Editing Two truths doctrine

{{Short description|Buddhist differentiation of conventional and ultimate truth}}
{{Buddhism}}

The [[Buddhism|Buddhist doctrine]] of '''the two truths''' ([[Sanskrit]]: {{Transliteration|sa|dvasatya}}'','' {{bo|w=bden pa gnyis}}) differentiates between two levels of ''[[satya]]'' (Sanskrit; [[Pāli]]: ''sacca''; meaning "[[truth]]" or "[[reality]]") in the teaching of [[Gautama Buddha|Śākyamuni Buddha]]: the "conventional" or "provisional" (''saṁvṛti'') truth, and the "absolute" or "ultimate" (''paramārtha'') truth.{{sfn|Matilal|2002|pp=203-208}}<ref name="Stanford 2022">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Thakchoe |first=Sonam |date=Summer 2022 |title=The Theory of Two Truths in Tibet |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/twotruths-tibet/ |url-status=live |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |editor-link=Edward N. Zalta |encyclopedia=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |publisher=The Metaphysics Research Lab, [[Center for the Study of Language and Information]], [[Stanford University]] |issn=1095-5054 |oclc=643092515 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528014845/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/twotruths-tibet/ |archive-date=28 May 2022 |access-date=5 July 2022}}</ref>

The exact meaning varies between the various [[Schools of Buddhism|Buddhist schools]] and [[Southern, Eastern and Northern Buddhism|traditions]]. The best known interpretation is from the [[Madhyamaka|Mādhyamaka]] school of [[Mahayana|Mahāyāna Buddhism]], whose founder was the 3rd-century [[History of Buddhism in India|Indian Buddhist]] monk and philosopher [[Nagarjuna|Nāgārjuna]].{{sfn|Matilal|2002|pp=203-208}} For Nāgārjuna, the two truths are ''epistemological truths''.<ref name="Stanford 2022"/> The phenomenal world is accorded a provisional existence.<ref name="Stanford 2022"/> The character of the phenomenal world is declared to be neither real nor unreal, but logically indeterminable.<ref name="Stanford 2022"/> Ultimately, [[Śūnyatā|all phenomena are empty]] (''śūnyatā'') of an inherent self or essence due to the [[Anattā|non-existence of the self]] (''anātman''),<ref name="Siderits 2015">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Siderits |first=Mark |date=Spring 2015 |title=Buddha: Non-Self |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2015/entries/buddha/ |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |editor-link=Edward N. Zalta |encyclopedia=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |publisher=The Metaphysics Research Lab, [[Center for the Study of Language and Information]], [[Stanford University]] |issn=1095-5054 |oclc=643092515 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427183712/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2015/entries/buddha/ |archive-date=27 April 2023 |access-date=24 June 2023 |quote=The [[Middle Way|Buddha's "middle path" strategy]] can be seen as one of first arguing that there is nothing that the word "[[Self-concept|I]]" genuinely denotes, and then explaining that our erroneous sense of an "I" stems from our employment of the useful fiction represented by the concept of the person. While the second part of this strategy only receives its full articulation in the later development of the [[Two truths doctrine|theory of two truths]], the first part can be found in the Buddha's own teachings, in the form of several [[Anattā|philosophical arguments for non-self]]. Best known among these is the [[Impermanence#Buddhism|argument from impermanence]] (S III.66–8) [...].<br /> It is the fact that this argument does not contain a premise explicitly asserting that the [[Skandha|five ''skandhas'']] (classes of psychophysical element) are exhaustive of the constituents of persons, plus the fact that these are all said to be empirically observable, that leads some to claim that the Buddha did not intend to deny the existence of a self ''tout court''. There is, however, evidence that the Buddha was generally hostile toward attempts to establish the existence of unobservable entities. In the ''[[Dīgha Nikāya|Poṭṭhapāda Sutta]]'' (D I.178–203), for instance, the Buddha compares someone who posits an unseen seer in order to explain our introspective awareness of cognitions, to a man who has conceived a longing for the most beautiful woman in the world based solely on the thought that such a woman must surely exist. And in the ''[[Dīgha Nikāya|Tevijja Sutta]]'' (D I.235–52), the Buddha rejects the claim of certain [[Brahmins]] to know the path to oneness with [[Brahman]], on the grounds that no one has actually observed this Brahman. This makes more plausible the assumption that the argument has as an implicit premise the claim that there is no more to the person than the five ''skandhas''.}}</ref> but temporarily exist [[Pratītyasamutpāda|depending on other phenomena]] (''pratītya-samutpāda'').{{sfn|Matilal|2002|pp=203-208}}<ref name="Stanford 2022"/>

In [[Chinese Buddhism]], the [[Madhyamaka|Mādhyamaka]] thought is accepted, and the two truths doctrine is understood as referring to two ''ontological'' truths. Reality exists in two levels, a relative level and an absolute level.{{sfn|Lai|2003|p=11}} Based on their understanding of the ''[[Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra]]'', the Chinese Buddhist monks and philosophers supposed that the teaching of the [[Buddha-nature]] (''tathāgatagarbha'') was, as stated by that Sūtra, the final Buddhist teaching, and that there is an essential truth above [[Śūnyatā|emptiness]] (''śūnyatā'') and the two truths.{{sfn|Lai|2003}}

