Dharma is one of those Sanskrit words that is hard to translate. When used in Buddhism, it usually refers to any teachings of the Buddha and Buddhist teachers. However, Dharma can be pretty much anything.
Dharma can be your life, the path you are on. One doesn't have to go to the Himalayas and meditate and practice in total solitude to become enlightened. One does not have to take the monastic vows and don the robes either. Whatever life you have now - for example, if you're married with children, working as a high school teacher, taking care of an elderly parent - that is your Dharma, your path. So much to learn from it.

Usually people think of Dharma as books on Buddhism and Buddhist teachings. One goes to Barnes & Noble or Borders and finds the section on Buddhism and will see all the Dharma on the shelves. Or, one goes to a talk or a retreat given by a spiritual teacher, and those teachings are Dharma, of course.
Recently, just last month while we had a wicked flu go through the house, my husband of almost 16 years, told me he was having chest pain. He had been having it awhile. As an RN whose specialties are emergency medicine and cardiac care, this upset me, of course. Things happened very quickly. He saw our internist and the next day he was at a cardiology office having a stress test which he flunked badly. They scheduled him for an angiogram with a probable angioplasty and stent placement the next day. However, when he got up the next day his flu had gotten a lot worse. He was coughing very frequently and running a low grade temperature. They had to re-schedule for the following week - seven days away exactly. We all spent the next week not only sick but on tenterhooks praying he didn't have a heart attack.
He did undergo the procedure the following week. He had one coronary artery 97% blocked in just one place. It was the right coronary artery (the RCA). All his other arteries of his heart were fine. However, it was nothing short of miraculous he did not have a heart attack. The managed to get the blockage from 97% down to 0% blocked and he came home the following morning.
Of course this was all karma coming to fruition, but all this was also Dharma - teachings for all five of us. You can easily miss dharma if you're not mindful though. Or you get too caught up in either your suffering or happiness that you miss these important teachings.
All around you is dharma!
The television is full of dharma. You can find important teachings in any show on TV, or the news. I have some TV shows I love to watch and I watch them regularly. While I am watching a show and after it is over, I look to see what I could learn from the show and what dharma teachings I found. This also applies to movies, music, books, etc. I find myself gravitating towards groups and artists whose lyrics have great dharma messages an teachings. Even video games can contain dharma.
Of course none of these should take priority over our practices of things like meditation, mindfulness, and so on. Nor are they better than reading dharma books or getting dharma teachings from our qualified spiritual teachers.
I often will ask our children, after watching a movie or TV show, what dharma they got from it. If they read a book, I will ask them what dharma teachings they found in it. I found this really helps our children learn about Buddhism.
When I was still working in an ER, I was surrounded by dharma.
If anyone benefits from this entry, I dedicate it to the happiness and benefit of all sentient beings.

May all be well, happy and free from suffering!

Learn more about this author, Kristy Henderson.
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