The two truths: The Svatantrika view
The two truths: The Svatantrika view
Dr. Guy Newland 
Buddhist Tenet Systems 
Mar 10, 2010 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.