The doctrine of [[Śūnyatā|emptiness]] (''śūnyatā'') is an attempt to show that it is neither proper nor strictly justifiable to regard any [[Metaphysics|metaphysical system]] as absolutely valid. The two truths doctrine doesn't lead to the extreme philosophical views of [[Sassatavada|eternalism]] (or [[Absolute (philosophy)|absolutism]]) and [[Ajita Kesakambali#From Buddhist sources|annihilationism]] (or [[nihilism]]), but strikes a [[Middle Way|middle course]] (''madhyamāpratipada'') between them.{{sfn|Matilal|2002|pp=203-208}}

==Etymology and meaning==
''[[Satya]]'' is usually taken to mean "truth", but also refers to "a reality", "a genuinely real existent".{{sfn|Harvey|2012|p=50}} ''Satya'' (''Sat-yá'')<ref name=aam/> is derived from [[Sat (Sanskrit)|''Sat'']] and ''ya''. ''Sat'' means being, reality, and is the [[present participle]] of the root ''as'', "to be" ([[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] {{wikt-lang|ine-x-proto|*h₁es-}}; cognate to English {{wikt-lang|en|is}}).<ref name=aam>[[Arthur Anthony Macdonell|A. A. Macdonell]], Sanskrit English Dictionary, Asian Educational Services, {{ISBN|978-8120617797}}, pp 330-331</ref> ''Ya'' and ''yam'' means "advancing, supporting, hold up, sustain, one that moves".<ref>[http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=yA&direction=SE&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0 yA] Sanskrit English Dictionary</ref><ref>[http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MWScan/tamil/index.html ''yam''] Monier Williams' Sanskrit English Dictionary, Univ of Koeln, Germany</ref> As a composite word, ''Satya'' and ''Satyam'' imply that "which supports, sustains and advances reality, being"; it literally means, "that which is true, actual, real, genuine, trustworthy, valid".<ref name=aam/>

The two truths doctrine states that there is:
* ''Provisional ''or conventional truth ([[Sanskrit]] {{IAST|''saṁvṛti''}}''-satya'', [[Pāli]] ''sammuti sacca'', [[Tibetan alphabet|Tibetan]] ''kun-rdzob bden-pa''), which describes our daily experience of a concrete world, and
* ''Ultimate'' truth (Sanskrit {{Transliteration|sa|paramārtha-satya}}, Pāli ''paramattha sacca'', Tibetan: ''don-dam bden-pa''), which describes the ultimate reality as ''[[śūnyatā]]'', empty of concrete and inherent characteristics.

The 7th-century Buddhist philosopher [[Chandrakirti|Chandrakīrti]] suggests three possible meanings of {{IAST|''saṁvṛti''}}: {{sfn|Matilal|2002|pp=203-208}}
# complete covering or the "screen" of ignorance which hides truth;
# existence or origination through dependence, mutual conditioning;
# worldly behavior or speech behavior involving designation and designatum, cognition and cognitum.

The conventional truth may be interpreted as "obscurative truth" or "that which obscures the true nature" as a result. It is constituted by the appearances of mistaken awareness. Conventional truth would be the appearance that includes a duality of apprehender and apprehended, and objects perceived within that. Ultimate truths are phenomena free from the duality of apprehender and apprehended.<ref name="LevinsonAug06">Levinson, Jules (August 2006) [http://www.berotsana.org/pdf/lotsawa_timesII_sc.pdf Lotsawa Times Volume II] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724083326/http://www.berotsana.org/pdf/lotsawa_timesII_sc.pdf |date=July 24, 2008 }}</ref>

==Background==
{{Main|Pre-sectarian Buddhism}}
{{Further|Buddhist paths to liberation}}

The teaching of [[Gautama Buddha|Śākyamuni Buddha]] may be viewed as an [[Noble Eightfold Path|eightfold path]] ({{IAST|''mārga''}}) of [[Buddhist paths to liberation|release]] from [[Duḥkha|the causes of suffering]] (''duḥkha''). The [[Four Noble Truths|First Noble Truth]] equates life-experiences with pain and suffering. The Buddha's language was simple and colloquial. Naturally, various statements of the Buddha at times appear contradictory to each other. Later Buddhist teachers were faced with the problem of resolving these contradictions.

The 3rd-century [[History of Buddhism in India|Indian Buddhist]] monk and philosopher [[Nagarjuna|Nāgārjuna]] and other [[Buddhist philosophy|Buddhist philosophers]] after him introduced an exegetical technique of distinguishing between two levels of truth, the conventional and the ultimate.{{sfn|Matilal|2002|pp=203-208}}

A similar method is reflected in the Brahmanical exegesis of the [[Vedas|Vedic scriptures]], which combine the [[Brahmanism|ritualistic injunctions of the Brahmanas]] and speculative philosophical questions of the [[Upanishads]] as one whole "revealed" body of work, thereby contrasting the {{IAST|''jñāna kāņḍa''}} with {{IAST|''karmakāņḍa''}}.{{sfn|Matilal|2002|pp=203-208}}

==Origin and development==
{{Buddhist Philosophy sidebar}}

The concept of the two truths is associated with the [[Madhyamaka|Mādhyamaka]] school of [[Mahayana|Mahāyāna Buddhism]], whose founder was the 3rd-century [[History of Buddhism in India|Indian Buddhist]] monk and philosopher [[Nagarjuna|Nāgārjuna]],{{sfn|Matilal|2002|pp=203-208}}{{sfn|Garfield|2002|p=91}} and its history traced back to the [[Pre-sectarian Buddhism|earliest years of Buddhism]].

