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Old 01-15-2005, 09:54 PM   #24
Garen LiLorian
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Dharma

Quote:
Dharma is the struggle that people face from living their lives with too many cravings, more or less, hence anyone wishing to become Buddha must relinquish many of these desires and strive for the Middle Path.
Hmmm. This is, at the least, an odd explanation of Dharma. Perhaps it differs greatly from the Hindu version I'm more familiar with. I'm afraid I'm not very knowledgeable about Buddhism...
But anyway, to my understanding Dharma is right action, action taken to further the cause of one's soul. This runs the gamut from action which gets you enlightened (I suppose Suldaledhel's definition could fit in there) to stuff you've got to do to get rid of karma. There's a lot of this. By this definition, Child's quote;
Quote:
Loy and Goodhew apparently make the argument that Dharma is found in all good and complex tales, and that it is therefore possible to see certain aspects of Budddhism's teachings reflected in stories such as those of Tolkien and LeGuin.
makes perfect sense. Dharma is neccessarily present in all tales that deal with greater themes. (although poor Túrin seems to work hard to be an exception...)
But I don't really see any significant link between Dharma and Tolkien, or at least any more so than Dharma and Harry Potter, or any other book you'd care to name.
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This is my quest, to follow that star; no matter how hopeless, no matter how far. To fight for the right, without question or pause. To be willing to march into Hell for a Heavenly cause! -Man of La Mancha
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