Montgomery (September 17, 1986)
The word dharma is, indeed, full of problems. An article in the Abington Dictionary of Living Religions (a very good book, by the way) says: “Dharma: Hindu, Buddhist, and Japanese—Skt.; literally ‘that which is established; law’ (dhr—’support, bear’). Righteousness or duty; ‘law’ in the broadest sense, including natural order as well as the details of human propriety and personal, ethical norma. No other term in traditional Indian religious thought is more important, more complex in the variety of its technical usages from system to system, and therefore more difficult to translate simply than dharmas. In its most embracing sense, it describes proper order and defines and enjoins the principles of conduct to maintain it. Especially for Hindus and Buddhists dharma is, then, often equivalent to what is commonly meant by ‘religion.’ ”

The word came into use in English after World War II (“dharma bums and beat zen”) and is now found in most English dictionaries. In other words, it is now an assimilated English word, like so many other thousands of foreign words which have worked their way into the language. For this reason, and because it is so rich in meanings, I would agree with Professor Iida: the word should be left alone, any “translation” can give only a partial meaning

A good example of the problems of translating this word is in the Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms by Soothill and Hodous. Soothill gives one set of translations in the body of the text. After Soothill died, Hodous completely rejected his colleague’s version and wrote a correction: “Ho Dharma: (1) thing, object, appearance; (2) characteristic, attribute, predicate; (3) the substantial bearer of the substratum of the simple element of conscious life; (4) element of conscious life; (5) nirvana, i. e. dharma parexcellence; (6) the absolute, the frilly real; (7) the teaching, the religion of Buddha.”

It is interesting to note that Hodous avoids the word “law” altogether, although Soothill had used it as one possible meaning.

In the Translator’s Note of the Lotus Sutra, #4, you list the exceptions to Sanskrit words translated into Chinese. Among them is “Sutra, which is an accepted English word.” True, but I think that “dharma” is just as accepted and perhaps wider known. To me, the term “Wonderful Dharma” is much more exciting than “Wonderful Law” since “Law” has such a negative sense to it. It reminds me of policeman and lawyers.

Murano (November 26, 1986)
I quite agree with you on the use of the Sanskrit original of the Dharma without rendering it to any English word. I thought that the law was well accepted in English because Kern rendered the Lotus Sutra as the Lotus of the True Law. We Japanese, who always see Dharma translated as Ho, while the other two of the Triratna: Buddha and Sangha, are not translated, feel that Dharma must be translated in any way. The fact that the “Law” is a one-syllable word just as Ho allures us to its acceptance because the transliteration of Buddha (Butsu or But or Bup) and Sangha (So) are also one-syllable words. Bup-po-so, not Butsu-dharma-so, sounds good to our ears.

We have the Japanese word daruma, which has nothing to do with the Dharma of the Buddha although it comes from dharma etymologically. Daruma is a contraction of Bodhidharma (Bodaidaruma), the name of the alleged founder of the Chinese Zen Buddhism, who came from South India to the Shorinji Temple in North China in 520 or 587. Legend says that he stayed there for nine years, facing the wall, sitting in meditation. He wished to go back to India. He reached Yu-men in South China, where he died in 528 or 536.

We have a doll called daruma. The doll has no limbs because, according to the legend, his limbs rotted away while he sat for nine years. The doll has a weight at the bottom so that it can rise after it tumbles. To be able to rise shows good luck, so the daruma-doll is made as a symbol of good luck.