The 2 Truths, Emptiness, Dependent Origination, and Śūnyatā in Tibetan Buddhism
Published 2024-05-12
According to the Madhyamaka-Prasangika sutra tradition of Buddhism, all things have two truths, two different perspectives called conventional truth, and ultimate truth. Conventional truth encompasses all the ordinary things we’ve been experiencing since we were born including happiness, sadness, time, houses, animals, people, friends, enemies, food, waking, walking, sleeping, sitting, karma, birth, old age, sickness, death, and all the other things we’ve ever known. The ultimate truth of all objects is that they lack an independent existence which, according to Buddhist terminology, means they’re empty of independent existence.
Emptiness is not a vacuity like space, or an emptiness like a cup without water. Emptiness also does not mean something is totally nonexistent because that would be the false extreme of nihilism. Rather, emptiness means things lack an independent existence, they are empty of independent existence. This lack of independent existence is their ultimate truth. Things do exist conventionally which is their conventional truth. Things can help or harm you, so they do exist, but in a conventional manner. Conventional truth and ultimate truth are harmonious which means meditators should not attempt to negate or disprove the ordinary conventional truths of the world. Rather, they attempt to negate or disprove independently existent objects because nothing exists independently. Meditators attempt to negate or disprove the independent existence of all people, places, and things because our ignorance grasps them to be independently existent. This ignorance creates a distorted mentality which makes things appear as if they exist independently as unchanging, self-arisen entities; however, they don’t exist in the way they appear. In fact, all entities are empty of independent existence. You can find nothing anywhere that exists independently.
Teachings on the Two Truths are indispensable for students interested in learning about emptiness. In fact, until a student fully grasps the Two Truths, teachings on emptiness will confuse them. Similarly, until one understands emptiness, the Two Truths can be quite confusing. If a student attempts to learn either one of these topics of the two truths and emptiness without understanding the other topic, confusion is almost guaranteed. Therefore, this article will cover both topics together so students can clearly understand both the two truths and emptiness.
Let’s review some common synonyms for the Two Truths. Insofar as terminology is concerned, conventional truth is also often referred to as relative truth, false truth, or superficial truth, and ultimate truth is also often referred to as absolute truth. Many terms are also used to describe the concept of independent existence such as inherent existence, selfhood, independent existence, autonomous existence, objective existence, true existence, existence from an object’s own side, ultimate existence, and essential nature. In fact, the ultimate truth is that nothing ultimately exists and anything that exists does so only conventionally. All these terms synonymous with ultimate truth mean the same thing: a lack of independent existence. Below, we’ll explore what all of this means.
In his book Practicing Wisdom, His Holiness Dalai Lama explains that: “In Minyak Künsö’s commentary, the author states that the two truths are presented from the point of view of two different perspectives. From the perspective of our everyday experience, the reality of the world is conventional and relative. From the perspective of the way things ultimately exist, the reality of the world is emptiness, which is the ultimate, or absolute, truth. The two truths are understood then as two different perspectives on one and the same world.”
In another book, Transcendent Wisdom, H.H. Dalai Lama states: “ the manifold events in the world are not non-existent; they do exist. They are able to help and hurt us – no other criterion for existence is necessary… phenomena existing as dependently related events are those that change in dependence upon circumstances and those that appear in various ways due to circumstances... they change due to their dependence upon other events. If events existed independently, they could not change. Since they are dependent, they lack an independent nature. Thus, when something appears either good or bad, it seems to have that as an essential trait; but if we inspect matters more closely, we see that it is fundamentally subject to change. Thus, entities have two natures, one essential and the other superficial.”
All Comments (4)
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My heart goes out to your student who felt lost enjoyment in life. I'm sure they'll work it out if they haven't already. Sangha is undefeated for this sort of thing. When you're at the peak of awareness like that you can examine the dissatisfaction itself. How is it empty? But if awareness is beating you up it's fine to pull back from awareness and move to practices that cultivate equanimity til ice cream tastes good again. Examining emptiness is really examining the heart of dukkha, the unsatisfying nature of relying on impermanent things. Not unusual to catch a sad but at the end you get the Vajra sword that slices through ALL delusion. Diamond clarity's a pretty sweet deal!
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According to Jan Westerhoff, in the Madhyamaka school of thought there must be a cognitive shift in order understand that things are empty of svabhava or intrinsic nature. But this can only be achieved through meditation as it is claimed. This is the point where Buddhism splits from philosophy and one is just left on his own to figure this out. Tough one...
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Sir what is the motive behind emptiness ? I mean, how we get benefit after knowing emptiness, what is the next?
