Dharma

Front Matter

Dharma Dharma ALF HILTEBEITEL Dimensions of Asian Spirituality university of hawai‘i press Honolulu dimensions of asian spirituality Henry Rosemont, Jr., General Editor This series makes available short but comprehensive works on specific Asian philosophical and religious schools of thought, works focused on a specific region, and works devoted to the full articulation of a concept central to one or more of Asia’s spiritual traditions. Series volumes are written by distinguished scholars in the field who not only present their subject matter in historical context for the non-specialist reader, but also express their own views of the contemporary spiritual relevance of their subject matter for global citizens of the twenty-first century.© 2010 University of Hawai‘i Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 15 14 13 12 11 10 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hiltebeitel, Alf. Dharma / Alf Hiltebeitel. p. cm. — (Dimensions of Asian spirituality) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8248-3466-1 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8248-3486-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Dharma. I. Title. II. Series: Dimensions of Asian spirituality. B132.D5H55 2010 294.3’4—dc22 2010010614 University of Hawai‘i Press books are printed on acid-free Paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Council on Library Resources. Series design by Rich Hendel Printed by The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group Frontis art: An Indian poster depicts, at center,Yama Dharmarāja as king of the dead in his Hall of Yama. The other panels all pair modern earthly sins with otherworldly punishments and are captioned in Hindi: the fruits of cheating with weights (upper left), of overburdening animals (upper center), of poisoning (upper right), of killing (lower left), of adultery by women (lower center), and of theft (lower right). The fruits of greed are shown in the set to the left of the central image, and, to the right, the results of taking bribes. ...