===Early Indian Buddhism===
{{Main|Gandharan Buddhism|History of Buddhism in India}}
{{Further|History of Indian influence on Southeast Asia|Silk Road transmission of Buddhism}}

==== Theravāda ====
In the [[Pāli Canon]], the distinction is not made between a ''lower'' truth and a ''higher'' truth, but rather between two kinds of expressions of the same truth, which must be interpreted differently. Thus a phrase or passage, or a whole [[Buddhist texts|Sūtra]], might be classified as ''neyyattha'', ''samuti'', or ''vohāra'', but it is not regarded at this stage as expressing or conveying a different ''level'' of truth.

''Nītattha'' (Pāli; Sanskrit: ''nītārtha''), "of plain or clear meaning"<ref name="Monier-Williams">Monier-Williams</ref> and ''neyyattha'' (Pāli; Sanskrit: ''neyartha''), "[a word or sentence] having a sense that can only be guessed".<ref name="Monier-Williams"/> These terms were used to identify texts or statements that either did or did not require additional interpretation. A ''nītattha'' text required no explanation, while a ''neyyattha'' one might mislead some people unless properly explained:<ref>McCagney: 82</ref>
{{quote|There are these two who misrepresent the [[Tathāgata]]. Which two? He who represents a [[Buddhist texts|Sutta]] of indirect meaning as a Sutta of direct meaning and he who represents a Sutta of direct meaning as a Sutta of indirect meaning.<ref>''[[Anguttara Nikaya]]'' I:60 (Jayatilleke: 361, in McCagney: 82)</ref>}}

''{{IAST|Saṃmuti}}'' or ''{{IAST|samuti}}'' (Pāli; Sanskrit: ''{{IAST|saṃvṛti}}''), meaning "common consent, general opinion, convention",<ref>PED</ref> and ''paramattha'' (Pāli; Sanskrit: ''paramārtha''), meaning "ultimate", are used to distinguish conventional or common-sense language, as used in metaphors or for the sake of convenience, from language used to express higher truths directly. The term ''vohāra'' (Pāli; Sanskrit: ''vyavahāra'', "common practice, convention, custom" is also used in more or less the same sense as ''samuti''.

The [[Theravada|Theravādin]] commentators expanded on these categories and began applying them not only to expressions but to the truth then expressed: {{quote|The [[The Buddha#Siddhārtha Gautama and Buddha Shakyamuni|Awakened One]], the best of teachers, spoke of two truths, conventional and higher; no third is ascertained; a conventional statement is true because of convention and a higher statement is true as disclosing the true characteristics of events.<ref>''{{IAST|Khathāvatthu Aṭṭha kathǎ}}'' (Jayatilleke: 363, in McCagney: 84)</ref>}}

====Prajnāptivāda====
The [[Prajñaptivāda]] school took up the distinction between the conventional ({{IAST|saṃvṛti}}) and ultimate ({{IAST|paramārtha}}) truths, and extended the concept to [[Dharma#Dharmas in Buddhist phenomenology|metaphysical-phenomenological constituents]] (''dharma''), distinguishing those that are real (''tattva'') from those that are purely conceptual, i.e., ultimately nonexistent (''prajñāpti'').

===Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism===
[[File:Nagarjuna with 84 mahasiddha.jpg|thumb|right|230px|''[[Nagarjuna|Nāgārjuna]] with 84 [[Mahasiddha|Mahāsiddhas]]'' ({{Circa|1750}}), Tibetan Buddhist ''[[thangka]]'' currently preserved in the [[Rubin Museum of Art]], New York City]]

====Mādhyamaka school====
The distinction between the two truths (''satyadvayavibhāga'') was fully developed by [[Nagarjuna|Nāgārjuna]] ({{Circa|150|250 CE}}), founder of the [[Madhyamaka|Mādhyamaka]] school of Buddhist philosophy.{{sfn|Matilal|2002|pp=203-208}}{{sfn|Garfield|2002|p=91}} Mādhyamika philosophers distinguish between ''saṃvṛti-satya'', "empirical truth",<ref>{{Cite web |title=Saṃvṛti-satya {{!}} Truth, Illusion & Reality {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/samvrti-satya |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> "relative truth",<ref group=web name="urbandharma">[http://www.urbandharma.org/udnl2/nl031604.html ''The Urban Dharma Newsletter. March 16, 2004'']</ref> "truth that keeps the ultimate truth concealed",{{sfn|Chattopadhyaya|2001|pp=103-106}} and ''paramārtha-satya'', ultimate truth.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Paramārtha-satya {{!}} Buddhist concept {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/paramartha-satya |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref group=web name="urbandharma"/>

