The two truths: The Svatantrika view

Part of a series of teachings given from March 6-11, 2010, at Sravasti Abbey.

  • Madhyamaka (Middle Way) school asserts that ultimately things exist merely by being imputed onto a basis
  • Originally the two sub-schools within Madhyamaka were derived from the method by which each debated other views
  • Tsongkhapa reinterpreted the distinction between these sub-schools and attributed to Svatantrika a view that, at the conventional level, things do exist inherently
  • Svatantrika’s position: the coming into existence of knowledge is a collaborative process between the object and the consciousness
  • Things have a certain character but that character is not ultimately findable—their distinct nature exists conventionally, allowing us to validly know what things are

Guy Newland on the Two Truths 10: The Svatantrika Madhyamaka tenet system (download)

Dr. Guy Newland

Guy Newland, a student of Jeffrey Hopkins, is a scholar of Tibetan Buddhism who has been a professor at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Michigan since 1988. He served as Chairperson of Central Michigan University's Department of Philosophy and Religion during the periods 2000-2003 and 2006-2009. He was elected to the Mount Pleasant Board of Education in July 2003 and served until December 2007, including six months as President of the Board and one year as Secretary.

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