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`dharma` is the term we buddhists use to designate the (sacred) teachings of Buddha. Would you use `Coran` or `Bible` to name your project? Probably not. It wo

by romgrk 8y ago

`dharma` is the term we buddhists use to designate the (sacred) teachings of Buddha. Would you use `Coran` or `Bible` to name your project? Probably not. It would have been a good idea to take more time to reflect on your choice of name.

malvosenior 8y ago
There are a ton of products named “The X Bible” where X = photoshop, c++, whisky... I don’t think it’s particularly controversial but then again I’m not a Christian.
- RightMillennial 8y ago
  In general, no, we don't find it offensive. The word "bible" is simply from the Greek word for book or books.
  - flatline 8y ago
    How would you feel about Bible.io being a company page for a crypto project promoting the Bible protocol? You have to admit it sounds a little confusing, no?
    - RightMillennial 8y ago
      Sure, naming a cryptocurrency protocol "Bible" would be confusing at first. But if it was meant to be the Bible of protocols or the one protocol to use, I would understand the gist of its name.
    - austenallred 8y ago
      What if it were, say, “the C Bible?”
    - Geee 8y ago
      There is JesusCoin https://jesuscoin.network/ https://jesuscoin.network/
  - danenania 8y ago
    I believe almost all of these 'sacred' terms have totally pedestrian etymological roots. Bible = book. Koran = recitation. Dharma = decree or custom. Karma = fate. Christ = anointed. Another interesting semi-related one I remember about the Bible: the "Virgin" Mary was translated from the Hebrew "almah", which just means a young unmarried woman (not necessarily a virgin in the way we define it).
    - RightMillennial 8y ago
      Interesting, I didn't know the origins of the words Koran or Dharma. I don't know much about biblical hermeneutics, but wasn't the New Testament written in Greek? Also, based upon Church tradition and history, even if the word didn't explicitly mean virgin, it is certainly understood to mean it with relation to Mary.
      - danenania 8y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almah#Bible_usage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almah#Bible_usage It looks like the Greek version is the point where 'almah' got translated as 'parthenos', a word that more specifically means virgin. It's definitely become a key part of the tradition. I'm now agnostic, but went to a Catholic school growing up, so I know well how much importance is placed on it. I've just always found it interesting how such a core belief of the most popular religion in history might (or might not) have been based on a simple mistranslation.
hapnin 8y ago
I'm also a Buddhist (a savaka, technically). I have no issues with the name. If the name causes one person to learn what the Dharma is and to stop harming themselves and others, that's a great thing. It looks like a cool project too.
- indiafoodie 8y ago
  This.
- flatline 8y ago
  The main things that give me pause are (a) unadorned use of the word out of context and (b) the general level of scamminess I associate with crypto projects.
  - hapnin 8y ago
    I take all cryptocurrency projects case by case. This one appears straight up as it's proposing an actual protocol and the associated token actually addresses a problem. Being YC backed ups its cred too. But yeah, 95% of all ERC-20 tokens are BS.
- dsabanin 8y ago
  ..or the name becomes so diluted by it's usage everywhere, where appropriate and not (like a name of lending platform), that it loses all meaning. Like word Zen by now. The only reason people began using words like Zen, Dharma, Buddha, Nirvana for commercial products that had nothing to do with the meaning of these words is because these words had certain power to them that businesses wanted to capitalize on. Like a brand, if you will. That power was given to these words by countless compassionate acts and lives of many remarkable individuals, so that these words may guide someone who is seeking close to the answers. Making a financial platform using that name is just disrespectful. It's like naming your dog with your mother-in-law's name. Not an end of the world, but still, pretty distasteful.
  - jacquesm 8y ago
    > The only reason people began using words like Zen, Dharma, Buddha, Nirvana for commercial products that had nothing to do with the meaning of these words is because these words had certain power to them that businesses wanted to capitalize on. Or Karma. That one really has been beaten to death online (and offline too). But in the end they're just words, they mean what we want them to mean and words were always fluid, you can't nail them down and expect them to remain nailed down over a long period of time. Just a few more examples: gay, mouse, dial, heaven, respect and so on. That some people assign more value to some words than to others is the root cause of a lot of misery in the world.
manishsharan 8y ago
Thank you for voicing your uneasiness with the name. Dharma in Hinduism connotates ""right way of living". I am aghast that what is sacred to us reduced to a marketing tag line. Couldn't these people look up wikepedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma , to realize this name for a crypo app is not going to go well ? Or are they intentionally tone deaf ?
- indiafoodie 8y ago
  Speaking as another Indian, I am not offended at all.
- thevardanian 8y ago
  The idea of Hinduism is nonexistent. What unifies all "religious" and scientific/mathematical theories in India, is the fundamental idea of Dharma. Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism, and the various schools that are characterized as "Hinduism", all in one way or another layout vast theories about "Dharma" is, and give their own varying definitions of it. Calling this a "Dharma Protocol" is more apt than people think, and I'm glad that you used the term.
  - manishsharan 8y ago
    The fundamental ideas of Sikhism , Jainism and Buddism are not equivalent and Dharma in in each of these religions means aderence to their idea of the righteous way.These ideas are distinct and practitioner of these religions would dissmiss your theory of unified dharma. There are several Sikh scholars that I know of who could help you with your understanding of Sikhism and how it is different from Hinduism. However, a visit to a Sikh temple would be a better idea. >>idea of Hinduism is nonexistent This assertion is breathtakingly arrogant . Granted that Hinduism does not fit neatly within the traditional Judeo Christian definition of religions but this is absurdly ignorant. The Brits and the Portugese tried tried very hard to erase Hinduism and failed.( The Portugese went so far to claim Hindus dont have souls -- but that is a discussions for another day). Please note that I do not speak for Hinduism but your assertions are too absurd to ignore. To give you an analogy -- you are saying the idea of apples is nonexistent. There are RoyalDelicious, Gala, Honeycrisp etc etc, -- but there is no apple . My initial objection was to crpto snake-oil salesmen using eastern sounding names to disguise their snake oil and sadly they will succeed until this baloon pops.
jabgrabdthrow 8y ago
As a lighthearted differentiator I was going to have “The RSS Koran” instead of “The RSS Bible” but I got death threats
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
kang 8y ago
The word dharma means one's duty according to their place in their cosmic order. Assigning it to sacred teachings of anyone is not correct. There is a word _dhammam_ in pali lang that is from around the area buddha lived, which has different meaning from dharma, is used to refer budhha's teachings.
thevardanian 8y ago
I'm sorry but Dharma in its original context, that being India, is far more a broad term than simply a religious one. For example the conduct of the corporate form in Ancient, and Medieval India was often defined by certain publicly stated terms that the corporation/guild and its members had to follow, this was called "Sreni Dharma" (Sreni being the guild/corporation, and Dharma being the terms it must conduct itself by). So Dharma is a very broad term, and quite apt in this case.

