmas. In this latter work we also find a set of dharmas that Śākyamuni ascertained to be for the benefit of living beings. These include the thirty-seven bodhipakṣya dharmas that constitute the thirty-seven practices and principles conducive to the

attainment of enlightenment. Page 333-334 Rather than providing further examples from the sūtras I propose now to concentrate on describing the dharma theory of the Sarvāstivāda school. Within its systematized presentation, one finds practically all the important aspects of dharmas and their role; the variant

interpretations of other schools will be mentioned wherever appropriate. Page 334 Buddhism makes an emphatic and "dogmatic" statement that a "soul" (ātman) as interpreted by non-Buddhist schools in India does not exist. By denying the existence of a soul as a permanent and unifying factor of a human entity it has removed all grounds for asserting the

permanency of the human entity or the existence of any indestructible element therein. Concerning the substantiality of physical things, it has removed the concept of substance and replaced it by modalities: there is no substance but only the appearances of what we call substances or things. Having removed the notion of substance

Buddhism has construed an explanation as to how this world functions. According to this explanation, the universe is seen as a flux of dharmas, the smallest elements or principles of which it consists, but this flux is not merely a flux of

incoherent motion or change. On the contrary, the world evolves according to the strict law of dependent origination (pratītya-samutpāda). Page 334 This universal flux can be conveniently viewed, for the moment, at three simultaneous and interrelated levels. If we take the inanimate world

(matter) alone, it flows under a uniformly homogeneous and natural law of change. Similarly, the organic world (vegetation) flows according to its own uniform evolution of natural life (germination, growth, etc.). The third level is constituted by sentient life. This last one, apart from comprehending the other levels (matter and organic

functions), includes a sentient element (consciousness or mind) as well. In general, we can say that it includes material as well as immaterial elements. Such sentient life, in which the material and immaterial elements are tied together, evolve or flow according to the strict law of causality as decreed in the causal nexus of dependent origination. Furthermore, this constant flux of sentient life coordinated by the law of dependent origination has a

moral law superimposed upon it: the "law" of karman. It is concerning such a flux that the dharma theory attempts to explain. There is no substance or person but there are dharmas (psychophysical elements) that flow according to the law of dependent origination that is set in motion by the law of karman. Basically, the dharma theory provides an explanation of how the universe functions within the context of a sentient life, in

particular a human flux, for it is human life that Buddhism is concerned with. Dharma theory constitutes then not so much an explanation of what the universe is as it does an attempt to describe of what it consists and how it functions. Thus, in the detailed enumeration of dharmas as

basic and infinitesimal elements that constitute the conglomeration of the universe we find an analysis of human life and its destiny. But this analysis is not "Buddhist psychology," as many call it; it is an exposition of both

the constant and inevitably coordinated flux of phenomena and the inherent potentiality of bringing this flux to a halt. Page 334 I shall now describe some general classifications of dharmas (again, after the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma). Dharmas are divided into conditioned (saṃskṛta) and unconditioned (asaṃskṛta). The conditioned dharmas (seventy-two in all) comprise all the elements of phenomenal existence (saṃsāra). They are called conditioned because by their nature and in

their flow they cooperate in and are subject to the law of causality; they conglomerate or cooperate in the production of life (pṛthagjana). The unconditioned elements (three in all) are those that are not subject to the law that governs phenomenal existence. Dharmas are also divided into those that are influenced or permeated by negative tendencies or depravities

(āsrava; in a moral sense, bad karmas) and those that are not under the influence of depravities (anāsrava; morally, good karmas). These are the same dharmas as in the previous classification but here they are viewed from two aspects: when they are influenced chiefly by ignorance (avidyā) their flux tends to perpetuate itself; when they are under the influence of

intuitive wisdom (prajñā) they acquire the tendency toward appeasement or tranquillity. By their nature the unconditioned dharmas must be classed among the dharmas that are not under the influence of depravities. We should recall here that the chief characteristic of saṃsāra is motion or unrest, duḥkha, and that of nirvāṇna is tranquillity,

nirodha. The dharmas can be also divided in relationship to the Four Truths. Here again, we have a twofold division. The first two truths (unrest, duḥkha, and its cause, samudaya) refer to the seventy-two dharmas that are permeated by depravities or that are conditioned. The two other truths (rest, nirodha, and the means to it, mārga) refer to the three

unconditioned dharmas that are always at rest (nirodha) and to the dharmas that are on the way (mārga) to become extinguished (nirodha). Page 334-335 Having described the general divisions I shall now proceed to list a set of three standard classifications within which

individual dharmas are distributed. The first classification, which includes the conditioned dharmas alone, refers to their grouping as perceived in a sentient life. This classification divides dharmas into [[five

aggregates]] or skandhas. Here we have

(1) matter or body (rūpaskandha): eleven dharmas;

(2) feelings, sensations, or emotions (vedanāskandha): one dharma;

(3) perceptions (samjñāskandha): one dharma;

(4) impulses or will-forces (saṃskāraskandha): fiftyeight dharmas;

(5) consciousness or mind (vijñānaskandha): one dharma.

