saṃvṛtisatya
saṃvṛtisatya
Basic Meaning
"Relative truth" or "conventional truth"; the erroneously perceived reality common to the unenlightened.
Has the Sense of
Reality as it is experienced by ordinary people whose perception is clouded by ignorance, in contrast to "ultimate truth" or "absolute truth," which is reality as perceived by an enlightened being. Relative truth has practical value in daily life, but upon examination all phenomena are found to be empty of individual, permanent existence.
Simplified English Usage
Without a proper understanding of the vast aspects of the relative truth, meditation on Emptiness can be misleading and even dangerous.
- (Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso, Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness, 1988)
Read It in the Scriptures
Relative and ultimate,
These the two truths are declared to be.
For intellect is said to be the relative.
The ultimate is not within the reach of intellect,
~ The Way of the Bodhisattva, Padmakara Translation Group, 2008, page 229
| Term Variations | |
|---|---|
| Key Term | saṃvṛtisatya |
| Topic Variation | saṃvṛtisatya |
| Tibetan | ཀུན་རྫོབ་བདེན་པ་ ( kundzop denpa) |
| Wylie Tibetan Transliteration | kun rdzob bden pa ( kundzop denpa) |
| Devanagari Sanskrit | संवृतिसत्य |
| Romanized Sanskrit | saṃvṛtisatya |
| Chinese | 世俗諦, 俗諦 |
| Chinese Pinyin | shì sú dì, sú dì |
| Japanese Transliteration | sezokutai, zokutai |
| Buddha-nature Site Standard English | relative truth |
| Karl Brunnhölzl's English Term | seeming reality |
| Richard Barron's English Term | relative (level of) truth |
| Jeffrey Hopkin's English Term | conventional truth, obscured truth |
| Gyurme Dorje's English Term | relative truth |
| Ives Waldo's English Term | relative truth |
| Term Information | |
| Usage Example | Sanskrit:
Tibetan:
|
| Source Language | Sanskrit |
| Basic Meaning | "Relative truth" or "conventional truth"; the erroneously perceived reality common to the unenlightened. |
| Has the Sense of | Reality as it is experienced by ordinary people whose perception is clouded by ignorance, in contrast to "ultimate truth" or "absolute truth," which is reality as perceived by an enlightened being. Relative truth has practical value in daily life, but upon examination all phenomena are found to be empty of individual, permanent existence. |
| Did you know? | Saṃvṛtisatya is also understood to mean the unavoidable domain through which sentient beings must navigate and communicate with one another in the mundane world. Thus buddhas and bodhisattvas use their knowledge of conventional truths to teach unenlightened beings and lead them away from suffering. - Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, page 762. |
| Related Terms | paramārthasatya |
| Term Type | Noun |
| Definitions | |
| Rangjung Yeshe Dictionary | relative/ conventional/ superficial truth; conventional truth, apparent reality, deceptive truth; relative truth. one of the {bden pa gnyis} two truths, superficial truth, truth for a concealer; Relative Truth, [samvrittika satya] |
| Tshig mdzod Chen mo | bden pa gnyis kyi ya gyal zhig ste/ bye brag smra bas gang zhig bcom pa'am blos cha shas so sor bsal ba na rang 'dzin gyi blo 'dor rung ba'i chos su dmigs pa gzung 'dzin rags pa rnams dang/ mdo sde pas rtog pas btags pa tsam du grub pa'i chos spyi mtshan rnams dang/ sems tsam pas tha snyad dpyod pa'i rig shes kyis rnyed don kun btags dang gzhan dbang gi chos/ dbu ma pas rang mngon sum du rtogs pa'i mngon sum tshad mas rang nyid gnyis snang dang bcas pa'i tshul gyi rtogs par bya ba rten 'brel snang ba'i chos su 'dod pa bcas 'dod lugs mi 'dra ba bzhi yod/ |
