Dhamma and dhamma

[asahi]

Hi Pali teachers ,

How does one to differentiate when applying the capital (D) and small letter ?
Or both are the same in usage ?

[frank k]

I've written in detail about this in many articles:
https://lucid24.org/tped/d/dhamma/index.html
https://notesonthedhamma.blogspot.com/2 ... -left.html

The key thing to remember, it's an oral tradition. They hear, they memorize, and reflect on it. You can't hear the difference between (captial) Dhamma and 'dhamma' in an oral tradition.

So the onus is on the listener to disambiguate the term 'dhamma' themselves.
Some translators, such as I, capitalize 'D' to show I believe in that context it's focused on Dhamma as the Buddha's teaching that leads to Nirvana, and lower case 'd' dhamma for a much broader meaning such as manasa dhamma vinanna, the mind cognizing 'dhamma-mental-input data' the same way eye sees form, ear hears sounds.

Most translators translate 'dhamma' into the specific meaning they think best fits the context. Which is a bad idea, as I point out in many articles, as 'dhamma' often straddles multiple meanings, and you lose that richness when you pigeonhole a specific narrow definition on it.

[asahi]

I've written in detail about this in many articles:
https://lucid24.org/tped/d/dhamma/index.html
https://notesonthedhamma.blogspot.com/2 ... -left.html

The key thing to remember, it's an oral tradition. They hear, they memorize, and reflect on it. You can't hear the difference between (captial) Dhamma and 'dhamma' in an oral tradition.

So the onus is on the listener to disambiguate the term 'dhamma' themselves.
Some translators, such as I, capitalize 'D' to show I believe in that context it's focused on Dhamma as the Buddha's teaching that leads to Nirvana, and lower case 'd' dhamma for a much broader meaning such as manasa dhamma vinanna, the mind cognizing 'dhamma-mental-input data' the same way eye sees form, ear hears sounds.

Most translators translate 'dhamma' into the specific meaning they think best fits the context. Which is a bad idea, as I point out in many articles, as 'dhamma' often straddles multiple meanings, and you lose that richness when you pigeonhole a specific narrow definition on it.

Thanks Frank