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Dharma

Online ISBN:
9780824870713
Print ISBN:
9780824834661
Publisher:
University of Hawai'i Press
Book
Alf Hiltebeitel
Alf Hiltebeitel
George Washington University
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Published:
15 June 2010
Online ISBN:
9780824870713
Print ISBN:
9780824834661
Publisher:
University of Hawai'i Press

Abstract

This book proposes a fresh take on the ancient Indian concept dharma. It offers insights into the innovative character of both Hindu and Buddhist usages of the concept. The book explores how the Buddhist canon brought out different meanings of dharma. This is followed by an exposition of the hypothesis that most, if not all, of the Hindu law books flowered after the third-century BC emperor Asoka, a Buddhist, made dharma the guiding principle of an entire realm and culture. The book shows how their narratives amplified the new Brahmanical norms and brought out the ethical dilemmas and spiritual teachings that arose from inquiry into dharma. A chapter on the tale of the Life of the Buddha considers the relation between dharma, moksa/nirvana (salvation), and bhakti (devotion). Here, the book ties together a thread that runs through the entire story, which is the Buddha's tendency to present dharma as a kind of civil discourse. In this sense, dharma challenges people to think critically or at least more creatively about their ethical principles and the foundations of their own spiritual values. A closing chapter on dharma in the twenty-first century explores its new cachet in an era of globalization, its diasporic implications, its openings into American popular culture, some implications for women, and the questions it is still raising for modern India.

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