---
ai_generation_date: '2026-06-22'
ai_model: gemini-3-pro-preview
audiodharma:
  talks:
  - date: '2022-04-11'
    mp3_url: https://audiodharma.us-east-1.linodeobjects.com/talks/16064/20220411-Diana_Clark-IMC-the_dharma_and_harmlessness.mp3
    speakers:
    - speaker_name: Diana Clark
      speaker_url: https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/240
    talk_start_time_seconds: 0
    title: The Dharma and Harmlessness
    url: https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/16064
    video_unavailable: false
location_city: Redwood City, CA
video_unavailable: false
youtube:
  id: r4mpflbm5wg
  imprecise_upload_date: '2022-05-04'
  title: The Dharma and Harmlessness
  upload_date: null
  uploader_str: Insight Meditation Center
  uploader_url: https://www.youtube.com/@InsightMeditationCenter
youtube_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4mpflbm5wg
---

# The Dharma and Harmlessness - [Diana Clark](https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/240)

*This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video above. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers.*

## [The Dharma and Harmlessness](https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/16064)

Welcome. Good evening. It's nice to be here, to be with you all. We had a TBD on the calendar for quite some while. I wasn't sure who it was going to be, who's going to be the mystery speaker. Turns out to be me! [Laughter] That wasn't the initial plan, but I'm happy to be here.

So last week, Gil, Max Erdstein[^1], and I finished teaching this eight-month-long course that we called The Equivalence of Ethics and Enlightenment, or E3. Eight months, fifteen homework assignments of reading, and the students were writing as well, once a month, and getting in small groups, and we gave them some prompts to talk about.

You might think, ethics, oh my goodness! [Laughter] That sounds so boring. Why would anybody do that? That sounds tedious. It sounds like just not something necessarily one would want to spend so much effort and energy on.

But it turned out—it's not a huge surprise for us teachers, but even though I've taught that course before a few times, actually, it's so rich. Even having taught it before, to really look at the role of ethics and to broaden what it means to be ethical, to broaden it to include just the way that we are in the world.

Monday being the last class, we spent a little time reviewing some things. I combined a few different elements and made up a little bit of a new way of thinking about the Dharma having had this experience.

We have this expression, the Dharma. For those of us who have taken refuge, quote-unquote, we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha[^2]. But what does that mean, really? What is the Dharma, and what does it mean to take refuge in it? Is there a way that we could explore this question, investigate it by using the perspective of ethics? I actually would say, rather than ethics, harmlessness. This idea of not wanting to cause harm, and exploring what it means to not cause harm, and what it means to cause harm.

So this idea of Dharma, can we look at it, explore it using this as a lens? Dharma, of course, one way we can understand it is as the teachings of the Buddha, maybe the doctrine or the words of the Buddha. This recognition that the Buddha and some of his senior followers, senior disciples, these wise, compassionate people left instructions, left teachings so that others could find the same way that they have. So we can be inspired by them, so we can learn from them.

And there are certainly lots of teachings, right? For those of you who have studied the suttas[^3] or the Nikayas[^4], you know that there's a whole lot of them in there. I myself enjoy reading them and looking at them and studying them for myself, getting inspired.

Here's one verse that's in the Dhammapada[^5]. It's a collection of verses. It's probably what's been translated the most. I think there are over twenty different translations available into English, let alone all the other languages. In the Dhammapada, there are some really wonderful and pithy little verses in there, and this one goes like this:

_Doing nothing malicious, engaging in what is skillful, and purifying one's mind, this is the teaching of the Buddhas._

So just a summary of all the Dharma, all the teachings, is doing nothing malicious, engaging in what is skillful, and purifying one's mind.

I like this straightforward way, and it brings to mind—I don't know if it's exactly the same—but it brings to mind the path of practice as _sīla_, _samādhi_, _paññā_[^6]. The path of practice is first doing nothing malicious, _sīla_, that is being ethical, not causing harm. The second, engaging in what is skillful, _samādhi_. _Samādhi_ is mental development and meditation, concentration. Certainly, that's skillful, but we could also say skillful is ethics. So maybe it's not a perfect match, but the third line is purifying one's mind. This could also be considered part of wisdom—the contents of the mind or the way that the mind thinks. That could also, of course, be concentration or mental development.