This division into five skandhas not only constitutes an analysis of all phenomena but also serves to prove that there is no soul (atman) in a human entity, for none of the five skandhas can be identified with or regarded as a soul. Page 335 The second classification divides dharmas about the process of cognition. Here we have the six sense organs (indriya) and the six sense objects (viṣaya) jointly called the "bases" or "foundations" (āyatana) of cognition.

The six sense organs or internal bases are

(1) sense of vision (cakṣur-indriyāyatana);

(2) sense of hearing (śrotra-);

(3) sense of smell (ghrāṇa-);

(4) sense of taste (jihvā-);

(5) sense of touch (kaya-); and

(6) consciousness or intellectual faculty (mana-). The six sense objects or external bases are

(7) color and form (rūpa-āyatana);

(8) sound (śabda-);

(9) smell (gandha-);

(10) taste (rasa-);

(11) contact (spraṣṭavya-); and

(12) nonsensuous or immaterial objects (dharma-).

The first eleven āyatanas have one dharma each; the immaterial objects

comprise sixty-four dharmas. The third classification groups dharmas in relationship to the flow (santāna) of life that evolves within the threefold world (kāma-, rūpa-, and ārūpya-dhātu) as described by Buddhist cosmology. This group is divided into eighteen dhātus, or elements. It incorporates the previous division into the twelve bases, to which is added a corresponding set of six kinds of consciousness to the intellectual faculty.

Thus we have

(13) visual consciousness (cakṣur-vijñānadhātu);

(14) auditory consciousness (śrotra-);

(15) olfactory consciousness (ghrāṇa-);

(16) gustatory consciousness (jihvā-);

(17) tactile consciousness (kāya-); and

(18) nonsensuous consciousness (mano-).

Within this group the five sense organs and their five objects contain one dharma each (ten dharmas in all). Consciousness (no. 6) is divided here into seven dhātus (no. 6 plus 13-18). The dhātu that represents

immaterial objects (no. 12) contains sixty-four dharmas. All the eighteen dhātus exist in the sensuous world (kāmadhātu) or the world in which the mind operates through the sense data. In the world of refined matter (rūpadhatu), the objects of smell and taste (nos. 9-10) and the olfactory and gustatory consciousnesses cease to exist. In the world without matter (but frequently interpreted as very

subtle matter for we are still within saṃsāra) all the dhātus cease to exist except for consciousness (no. 6), its immaterial objects (no. 12), and its nonsensuous aspect of cognition (no. 18). (See table l.) Page 335 TABLE 1.The Twelve Āyatanas and the Eighteen Dhātus Receptive Faculties (indriya) BASES OF COGNITION (āyatana) CONSCIOUSNESS (vijñana)

Matter or body is conceived as consisting of the four primary elements (mahābhūtas)—earth, water, fire, and air. Secondary or refined matter (bhautika, derived from or related to matter) is represented by the senses and their objects (i. e.,

caksur-vijñanadhatu

2. [[Sense of hearing] srotra-

8. Sound sabda-

14. Auditory consciousness srotra-

3. Sense of smell ghrana-

9. Smell gandha-

15. Olfactory consciousness ghrana-

4. Sense of taste jihva-

10. Taste rasa-

16. Gustatory consciousness jihva- 5. Sense of touch kaya-

11. Contact, tangibles

17. Tactile consciousness sprastavya- kaya- 6. Intellect mana-

12. Nonsensuous objects 18. Nonsensuous dharma- consciousness mano- * When the āyatanas are enumerated as dhātus they are termed cakṣur-dhātu, śrotra-dhātu etc.

