dharma [dhamma] the law, doctrine, nature of a thing, righteousness. The term dharma has many connotations. In its wide sense, it covers the teachings of the Buddha including the doctrine and its practice, that is righteousness. The Buddha himself has defined the scope of dharma. According to him, dharma includes the four foundations of mindfulness (smṛtiprasthāna) [satipaṭṭhāna], the four right efforts (pradhāna) [padhāna], the four bases of psychic potency [iddhipāda], the five faculties (indriya) [indriya], the five powers (bala) [bala], the seven factors of enlightenment (bodhyaṅga) [bojjhaṅga] and the Noble Eightfold Path (ārya aṣṭāṅgikamārga) [ariya aṭṭhaṅgika magga].     The Buddha says that when the aspirant knows the supreme dhamma, he can cross the flood. So dharma is often compared to a raft. The ultimate goal of the practice of dharma is nirvāṇa. The Buddha says "Just as the great ocean has one flavour, the flavour of salt, even so, monks, this dhamma has one flavour, the flavour of nirvāṇa."     The Buddha has also described the types of individuals who adhere to his dhamma. He says the one realising the path of stream winning, and one realising the fruition of stream winning, the one realising the path of once return and one realising the fruition of the once return, the one realising the path of non return, the one who has realised fruition of non return, the one realising the path of perfection, and the one realising the fruition of perfection take shelter and practise the dhamma.     The dhamma of the Buddha does not discriminate the followers on the basis of castes. Members of different castes become simply recluses when they enter the dharma. The Buddha says, "O monks, as those great rivers... on reaching the great ocean lose their former names and identities and are reckoned simply as the great ocean, even so, monks, members of these four castes -- warriors, brahmins, merchants, and workers -- having gone forth from home into homelessness in the dhamma and discipline proclaimed by the truth-finder, lose their former names and clans and are reckoned simply as recluses."     The utterance of the Buddha can be compared to the following words of the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (III 2.8). "As all those rivers flowing down merge into ocean abandoning their names and forms, so also the illumined soul merges into the supreme being."     The actions rooted in greed, ill-will and delusion are depicted as adharma, whereas those which are free from these are regarded as dharma. The actions of an Arhat transcend both good and evil. The Buddha says, "You have to give up the righteous things (dharma) and much more the unrighteous (adharma). The good that makes one's life happy is āsrava kuśala and that which leads one to the enlightenment is anāsrava kuśala."     The training in dharma is a gradual one like the great ocean that deepens gradually, slopes gradually, shelves gradually. It should be so because the dhamma penetrated by him is deep, difficult to see, difficult to understand, peaceful, excellent, beyond dialectic, subtle, intelligible to the wise. It brings happiness.     The dharma established by the Buddha has following virtues(1) [svākkhāto bhagavatā dhammo] It was established and well proclaimed by the Blessed one.
(2) [sandiṭṭhiko] It is to be self-realised.
(3) [akāliko] It gives immediate results. If it is studied thoroughly and put into practice, it gives beneficial results here and now.
(4) [ehipassiko] It is open to all; each and everybody may come, see, test and analyse.
(5) [opaneyyiko] It leads to eternal peace and happiness.
(6) [paccattaṃ veditabbo viññūhi] One has to strive to comprehend dharma. The dharma is to be understood individually by the wise. The thirst of thirsty man cannot be quenched unless he himself drinks water; even so, each and every individual would tread his path to attain dharma. Every man has to work out his own emancipation.

     The Buddha wanted his dhamma to be the teacher after his parinirvāṇa. He said to Ānanda, "It may be, Ānanda, that some of you will think the word of the teacher is no more. We have no teacher. But one should not think in this way. The dhamma and discipline taught and laid down by me will be your teacher after my passing on." The Buddha wanted his disciples to become heirs of dhamma in him and not heirs of material things. Therefore, he says, "Ānanda, go along... having dhamma as lamp, dhamma as refuge, none other refuge."  (For elaboration, see under Dharma in the Introduction.)

Buddhānusmṛti - A Glossary of Buddhist Terms

Aṅguttara Nikāya Aññatara-brāhmaṇa. Majjhima Nikāya Mahātaṇhāsaṅkhaya. Vinaya. Cūḷavagga. IX-1.2.

Dharma. In Hindu tradition, ethical and religious duty, from dhar, "to hold": that which constitutes law or custom. It has therefore conceptual affinities with the Chinese li. In the earher Hindu literature (e.g., the Vedas) the term seldom if ever has this philosophical sense, but it is developed later, e.g., in the Brāhmaṇas, where it means "duty", although generally in some sense relating to the religious sacrifices. Dharma comes to be codified, as was the Torah in Judaism, so that the term (like Torah) could mean both the principle itself (divine law) and its codification. Penalties were provided, called daṇḍa. See Daṇḍa and Dhamma.

