About the DHARMA Initiative
A fan-made approximation of the Dharma Swan Station Logo
- A research project/foundation
- Founded in 1970 by Gerald and Karen DeGroot
- Dr Marvin Candle states that it is a "multipurpose social science research facility"
- Got/gets financial support through The Hanso Foundation"
- Its purpose is to create "a large-scale communal research compound where scientists and free-thinkers from around the globe could pursue research in meteorology, psychology, parapsychology, zoology, electromagnetism, and utopian social (engineering?)".
- The octagon-shaped logos used by the Initiative appear on several items and in several locations on the island, especially in conjunction with the Stations. There are multiple logos, but all are based on an octagonal logo incorporating I Ching trigrams surrounding a central symbol.
Known Facts
Please post only facts here. Theories should be posted below in the theories section, or discussed on the talk page of this article.
- Created the Orientation Film for training Swan Station inhabitants about the protocol after the incident
- DHARMA is an acronym. (Confirmed in the Official Lost Podcast 1.17.06)
- The Octagonal symbols are a Taoist symbol called the Bagua.
- Definition of Dharma
- Dharma means "moral duty"
- Hinduism & Buddhism.
- The principle or law that orders the universe.
- Individual conduct in conformity with this principle.
- The essential function or nature of a thing.
- Hinduism
- Individual obligation with respect to caste, social custom, civil law, and sacred law.
- Buddhism
- The body of teachings expounded by the Buddha.
- Knowledge of or duty to undertake conduct set forth by the Buddha as a way to enlightenment.
- One of the basic, minute elements from which all things are made.
- Some of the notes on the blast door map refers to meterological experiments seemingly conducted by the DHARMA Initiative.
- "Mountainous terrain most likely used by D.I.H.G. for meterological research due to..."
- "Geological composition likely to cause magnetic interference with weather project"
Theories
- The Dharma Initiative built The Hatch / aka Swan Station and the other Stations for research purposes.
- The Others are really part of the Dharma Initiative performing experiments on the island inhabitants.
- The old South Korean flag (with 8 kwaes) bears some resemblance to the Dharma Initiative logos: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/kr_hist.html. This may be due to the importance of the symbol in eastern mythology. Additional reference: The Logos
- The Initiative may not exist at all but be part of a Skinner Box experiment on the people on the island.
- In Maternity Leave we found out that The Others are deceiving the survivors. This can mean that the Dharma Initiative are still active on the island and are still conducting their experiments. They may still be sponsored by the Hanso Foundation. Zeke has appeared without beard and was looking fresh with clean clothes on him. However, we don't know what happened after Claire escaped. It appeared to be a full scale evacuation of the Medical Station.
- The fact that fresh supplies are still being dropped to the island also suggests links are still maintained with the outside world and the Dharma Initiative is still active and on going.
- Possibly have wired the the island with an intranet called DharmaTel
- The lines surrounding the logo are symbols from the I-Ching
Note: These sites may not be operated by ABC/Disney - See Scams for known scam websites.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dharma_Initiative - Wikipedia article on The Dharma Initiative
- http://www.dharmasecrets.com - Discussion forum on LOST
- http://thedharmainitiative.org/ - Website with Orientation Video & Member Login
- http://thedharmainitiative.org/4-8-15-16-23-42 - "Nothing to see here ...yet." Commented text inside the page's source code.