Can shooting the sun with a dslr damage your dslr or lens?

I'm beginner in dslr photography and i just bought a nikon d3200 with 18-55 mm zoom lenses. I like taking photos of sunsets so i'm interested can shooting the sun damage your dslr or lens?

I do not think this is a bad question but let us distinguish between pointing the camera towards the sun in the sahara desert, and taking a sun set. I think if you look directly at the sun at mid-day it will harm even your eyes! As for sunsets, there's no problem at all. Look at how many pictures of sunsets are around. If you can look at it with your eyes, you can look at it with your camera.

Alright. I normally let comments/answers slide even if I think they are wrong, but the answer posted before mine is extremely irresponsible.

This was the end of the answer in question, which is hopefully now edited or removed:
"If you can look at it with your eyes you can look at it with your camera." This is simply not safe to be posting as an answer to a question like this.

Canon manuals state, over and over, the following: DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN OR AN EXTREMELY BRIGHT LIGHT SOURCE THROUGH THE CAMERA OR LENS. DOING So MAY DAMAGE YOUR VISION.

Looking at the sun through a camera lens can severely damage your eyes. You are essentially magnifying the sun and pointing it right into your eyes. Think ant and magnifying glass. Don't do it.