But I think what I'd like to highlight now is this first line: doing nothing malicious. This is the teaching of the Buddha. I remember when I was in graduate school studying Buddhism, I was in a class, and I was the only student who was a practitioner of Theravada[^7]. Everybody else was a Mahayana[^8] practitioner. Mahayana is the later Buddhism. The teacher, the professor—now I don't remember what point he was trying to make—but he asked this question: "If you could use just one word to describe the Dharma, about his teachings?" And I thought, sure, it's easy. It's just harmless. Do no harm. That's three monosyllabic words. This is really simple.

It turns out it's not so simple, right? Because we had a classroom, and every single person there in the classroom had a different idea, and the Mahayana people, some of them, I didn't even know what they were talking about. Even though we might want to simplify it, it doesn't mean that everybody would agree. But for me, this idea of "do no harm," even if it's not the absolute fundamental, I think it's a fantastic provisional fundamental teaching. Why not? Sometimes we think about doing no harm as treating others with respect, and not cutting them with knives or shooting them with bullets, but it's also about ourselves.

So much about this practice is that we start to see the subtle ways in which we harm ourselves. The subtle ways in which the inner critic criticizes us, or the subtle ways we sometimes abandon ourselves when difficulties arise, or maybe the way that we don't take care of ourselves. Even though we know it's good for us to eat well, sleep, exercise, and meditate, it doesn't mean we always are doing those things. It's not because we're intentionally wanting to cause harm, but part of the practice is just recognizing or becoming sensitive to, "Oh yeah, this way isn't the way that leads to the greatest freedom, the greatest ease, the greatest peace."

In the suttas, there's another way in which the Dharma is described. Part of the teaching that the Buddha says, and when other people are describing the Buddha, they say, "He's one who teaches the Dharma that's beautiful in the beginning, beautiful in the middle, and beautiful in the end." I feel kind of inspired by this, that's something that's beautiful through and through. So we might think harmlessness, too, also has this beauty, maybe this grace. There is something about it where we can be safe and others can be safe. Maybe there's something beautiful about that.

So the Dharma as the doctrine summarizes some of the teachings of the Buddha. Of course, one of the key teachings is the Four Noble Truths. Many people would say that this is the key teaching of the Buddha. We can consider these as pragmatic perspectives that help guide us in the world, and understand the world, concerned with suffering and the end of suffering.

I know for me, the very first time I heard this was not when I was expecting it. It was in a yoga class. I had no interest in Buddhism; I didn't even really know what Buddhism was. But the yoga teacher turned out to also be a Dharma teacher. I didn't know that, that didn't mean anything to me at the time. This person had a lovely accent from Minnesota, and I just have this warm-hearted feeling towards people who have a really thick Minnesota accent. I can't mimic it, but a Minnesota accent acknowledging that there is suffering.

All those years ago, sitting there on my yoga block, I felt like, "Oh, what a relief that somebody's actually talking about something real, and not pretending that everything is okay, or saying how things should be." There's a cause for suffering. Things arise for a cause, they're not magical. And importantly, there's an ending of suffering, the Third Noble Truth. And of course, the Fourth Noble Truth is the Eightfold Path. There's a way leading to the ending of suffering.

It did occur to me, what would it be like if there was not this Fourth Noble Truth? "Oh yeah, there's an ending, but there's no way to get there." It would just be very different, right? This practice would be more just about faith or something.

But maybe we could just boil all this down to: if you stop doing something that causes suffering, the suffering ends. Pretty simple, pretty straightforward.

Of course, in the Four Noble Truths and all these different ways in which we talk about suffering in this Buddhist tradition, this is a word that stands in for such a wide range. From the acute physical suffering that humans can experience, to the acute emotional suffering. Anybody who's ever had their heart broken knows this, or had a loved one die knows this kind of end of the spectrum. But also the other end of the spectrum, this feeling like there's something that's just not quite right, and I don't know what it is, but it just doesn't feel completely satisfying, or doesn't feel quite right. So suffering, _dukkha_[^9], is a single word for this whole range.

But what if we use this word harm instead of the word suffering? What if we considered the same thing? Whereas suffering has the flavor of something we experience, harm has more the flavor of something that gets done, either done to us or we do to others. But it is this same idea of tuning into the presence or the absence of what causes harm.

In the same way as the Four Noble Truths or these pragmatic perspectives, using the word harm instead of suffering: there is harm, there's a cause for harm, there's an ending of harm, and there's a path leading to the ending of harm.

There's a way in which we might interact or engage with the Four Noble Truths in a little bit of a different way. Acknowledging that harm so often is unintentional. Sometimes we think about it primarily as being intentional, if somebody is willfully harming others. But to think about the unintentional highlights some of the ways in which we harm ourselves that are not so easy to stop. These habits, these compulsions, just simply not being present for what we are doing, and recognizing the harm caused from that.

