The two truths in Buddhism refers to absolute and relative truth. These have quite a specific meaning and become centrally important in Buddhist philosophy.
Nearly everything we can think of as having some kind of existence or action falls into the category of the relative truth. Things come into existence out of causes and conditions, exist for a while in a context, and eventually break up or are transformed. We can describe everything by using words that have conventional meanings.
The absolute truth is true of all things. The truth of all things is that none of them can exist independently or exist in and of themselves alone. We can only describe it in negative terms. All things are empty of independent self existence - emptiness is the nature all things.
Both this absolute truth and the relative truth are really two sides of the same coin - emptiness. The coin itself is really perhaps more like a jewel with many facets. It is reality that can only be experienced directly in realization. It is empty of self existence yet it can be experienced. It is empty because it exists phenomenologically - it is the process of experience itself.
We can have a concept of what is not limited by what we can conceive of. We can conceptually recognise that reality is empty of the conception of non-existence implied by the idea of emptiness - reality is beyond concept. We can use a metaphor of reality like "the jewel that is lost in the mud" or the "gold that is buried beneath a poor man's house." We can imagine it, we can visualise it, we can contemplate it, we can make it the object of our concentration in shamata meditation, we can make ritual offerings to it... It is the provisional representation of reality unobscured by delusion... It is the goal that becomes the path in tantric practice.
It is not so much the finger pointing at the moon, it is an image of the moon that is the moon itself. It is the reflection of mind in the mirror of itself. It has no limit, the imageless mirror (Dharmakaya) which is reflected (sambhogakaya) and embodied (nirmanakaya) in the image projected by individual being.
Norbu
What if you're not a Buddhist..........
What if you're not a Buddhist..........
You call yourself what you like, Buddhist or not, it makes no difference.
Norbu
Not trying to be provocative, it was just that your post specifically referred to "The two truths in Buddhism" - I was just wondering about any other truths, that's all 😉
Not trying to be provocative, it was just that your post specifically referred to "The two truths in Buddhism" - I was just wondering about any other truths, that's all 😉
We'd be talking relative truths here? It all depends on your convention! 😮
Norbu