What is Dharma?Previous Lost posts:
>: Hurley's Numbers Intepreted As i-Ching Hexagrams
>: 4 8 15 16 23 42 (Ba Gua in Desmond's Hatch)
>: More Lost, More 23 and More I-Ching
In the wake of its debut on Lost, I've read a lot of different attempts to explain exactly what dharma is supposed to mean. Some of these explanations -- including the top ranked Google hit at the time of this writing -- have very little resemblance to reality.
It's actually a testament to the ineffectiveness of Google that you can come up with a wrong answer for the question: "What is dharma?" Dharma is one of those words that can mean just about anything. Anything except "protection," that is. After reading the 23,000th message board posting matter of factly stating that dharma means protection, I was finally moved to pontificate.
The oft-cited Web posting here isn't wrong so much as misleading. In the sense it is referenced on this well-intentioned Web page, dharma means "protection" only in the same sense that the Ten Commandments or the Golden Rule can be interpreted to mean "protection" -- i.e., if you follow the rules, you will be protected from negative consquences (whether hellfire, an unhappy life or bad karma).
Dharma can mean many, many, many different things depending on the context. The page cited above is using "dharma" in a very specific way. Here, dharma is a word that means "the teachings of the Buddha." Now, this particular definition may not be very illuminating if you're Googling dharma in order to find out why the word is written on Desmond's candy bars and olives (and I'll get to that) down in that pesky old hatch on the ABC TV series Lost. (UPDATE: Well, thanks to "Orientation," we finally know it is the "Dharma Initiative." And we all caught that reference to B.F. Skinner, king of behavioral conditioning. Too obvious, if you ask me.)
Dharma in Hinduism can refer to a moral code -- compliance with dharma improves your karma. On a metaphysical level, it more generally refers to the true essence of reality, akin to a Platonic ideal, but more intense -- the true essence of things.
In Buddhism, dharma is used to describe the Buddha's teachings of the eightfold path (more details in an article by me here).
Perhaps more significantly in this context, however, dharma is also the cosmic principle that drives samsara -- the cycle of death and rebirth in which your karma determines the situation of your return. Since our characters do seem to be working through their bad karma on the Island, this is worth considering -- especially since every five minutes or so someone says "we all have new lives here."
Dharma can signify the reflection of reality in a human mind, also a fun prospect if you believe the Lostaways are acting out some sort of Matrix/VR/Dream scenario. Dharma can also mean the manifestation of phenomena and reality, which is the definition most in tune with the i-Ching -- a map of that very manifestation.
The logo features the word "dharma" in the center of an eight-trigram arrangement from the i-Ching. As discussed in my earlier posts, there is no overt traditional connection between any of the many meanings of dharma and the i-Ching. Dharma in certain forms of Buddhism (Hinayana, literally meaning "small vehicle" or "little raft") signifies the "factors" or building blocks of existence, a definition that is equally applicable to the i-Ching.
In Hinayana Buddhism, the object of life is to liberate yourself from the misery of endlessly repeating the cycle of death and rebirth. Unlike some other forms of Buddhism, Hinayana teaches that reality is actually real and not illusory. Interestingly, Hinayana Buddhism also requires believers to be cut all ties to family and friends -- a condition involuntarily thrust on the Island castaways.
Apollo and OlivesOn a separate note, the Apollo candy bars that Kate found in the storeroom are interesting in the context of the room's large supply of olives. Olives are often a symbol of rebirth and the cycle of life (see the above), but they have many other possible symbolisms associated with them. In myth, Apollo's sister Athena brought the olive tree to Greece, and the olive branch is sometimes offered in ritual to Apollo. Whatever that's supposed to mean, I will leave to others...
Posted by J.M. Berger || Permalink
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1 Comments:
First of all, great site. I enjoyed reading your material and will be regularly checking back for updates.
The following is in refernce to the Apollo chocolate bars found inside the bunker's food store.
Apolllo, son of Zeus, is referred to in classical mythology as "the far shooter". He is the divine archer who shoots arrows from afar.
Although they have the same father (Zeus), Apollo is the twin brother of Artemis (goddess of the hunt) not Athena.
From the Homeric hymn to Apollo:
"...the lady Leto (mother of Apollo) rejoices because she has borne a son who is a mighty archer. Rejoice, O Blessed Leto, since you have borne splendid children, lord Apollo and Artemis, who take delight in arrows. Artemis you bore in Ortygia and Apollo in rocky Delos as you leaned against the great and massive Cynthian hill, right next to the palm tree near the stream of the Inopus."
Leto travelled far and wide in her search for a refuge where she might bear her divine son.
The hymn continues, "...lady Leto came to Delos and asked with winged words: Delos, if you would like to be the home of my son, Phoebus Apollo, and to establish for him a rich temple - do not refuse, for no one else will come near you, as you will find out, and I do not think that you will be rich in cattle or sheep or bear harvests or grow plants in abundance - if you would then have a temple of Apollo, the far-shooter, all people will congregate here and bring hetacombs, and the aroma of rich sacrifices will rise up incessantly and your inhabitants will be nourished by the hands of foreigners."
Delos rejoices but raises the following concern to Leto:
"Leto, most renowned daughter of Coeus, I should receive your son, the lord who shoots from afar, with joy, for the terrible truth is that I have heard a bad reputation among human beings, and in this way I should become greatly esteemed. But I fear this prediction... they say that Apollo will be someone of uncontrollable power, who will mightily lord it over both immortal gods and mortal humans on the fruitful earth. And so I am dreadfully afraid in the depths of m heart and soul that when he first looks upon the light of the sun he will be comtemptuous of me (since I am an island that is rocky and barren) and overturn me with his feet and push me down into the depths of the sea where the surge of the great waves will rise mightily above me."
As this does not really say anything, I thought there were too many references not to mention.
My 2 cents,
Cheers
PK
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