by romgrk 8y ago

malvosenior 8y ago

There are a ton of products named “The X Bible” where X = photoshop, c++, whisky... I don’t think it’s particularly controversial but then again I’m not a Christian.

RightMillennial 8y ago
In general, no, we don't find it offensive. The word "bible" is simply from the Greek word for book or books.
- flatline 8y ago
  How would you feel about Bible.io being a company page for a crypto project promoting the Bible protocol? You have to admit it sounds a little confusing, no?
  - RightMillennial 8y ago
    Sure, naming a cryptocurrency protocol "Bible" would be confusing at first. But if it was meant to be the Bible of protocols or the one protocol to use, I would understand the gist of its name.
  - austenallred 8y ago
    What if it were, say, “the C Bible?”
  - Geee 8y ago
    There is JesusCoin https://jesuscoin.network/ https://jesuscoin.network/
- danenania 8y ago
  I believe almost all of these 'sacred' terms have totally pedestrian etymological roots. Bible = book. Koran = recitation. Dharma = decree or custom. Karma = fate. Christ = anointed. Another interesting semi-related one I remember about the Bible: the "Virgin" Mary was translated from the Hebrew "almah", which just means a young unmarried woman (not necessarily a virgin in the way we define it).
  - RightMillennial 8y ago
    Interesting, I didn't know the origins of the words Koran or Dharma. I don't know much about biblical hermeneutics, but wasn't the New Testament written in Greek? Also, based upon Church tradition and history, even if the word didn't explicitly mean virgin, it is certainly understood to mean it with relation to Mary.
    - danenania 8y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almah#Bible_usage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almah#Bible_usage It looks like the Greek version is the point where 'almah' got translated as 'parthenos', a word that more specifically means virgin. It's definitely become a key part of the tradition. I'm now agnostic, but went to a Catholic school growing up, so I know well how much importance is placed on it. I've just always found it interesting how such a core belief of the most popular religion in history might (or might not) have been based on a simple mistranslation.

