What dharma is? by referring the term Dharma we all understand the fundamental ethics followed by a person to be in a right path. Dharma is widely acceptable to people of both modern and ancient times. During India's Classical Age , Dharma was defines in terms of four subsidiary concepts: varnadharma, ashramadharma, samanyadharma, and svadharma.2 Varna-dharma explains the duties of an individual in accordance with his/her clan. Ashrama-dharma expresses about the stages of life of an individual, and offers guidelines on performing one's duties aimed at personal development, societal assistance and overall prosperity Samanyadharma elucidates the duties of an individual towards society. Many of us are Linking dharma as religion but there are two separate concepts religion as an idea' and 'religion as an institution. 'Religion as an institution' relates to one's own religion, e.g., Hinduism, Christianity, Muslim etc., whereas 'religion as an idea' transcends this notion and encompasses a social phenomenon within its ambit.
" Buddha's Caprice of Dharma"
In Buddhism, the famous verse that is Ye Dharma Hetuprabhava . Buddha called his teaching by the word Dharma. It is a Sanskrit word later analyzed by the great scholar vasubandhu in particular around 4th century. When we analyze the word dharma it conclude 11 different meanings from phenomenon to customs, duty, religion, law. Buddha added to this meanings teaching, virtuous practice, path or even the reality itself that is taught, ultimately achieving nirvana the highest degree by getting freedom from suffering.
From these we can divide them into 2 halves pattern maintaining (liberation evolution) and pattern transcending (cause you learn new things and you behave in a nice way). As the basic framework of Buddha's teaching that is well known as Four noble truths. The four noble trust are actually noble facts they are real for noble or altruistic persons. These truths are
1.The truth of suffering
2.The truth of cause of suffering
3.The truth of the end of the suffering
4.The truth of the path that leads to end of suffering
Its just not the path of believe but a path of education. An early disciple made an epitome of his teaching which became a famous verse written on icons and monuments all over Buddhist world. Buddhas scheme of the four reliance include rely on the teaching not the teacher. Out of that there is a huge Buddhist hermeneutical structure of how to interpret things. The basis of the Buddha's appeal and the success of the movement of dharma is to say its a good prognosis even though the therapy can be difficult. Education always requires effort and intelligence and pays off is the result that tradition attests to but the human being has the opportunity and the capacity to attain full freedom from all suffering by means of the wisdom that understands the true nature of reality. Now, the wisdom itself, the knowledge of reality that is truly liberating in the Buddhist sense in Buddhist education. The real meaning of dharma is attaining the nobleness the one who had examined things and had become wise to the nature of reality and realized they were relative beings and therefore had become altruistic and genuinely concerned with the condition of ethical, empathetic and compassionate.
Gandhi's Notion of "Dharma"
Similarly speaking about the Gandhian Philosophy the dharma is nothing but its a duty. Performance of the duties of an individual in a society helps the society to become self-sufficient and stable. Duties of an individual contribute not only to the growth and prosperity of the society but also assist in maintaining social order. It brings justice and peace to society. According to Gandhi, positive dharma is a consequence of natural dharma which is reposed in the soul. Natural dharma (buddhi), on the other hand, is the ability to distinguish right from wrong. Exercising dharmas would help an individual to lead a moral, peaceful, and non-violent life. According to Gandhi, satyagraha is a method of securing rights by personal suffering. The concept of 'rights' can be linked to 'natural dharma,' where intelligence (buddhi) is treated as a practical element. For Gandhi, “conflicts have to be sorted out non-violently, not because it is expedient to do so, not because the state exists, but because it is a requirement of dharma. In Hind Swaraj, Gandhi suggested that every individual should contribute to the larger benefit of Indians. 'dharma' embraces two modern interpretations; faith in God(s), and practice of non-violence. Dharma, is not limited to religious faith. It encompasses norms and guidelines of the society.
Conclusion :
This article promulgated through the concept of nobleness and oneness. Dharma is not linked to religion it is what that we are following and act accordingly. Dharma is invariably and inalienably associated with human life. It is a basic principle of human life and starts when the human being is born. Dharma thus implies subsistence of human life, and therefore an integral part of human life.
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