Now at last we come to enumerate the individual dharmas. Within the classification into the five skandhas, matter (rūpa) contains eleven dharmas: five sense organs (āyatanas

1-5) and their five corresponding sense objects (āyatanas 7-11),

plus an additional element to be discussed below. Āyatana (dhātu) number 12 (non-sensuous objects) is in this system classified as an immaterial dharma, as we shall see, and hence is not considered here.

sense data). As already mentioned above, there is no substance as such. The four primary elements are talked about in Buddhism, but rightly understood these are taken to refer to properties: hardness (earth), cohesion (water), heat (fire), and motion (wind). The primary matter (four elements) present in a body sustains the

secondary matter (the senses and their objects). Since the Buddhists analyze matter within the context of a sentient life, their description of matter is mainly concerned with discerning how it functions and how it appears, not with what it is, for properly speaking it does not exist. The world is in constant flux, the living life changes from one moment to the next.

Consequently, because Buddhists are constrained from speaking in terms of soul or substance, matter is styled as sense data alone. Such a definition of the physical dharmas that constitute the sense data ([[ten

dharmas]]) accounts for the component of matter that sustains consciousness, the other component of sentient life. What then is the eleventh dharma? Page 336 The Sarvāstivāda, viewing the human personality as a threefold aspect of body,

speech, and mind, divided karman (as it operates within a sentient life) into mental action (manas, identified with volition, or cetanā) and physical and vocal actions. Mental action was classed as immaterial but physical and vocal actions that proceed

from mental action were classed as belonging to matter (rūpaskandha). Furthermore, physical and vocal action was seen as being an (external) "expression" (vijñapti), but when mental action was committed but not externalized its "material"

concomitant was seen as "nonexpression" (avijñapti). It is the latter "unexpressed matter" (avijñaptirūpa) that constitutes the eleventh dharma among the skandha division. Although immaterial, it was classed as matter because physical and vocal action with which it was associated was classed as such. Page 336 Three skandhas (feelings,

perceptions, and impulses) contain jointly sixty dharmas, which are included as immaterial objects within the two other (āyatana, dhātu) classifications (no. 12 in both). The three immutable elements (asaṃskṛta) and avijñapti are also included among the immaterial dharmas of these two latter divisions, thus making a total of sixty-four dharmas. Page 336 Now I shall describe the sixty dharmas that are included in all three classifications (skandha, āyatana, and

dhātu). They are divided into two main groups: one group comprises forty-six associated dharmas or mental dharmas (caittadharma), that arise from or in association with pure consciousness or mind (citta-saṃprayuktasaṃskāra); the second group

comprises fourteen unassociated dharmas, that is to say, dharmas that can be associated neither with matter nor with mind (rūpa-cittaviprayukta-saṃskāra). Page 336 The forty-six associated dharmas include ten mental dharmas that are present in a sentient life (citta-mahābhūmika):

(1) feeling,
(2) perception,
(3) will,
(4) contact,
(5) desire,
(6) comprehension,
(7) memory,
(8) attention,
(9) aspiration, and
(10) concentration; ten morally good (kuśala-mahābhūmika) dharmas that are present in favorable conditions:
(11) faith,
(12) courage,
(13) equanimity,
(14) modesty,
(15) aversion to evil,
(16) detachment from love,
(17) detachment from hatred,
(18) nonviolence,
(19) dexterity, and
(20) perseverance in good; six obscuring (kleśamahābhūmika) dharmas that enter the stream of a sentient life in unfavorable moments:
(21) confusion (ignorance),
(22) remissness,
(23) mental dullness,
(24) lack of faith,
(25) indolence, and
(26) addiction to pleasure; ten additional obscuring (upakleśa-bhūmika) dharmas that may occur at different times:

(27) anger,
(28) hypocrisy,
(29) maliciousness,
(30) envy,
(31) ill-motivated rivalry,
(32) violence,
(33) malice,
(34) deceit,
(35) treachery, and
(36) self-gratification; two universally inauspicious (akuśala-mahābhūmika) dharmas:
(37) irreverence, and

(38) willful tolerance of offences; and eight dharmas that are called undetermined (aniyatabhūmika) or undifferentiated in the sense that they can have different moral implications:


(39) remorse,
(40) deliberation,
(41) investigation,
(42) determination,
(43) passion,
(44) hatred,
(45) pride, and


(46) doubt. All forty-six dharmas listed above cannot be associated with (or cofunction with) consciousness at the same time on the general principle that their inner inclinations are variously geared toward either good or evil. Page 336 The fourteen unassociated dharmas are


(47) acquisition (prāpti), or the controlling force of an individual flux of life,
(48) force (aprāpti) that suspends some elements,
(49) force of homogeneity of existence,
(50) force that leads to trance,
(51) force produced by effort to enter trance,
(52) force that stops consciousness, thus effecting the highest trance,
(53) force that projects life's duration,
(54) origination,
(55) duration,
(56) decay,
(57) extinction,
(58) force that imparts meaning to words,
(59) force that imparts meaning to sentences, and
(60) force that imparts meaning to sounds.

