University of California at Berkeley,
Professor Sherri Roush’s class on Epistemology
Sep 24, 2010 (Part 2 of 9)
In the dictionary, the Sanskrit word dharma is translated as “religion”, and in the West, religion means a kind of belief or faith – “I believe in Jesus, I believe in Buddha, I believe in Mohammed, I believe I’m going to heaven or to hell or to purgatory.” I believe something, but it’s not factual, or that is to say, it’s not supported very well by modern-day logic, reason and argument and authority, or science. … Dharma actually means the characteristic of a thing which cannot be removed, and it specifically applies to human beings. But we can give some analogy. Sugar, the dharma of sugar is sweet. If it’s not sweet, it’s not sugar. …The dharma of human beings is service.