These habits and these compulsions, and not being present, can be an expression of the clinging or the craving, which is a cause for suffering, of course. It becomes a harm for ourselves partly because we're not present for what's happening, or we don't have the capacity when we're really clinging on tightly to stop the momentum of the mental habits, to stop the momentum of the emotional habits that cause harm.

To tune into and recognize the ways that we might be causing ourselves harm, not because we want to give one more reason to beat ourselves up, or to feel like we're failing or not doing it right. Just recognizing that sometimes, when there's harm arising, there can be some compassion, there can be some tenderness. Like, "Oh yeah, this is _dukkha_. This harm is being caused by my holding on so tightly to a particular idea or a belief."

Recently, I was with a group of people, and I showed up having this idea that, "Okay, I have this particular role, and I'm gonna behave this particular way that's appropriate for that role." But I didn't realize that nobody else thought I should be in that role. It's quite something, right? As long as I was hanging on to this idea of like, "No, no, I'm the one that does this, and you guys are the ones that do that, and this is how it's supposed to go"—it was just a misunderstanding. But just this recognition: "Oh, just let go. Let go, Diana, of this idea that you had." That just was really great. It was such an obvious way to see how many times people are holding on to how we think we should be or what's expected from us, and then our environment and how other people behave doesn't necessarily match. And the suffering, the harm that's caused.

Of course, the Four Noble Truths have the Fourth Noble Truth as the Eightfold Path. If we look at the Eightfold Path, we can see that four of the factors, half of them, have a concern with harm. The second one, Right Intention, includes with it non-ill will, that is not causing harm, not having hostility and causing harm towards others. Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, all three of them are associated with ethical behavior, which is one way in which we don't harm others. Maybe we could stretch it a little bit and say Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration are a way to help us not cause harm, to let the mind and the body settle down.

So the Eightfold Path is a way that we can consider, through this lens, as helping us not cause harm intentionally or unintentionally.

One way we can understand the Dharma is as the teachings. It includes the Four Noble Truths and it includes that pithy little statement from the Dhammapada. But another way we can understand the Dharma is not just as some concept or some idea that's existing out there in the ether somewhere just as language or intangible thoughts. The Dharma is also the way that we show up in the world, the way in which we interact with the world through the way that we live. Because there's a way in which, with certain skills or intentions, the way that we are allows the Dharma to be expressed, allows the Dharma to have a role in our lives.

So not only is the Dharma a concept, but the way that we show up. Here's another quote from the Dhammapada, it goes like this: 

_Not by harming living beings is one a noble one; by being harmless to all living beings is one called a noble one._

To be harmless, the word here is _ahimsa_[^10], non-violence. So to not have any violence, to be acting with harmlessness, is to be a noble one. That ties in with the Four Noble Truths. Maybe some of you know that there's a number of ways we can translate that expression that's often called the Four Noble Truths. It could also be translated as the Four Truths of the Noble Ones. Pali[^11] allows for that translation as well.

So the truths of the noble ones, and the noble ones are the ones who are harmless. The Four Noble Truths can also be the four ennobling truths. There is something ennobling about being harmless: the uprightness, the steadiness, the clarity that's associated with not causing harm, the sensitivity. Ennobling.

As we practice the Dharma, with our spiritual maturity, if you will, our sensitivity to harm grows. It increases, and we begin to notice it in subtler and subtler manifestations. We become more sensitive to that contraction, to that tightness, that sense of "something's not right here" when we're considering causing harm, or certainly when we harm ourselves or somebody else has harmed us as well. That gets highlighted as our practice develops. We also become aware of the spaciousness, the ease, and the increased freedom that's available and possible.

So as we notice more spaciousness, we can notice the contrast with the constriction that happens that's associated with harming. This constriction can be felt as a tightening, but it also can be felt as a disconnection from others, or maybe even a disconnection from ourselves.

As our practice deepens, not only do we become more sensitive, but we also become more motivated. We start to see, experience, and acknowledge what's possible. As we start to touch into some areas that have more peace, or start to have greater understanding about ourselves or others, then we feel more motivated to not cause harm. The goodness that's inside of us, the goodness that's getting cultivated and tapped into with a Dharma practice, has this opportunity to get expressed in the way that we are showing up in the world.

So we can also understand the Dharma as something that arises with our interactions with the world, and with the harmlessness, the way that we show up, not wanting to hurt or harm ourselves or others.

