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The Home of Tibetan Buddhist Texts in Translation
ISSN 2753-4812
ISSN 2753-4812

Two Truths Series

Two Truths

English (8) | Deutsch (1) | Español (2) | Français (4) | Português (1) | 中文 (1) | བོད་ཡིག (8)

The Dharma taught by the Buddhas

Entirely depends on the two truths:

The relative truth of the world and

The truth of the ultimate meaning.

Texts on the subject of the two truths or modes of reality (dvayasatya/satyadvaya; bden pa gnyis):

Advice

by Chögyal Pakpa Lodrö Gyaltsen
This short versified overview of the two truths—conventional and ultimate—was composed in 1263.
Sakya Kabum 6 Dec 2024
by Mipham Rinpoche
One of Mipham's best known works, this treatise in 104 verses was written in just a single day in 1885. It is structured around the four principles of reasoning (rigs pa bzhi)—of causal efficiency, dependence, nature and establishing a proof—and the four reliances (rton pa bzhi), i.e., Rely not on the individual but the Dharma; Rely not on the words but the meaning; Rely not on the provisional but the definitive meaning; Rely not on ordinary consciousness but wisdom.
Pramāṇa 10 Nov 2004
by Patrul Rinpoche
One of Patrul Rinpoche's better known works, this pithy presentation of the two levels of truth is more than just a guide to what "relative" and "absolute" signify; it is also a practical instruction on how to apply such understanding in meditation.
27 Sep 2005

Quotations

by Bhāviveka
Commonly cited verses from Bhāviveka’s treatise The Heart of the Middle Way (Madhyamakahṛdaya).
Quotations Middle Way 23 Sep 2025
from the Words of the Buddha
Commonly cited lines from the Sūtra of the Meeting of Father and Son (Skt. Pitāputra-samāgamana Sūtra; Tib. yab sras mjal ba'i mdo, Toh 60).
Quotations Buddha Śākyamuni 6 Oct 2025
by Dharmakīrti
A selection of commonly cited verses from Dharmakīrti's classic treatise on logic and epistemology, Commentary on Valid Cognition (Pramāṇavarttika).
Quotations Pramāṇa 23 Sep 2025
by Jñānagarbha
A selection of commonly cited verses from Jñānagarbha's treatise Distinguishing the Two Truths (Satyadvayavibhaṅga).
Quotations 23 Sep 2025

Tenets

by Khenchen Ngawang Palzang
In this brief text, the celebrated Dzogchen scholar and adept Khenpo Ngawang Palzang summarizes the four main Indian Buddhist tenet systems traditions (according to Tibetan doxographers): 1) Vaibhāṣika, 2) Sautrāntika, 3) Cittamātra (Mind Only) and 4) Mādhyamika (Middle Way), which is further divided into Svātantrika and Prāsaṅgika.
Tenets 17 Mar 2018

Related Topics

Middle Way Tenets

Nāgārjuna

Courtesy of Himalayan Art Resources

Further information:

BDRC T1441 (bden gnyis)

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ISSN 2753-4812

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