The Central Conception of Buddhism and the Meaning of the Word "Dharma" c3.8

c3.8

The formula of the Buddhist Credo (*ye dhammā*, etc.)—which professedly contains the shortest statement of the essence and the spirit of Buddhism¹—declares that Buddha discovered the elements (*dhammā*) of existence, their causal connexion, and a method to suppress their efficiency for ever (*nirodho*). Vasubandhu makes a similar statement about the essence of the doctrine: it is a method of converting the elements of existence into a condition of rest, out of which they never will emerge again.² From the first days of the Buddhist church the novices, before obtaining admittance into the order, went through a course of instruction in what may be termed the Buddhist catechism, i.e. an exposition of the elements (*dharma*) of existence and their different classifications into *skandhas*, *āyatanas*, *dhātus*.³ The same training was considered indispensable for the aspiring nuns.⁴ These conditions have not changed down to the present day in all Buddhist countries. In the whole of Mongolia and Tibet, in those parts of Siberia where Buddhism is spreading against the primitive Shamanism among the Tunguz tribes of