''Saṃvṛti-satya'' can be further divided in ''tathya-saṃvṛti'' or ''loka-saṃvṛti'', and ''mithya-saṃvṛti'' or ''aloka-saṃvṛti'',{{sfn|Joshi|1977|p=174}}{{sfn|Nakamure|1980|p=285}}{{sfn|Dutt|1930}}{{sfn|Stcherbatsky|1989|p=54}} "true saṃvṛti" and "false saṃvṛti".{{sfn|Stcherbatsky|1989|p=54}}<ref group=web name="urbandharma"/><!--START OF NOTE-->{{refn|group=note|According to Lal Mani Joshi, [[Bhāviveka]] (6th century CE), the founder of the [[Svātantrika]] sub-school of Mādhyamaka philosophy, classified ''saṃvṛti'' into ''tathya-saṃvṛti'' and ''mithya-saṃvṛti''.{{sfn|Joshi|1977|p=174}} [[Chandrakirti|Chandrakīrti]] (7th century CE), one of the main proponents of the [[Prasaṅgika]] sub-school of Mādhyamaka philosophy, divided ''saṃvṛti'' into ''loka-saṃvṛti'' and ''aloka-saṃvṛti''.{{sfn|Joshi|1977|p=174}}{{sfn|Nakamure|1980|p=285}} [[Shantideva|Śāntideva]] (8th century CE) and his commentator Prajñakaramati (950-1030<ref group=web>[http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Praj%C3%B1akaramati Rigpawiki, ''Prajñakaramati'']</ref>) both use the terms ''tathya-saṃvṛti'' and ''mithya-saṃvṛti''.{{sfn|Dutt|1930}}{{sfn|Stcherbatsky|1989|p=54}} [[Kumārila Bhaṭṭa]], an influential 8th-century [[Hindu philosophy|Hindu philosopher]] of the [[Mīmāṃsā]] school, in commenting on Mādhyamaka philosophy, also uses the terms ''loka-saṃvṛti'' and ''aloka-saṃvṛti''.{{sfn|Chattopadhyaya|2001|pp=103-106}} [[Tiruppattur R. Venkatachala Murti|T. R. V. Murti]], in his ''The Central Philosophy of Buddhism'', uses the term ''aloka'', and refers to the synonym ''mithya-saṃvṛti''.{{sfn|Murti|2013|p=245}}<br/><br/>Murti: "In calling it 'loka samvrti,' it is implied that there is some appearance which is ''aloka'' - non-empirical, i.e. false for the emprical consciousness even."{{sfn|Murti|2013|p=245}}<br/><br/>David Seyfort Ruegg further comments: "The ''samvrti'' in worldly usage is termed ''lokasamvrti''; and while it can serve no real purpose to distinguish an ''alokasamvrti'' opposed to it (from the point of view of ultimate reality both are unreal, though in different degrees from the relative standpoint), one may nevertheless speak of an ''alokasamvrti'' as distinct from it when considering that there exist persons who can be described as 'not of the world' (''alokah'') since they have experiences which are falsified because their sense-faculties are impaired (and which, therefore, do not belong to the general worldly consensus."{{sfn|Seyfort Ruegg|1981|p=74-75}}}}<!--END OF NOTE--> ''Tathya-saṃvṛti'' or "true saṃvṛti" refers to "things" which concretely exist and can be perceived as such by the senses, while ''mithya-saṃvṛti'' or "false saṃvṛti" refers to false cognitions of "things" which do not exist as they are perceived.{{sfn|Dutt|1930}}{{sfn|Stcherbatsky|1989|p=54}}{{sfn|Chattopadhyaya|2001|pp=103-106}}<!--START OF NOTE-->{{refn|group=note|An often-used explanation in Madhyamaka literature is the perception of a snake. The perception of a real snake is ''tathya-saṃvṛti'', concretely existing. In contrast, a rope which is mistakenly perceived as a snake is ''mithya-saṃvṛti''. Ultimately both are false, but "the snake-seen-in-the-rope" is less true than the "snake-seen-in-the-snake". This gives an epistemological hierarchy in which ''tathya-saṃvṛti'' stands above ''mithya-saṃvṛti''.<ref group=web name="urbandharma"/>{{sfn|Chattopadhyaya|2001|pp=103-106}} Another example given in the Mādhyamaka philosophical literature to distinguish between ''tathya-saṃvṛti'' and ''mithya-saṃvṛti'' is "water-seen-in-the-pool" (''loka saṃvṛti'') as contrasted with "water-seen-in-the-mirage" (''aloka samvriti'').}}<!--END OF NOTE--><!--START OF NOTE-->{{refn|group=note|''Mithya-saṃvṛti'' or "false saṃvṛti" cam also be given as ''asatya'', "untruth."<ref group=web name="urbandharma"/> Compare [[Peter Harvey (academic)|Peter Harvey]], noting that in ''[[Chandogya Upanishad]]'', 6.15.3 [[Brahman]] is ''satya'', and [[Richard Gombrich]], commenting on the Upanishadic identity of microcosm and macrocosm, c.q. [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Ātman]] and [[Brahman]], which according to the Buddha is ''asat'', "something that does not exist."{{sfn|Gombrich|1990|p=15}} Compare also [[Atiśa]]: "One may wonder, "From where did all this come in the first place, and to where does it depart now?" Once examined in this way, [one sees that] it neither comes from anywhere nor departs to anywhere. All inner and outer phenomena are [[Tathatā|just like that]]."{{sfn|Brunholzl|2004|p=295}}}}<!--END OF NOTE-->

