Fri, 14 Nov 2008
Traga's Two Truths
Since I wrote about the two truths yesterday from my own limited understanding, I thought it would be good to quote what Traga Rinpoche had to say on the subject when he visited Washington in September.
Buddha taught beings of different capacities through the three turnings of the wheel of dharma. All are based on the teachings of relative and ultimate truth. In Tibetan the word relative literally means "all false." What appears to us as real is unreal. All that seems permanent is not. This is what is meant by false. Seeing this falsity is the truth and is what is meant by relative truth. Anything within in the domain of confused mind is relative truth.
Ultimate truth is the original nature, which is the dharmadhatu, the suchness of phenomena. It is referred to as emptiness, mahamudra, or mahasandhi, the perfect nature. It is realized only by the noble ones. It is the self aware primordial wisdom. It is beyond the domain of thought, inexpressible, and incomprehensible. It cannot be expressed through speech, shown, pointed to, or demonstrated. The body cannot touch it, the speech express it, or mind think of it. It is known only by discerning the primordial wisdom. There is no duality of subject and object in it. It is inseparable appearance-emptiness. This emptiness is the dharmadhatu, the base of all phenomena. When it is realized, there are no concepts or kleshas. All impurities have been eliminated. But also there is no wisdom.
