[naturesflow]

Originally Posted by Gem

At the ashram the teachers told us there is law that distinguishes what is dhamma from what isn't, and that law is, dhamma is universal. That means it doesn't matter what sect anyone is, Christians Jews Muslims and what their respective beliefs are. Dhamma applies to everyone, just like breathing does.

Buddhism isn't really a knowledge that is learned - it is like you don't know if you are breathing or not unless you check, and you find out that you are, but when you aren't checking, you don't know. In this sense, you can't acquire the dhamma - you have to be aware, but you don't know if you are aware unless you check on it, and as soon as you do, you discover that you are. Dhamma is immediate, it exists only in this moment of recognition. Only a memory can be written down, so the text without recognition is stale. Last time I used the term 'the living dhamma' I was ridiculed by the resident arbiter of authentic texts, but dhamma is how nature is, and nature is living, so we can touch on life, but only in the moment it lives, and if we check to see, 'this' is what it is to be alive.

In the moment we notice, there is no seeking, because there is no time, I check I see in the same moment. 'This' is breathing. 'This' is awareness. Dhamma is kinda like that.

Wow that was amazingly clear in me reading this.

It just makes so much sense now in ways I couldn't quite articulate as you have done, but within me it felt this way. Which is why I often feel so much conflict in those who keep pushing the text but lose sight of how it can be "recognised" beyond how they themselves see it needs to be viewed.