[[Nagarjuna|Nāgārjuna]]'s ''[[Mūlamadhyamakakārikā]]'' provides a logical defense for the claim that [[Śūnyatā|all things are empty]] (''śūnyatā'') and [[Anattā|devoid of any inherently-existing self-nature]] (''anātman'').{{sfn|Garfield|2002|p=91}} Emptiness itself, however, is also shown to be "empty", and Nāgārjuna's assertion of "the emptiness of emptiness" prevents the mistake of believing that emptiness may constitute a higher or ultimate reality.{{sfn|Garfield|2002|p=38–39}}{{sfn|Siderits|2003}}{{refn|group=note|See also [http://emptinessteachings.com/2014/09/11/the-two-truths-of-buddhism-and-the-emptiness-of-emptiness/ Susan Kahn, ''The Two Truths of Buddhism and The Emptiness of Emptiness'']}}{{refn|group=note|Some have interpreted ''paramarthika satya'' or "ultimate truth" as constituting a metaphysical 'Absolute' or [[noumenon]], an "ineffable ultimate that transcends the capacities of discursive reason."{{sfn|Siderits|2003}} For example T. R. V. Murti (1955), ''The Central Philosophy of Buddhism'', who gave a [[Neo-Kantianism|neo-Kantian]] interpretation.{{sfn|Westerhoff|2009|p=9}}}} Nāgārjuna's view is that "the ultimate truth is that there is no ultimate truth".{{sfn|Siderits|2003}} According to Siderits, Nāgārjuna is a "semantic anti-dualist" who posits that there are only conventional truths.{{sfn|Siderits|2003}} [[Jay L. Garfield]] explains: {{quote|Suppose that we take a conventional entity, such as a table. We analyze it to demonstrate its emptiness, finding that there is no table apart from its parts [...] So we conclude that it is empty. But now let us analyze that emptiness […]. What do we find? Nothing at all but the table’s lack of inherent existence [...] To see the table as empty [...] is to see the table as conventional, as dependent.{{sfn|Garfield|2002|p=38–39}}}}

In [[Nagarjuna|Nāgārjuna]]'s ''[[Mūlamadhyamakakārikā]]'', the two truths doctrine is used to defend the identification of [[Pratītyasamutpāda|dependent origination]] (''pratītya-samutpāda'') with [[Śūnyatā|emptiness]] itself (''śūnyatā''): {{quote|The Buddha's teaching of the Dharma is based on two truths: a truth of worldly convention and an ultimate truth. Those who do not understand the distinction drawn between these two truths do not understand the Buddha's profound truth. Without a foundation in the conventional truth the significance of the ultimate cannot be taught. Without understanding the significance of the ultimate, liberation is not achieved.<ref>Nagarjuna, Mūlamadhyamakakārika 24:8–10. Jay L. Garfield|''Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way'': pp. 296, 298</ref>}}

In Nāgārjuna's own words: {{quote|8. The teaching by the Buddhas of the Dharma has recourse to two truths:<br/>
The world-ensconced truth and the truth which is the highest sense.<br/>
9. Those who do not know the distribution (vibhagam) of the two kinds of truth<br/>
Do not know the profound "point" (tattva) in the teaching of the Buddha.<br/>
10. The highest sense of the truth is not taught apart from practical behavior,<br/>
And without having understood the highest sense one cannot understand nirvana.<ref>[http://www.orientalia.org/article492.html Mūlamadhyamakakārikā Verse 24] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050208100348/http://www.orientalia.org/article492.html |date=February 8, 2005 }}</ref>}}

Nāgārjuna based his statement of the two truths on the ''Kaccāyanagotta Sutta''. In this text, [[Gautama Buddha|Śākyamuni Buddha]], speaking to the monk Kaccāyana Gotta on the topic of right view, describes the [[Middle Way|middle course]] (''madhyamāpratipada'') between the extreme philosophical views of [[Sassatavada|eternalism]] (or [[Absolute (philosophy)|absolutism]]) and [[Ajita Kesakambali#From Buddhist sources|annihilationism]] (or [[nihilism]]): {{quote|By and large, Kaccāyana, this world is supported by a polarity, that of existence and non-existence. But when one sees the origination of the world as it actually is with right discernment, "non-existence" with reference to the world does not occur to one. When one sees the cessation of the world as it actually is with right discernment, "existence" with reference to the world does not occur to one.<ref>Source: [https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn12/sn12.015.than.html Kaccāyanagotta Sutta on Access to Insight] (accessed: Sept 14th 2023) </ref>}}

According to the [[Tibetology|Tibetologist]] Alaka Majumder Chattopadhyaya, although Nāgārjuna presents his understanding of the two truths as a clarification of the teachings of the [[Gautama Buddha|historical Buddha]], the two truths doctrine as such is not part of the earliest Buddhist tradition.{{sfn|Chattopadhyaya|2001|p=21-3,94,104}}

====Buddhist Idealism====

=====Yogācāra=====
The [[Yogacara|Yogācāra]] school of Buddhist philosophy distinguishes the [[Yogacara#The Three Natures|Three Natures]] and the ''[[Trikāya]]''. The Three Natures are:<ref>{{cite book |title=Buddhist Epistemology |author=S.R. Bhatt & Anu Meherotra |pages=7 |year=1967}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=''What is Living and What is Dead in Indian Philosophy'' 5th edition |author=Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya |pages=107 |year=2001}}</ref>
*''Paramarthika'' (transcendental reality), also referred to as ''Parinispanna'' in Yogācāra literature: ''The level of a storehouse of consciousness that is responsible for the appearance of the world of external objects. It is the only ultimate reality.''
*''Paratantrika'' (dependent or empirical reality): ''The level of the empirical world experienced in ordinary life''. For example, the snake-seen-in-the-snake.
*''Parikalpita'' (imaginary). For example, the snake-seen-in-a-dream.

