Back to the Basics: Two Truths

[Janet Gilmore]

Dear Sangha,

We're meeting tomorrow in person at 6017 Abilene Trail.  The retreat is coming up soon so we will briefly discuss some last minute details and volunteer opportunities. We will also have a chance to contemplate and discuss the Two Truths as the next stop on our "Back to the Basic" series. Here's a kickoff to our discussion and I hope everyone will join and shed some light on this crucial and profound teaching. 

In the Vimalakirti Sutra, there is a scene where the Buddha illustrates this principle of what is called the two truths.  In this scene with Buddha and one of his main disciples, Shariputra is thinking about what a mess this world is, filled with so much suffering and trouble. The Buddha reads his mind and then he touches the earth with his toe. Suddenly, Shariputra's perception of reality transforms and he sees everything very clearly without  the overlay of all his conditioning, without concepts, opinions and judgements, he suddenly sees the beauty and awe of all that exists, the ultimate nature of reality.

This story in the Vimalakirti Sutra and other early Mahayana writings marks a pivot in Buddhist thought, illustrating what eventually came to be eloquently, thoroughly and also logically expounded by Nagarjuna, who appeared on the scene around 150 CE and is sometimes called the second Buddha. Nagarjuna develop[ed and taught the Middle Way philosophy as a logical extension of what the Buddha taught. Core to the understanding of this Middle Way is the doctrine of the two truths. Simply put, all our experience can be seen through these two perspectives, two sides of the same coin of reality, ultimate (absolute) and relative (conventional, conditional) truth. There is the conventional truth where we are struggling to find happiness in an impermanent world and we must cope with old age sickness and death, as well as the consequences of human greed and hatred and ignorance. And there is also the ultimate nature of reality that goes beyond all words and concepts. In this view, our world and our true nature is a magical display of the interconnectedness of all, filled with and made of boundless love, mystery and wonder. As Shunryu Suzuki said, "You are perfect just as you are... and you could use a little work." Two truths intermingle - both are true. The middle way asks us to see reality and ourselves that way and not fall into an either-or perspective.

A few days ago, Jimmie and I, and a few friends and family of Joe Ely, drove to Fullerton, Texas, basically the middle of a vast stretch of West Texas between Snyder and Post. We gathered there for a private memorial and to fulfill Joe Ely's wish to have his ashes scattered on top of a mesa he had always felt a connection with. Years ago, Joe was inspired to write a song called "You Can Bet I'm Gone" after he read an obituary about a man who had enjoyed shooting skeet and wanted his ashes scattered by firing them out of a shotgun. In this excerpt from Joe's song, he sings of the two truths...

This old world is a funny old place

You're always running the same old race

You work and slave, tryin to ease your mind

The very things you strive for you gotta leave behind

What I know so far near as I can tell

Heaven's here on earth and so is hell

Just the air we're given and the stars above

You measure your riches by the ones you love

What the Buddha's toe and Joe's song and Nagarjuna are all pointing to is that this world has these two aspects that are both true at the same time.  The world can be heaven or hell, depending on the way you see it. Nagarjuna says the world is both at the same time and it's important to see it that way.

Our perspective slants heavily towards the conventional and relative view. In day to day existence, in order to function effectively and even in order to survive, we must needs be aware of the relative world, the conditional world, the world of appearances. Without an awareness of this we would not survive.  If we mere mortals step in front of the proverbial bus, we will recognize this conventional truth is actually quite true.   What is also true is that our survival mechanisms get out of hand. Out of habit, we begin to see anything and everyone that contradicts our comfort or self-centered desires as a threat to our existence and we lock ourselves into a prison of our own making. We feel that we are in a hell realm and we begin to experience the world as either for or against us, instead of seeing the big picture. It is imperative that we allow a view of the ultimate truth to intermingle. Heaven is here on earth when that perspective is allowed in.

If we balk at this perspective of ultimate truth, it turns out that science has already discovered and confirmed it. Quantum field theory, which has been accepted mainstream science for decades now, proves that there is no solidity and no separate "thinginess." We are not matter,  we are music, vibration and there are aspects to this that the greatest minds of science do not understand -- hence mystery.  This goes for ourselves and for all of the so-called material world. The material world is not material, rather it is energy fields in a constant state of flux and vast relational interconnectedness. This is the revelation of current scientific understanding. The solid world is not solid and even the laws of physics are not laws, but adapting constantly. We exist, the universe exists, but not at all in the way we see it or have been taught to think about it.

The truth is both truths are true at the same time -- kind of like twins but not identical twins. They intertwine.

One might mistakenly think we are operating out of the "relative" truth but the ultimate truth is hidden from our view. The trouble is that the relative truth is not our default mode either. What we habitually see is solidity and separateness. Mindfulness and meditation teaches us this conventional truth that everything is constantly changing, impermanent and also that everything is vastly interconnected and that nothing is solid if we allow ourselves to actually look closely at it. When we contemplate and recognize this conditional existence, compassion for the plight of the human condition emerges -- we see we are all suffering from the same delusion. Our reptilian, fight or flight, me vs everything else, survivor mechanisms become undercut by close examination of the relative truth and the magical display of the world and life (ultimate truth) itself becomes more readily available.

Why is this part of the back to the basic series? It's pretty advanced stuff and at some level, hard to really grasp, deep end of the pool stuff. It's basic not because it is easy to comprehend but because it is foundational to understanding the Dharma, the teachings of the Buddha. The reason Nagarjuna is so important in Buddhism is that he countered the tendency to slip into the viewpoint that all that matters on this path is to attain something called enlightenment for oneself so that one can get a ticket out of suffering. The early monks who were the followers, diligent and realized students of this path of awakening that the Buddha taught, including the truth of suffering and the cause, path and liberation from suffering, had fallen into a lopsided view where the world is a shithole and enlightenment is an escape.

We need to counter this conditional truth, the relative view with the perspective of the ultimate truth: that everything is not at all the way we see it normally. There is this foundational aspect to reality, invisible to us most of time, mysterious and beyond all conceptual thought.  On one level, all is magical display, like a dream. We are already Buddha. We are inseparable from each other. Gratitude, love and joy abound.

We need to see both truths.

Looking forward to seeing you all and discussing this tomorrow. 

Janet