Description

About the Book:-This short treatise was originally conceived as a contribution to the Royal Asiatic Society’s Journal: its size induced the Council to publish it as a monograph. The author has made an attempt to solve the uncertainty which still prevails about the meaning of the term dharma. He has drawn up a concordance of almost every case where the word occurs in Pali canonical literature and established a great variety of meaning. It explains in detail the principle of Radical Pluralism which asserts that the elements alone are realities while every combination of them is a mere name covering a plurality of separate elements. The principle has been elucidated by its contrast with Arambhavada which maintains the reality of the whole as well as of the elements and with Parinama-vada which ascribes absolute reality to the whole. The work is divided into sixteen sections dealing with Skandhas, Ayatanas, Dhatus, Elements of mind, Pratityasamutpada, Karma, Impermanence in Sankhya-Yoga, Theory of Cognition, Pre-Buddhaic Buddhism etc. This book is good for common readers.