So this week in my teacher training cohort we were exploring and answering a question and the question that we were exploring is what is the Dharma?
So I want to explore this with you.
The Dharma is a very old world word.
It comes out of Indian philosophies like Hinduism and Jainism and Buddhism.
In the Pali dialect which is the dialect of Buddhism or of the Theravada Buddhism it's pronounced Dhama.
So the R of Dharma is dropped and replaced with another M.
So Dharma and Dhama are used in this tradition interchangeably.
The earliest understanding of this word is that it means the nature of reality,
The natural law of the universe.
It's also been defined as one's duty in life,
Your Dharma,
Like living a virtuous life and it refers to a specific path.
So the Dharma is a central word in Buddhism.
We practice the the Buddha Dharma.
You know sometimes it's synonymous with the word Buddhism.
The Buddha Dharma is what I offer you and what that means is that those are the the teachings of the Buddha,
The nature of the truth of the Buddha's teachings.
So what are the teachings of the Buddha?
You know in specific places in the text it says these are the teachings,
This is the Dharma and this is throughout the text.
These are the teachings,
This is the Dharma and what we find pretty consistently is the message has to do with predominantly with some direct experience with the present moment,
Something that's right here.
In a very famous simile the Buddha says I have shown you how the Dhamma is similar to a raft being for the purpose of crossing over a river,
Not for the purpose of grasping.
So this simile is about a person who comes to the edge of a big river and has no way to get across the river except to make a small raft of wood and reeds and other things and construct the raft and then paddling the raft across to the other side.
So when the raft gets to the other side the purpose of the raft is not to sort of carry the raft on your back to wherever you go next,
It serves its purpose so we leave it behind.
So in this simile the the Buddha goes on to say that when you know the Dhamma is similar to a raft you should abandon even the teachings.
So what?
What does that mean?
And so there's a tremendous importance that's placed on not grasping.
You don't even hold on to the Dharma,
The teachings of the Buddha.
The heart of the Dharma is really has something to do with not holding on to anything,
Not holding on to anything.
So near the end of the Buddha's life he gave the instructions that to take the Dharma as your refuge,
As your only refuge,
As an island,
As a support and then right after that statement he went on to say take yourself as your refuge,
As your only refuge.
And saying that one after the other,
Take the Dharma as your refuge,
Take yourself as the refuge implies that they're the same,
That they're equal.
And the Buddha goes on to say and how do we do this?
We practice the four foundations of mindfulness.
So the four foundations of mindfulness are mindfulness of the body,
Which we do here,
Mindfulness of feelings that arise in the body,
A mindfulness or awareness of the mind state,
So our feeling tones,
Pleasant,
Unpleasant,
Or neutral experience,
And mindfulness of the Dharmas.
So the fourth foundation of mindfulness is mindfulness of the Dharmas,
Referring to things that are dynamic,
That are changing,
That are active.
This whole world of things,
Happenings,
Things that are happening in relationship to other things,
That's the Dharma also.
The Dharma is the relationship,
The relatedness between things.
So we talk a lot about how we relate to our inner experience and how we relate to our outer experience,
What's happening in the world.
That's where the Dharma begins to be discovered by us.
It's how are we relating,
The practice of relatedness.
This idea that Dharma repeatedly refers to something dynamic and active is kind of the good news in Buddhism.
It means that nothing is sort of fixed and frozen in place.
It's conditioned,
It's conditioned to change.
The choices that we make can change.
It's important because if we actually understand the impact of our actions,
Then we can adjust our actions.
We can take more responsibility for our actions.
So if the impact of one of our actions is harmful,
We can stop doing what we're doing.
And if it's beneficial,
We continue.
And if it's a combination of both,
Then we kind of have to figure out what's the wisest way forward.
So a monk once came to the Buddha and asked,
Can you teach me the Dharma in brief so I can remember it and go into the forest and practice it on my own.
So here's the short version of what the Dharma is and here's what he said.
He said,
You should let go of desire for anything which is impermanent,
Anything which is inconsistent.
Let go of clinging to it.
That's all the Buddha says.
That's the heart of it.
So kind of circling back around to letting go.
He's pointing to something very deep,
The action of letting go.
And the consequences,
The consequences of letting go,
We talk about this a lot,
Is to become free.
So we're not letting go and dropping,
We're letting go and opening.
So using that idea of the closed fist that I've been talking about in the previous weeks,
You know,
The closed fist is how we hold on to our life.
And then as we slowly open the palm,
Whatever we're holding on to can still rest in the palm of the hand.
There's space around it.
That's the,
The letting go of the Buddha,
Of this practice that we do.
The last thing I want to share is something that is also repeatedly said in the discourses.
The Buddha says,
When you know the Dharma for yourself,
So when you know the Dharma for yourself,
This is repeated throughout the discourses.
He's talking about something that you can know for yourself.
Like not a teaching that you have to have faith in,
But a teaching that you can experience directly.
This is why we practice mindfulness.
We're able to have some direct experience for ourself.
What is the truth,
The nature of this moment?
The dynamic nature of this moment.
So this is kind of my understanding of the Dharma.
And hopefully,
It's a sufficient explanation.
And then I'd like to explore this,
You know,
Explore this in conversation,
I invite you to see for yourself,
What Dharma has been,
What it is.
So I offer this for your consideration.
And I also welcome your thoughts and reflections.
Thank you.
