Paramārthasatya
| Key Term | paramārthasatya |
|---|---|
| In Tibetan Script | དོན་དམ་བདེན་པ་ |
| Wylie Tibetan Transliteration | don dam bden pa |
| Devanagari Sanskrit Script | परमार्थसत्य |
| Romanized Sanskrit | paramārthasatya |
| Tibetan Phonetic Rendering | dön dam denpa |
| Chinese Script | 眞諦; 第一義諦 |
| Chinese Pinyin | zhendì; dì yī yì dì |
| Japanese Transliteration | shintai; daiichigitai |
| English Standard | ultimate truth |
| Karl Brunnhölzl's English Term | ultimate reality |
| Richard Barron's English Term | ultimate reality |
| Jeffrey Hopkin's English Term | ultimate truth |
| Dan Martin's English Term | ultimate truth; ultimate sense |
| Ives Waldo's English Term | ultimate truth |
| Alternate Spellings | paramārtha-satya |
| Term Type | Noun |
| Source Language | Sanskrit |
| Basic Meaning | literally, the "highest-object truth" it references the absolutely true reality of things. |
| Has the Sense of | the way things truly are |
| Related Terms | saṃvṛtisatya |
| Definitions | |
| 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 du mi rung ba'i chos cha med gnyis dang/ mdo sde pas sgra rtog gis btags par ma ltos par rang gi sdod lugs kyi ngos nas rigs pas dpyad bzod du grub pa'i chos rang mtshan dang/ sems tsam pas don dam dpyod byed kyi rig shes tshad mas rnyed don yongs grub kyi chos/ dbu ma pas rang mngon sum du rtogs pa'i mngon sum tshad mas rang nyid gnyis snang nub pa'i tshul gyis rtogs par bya ba gnas lugs stong pa nyid la 'dod pa bcas 'dod lugs mi 'dra ba bzhi yod/ |
| Grammatical / Etymological Analysis | The Sanskrit for "ultimate truth," paramārthasatya, is etymologized three ways within identifying parama as "highest" or "ultimate," artha as "object," and satya as "truth." In the first way, parama (highest, ultimate) refers to a consciousness of meditative equipoise directly realizing emptiness; artha (object) refers to the object of that consciousness, emptiness; and satya (truth) also refers to emptiness in that in direct perception emptiness appears the way it exists; that is, there is no discrepancy between the mode of appearance and the mode of being. In this interpretation, a paramārthasatya is a "truth-that-is-an-object-of-the-highest-consciousness." In the second way, both parama (highest, ultimate) and artha (object) refer to a consciousness of meditative equipoise directly realizing emptiness in that, in the broadest meaning of "object," both objects and subjects are objects, and a consciousness of meditative equipoise directly realizing emptiness is the highest consciousness and thus highest object; satya (truth), as before, refers to emptiness. In this second interpretation, a paramārthasatya is an emptiness that exists the way it appears to a highest consciousness, a "truth-of-a-highest-object." In the third etymology, all three parts refer to emptiness in that an emptiness is the highest (the ultimate) and is also an object and a truth, a "truth-that-is-the-highest-object." ChandrakIrti, the chief Consequentialist, favors the third etymology in his Clear Words. - Jeffrey Hopkins |
| Usage Example |
saṃvṛtiḥ paramārthaś ca satyadvayam idaṃ matam buddher agocaras tattvaṃ buddhiḥ saṃvṛtir ucyate ཀུན་རྫོབ་དང་ནི་དོན་དམ་སྟེ། འདི་ནི་བདེན་པ་གཉིས་སུ་འདོད། དོན་དམ་བློ་ཡི་སྤྱོད་ཡུལ་མིན། བློ་ནི་ཀུན་རྫོབ་ཡིན་པར་བརྗོད། Relative and ultimate, These the two truths are declared to be. The ultimate is not within the reach of intellect, For intellect is said to be the relative. Śāntideva, Bodhicaryāvatāra, Chapter 9, Verse 2. |