Dhamma: The Buddhist Teaching and Path
Summary: This page serves as a comprehensive directory to core Buddhist teachings (Dhamma/Dharma), providing organized access to articles on the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path with its eight factors (Right View, Intention, Speech, Action, Livelihood, Effort, Mindfulness, and Concentration), monastic discipline (Vinaya), ethical conduct for laypeople, and the path to Nirvana. It includes both traditional scripture-based teachings and practical applications of Dhamma for modern practitioners.
"Therefore, Ananda, be islands unto yourselves, refuges unto yourselves, seeking no external refuge; with the Dhamma as your island, the Dhamma as your refuge, seeking no other refuge.
"And how, Ananda, is a bhikkhu an island unto himself, a refuge unto himself, seeking no external refuge; with the Dhamma as his island, the Dhamma as his refuge, seeking no other refuge?
"When he dwells contemplating the body in the body, earnestly, clearly comprehending, and mindfully, after having overcome desire and sorrow in regard to the world; when he dwells contemplating feelings in feelings, the mind in the mind, and mental objects in mental objects, earnestly, clearly comprehending, and mindfully, after having overcome desire and sorrow in regard to the world, then, truly, he is an island unto himself, a refuge unto himself, seeking no external refuge; having the Dhamma as his island, the Dhamma as his refuge, seeking no other refuge." — DN 16