Ten referents for "dharma"
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Ten referents for "dharma" (T. chos kyi don bcu, ཆོས་ཀྱི་དོན་བཅུ་) are ten meanings for the term dharma identified by Vasubandhu in his text Well Explained Reasoning (Vyākhyāyukti). These referents are also cited by the Tibetan scholar Buton Rinchen Drub in his History of Buddhism.
The ten referents for "dharma" are:
| No. | Referent[1] | Description | Sample usage[2] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | jñeya | What can be known or cognized (T. shes bya); see dharmas as factors of existence. | "Dharmas are conditioned or unconditioned." |
| 2. | mārga | The path to liberation | "Dharma is completely pure view." |
| 3. | nirvana | Complete enlightenment | "I take refuge in the Dharma." (Where Dharma refers to complete enlightenment.) |
| 4. | manoviṣaya | “Whatever is exclusively an object for the mind itself and does not depend on sense fields”;[3] aka "a mental object" | "dharma basis" |
| 5. | puṇya | aka "merit"; the accumulation of wholesome karma | "They behaved in accord with the dharma" |
| 6. | āyus (T. tshe)[4] | "this life" or "lifespan"; in this context, refers to "only having regard for this life"[3] | "Worldly beings are attached to this present life, worldly dharma."[5] |
| 7. | Teachings of the Buddha | The teachings are also referred to as buddhadharma, saddharma ("true dharma"), buddhavacana ("word of the buddha"), dharmapravacana ("speech of the Buddha"), etc. | "The Dharma consists of Sutra, Vinaya, Abhidharma and so on." |
| 8. | That which is subject to change or aging | A reference to material objects (Skt. bhautika; T. 'byung 'gyur) subject to change or aging[6] | "This body is endowed with the dharma of aging." |
| 9. | niścaya (T. nges pa) | Religious vows or rules | "the four dharmas of a monk or nun." |
| 10. | nīti (T. chos lugs)[7] | Worldly customs or spiritual traditions | "the dharma of that country" |
All of these referents relate to the sense of ‘holding’, which is the meaning of dhṛ, the root of the word dharma.[8]
The general usage in English for the typography of the term 'dharma' is to use an upper case when referring to Buddha's teachings, the path or the truth of cessation (cases 2, 3 & 7).[8]
Notes
- ↑ From "Goodman: 2020, Chapter 1" and "Rigpa Wiki, Ten meanings of dharma"
- ↑ All the examples are from "Goodman: 2020, Chapter 1"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Goodman 2020, Chapter 1.
- ↑ This spelling (āyus) is from Goodman; alternate spellings are āyuḥ (Buswell) and āyu (Rigpa wiki). All three sources use the same Tibetan term (tshe).
- ↑ “Dharma in the sense of worldly dharma means precisely, from the Buddhist viewpoint, to only have regard for this life as it is, with no thought for lives to come, no thought for the karmic implications, and so on.” (Goodman 2020, chapter 1)
- ↑ Rigpa Wiki uses the Tibetan term 'byung 'gyur (Skt. bhautika) to refer to "what which is subject to change." Goodman uses the Sanskrit bhavana (T. sgom pa). Bhautika ( 'byung 'gyur) seems to make more sense in this context.
- ↑ Goodman uses the Sanskrit term nīti, and Steinert also shows niti (see
ཆོས་ལུགས་, Christian-Steinert Dictionary). Rigpa Wki uses the Sanskrit term dharmanīti. All three sources use the same Tibetan term (chos lugs).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1
Ten meanings of Dharma, Rigpa Shedra Wiki
Sources
Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University
Goodman, Steven D. (2020), The Buddhist Psychology of Awakening: An In-Depth Guide to the Abhidharma (Apple Books ed.), Shambhala Publications- Ten meanings of Dharma, Rigpa Shedra Wiki