hapnin 8y ago

I'm also a Buddhist (a savaka, technically). I have no issues with the name. If the name causes one person to learn what the Dharma is and to stop harming themselves and others, that's a great thing. It looks like a cool project too.

indiafoodie 8y ago
This.
flatline 8y ago
The main things that give me pause are (a) unadorned use of the word out of context and (b) the general level of scamminess I associate with crypto projects.
- hapnin 8y ago
  I take all cryptocurrency projects case by case. This one appears straight up as it's proposing an actual protocol and the associated token actually addresses a problem. Being YC backed ups its cred too. But yeah, 95% of all ERC-20 tokens are BS.
dsabanin 8y ago
..or the name becomes so diluted by it's usage everywhere, where appropriate and not (like a name of lending platform), that it loses all meaning. Like word Zen by now. The only reason people began using words like Zen, Dharma, Buddha, Nirvana for commercial products that had nothing to do with the meaning of these words is because these words had certain power to them that businesses wanted to capitalize on. Like a brand, if you will. That power was given to these words by countless compassionate acts and lives of many remarkable individuals, so that these words may guide someone who is seeking close to the answers. Making a financial platform using that name is just disrespectful. It's like naming your dog with your mother-in-law's name. Not an end of the world, but still, pretty distasteful.
- jacquesm 8y ago
  > The only reason people began using words like Zen, Dharma, Buddha, Nirvana for commercial products that had nothing to do with the meaning of these words is because these words had certain power to them that businesses wanted to capitalize on. Or Karma. That one really has been beaten to death online (and offline too). But in the end they're just words, they mean what we want them to mean and words were always fluid, you can't nail them down and expect them to remain nailed down over a long period of time. Just a few more examples: gay, mouse, dial, heaven, respect and so on. That some people assign more value to some words than to others is the root cause of a lot of misery in the world.

manishsharan 8y ago

Thank you for voicing your uneasiness with the name. Dharma in Hinduism connotates ""right way of living". I am aghast that what is sacred to us reduced to a marketing tag line. Couldn't these people look up wikepedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma , to realize this name for a crypo app is not going to go well ? Or are they intentionally tone deaf ?

indiafoodie 8y ago
Speaking as another Indian, I am not offended at all.
thevardanian 8y ago
The idea of Hinduism is nonexistent. What unifies all "religious" and scientific/mathematical theories in India, is the fundamental idea of Dharma. Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism, and the various schools that are characterized as "Hinduism", all in one way or another layout vast theories about "Dharma" is, and give their own varying definitions of it. Calling this a "Dharma Protocol" is more apt than people think, and I'm glad that you used the term.
- manishsharan 8y ago
  The fundamental ideas of Sikhism , Jainism and Buddism are not equivalent and Dharma in in each of these religions means aderence to their idea of the righteous way.These ideas are distinct and practitioner of these religions would dissmiss your theory of unified dharma. There are several Sikh scholars that I know of who could help you with your understanding of Sikhism and how it is different from Hinduism. However, a visit to a Sikh temple would be a better idea. >>idea of Hinduism is nonexistent This assertion is breathtakingly arrogant . Granted that Hinduism does not fit neatly within the traditional Judeo Christian definition of religions but this is absurdly ignorant. The Brits and the Portugese tried tried very hard to erase Hinduism and failed.( The Portugese went so far to claim Hindus dont have souls -- but that is a discussions for another day). Please note that I do not speak for Hinduism but your assertions are too absurd to ignore. To give you an analogy -- you are saying the idea of apples is nonexistent. There are RoyalDelicious, Gala, Honeycrisp etc etc, -- but there is no apple . My initial objection was to crpto snake-oil salesmen using eastern sounding names to disguise their snake oil and sadly they will succeed until this baloon pops.

jabgrabdthrow 8y ago

As a lighthearted differentiator I was going to have “The RSS Koran” instead of “The RSS Bible” but I got death threats

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

kang 8y ago

The word dharma means one's duty according to their place in their cosmic order. Assigning it to sacred teachings of anyone is not correct. There is a word _dhammam_ in pali lang that is from around the area buddha lived, which has different meaning from dharma, is used to refer budhha's teachings.

thevardanian 8y ago

I'm sorry but Dharma in its original context, that being India, is far more a broad term than simply a religious one. For example the conduct of the corporate form in Ancient, and Medieval India was often defined by certain publicly stated terms that the corporation/guild and its members had to follow, this was called "Sreni Dharma" (Sreni being the guild/corporation, and Dharma being the terms it must conduct itself by). So Dharma is a very broad term, and quite apt in this case.