The Dharma

compiled by Bhikshu Heng Shun

      "I send down the rain of Dharma filling all the world. The Dharma of one taste is cultivated according to each one's ability, just like those forest groves, and all the herbs and trees, according to their size grow and flourish well. The Dharma of all the Buddhas is always of a single taste. It causes all in the world to attain perfection. Through its gradual cultivation, all attain the fruits of the Path." (LOTUS SUTRA).

      "Further seen are all the Buddhas, the Lions, the Sagely Masters, expounding on the Sutra-scriptures of foremost subtlety and wonder. Clear and pure is the sound of their soft, compliant voices, teaching all the Bodhisattva, numbering in the countless millions. The Brahma-sound, profound and wondrous, fills those who hear it with joy, as within his world, each one proclaims the proper Dharma. Through various causes and conditions, and limitless analogies, they clarify the Buddhadharma to enlighten living beings." (LOTUS SUTRA).

      By studying the Buddhist scriptures (Sutras) we learn the Dharma. The Dharma includes all the methods of practice taught by the Buddha which cause us to awaken to our true nature. They are means to an end, not an end in themselves. The minds of living beings are different, so the dharmas required to transform them are different. So it is said that the myriad dharma doors are like so many kinds of medicine to cure the various sicknesses of living beings' sufferings. The best dharma for a particular being is the one which is the most appropriate to his nature and circumstances. No dharma is intrinsically better or worse than another.

      "He turns the inconceivable, wondrous wheel of Dharma,
      And makes known the conduct of the
      Path of Bodhi (Awakening),
      Which destroys the sufferings of
      all living beings forever."