Editing Two truths doctrine (section)

===East Asian Buddhism===
{{Main|East Asian Buddhism}}
{{Further|Five Ranks#Interplay of Absolute and Relative|l1=Interplay of Absolute and Relative}}

When [[Spread of Buddhism|Buddhism was introduced to China]] by [[Buddhist monasticism|Buddhist monks]] from the [[Indo-Greek Kingdom]] of [[Greco-Buddhism#Gandharan proselytism|Gandhāra]] (now Afghanistan) and [[History of India#Early classical period (c. 200 BCE – 320 CE)|classical India]] between the 2nd century BCE and 1st century CE, the two truths teaching was initially understood and interpreted through various ideas in [[Chinese philosophy]], including [[Confucianism|Confucian]]{{sfn|Brown Holt|1995}} and [[Taoism|Taoist]]{{sfn|Goddard |2007|p=10}}{{sfn|Verstappen|2004|p=5}}{{sfn|Fowler|2005|p=79}} ideas which influenced the vocabulary of [[Chinese Buddhism]].{{sfn|Oh|2000}} As such, [[Chinese Buddhist canon|Chinese translations of Buddhist texts and philosophical treatises]] made use of native Chinese terminology, such as [[Essence-Function|"T’i -yung"]] (體用, "Essence and Function") and "[[Five Ranks#Interplay of Absolute and Relative|Li-Shih]]" (理事, Noumenon and Phenomenon) to refer to the two truths. These concepts were later developed in several [[East Asian Buddhism|East Asian Buddhist traditions]], such as the [[East Asian Yogācāra|Wéishí]] and [[Huayan school|Huayan]] schools.{{sfn|Oh|2000}} The doctrines of these schools also influenced the ideas of [[Zen|Chán (Zen) Buddhism]], as can be seen in the ''[[Five Ranks|Verses of the Five Ranks]]'' of [[Dongshan Liangjie|Tōzan]] and other Chinese Buddhist texts.{{sfn|Dumoulin|2005a|p=45-49}}

Chinese thinkers often took the two truths to refer to two ''[[Ontology|ontological]] truths'' (two ways of being, or levels of [[existence]]): a relative level and an [[Absolute (philosophy)|absolute]] level.{{sfn|Lai|2003|p=11}} For example, Taoists at first misunderstood [[Śūnyatā|emptiness]] (''śūnyatā'') to be akin to the Taoist notion of non-being.{{sfn|Lai|2003|p=8}} In the [[Madhyamaka|Mādhyamaka]] school of Buddhist philosophy, the two truths are two ''epistemological truths'': two different ways to look at reality. The [[East Asian Mādhyamaka|Sānlùn]] school (Chinese Mādhyamikas) thus rejected the ontological reading of the two truths. However, drawing on [[Buddha-nature]] thought, such as that of the ''[[Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra]]'', and on [[Yogacara|Yogācāra]] sources, other Chinese Buddhist philosophers defended the view that the two truths did refer to two levels of reality (which were nevertheless [[Nondualism|non-dual]] and inferfused), one which was conventional, illusory and impermanent, and another which was eternal, unchanging and pure.{{sfn|Lai|2003}}

====Huayan school====
The [[Huayan school]] or "Flower Garland" school is a tradition of [[Chinese Buddhism|Chinese Buddhist philosophy]] that flourished in [[medieval China]] during the [[Tang period]] (7th–10th centuries CE). It is based on the ''[[Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra|Avataṃsaka Sūtra]]'', and on a lengthy Chinese interpretation of it, the ''Huayan Lun''. The name "Flower Garland" is meant to suggest the crowning glory of profound understanding.

The most important philosophical contributions of the Huayan school were in the area of its [[metaphysics]]. It taught the doctrine of the mutual containment and interpenetration of all phenomena, as expressed in [[Indra's net]]. One thing contains all other existing things, and all existing things contain that one thing.

