Two truths

Two truths (Wyl. bden pa gnyis) - Everything has an absolute aspect, or absolute truth, and a relative aspect, or relative truth. The absolute or ultimate is the inherent nature of everything, how things really are. The conventional or relative is how things appear. In the teachings, these are known as ‘the two truths’, but they are not to be understood as two separate dimensions, rather as two aspects of a single reality.

The Vaibhashika View of the Two Truths

Khenpo Ngakchung says:

The Abhidharmakosha says:

Things which, when destroyed or mentally dissected,

Can no longer be identified by the mind,

Such as pots or water, are relative;

All else besides is ultimately existent.

Treasury of Abhidharma, VI, 4

As this says, any coarse thing which can be smashed to pieces with a hammer or dissected into parts by the mind, so that the mind which apprehended that coarse appearance no longer identifies it as such, belongs to the relative truth. Then concerning the absolute, any coarse material thing or state of consciousness can be broken down into its ultimate constituents, which are individual particles or moments. Therefore the partless particles, which are the ultimate constituents of coarser things, and the indivisible moments of consciousness, which are the ultimate constituents of mental phenomena, are said to be absolute truth.

External Links

• An Instruction on the View of the Mahayana Clarifying the Two Truths by Patrul Rinpoche