=====''Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra''=====
The ''[[Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra]]'', one of the earliest [[Mahayana sutras|Mahāyāna Sūtras]], took an idealistic turn in apprehending reality. Japanese Buddhist scholar [[D. T. Suzuki]] writes the following explanation: {{quote|The ''Laṅkā'' is quite explicit in assuming two forms of knowledge: the one for grasping the absolute or entering into the realm of [[Mind-only]], and the other for understanding existence in its dual aspect in which logic prevails and the ''[[vijñāna]]s'' are active. The latter is designated [[Vikalpa|discrimination]] (''vikalpa'') in the ''Laṅkā'' and the former [[Prajñā (Buddhism)|transcendental wisdom or knowledge]] (''prajñā''). To distinguish these two forms of knowledge is most essential in Buddhist philosophy.}}

===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>

===Tibetan Buddhism===
{{Main|Tibetan Buddhism}}
{{Further|Tibetan Buddhist canon|Vajrayana}}

====Nyingma school====
The [[Nyingma]] tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of [[Tibetan Buddhism]].<ref name="Stanford 2022"/> It is founded on the [[Tibetan Buddhist canon|first translations of Buddhist scriptures]] from [[Sanskrit]] into [[Classical Tibetan|Tibetan]] (8th century CE). Tibetan Buddhist philosopher and polymath [[Jamgön Ju Mipham Gyatso|Mipham the Great]] (1846–1912) in his commentary to the ''[[Madhyamālaṃkāra]]'' of [[Śāntarakṣita]] (725–788) says:<ref>Commentary to the first [[couplet]] of [[quatrain]]/[[śloka]] 72 of the root text, (725–788) — Blumenthal, James (2008). "Śāntarakṣita", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). Source: [http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2008/entries/saantarak-sita/] (accessed: February 28, 2009), as rendered into English by the Padmakara Translation Group (2005: p. 304)</ref>
{{quote|If one trains for a long time in the union of the two truths, the stage of acceptance (on the path of joining), which is attuned to primordial wisdom, will arise. By thus acquiring a certain conviction in that which surpasses intellectual knowledge, and by training in it, one will eventually actualize it. This is precisely how the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas have said that liberation is to be gained.<ref>[[Śāntarakṣita]] (author); [[Jamgön Ju Mipham Gyatso|Mipham the Great]] (commentator); Padmakara Translation Group (2005). ''The Adornment of the Middle Way: Shantarakshita's Madhyamakalankara with commentary by Jamgön Mipham.'' Boston, Massachusetts, US: Shambhala Publications, Inc. {{ISBN|1-59030-241-9}} (alk. paper), p. 304</ref>{{refn|group=note|"Primordial wisdom" is a rendering of ''[[jñāna]]'' and "that which surpasses intellectual knowledge" may be understood as the direct perception (Sanskrit: ''[[pratyakṣa]]'') of (''[[dharmatā]]''). "Conviction" may be understood as a gloss of [[Faith in Buddhism|faith]] (''śraddhā'').  An effective analogue for "union", a rendering of the relationship held by the two truths, is ''[[Interpenetration (Buddhism)|interpenetration]]''.}}}}

The following sentence from [[Jamgön Ju Mipham Gyatso|Mipham the Great]]'s exegesis of [[Śāntarakṣita]]'s'' [[Madhyamālaṃkāra]]'' highlights the relationship between the absence of ''[[Catuṣkoṭi#Four Extremes|the four extremes]]'' (''mtha'-bzhi'') and the [[Nondualism|non-dual]] or ''[[Two Truths|indivisible two truths]]'' (''bden-pa dbyer-med''): {{quote|The learned and accomplished [masters] of the Early Translations considered this simplicity beyond the four extremes, this abiding way in which the two truths are indivisible, as their own immaculate way.<ref>Thomas, H. (trans.); [[Jamgön Ju Mipham Gyatso|Mipham the Great]] (author). '' Speech of Delight: Mipham's Commentary of Shantarakshita's Ornament of the Middle Way'' (2004). Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications. {{ISBN|1-55939-217-7}}, p. 127</ref>{{refn|group=note|[[Helena Blankleder|Blankleder]] and [[Wulstan Fletcher|Fletcher]] of the Padmakara Translation Group give a somewhat different translation:<br/>
"The learned and accomplished masters of the Old Translation school take as their stainless view the freedom from all conceptual constructs of the four extremes, the ultimate reality of the two truths inseparably united."<ref>[[Śāntarakṣita]] (author); [[Jamgön Ju Mipham Gyatso|Mipham the Great]] (commentator); Padmakara Translation Group (2005). ''The Adornment of the Middle Way: Shantarakshita's Madhyamakalankara with commentary by Jamgön Mipham.'' Boston, Massachusetts, US: Shambhala Publications, Inc. {{ISBN|1-59030-241-9}} (alk. paper), p. 137</ref>}}}}

