sure, here are some excerpts…
From Olivielle: “This somewhat brief though comprehensive survey of the use of dharma in texts roughly belonging to the middle and late vedic period (around 800–400 BCE, although some of the individual texts and passages may be from a later period), shows that in the early texts of this period, especially the Brahmanas and the early Upanisads, the term is used most frequently with reference to Varuna and the king. It is likely that dharma was part of the specialized vocabulary associated with royalty, especially because of its frequent use within the royal consecration (rajasuya). In all likelihood, dharma referred to social order and the laws of society that the king was obligated to enforce.”
From Horsch: "The basic meaning of dharman is therefore ‘prop’, ‘support’; it is suitable for all older passages, sometimes with the nuance of ‘keeping’ and ‘maintaining’; it is employed at the cosmic, ritual and ethical-social level. Early on, dharman, as an autonomous power of a numinous nature, separated itself from the mythical function of the ‘support’ of specific gods and thereby becomes a universal principle of ‘maintenance’, stability and permanence of the cosmos. This explains the semantic development of the concrete mythical notion into the abstract concept ‘law’. "
From Brereton: “The origin of the concept of dharman rests in its formation. It is a Vedic, rather than an Indo-Iranian word, and a more recent coinage than many other key religious terms of the Vedic tradition. Its meaning derives directly from dhr ‘support, uphold, give foundation to’ and therefore ‘foundation’ is a reasonable gloss in most of its attestations. Dharman can mean a physical and even a universal, cosmic foundation; a foundation created by the ritual and a foundation for the ritual; and a foundation comprising royal authority which creates material or social bases for communities.”
Bhante, could you please cite such a classic unequivocal passage for dhamma & the six senses?