Maybe a third way that we can understand Dharma is as a natural law, or as a truth, or as the way things are. Part of the natural law or the way things are, something that all humans experience, if not all beings, is a wish to be happy. A wish to have ease and peace and freedom, and certainly, the Dharma is about this.

So this wish to be happy gets supported by one of the Buddhist teachings about the bliss of blamelessness, of not harming others. This knowing that we haven't intentionally caused any harm gets expressed in this excerpt: "One accomplished in ethics sees no danger in any quarter with regards to their ethical behavior." Seeing no danger in any quarter, that means not in the north, not in the east, not in the west, or not in the south. So just no danger anywhere.

Instead, they experience a blameless bliss that comes from maintaining this noble virtue. This feeling of safety: "Okay, I haven't done anything wrong." And not only the safety, but the confidence that gives to somebody. To know that you don't have regrets, or if it comes forth that somebody was harmed or something unfortunate happened as a consequence of your actions, or something you said, or something you didn't do or didn't say. What a good feeling to know: "Oh, okay, that was certainly not my intention. I wasn't aware, I didn't know, I misunderstood," whatever it might be. But this bliss of blamelessness kind of helps support the Dharma law that humans want to be happy.

There's one more quote here from the Dhammapada. It goes like this: 

_Always awake are the disciples of the Buddha, whose minds day and night delight in harmlessness._ 

Again, this word is _ahimsa_. It is talking about the minds of the followers of the Buddha delighting in harmlessness, this kind of uplift that can happen when we're not harming. What's really important about this is this idea of non-harming and the Dharma. Reading quotes from the Nikayas, one way to interact with this could be to think, "Okay, I must never cause harm, and if I do, that means I'm a terrible person," or something like this.

It's so important that the manner in which we engage with these teachings be consistent with the teachings. It's not helpful for us to set up an impossible standard and to chastise and beat ourselves up when we don't meet it. That's not what the teachings are. The teachings are about being present for our life, being present for our experiences, having that intention, having the motivation to not cause harm. When we discover that we have caused harm, we make amends, we do what's appropriate, and we go on to the next thing. We learn from it and we go on, rather than carrying it around with us and beating ourselves up.

Carrying it around and ruminating and getting stuck with it doesn't allow us to learn what we need to learn and move forward. Instead, we get stuck if we turn it into a story about being a bad person, or being inadequate, or unable, or something like this.

But instead of this harmlessness, maybe another word we could say is goodwill, care, warmth, kindness. Can we have this for ourselves and for others? A key part of the Buddha's teachings is this open-heartedness, this warm-heartedness, and certainly, that's harmlessness, that's care. So can we have that for ourselves as well as for others? Having that for ourselves is the way that we're practicing the Dharma.

No matter how we define the Dharma—whether it's the teachings, whether it's the way that we show up in the world, getting expressed through humans in the world, or whether it's the natural laws, one of which is that beings want to be happy—I tried to express it in terms of harmlessness. Maybe it was a little bit of a stretch, but in some ways, how is it not? The Dharma is being in harmony, not in conflict with what is and with others. In this way, we can take refuge. Take refuge in the Dharma, take refuge in not causing harm. May our doing so be a support for not only our greater freedom but for the freedom of all beings everywhere. Thank you.

I'll stay up here for a few moments if somebody would like to ask questions. Otherwise, I wish you all a really warm and safe evening. Thank you.

---

[^1]: **Gil Fronsdal and Max Erdstein:** Insight Meditation teachers at the Insight Meditation Center.
[^2]: **Sangha:** The Buddhist monastic community, or more broadly, the community of practitioners.
[^3]: **Suttas:** The discourses or teachings of the Buddha.
[^4]: **Nikayas:** The collections of discourses (suttas) in the Pali Canon.
[^5]: **Dhammapada:** A well-known collection of sayings of the Buddha in verse form.
[^6]: **Sīla, Samādhi, Paññā:** The three divisions of the Noble Eightfold Path: morality/ethics (_sīla_), concentration/meditation (_samādhi_), and wisdom (_paññā_).
[^7]: **Theravada:** The "School of the Elders," the oldest surviving branch of Buddhism, dominant in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.
[^8]: **Mahayana:** The "Great Vehicle," a broad branch of Buddhism dominant in East Asia.
[^9]: **Dukkha:** A Pali word often translated as "suffering," "stress," or "unsatisfactoriness."
[^10]: **Ahimsa:** A Pali and Sanskrit word meaning non-violence or harmlessness.
[^11]: **Pali:** The ancient language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism are preserved.