Two registers, one workable world

The Two Truths

How can conventional truth and ultimate truth both be valid?

Direct Answer: Conventional truth names the shared world in which language, ethics, and causes function. Ultimate analysis finds no independently existing essence in those conventions.

1. Convention → 2. Analysis → 3. Non-duality → 4. Responsible action
The Two Truths · contemplative map · lightofdharma.org/topics/two-truths

Fuller teaching

The two truths are not two separate realities. They are two ways of attending to the same dependently arisen world.

Ignoring convention leads to spiritual bypassing; reifying convention makes every label feel absolute. Mature practice respects commitments while holding identities lightly.

Canonical source

Mūlamadhyamakakārikā XXIV — Nāgārjuna’s teaching on conventional and ultimate truth.

Speak in both registers

  1. Name the practical fact and responsibility.
  2. Notice the labels and conditions composing it.
  3. Avoid both denial and reification.
  4. Act carefully without making the story absolute.

Related terminology

Structured learning path

  1. Gateway 8: The Two Truths
  2. Gateway 10: Living the Middle Way

Continue with established sources

Further reading

Open complete translations and specialist reference material for deeper study.

  • The Theory of Two Truths in India
    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy · Sonam Thakchoe

    Place Nāgārjuna’s Two Truths teaching within its broader Indian philosophical development.

  • Nāgārjuna
    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy · Jan Westerhoff

    Explore a scholarly overview of emptiness, intrinsic nature, causation, and Nāgārjuna’s philosophical method.