| Key Term |
nītārtha |
| Hover Popup Choices |
definitive meaning |
| In Tibetan Script |
ངེས་དོན་ |
| Wylie Tibetan Transliteration |
nges don |
| Devanagari Sanskrit Script |
नीतार्थ |
| Romanized Sanskrit |
nītārtha |
| Tibetan Phonetic Rendering |
ngedön |
| English Standard |
definitive meaning |
| Karl Brunnhölzl's English Term |
definitive meaning |
| Richard Barron's English Term |
definitive meaning |
| Gyurme Dorje's English Term |
definitive meaning |
| Ives Waldo's English Term |
true meaning |
| Term Type |
Noun |
| Source Language |
Sanskrit |
| Basic Meaning |
Refers to a teaching that is literally true. |
| Has the Sense of |
The unadulterated truth, in the sense of something that is taught explicitly without any underlying intention or need for further interpretation. |
| Related Terms |
neyārtha |
| Definitions |
| Tshig mdzod Chen mo |
gdul bya khyad par can rnams kyi ngor/ chos thams cad kyi chos nyid skye 'gag sogs spros pa dang bral ba'i don zab mo stong pa nyid dang/ dngos po gshis kyi gnas lugs rang bzhin gyis 'od gsal zhing smra bsam brjod pa thams cad las 'das pa'i don ston pa rnams dang/ de ston byed gsung rab dgongs 'grel dang bcas pa'o/ |
| Other Definitions |
"While Tibetan thinkers generally characterize definitive teachings as those that explicitly teach ultimate truth, which is the ultimate purport of the Buddha's teachings, and provisional teachings as those teachings that do not explain ultimate truth clearly and that require further interpretation in order to ascertain the ultimate purport of the Buddha's intent, they disagree on which of the Buddha's teachings are definitive or provisional." - Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows (2017), page 3. |
| Further Reading Material |
Lipman, Kennard. "Nītārtha, Neyārtha, and Tathāgatagarbha in Tibet." Journal of Indian Philosophy 8, no. 1 (1980): 87–95. |