Seeing Clearly: The Two Truths in the Buddha’s Teaching

 

Introduction

In our journey to understand the Dhamma, we often encounter paradoxes that seem difficult to reconcile. How can there be karma and rebirth if there is no self? How can actions have results in a timeless reality? To make sense of this, we must understand the principle of the Two Truths taught in Buddhist philosophy: Sammuti Sacca (Conventional Truth) and Paramattha Sacca (Ultimate Truth).Some denies this distinction as it has no clear canonical roots. This article is an attempt to shed light on these two essential perspectives in understanding dhamma.

 

1. What Are the Two Truths?

▸ Sammuti Sacca - Conventional Truth

This refers to the way we describe and navigate the world using language, labels, roles, and relationships. It includes ideas like "I am meditating," "He is a monk," "This is good/bad," or "He was born there."

• Used for communication and social structure.
• Based on mental designations and concepts (Pali: paññatti)
• It is valid in the realm of ordinary experience.

▸ Paramattha Sacca - Ultimate Truth

This refers to reality that can be directly seen through wisdom, beyond conceptual thinking.

• Consists of only four realities (paramattha dhamma):
• Citta (consciousness)
• Cetasika (mental factors)
• Rūpa (material form)
• Nibbāna (unconditioned element)
• No "person" or "being" exists on this level.
• Karma and rebirth operate as conditioned processes, without a permanent self.

 

2. Scriptural Foundations

Canonical Roots

In SN 12.15, Kaccānagotta Sutta, the Buddha says:

"This world, Kaccāna, for the most part depends upon a duality—upon the notion of existence and the notion of nonexistence..."

This shows that ultimate wisdom transcends extremes of real/unreal, self/no-self.

 

Patisambhidāmagga (Khuddaka Nikāya):

"Dvayena pi sammuti-paramatthato." ("Both by convention and ultimate meaning.")

 

Visuddhimagga (Buddhaghosa Thera):

"The teaching should be understood as taught in terms of conventional truth and ultimate truth."

This establishes the interpretive framework in Theravāda tradition.

 

3. Why This Matters: Ethical and Philosophical Clarity

Many ask: If everything is ultimately empty, why do we speak of merit (puñña), demerit (pāpa), or rebirth?

The answer is: these operate within conventional truth to help those who are still under the influence of ignorance (avijjā).

• Karma functions without a "doer"
• Merit and demerit condition future states.
• They help refine the mind until it is ready for liberation.

"There is action, but no actor. There is movement, but no mover." — Buddhist philosophical principle

When one realizes paramattha, even good and bad are seen as conditioned. The arahant lives beyond merit-making, not because they are unethical, but because their mind is undefiled and no longer accumulates karma.

 

4. Analogy: Fire and Fuel The Buddha often used the analogy of fire:

"When the fuel is exhausted, fire ceases—not going north or south but simply ending."

This is how karma and self dissolve upon liberation. Until then, the teaching of Sammuti Sacca serves to guide, train, and purify.

 

5. A Practical Example

• Saying "I meditate every day" is conventional truth.
• Seeing "there is only awareness of breath and arising of mental states" is the ultimate truth.
• The former helps you function; the latter helps you liberate.

 

6. Real-Time Dialogue to Illuminate These Points This article emerged through a deep conversation on the nature of Dhamma. The following reflections helped explore key insights:

• Karma, rebirth, and saṃsāra are seen only within the framework of time, space, and self.
• In the timeless (akālika) nature of Dhamma, there is no arising of these illusions. The illusion of time arises due to taṇhā (craving) and identification with self.
• Those who live in wisdom beyond identification do not experience the cycle of becoming.
• A matrix was proposed using eleven dimensions (past, present, future, internal, external, olārika (gross), sukhuma (subtle), hīna (inferior), paṇīta (sublime), near, and far), related to the five aggregates (pañcakkhandha).

We categorized these using scientific principles like time, space, relativity, and perception.

We also explored how interpretive sciences like hermeneutics (especially the hermeneutics of suspicion, faith, charity, and recovery) apply to Buddhist texts. This aligns with the Buddha’s encouragement in the Kālāma Sutta (AN 3.65) to not rely on hearsay, tradition, or teachers, but to investigate for oneself:

“Ehipassiko” — come and see.

 

7. Linking Modern Insight: Attention, Meaning, and Action

We discussed how the three psychological components — what you focus on, what meaning you give, and what actions you take — can be related to the five aggregates:

• Focus relates to saññā (perception)
• Meaning relates to saṅkhāra (mental formations)
• Action arises from viññāṇa (consciousness) and impacts karma.

Vedanā (feeling) acts as a hinge, linking experience to reaction.

 

8. False Views the Buddha Rejected

We explored Buddhist critiques of:

• Ahetuvāda — no cause (nihilism)
• Akiriyavāda — no effect of action (moral irresponsibility)
• Natthikavāda — denial of rebirth or other realms

These were explicitly refuted by the Buddha as misleading views.

 

9. Schools of Thought: Comparative Insights

We contrasted various Buddhist schools:

• Theravāda focuses on early teachings, Abhidhamma, and individual liberation.
• Mādhyamika emphasizes emptiness (śūnyatā) and the middle way.
• Yogācāra teaches the primacy of consciousness and the eight types of vijñāṇa (including ālaya-vijñāṇa)
• Sarvāstivāda claims that dharmas exist in past, present, and future.

A contrasting table can help:

Tradition	3 Characteristics	5 Aggregates	Karma Niyama	Rebirth Model
Theravāda	Anicca, Dukkha, Anattā	Literal	Conditional process	Sequential, non-self
Mādhyamika	Emptiness of all phenomena	Deconstructed	Lacking intrinsic self	Dependent designation
Yogācāra	Representation-only	Mental projection	Stored in ālaya	Continuum of mind
Sarvāstivāda	Dharmas as temporal entities	Realistic	Fixed causes	Dharmic continuity

 

10. Final Realization

The Dhamma is akālika — timeless. Thus, notions like karma, rebirth, or spiritual progress do not apply at the level of ultimate truth. They are valid only within sammuti sacca, to guide the deluded mind.

Upon awakening, even the idea of merit, action, or becoming is abandoned.

"Sabbe dhammā anattā — all phenomena are not-self."

The final truth is not a belief but a direct seeing.