Geddes MacGregor, Dictionary of Religion and Philosophy, New York: Paragon House, 1989

Dharma

(Pāli, Dhamma). Dharma is etymologically derived from the Sanskrit root dhṛ meaning to bear or support. It is a term of great significance with three main meanings. First, it refers to the natural order or universal law that underpins the operation of the universe in both the physical and moral spheres. Secondly, it denotes the totality of Buddhist teachings, since these are thought to accurately describe and explain the underlying universal law so that individuals may live in harmony with it. It is in this sense that it occurs as one of the ‘three jewels’ (triratna) and the ‘three refuges’ (triśaraṇa), along with the Buddha and the Saṃgha. Thirdly, it is used in the Abhidharma system of taxonomy to refer to the individual elements that collectively constitute the empirical world. Some of these elements (dharmas) are external to the perceiver and others are internal psychological processes and traits of character. It is in this context that the Madhyamaka school denied the substantial reality of dharmas, claiming that all phenomena were ‘empty’ (śūnya) of any substantial reality.

A Dictionary of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 2003, 2004 (which is available in electronic version from answer.com)

Dharma  法  Sanskrit word, means law, truth, anything Buddhist. It is used in the sense of all things, visible or invisible.

漢英-英漢-英英佛學辭典字庫

dharma 1
dhárma m. (rarely n. g. ardharcâdi
• the older form of the RV. is dhárman, q.v.) that which is established or firm, steadfast decree, statute, ordinance, law
• usage, practice, customary observance or prescribed conduct, duty
• right, justice (often as a synonym of punishment)
• virtue, morality, religion, religious merit, good works (dhármeṇa or ○māt ind. according to right or rule, rightly, justly, according to the nature of anything
• below.
• mesthita mfn. holding to the law, doing one's duty) AV. &c. &c
• Law or Justice personified (as Indra ŚBr. &c
• as Yama MBh.
• as born from the right breast of Yama and father of Śama, Kāma and Harsha ib.
• as Vishṇu Hariv.
• as Prajā-pati and son-in-law of Daksha Hariv. Mn. &c
• as one of the attendants of the Sun L.
• as a Bull Mn. viii, 16
• as a Dove Kathās. vii, 89, &c.)
• the law or doctrine of Buddhism (as distinguished from the sañgha or monastic order MWB. 70)
• the ethical precepts of Buddhism (or the principal dharma called sūsra, as distinguished from the abhi-dharma or, further dharma and from the vinaya or 'discipline, these three constituting the canon of Southern Buddhism MWB. 61)
• the law of Northern Buddhism (in 9 canonical scriptures, viz. Prajñā-pāramitā, Gaṇḍa-vyūha, Daśa-bhūmîśvara, Samadhirāja, Laṅkâvat1ra, Saddharma -puṇḍarika, Tathagata-guhyaka, Lalita-vistara, Suvarṇa-prabhāsa, ib. 69)
• nature, character, peculiar condition or essential quality, property, mark, peculiarity (= sva-bhāva L.
• cf. daśa-dh"ṣ-gata ŚBr. &c. &c
• upamānôpameyayor dh○, the tertium comparationis Pāṇ. 2-1, 55 Sch.)
• a partic. ceremony MBh. xiv, 2623
• sacrifice L.
• the ninth mansion Var.
• an Upanishad L.
• associating with the virtuous L.
• religious abstraction, devotion L.
• = upamā L. (cf. above)
• a bow Dharmaś.
• a Soma-drinker L.
• N. of the 15th Arhat of the present Ava-sarpiṇī L.
• of a son of Anu and father of Ghṛita Hariv.
• of a son of Gāndhāra and father of Dhṛita Pur.
• of a son of Haihaya and father of Netra BhP.
• of a son of Pṛithu-śravas and of Uśanas ib.
• of a son of Su-vrata VP. (cf. dharma-sūtra)
• of a son of Dīrgha-tapas, Vāyup
• of a king of Kaśmīra, Rāj. iv, 678
• of another man ib. vii, 85
• of a lexicographer &c. (also -paṇḍita, -bhaṭṭa and -śāstrin) Cat. [Cf. Lat. firmus, Lith. dermé.]

dharma 2
dharma Nom. P. ○mati, to become, law Vop.
dharma 3
dhárma in comp. for ○man, q.v. 2

dharma See p. 510, col. 3
 

Sanskrit-English Dictionary, by M. Monier William

dharma: (1) An ultimate factor of existence, defined as "that which sustains its specific characteristic"(svalakṣaṇa-dhāranād dharmaḥ). (2) Mental objects. (3) Doctrine. (there are many other meanings of this word).

Sarvastivada Abhidharma, Sanskrit-English Glossary, by Bhikkhu KL Dhammajoti