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I am trying to understand Dhamma. If people ask me what is my Dhamma I say I am XXX , which explains my behavior to them.

Suppose I ask you the same question ,What is your Dhamma? ,then what will be your answer?

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  • Are you asking what the word "Dhamma" means, again?
    – ChrisW ♦
    Commented Jan 16, 2018 at 14:45
  • No... I am asking what is your Dhamma ?
    – Dheeraj Verma
    Commented Jan 16, 2018 at 14:49
  • Also, a polling question. I vote to close this.
    – Andriy Volkov ♦
    Commented Jan 16, 2018 at 14:57
  • agreed. DV is repeating same question.
    – danuka shewantha
    Commented Jan 16, 2018 at 21:36

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What is your Dhamma?

One cannot really have ones "own" Dhamma. The Dhamma is timeless and impersonal and cannot be owned by anyone.

Furthermore, the Dhamma is discovered..

In the Nagara Sutta, the Buddha teaches how he discovered an ancient Path, the Noble Eightfold Path, and by following it he came to experience the cessation of aging and death (conditioned reality).

"... So too, bhikkhus, I saw the ancient path, the ancient road travelled by the Perfectly Enlightened Ones of the past. And what is that ancient path, that ancient road? It is just this Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. I followed that path and by doing so I have directly known aging-and-death, its origin, its cessation,and the way leading to its cessation ..."

-- SN 12.65: The City, p. 603, Bodhi transl.

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  • I guess you are saying that by following Noble Eightfold Path one discovers impersonal and absolute Dhamma.
    – Dheeraj Verma
    Commented Jan 16, 2018 at 15:15
  • See also "Sabbe Dhamma Anatta" ("anatta" implies "This is not mine, this is not I, this is not my self").
    – ChrisW ♦
    Commented Jan 16, 2018 at 15:54
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When people ask "What is your Dhamma?", they usually mean what are the moral principles you try to live by? In other words, what is your religion? So if you are a Buddhist, you can simply say 'Buddhism', unless you are purposefully trying to give a complicated answer.

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  • Am I a Buddhist ? I truly believe in the doctrine given by Buddha.
    – Dheeraj Verma
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 5:20
  • If you take refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and the Sangha, you are a Buddhist.
    – Sankha Kulathantille
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 5:50
  • When you state "believe" (with rational faith not with blind faith) is not bad as initiative to Buddhism. But Buddhist teaching is not "come and believe" but "come and see" (with your wisdom). Believing is not seeing. This is what Buddhism blossoms in the world among other religions and philosophies.
    – danuka shewantha
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 12:56
  • @danukashewantha I see what you're saying about "faith"; but I'm not sure I can tell any difference between "I believe that X" and "It is my view that X" and "I observe that X".
    – ChrisW ♦
    Commented Jan 18, 2018 at 13:26
  • @cw it seems you are trying to build some gross logic upon "faith" and "believe" so I am not asking YYY as result will be XY,XY,XY to me!
    – danuka shewantha
    Commented Jan 19, 2018 at 3:38
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I say YYY! When you ask question What is your? answer has to be "our Dhamma",Dhamma is not property of any body and do you agree below? If yes, you are answered or do you have any counter question?

1.If simplified Dhamma as teaching of Buddha. It's also interpreted as behavior or process of nature. E.g when you consider three characteristics(anatta,dukkha,anicca); those are exists in nature and can be observed with our wisdom. Simply Dhamma is how nature is operated or functioned with its fundamental laws and constants.

2.As a Buddhists we accept with wisdom Dhamma as teaching of Buddha.E.g When you consider three characteristics with your wisdom they don't need labels and they are fundamental and basics of nature. Once Buddha declared 2500 years ago it with his wisdom then we can accept with our wisdom in our capacity. If any religious leader declare some thing and not cope with human wisdom and dogma can't be consider as Dhamma. If you are not Buddhist it's better to consider Dhamma "how nature is operated or functioned(or behavior) with its fundamental laws and constants.

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