Distinctive features of this approach to Buddhist philosophy include:
* Truth (or reality) is understood as encompassing and interpenetrating falsehood (or illusion), and vice versa
* Good is understood as encompassing and interpenetrating evil
* Similarly, all mind-made distinctions are understood as "collapsing" in the enlightened understanding of [[Śūnyatā|emptiness]] (a tradition traced back to the Indian Buddhist philosopher [[Nagarjuna|Nāgārjuna]])

Huayan teaches the [[Four Dharmadhātu]], four ways to view reality:
# All dharmas are seen as particular separate events;
# All events are an expression of the absolute;
# Events and essence interpenetrate;
# All events interpenetrate.{{sfn|Garfield|Edelglass|2011|p=76}}

====Absolute and relative in Zen Buddhism====
{{Main|Zen philosophy}}
[[File:DogenP2.JPG|thumb|right|230px|[[Dōgen]] (1200–1253), Japanese [[Zen master]] and founder of the [[Sōtō]] school of [[Zen]]]]

The teachings of [[Zen|Chán (Zen) Buddhism]] are expressed by a set of polarities: [[Buddha-nature]] (''tathāgatagarbha''), [[Śūnyatā|emptiness]] (''śūnyatā''),{{sfn|Kasulis|2003|pp=26–29}}{{sfn|McRae|2003|pp=138–142}} absolute-relative,{{sfn|Liang-Chieh|1986|p=9}} [[Subitism|sudden]] and [[Gradual training|gradual]] [[Enlightenment in Buddhism|enlightenment]] (''bodhi'').{{sfn|McRae|2003|pp=123–138}}

The ''[[Prajnaparamita|Prajnāpāramitā Sūtras]]'' and [[Madhyamaka|Mādhyamaka]] philosophy emphasized the non-duality of form and emptiness: "form is emptiness, emptiness is form", as it's written in the ''[[Heart Sutra]]''.{{sfn|Liang-Chieh|1986|p=9}}
The idea that the ultimate reality is present in the daily world of relative reality fitted into the [[Culture of China|Chinese culture]], which emphasized the mundane world and society. But this does not tell how the absolute is present in the relative world. This question is answered in such schemata as the ''[[Five Ranks|Verses of the Five Ranks]]'' of [[Dongshan Liangjie|Tōzan]]{{sfn|Kasulis|2003|p=29}} and the [[Ten Bulls|Oxherding Pictures]].

====Essence-function in Korean Buddhism====
{{Main|Essence-Function}}

The polarity of absolute and relative is also expressed as "essence-function". The absolute is essence, the relative is function. They can't be seen as separate realities, but interpenetrate each other. The distinction does not "exclude any other frameworks such as ''neng-so'' or "subject-object" constructions", though the two "are completely different from each other in terms of their way of thinking".<ref>Park, Sung-bae  (1983). ''Buddhist Faith and Sudden Enlightenment.'' SUNY series in religious studies. SUNY Press. {{ISBN|0-87395-673-7}}, {{ISBN|978-0-87395-673-4}}. Source: [https://books.google.com/books?id=_A2QS03MP5EC&q=Sung-bae+Park] (accessed: Friday April 9, 2010), p.147</ref>

In [[Korean Buddhism]], essence-function is also expressed as "body" and "the body's functions": {{quote|[A] more accurate definition (and the one the Korean populace is more familiar with) is "body" and "the body's functions". The implications of "essence/function" and "body/its functions" are similar, that is, both paradigms are used to point to a nondual relationship between the two concepts.<ref>Park, Sung-bae (2009). ''One Korean's approach to Buddhism: the mom/momjit paradigm''. SUNY series in Korean studies: SUNY Press. {{ISBN|0-7914-7697-9}}, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-7697-0}}. Source: [https://books.google.com/books?id=TEAq0ldHjVYC&dq=essence-function+nondual&pg=PA11] (accessed: Saturday May 8, 2010), p.11</ref>}}

A metaphor for essence-function is "A lamp and its light", a phrase from the ''[[Platform Sutra]]'', where "essence" is the lamp and "function" its light.<ref>Lai, Whalen (1979). "Ch'an Metaphors: waves, water, mirror, lamp". ''Philosophy East & West''; Vol. 29, no.3, July, 1979, pp.245–253. Source: [http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/HistoricalZen/ChanMetaphors.htm] (accessed: Saturday May 8, 2010)</ref>