Human Victory Cigar

Dharma is a Sanskrit word that originally just meant “Natural Law” or “Reality.” However, as adopted in various religious and spiritual contexts, dharma has also come to mean something like the “way of higher truth,” as well as “teaching,” “law” or “duty”. In Zen Buddhism, the dharma refers to the way things are, and also to teachings of the Buddha and the ethical and spiritual path that a buddhist follows.

Now, apart from the fact that dharma rhymes with karma and that Culture Club paired karma and chameleon together in a catchy tune of the 1980s, there’s nothing in the meaning of “dharma” that would make it a likely partner for the word “chameleon.” After all, the chameleon is practically the symbol of pragmatic change dictated by nothing other than the threats and resources of the moment. (Continued)