==Understanding in other traditions==
{{Main|Spread of Buddhism}}
{{Further|Buddhism and other religions|Six Heretical Teachers}}

===Jainism===
{{Main|Anekāntavāda}}
{{Further|Jain philosophy}}

The 2nd-century [[Digambara]] [[Jain monasticism|Jain monk]] and philosopher [[Kundakunda]] distinguishes between two perspectives of truth:

*''Vyāvahāranaya'' or "mundane perspective".
*''Niścayanaya'' or "ultimate perspective", also called "supreme" (''pāramārtha'') and "pure" (''śuddha'').<ref>Long, Jeffery; Jainism: An Introduction, page 126.</ref>

For Kundakunda, the mundane realm of truth is also the relative perspective of normal folk, where the workings of ''[[karma]]'' operate and where things emerge, last for a certain time, and then perish. The ultimate perspective, meanwhile, is that of the liberated [[Jiva|individual soul]] (''jīvatman''), which is "blissful, energetic, perceptive, and omniscient".<ref>Long, Jeffery; Jainism: An Introduction, page 126.</ref>

===Advaita Vedānta===
{{Main|Advaita Vedanta}}
{{Further|Ajātivāda|Buddhist influences on Advaita Vedanta}}

The [[Advaita Vedanta|Advaita]] school of [[Vedanta|Vedānta philosophy]] took over from the Buddhist [[Madhyamaka|Mādhyamaka]] school the idea of levels of reality.{{sfn|Renard|2004|p=130}} Usually two levels are being mentioned,{{sfn|Renard|2004|p=131}} but the school's founder [[Adi Shankara|Ādi Śaṅkara]] uses [[Advaita vedanta#Criterion of Sublation|sublation as the criterion]] to postulate an ontological hierarchy of three levels:{{sfn|Puligandla|1997|p=232}}<ref group=web name=Discrimination>[http://www.advaita-vision.org/discrimination/ advaita-vision.org, ''Discrimination'']</ref>{{refn|group=note|According to Chattopadhyaya, the Advaitins retain the term ''pāramārtha-satya'' or ''pāramārthika-satya'' for the ultimate truth, and for the ''loka saṃvṛti'' of the Mādhyamikas they use the term ''vyāvahārika satya'' and for ''aloka saṃvṛti'' they use the term ''prāthibhāsika'':<ref>{{cite book |title=''What is Living and What is Dead in Indian Philosophy'' 5th edition |author=Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya |pages=107, 104 |year=2001}}</ref>}}

* {{IAST|Pāramārthika}}: the absolute level, "which is absolutely real and into which both other reality levels can be resolved".<ref group=web name=Discrimination /> This experience can't be sublated by any other experience.{{sfn|Puligandla|1997|p=232}}
* {{IAST|Vyāvahārika}} (or ''saṃvṛti-satya'',{{sfn|Renard|2004|p=131}} empirical or pragmatical): "our world of experience, the phenomenal world that we handle every day when we are awake".<ref group=web name=Discrimination /> It is the level in which both ''[[Jiva|jīva]]'' (living creatures or individual souls) and ''[[Ishvara|Īśvara]]'' (Supreme Being) are true; here, the material world is also true.
* {{IAST|Prāthibhāsika}} (apparent reality or unreality): "reality based on imagination alone".<ref group=web name=Discrimination /> It is the level in which appearances are actually false, like the illusion of a snake over a rope, or a dream.

===Mīmāṃsā===
{{Main|Hindu philosophy}}
{{Further|Buddhism and Hinduism}}

Chattopadhyaya notes that the 8th-century [[Mīmāṃsā]] philosopher [[Kumārila Bhaṭṭa]] rejected the two truths doctrine in his ''Shlokavartika''.<ref name="Bhaṭṭa"/> Bhaṭṭa was highly influential with his defence of [[Brahmanism|Vedic orthodoxy and rituals]] against the [[Śramaṇa|Buddhist rejection of Brahmanical beliefs and ritualism]].<ref name="Siderits 2015"/> Some believe that his influence contributed to the [[decline of Buddhism in India]],{{sfn|Sheridan|1995|p=198-201}} since his lifetime coincides with the period in which Buddhism began to disappear from the Indian subcontinent.{{sfn|Sharma|1980|p=5-6}}

According to Kumārila, the two truths doctrine fundamentally is an [[Buddhist idealism|idealist doctrine]], which conceals the fact that "the theory of the nothingness of the objective world" is absurd: {{quote|[O]ne should admit that what does not exist, exists not; and what does exist, exists in the full sense. The latter alone is true, and the former false. But the idealist just cannot afford to do this. He is obliged instead to talk of 'two truths', senseless though this be.<ref name="Bhaṭṭa"/><!--START OF NOTE-->{{refn|group=note|Kumārila Bhaṭṭa: "The idealist talks of some 'apparent truth' or 'provisional truth of practical life', i.e. in his terminology, of ''samvriti satya''. However, since in his own view, there is really no truth in this 'apparent truth', what is the sense of asking us to look at it as some special brand of truth as it were? If there is truth in it, why call it false at all? And, if it is really false, why call it a kind of truth?

