Two truths doctrine

The Buddhist doctrine of the two truths (Sanskrit: dvasatya, Wylie: bden pa gnyis) differentiates between two levels of satya (Sanskrit; Pali: sacca; word meaning "truth" or "reality") in the teaching of the Śākyamuni Buddha: the "conventional" or "provisional" (saṁvṛti) truth, and the "ultimate" (paramārtha) truth.^[1]^[2]

The exact meaning varies between the various Buddhist schools and traditions. The best known interpretation is from the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, whose founder was the Indian Buddhist monk and philosopher Nāgārjuna.^[1] For Nāgārjuna, the two truths are epistemological truths.^[2] The phenomenal world is accorded a provisional existence.^[2] The character of the phenomenal world is declared to be neither real nor unreal, but logically indeterminable.^[2] Ultimately, all phenomena are empty (śūnyatā) of an inherent self or essence due to the non-existence of the self (anattā), but exist depending on other phenomena (pratītyasamutpāda).^[1]^[2]

In Chinese Buddhism, the Madhyamaka position is accepted and the two truths refer to two ontological truths. Reality exists of two levels, a relative level and an absolute level.^[3] Based on their understanding of the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, the Chinese Buddhist monks and philosophers supposed that the teaching of the Buddha-nature was, as stated by that sutra, the final Buddhist teaching, and that there is an essential truth above śūnyatā and the two truths.^[4] The doctrine of śūnyatā is an attempt to show that it is neither proper nor strictly justifiable to regard any metaphysical system as absolutely valid. It doesn't lead to nihilism but strikes a middle course between excessive naïveté and excessive scepticism.^[1]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Matilal 2002, pp. 203–208.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Thakchoe, Sonam (Summer 2022). "The Theory of Two Truths in Tibet". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The Metaphysics Research Lab, Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University. ISSN 1095-5054. OCLC 643092515. Archived from the original on 28 May 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
^ Lai 2003, p. 11.
^ Lai 2003.

[FOOTNOTEMatilal2002203–208-1] Matilal 2002, pp. 203–208.

[Stanford_2022-2] Thakchoe, Sonam (Summer 2022). "The Theory of Two Truths in Tibet". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The Metaphysics Research Lab, Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University. ISSN 1095-5054. OCLC 643092515. Archived from the original on 28 May 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.

[FOOTNOTELai200311-3] Lai 2003, p. 11.

[FOOTNOTELai2003-4] Lai 2003.

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