4.2. The Two Truths

[Full title: The Mādhyamika and the Yogācāra School (2): The Two Truths]

The Mādhyamika School states two kinds of knowledge or truth-empirical truth that is saṃvṛti satya and ultimate reality that is paramārtha satya. Empirical truth is for ordinary person. It is a path by which a person can reach at ultimate truth. According to Nāgārjuna, ultimate truth cannot be realised without the help of empirical truth and without realizing the ultimate truth no one can attains nirvāṇa which means liberation.

In Mādhyamika-Śāstra, it is stated that:

“On two truths is founded
The holy doctrines of Buddhas:
Truth conditional,
And truth transcendental.

“Those who verily know not
The distinction of the two truths.
Know not the essence
Of Buddhism which is meaningful.”^[1]

The conditional truth includes illusion and relative knowledge of Yogācāra School whereas the transcendental truth is similar to the absolute knowledge.

According to Nāgārjuna, the word śūnya must be understood from the two forms of reality.

1. According to empirical reality, śūnya is Svabhava śūnya i.e. devoid of svabhava or substantial reality of its own which is not dependent. There is not a single thing in this world which is totally real. Everything is related to or dependent upon something. The world is not reality but only a sphere of relativity. Hence “Pratītyasamutpāda” is equal to Śūnyatā or relativity of a thing by itself is “nothing” at all.

2. According to Ultimate reality, Śūnyatā is free from thought construction and free from plurality. It cannot be expressed in human language.

The truth of the order is only a stepping-stone to the attainment of the higher. The nature of nirvāṇa-experience which takes one beyond ordinary experience cannot be described, it can only be suggested negatively with the help of words which describe our common experience. Nāgārjuna, therefore, describes nirvāṇa with a series of negatives, thus: “That which is not known (ordinarily), not acquired anew, not destroyed, not eternal, not suppressed, not generated is called nirvāṇa.”^[2] As with nirvāṇa so also with the Tathāgata or one who has realised nirvāṇa. His nature also cannot be described. That is why, when Buddha was asked what becomes of the Tathāgata after nirvāṇa is attained, he declined to discuss the question.

In the same light, the silence of Buddha regarding all metaphysical questions about nonempirical things can be interpreted to mean that he believed in a transcendental experience and reality, the truths about which cannot be described in terms of common experience Buddha’s frequent statements that he had realised some profound truth which reasoning cannot grasp, can be cited also to support this Mādhyamika contention about the transcendental.^[3]

The Yogācāra School is an important branch of Mahāyāna school. It was founded by Maitreya (3^rd century A.D.). Asaṅga (4^th century), Vasubandhu (4^th century), Diṅnāga (5^th century), Dharmakīrti (7^th century), Shāntarakṣita (8^th century), Kamalashīla (8^th century) were famous scholars of this school. They continued the work of the founder by their writings and raised the school to a high level. The school reached the acme of its power and influence in the days of Asaṅga and his brother, Vasubandhu. The name Yogācāra was given by Asaṅga while the name Vijñānavāda was used by Vasubandhu.

The school Yogācāra is also known as Vijñānavāda because it accepts consciousness to be the only reality. This school is called Yogācāra because they gave so much importance to Yoga, for the realisation of pure knowledge (Bodhi) by which one can become Buddha following all the ten stages (Bhūmi) of Bodhisattvahood. The ten stages are-pramuditā, vimalā, prabhākāri, arcismāti, sudurjayā, abhimukhī, dūraṅganā, acalā, sādhumatī, and dharmameghā.

Asaṅga, in his famous work Mahāyānasaṃparigraha-Shāstra discussed some important characteristics of Yogācāra School.^[4] They are:—

1. The Ālayavijñāna is inherent in all beings or persons.

2. According to this school, knowledge is of three types-illusory, relative and absolute.

3. For them, the world whether it is subjective or objective is mere appearance of the universal consciousness which is Ālayavijñāna.

4. For them, six perfections which were mentioned in ten stages of Boddhisattvahood are important.

5. According to this school, if one wants to become Buddha, he has to follow the ten stages of Bodhisattvahood.

6. The objective is to become one, by means of pure knowledge, with the Dharmakāya or Buddha’s body of pure existence.

7. According to this school, from the transcendental point of view, there is no distinction between saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. Nirvāṇa can be realized in this life by embracing unity or sameness and by rejecting plurality.

8. For this school, reality is Dharmakāya or pure existence which is pure consciousness.

According to this school, the mind, consisting of a stream of different kinds of ideas, is the only reality. Things that appear to be outside the mind, our body as well as other objects, are merely ideas of the mind. It has been mentioned in Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, all Dharmas except consciousness are unreal. The consciousness which is the only truth that preached by the Buddha.^[5] The worlds of matter, form and no-form are the consequence of thought relations. According to Yogācāra, in reality there is no external object that exists. The thing which exists is only consciousness.

Another central figure in the Yogācāra system is Vasubandhu.^[6] He also accepts that pure consciousness is the only reality. It can be expressed by subject and object. The Buddha also explained two types of knowledge that is internal and external. For Buddha, there can be no separate Atman or so called soul nor any external object because these two are the appearances of consciousness which cannot be known through mind. One has to experience it. This can be understood by that person who is pure and also who is away from the duality of subject and object.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Mādhyamika-Śāstra, pp. 180-181.

[2]:

Ibid., Chap.24.

[3]:

S.Radhakrishnan, The Teaching of Buddha by Speech and Silence, Hibbert Journal.

[4]:

D.T. Suzuki, Outlines of Māhayāna Buddhism, pp. 65-74.

[5]:

Laṅkāvatāra, p. 186.

[6]:

A. K. Chatterjee, The Yogācāra Idealism, p.34.