Truth and falsehood, being mutually exclusive, there cannot be any factor called 'truth' as belonging in common to both--no more than there can by any common factor called 'treeness' belonging to both the tree and the lion, which are mutually exclusive.

On the idealist's own assumption, this 'apparent truth' is nothing but a synonym for the 'false'. Why, then, does he use this expression? Because it serves for him a very important purpose. It is the purpose of a verbal hoax. It means falsity, though with such a pedantic air about it as to suggest something apparently different, as it were. This is in fact a well known trick. Thus, to create a pedantic air, one can use the word ''vaktrasava'' [literally mouth-wine] instead of the simpler word ''lala'', meaning saliva [''vancanartha upanyaso lala-vaktrasavadivat''].

But why is this pedantic air? Why, instead of simply talking of falsity, is the verbal hoax of an 'apparent truth' or samvriti? The purpose of conceiving this samvriti is only to conceal the absurdity of the theory of the nothingness of the objective world, so that it can somehow be explained why things are imagined as actually existing when they are not so.

Instead of playing such verbal tricks, therefore, one should speak honestly. This means: one should admit that what does not exist, exists not; and what does exist, exists in the full sense. The latter alone is true, and the former false. But the idealist just cannot afford to do this. He is obliged instead to talk of 'two truths', senseless though this be."<ref name="Bhaṭṭa">{{cite book |title=''What is Living and What is Dead in Indian Philosophy'' 5th edition |author=Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya |pages=370–1 |year=2001}}</ref>}}<!--END OF NOTE-->}}

===Correspondence with Pyrrhonism===
{{Main|Ancient Greek philosophy}}
{{Further|Similarities between Pyrrhonism and Buddhism}}
{{Pyrrhonism sidebar}}

[[Thomas McEvilley]] notes a correspondence between Greek [[Pyrrhonism]] and the Buddhist [[Madhyamaka|Mādhyamaka]] school: {{quote|Sextus says <ref>Sextus Empericus, ''Outlines of Pyrrhonism'', II.14–18; ''Anthologia Palatina'' (Palatine Anthology), VII. 29–35, and elsewhere</ref> that there are two criteria:
# [T]hat by which we judge reality and unreality, and
# [T]hat which we use as a guide in everyday life.
According to the first criterion, nothing is either true or false[.] [I]nductive statements based on direct observation of phenomena may be treated as either true or false for the purpose of making everyday practical decisions.<br/>
The distinction, as Conze<ref>Conze 1959, pp. 140–141)</ref> has noted, is equivalent to the Madhyamaka distinction between "Absolute truth" (''paramārthasatya''), "the knowledge of the real as it is without any distortion,"<ref name="Conze 1959: p. 244">Conze (1959: p. 244)</ref> and "Truth so-called" (''saṃvṛti satya''), "truth as conventionally believed in common parlance.<ref name="Conze 1959: p. 244"/><ref>{{cite book |first=Thomas |last=McEvilley |title=The Shape of Ancient Thought |publisher=Allworth Communications |year=2002 |isbn=1-58115-203-5}}, p. 474</ref>}}

Thus in Pyrrhonism "absolute truth" corresponds to [[acatalepsy]] and "conventional truth" to [[phantasiai]].

==See also==
* [[Index of Buddhism-related articles]]
* [[Nagarjuna]]
* [[Sacca]]
* [[Simran (Sanskrit word)|Simran]]
* [[Tetralemma]]
* [[Upaya]]
* [[Secular Buddhism]]
*{{annotated link|Double truth}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|2}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==

===Published sources===
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
{{refbegin}}
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* Conze, Edward (1959). ''Buddhism: Its Essence and Development''. New York, US: Harper and Row.
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* {{Citation |last=Siderits |first=Mark |year=2003 |title=On the Soteriological Significance of Emptiness |journal=Contemporary Buddhism |volume=4 |issue=1|pages=9–23 |doi=10.1080/1463994032000140158 |s2cid=144783831 }}
* {{Citation |last=Stcherbatsky |first=Theodore |year=1989 |title=Madhyamakakārikā |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ.}}
* {{Citation |last=Suzuki |first=Daisetz Teitaro |year=1932 |title=The [[Lankavatara Sutra]], A Mahayana Text |publisher=Routledge Kegan Paul}}
* {{Citation |last=Verstappen |first=Stefan H. |year=2004 |title=Blind Zen |publisher=Red Mansion Pub |isbn=9781891688034 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bARGlc-fmFwC&q=chan+buddhism+taoism&pg=PA5}}
* {{Citation |last=Westerhoff |first=Jan |year=2009 |title=Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka: A Philosophical Introduction |publisher=Oxford University Press}}
* {{Citation |last=Wilber |first=Ken |year=2000 |title=Integral Psychology |publisher=Shambhala Publications}}
{{refend}}
}}

===Web-sources===
{{reflist|group=web}}

==External links==
{{wikisource-inline|Saṃyukta Āgama 301: Kātyāyana Gotra Sūtra}}
* [https://www.learnreligions.com/doctrine-of-the-two-truths-450002 Barbara O'Brien: The Two Truths. What Is Reality?]

{{Buddhism topics}}

[[Category:Buddhist philosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Theories of truth]]
[[Category:Vajrayana]]
[[Category:Madhyamaka]]
[[Category:Relativism]]
[[Category:Nonduality]]