Relative truth and ultimate truth

Jeffrey

Without a proper understanding of the vast aspects of relative truth meditation on emptiness can be misleading and even dangerous. Although insight may come quickly, stability comes slowly. The relative truth gives us a way of looking at life and the world which, while conforming to ordinary notions of time and space, is conducive to Enlightenment (ie liberation) which lies beyond them.

The relative truth is the foundation of all the Buddha's teaching because it gives a proper understanding of what is to be abandoned and what is to be cultivated. By abandoning unwholesome and cultivating wholesome action one creates the necessary conditions for listening, reflecting and meditating to be fruitful. In this way it is through respecting relative truth that ultimate truth can be realized.

Khenpo Gyamptso Tsultrim Rinpoche

zen_world

thank you for sharing Jeffrey..
in our western world, however, we are very educated. And I read some tibetan sources that emptiness can be taught to people who are good at einsteins relativity theory for instance, or people who are deeply involved in existential philosophy. Those people are more likely to be ready for the concept of emptiness. But for average Joe, emptiness is a dangerous topic.

Spaceless

emptiness can be taught to any joe and they are those who had achieved ultimate truth stated in the sutra. but for those western world intellectual in modern era, they have to abandunt all their philosophy and relativity thats the main reason it took buddha shakyamuni 49 years of dharma tutoring unrelentlessly, to cure sick mind.

RichardH

Has talk of a realized "ulitmate truth" ever been helpful? Is it possible to throw grasping minds a bigger bone? Is it possible to give new people a more potent concept to fixate on?

This is just a personal view of course, but talking simply about cessation of Dukkha is so much less likely to misguide, so much more skillful.

taiyaki

Emptiness/dependent origination implies the whole buddhist package.

markkemark

Thanks Jeffrey!