Page 336 Pure consciousness or mind constitutes one dharma (fifth skandha, sixth āyatana). In the division into dhātus vijñāna is, as it were, subdivided among seven dhātus (no. 6 plus 13-18) where the same consciousness is viewed in

relation to the sense organs and immaterial objects. Page 336 Adding all the conditioned dharmas together yields eleven material dharmas, one dharma representing consciousness, forty-six associated dharmas, and fourteen unassociated dharmas—seventy-two in all. These are the dharmas into which the whole of phenomenal existence is analyzed and which account for all events that take place within it. The Sarvāstivāda also enumerate three

unconditioned dharmas: space (ākāśa), emancipation through discerning knowledge (pratisaṃkhyānirodha), and emancipation through nondiscerning knowledge (apratisaṃkhyā-nirodha). Thus, the total of dharmas both conditioned

and unconditioned amounts to seventy-five in the Sarvāstivāda school. (See figure l. missing here) The Theravāda tradition enumerates only one unconditioned dharma (nirvāṇa) and eighty-one conditioned dharmas: [[four primary

elements]]; four secondary elements; five sense organs; five sense objects; two aspects of sex (male and female); heart as the sustaining element of psychic life; two kinds (bodily and vocal) of avijñaptirūpa; a psychic vitality of matter; space; three

properties (agility, elasticity, and pliability) of body; three characteristics (origination, duration, and decay) of conditioned dharmas; material food; fifty-two mental elements, including twenty-five wholesome, fourteen

unwholesome, and thirteen morally neutral elements; and consciousness. Page 337 The Sarvāstivāda asserted that all the conditioned dharmas are real (they exist for they happen) and that they have the characteristic of coming into existence, lasting for a short period, and disappearing again in order to reappear in a new karmically

determined formation. They also maintained that dharmas exist in all three times: past, present, and future. The Lokottaravāda school, a Mahāsāṃghika subsect, treated all the conditioned dharmas as unreal

and held that only the unconditioned dharmas are real. The Prajñaptivāda school, another Mahāsāṃghika group, argued that the twelve ayatanas are not real because they are the products of the skandhas, which are the only real entities. The Sautrāntikas admitted the existence of thought but rejected

the reality of the majority of the associated and all the unassociated dharmas, denied the reality of the past and future, and maintained that only the present exists. They also rejected the existence of the unconditioned

dharmas, considering them mere denominations of absence. The Mādhyamika school rejected the ultimate reality of dharmas altogether. The Vijñānavāda school recognized mind as the only reality (cittamātra) and treated the whole of phenomenal existence as its illusive projection. [See Mādhyamika and Yogācāra. Finally, a well-known Buddhist

formula (ye dharmā hetuprabhavā, etc.) expresses the soteriological aspect associated with the analysis of sentient beings in terms of dharmas: "Whatever events arise from a cause, the Tathāgata has foretold their cause, and the Great Hermit

has also explained their cessation." For further discussion of the Buddhist notion of the person, see Buddhist Philosophy; Soul, article on Buddhist Concepts; Karman, article on Buddhist Concepts; and Pratitya-samutpada.

Abhidharma analysis is treated in Nirvana and in Soteriology, article on Buddhist Soteriology. See also Sarvastivada and Sautrantika for two conflicting views of dharmas. For a

discussion of dharma as truth or law, see also Cosmic Law. The dharma theory of the Sarvāstivādins is systematically set forth in Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośa, translated by Louis de La Vallée Poussin as

L'Abhidharmakośa de Vasubandhu, 6 vols. (1923-1931; reprint, Brussels, 1971). Theodore Stcherbatsky's The Central Conception of Buddhism and the Meaning of the Word "Dharma" (1923; reprint, Delhi, 1970) is a lucid introduction to the topic. For the Theravāda view, see especially A Buddhist Manual of

Psychological Ethics: Dhammasangaṇi, translated by C. A. F. Rhys Davids (London, 1923), a rendering of the first book of the Theravāda Abhidharma. Ñyanatiloka's Guide through the Abhidhamma Pitaka, 3d ed., revised and enlarged by Ñyanaponika Thera (Colombo, 1957), is the single most useful guide to the study of the Theravāda Abhidhamma. The reader will also find useful A. K. Warder's "Dharmas and Data," Journal of Indian Philosophy 1 (1971): 272-295. TADEUSZ SKORUPSKI