Key Terms/Tattva
Basic Meaning
The reality or the objective state of things as they are. In the Buddhist context, it refers to the ultimate nature of things although what exactly suchness means would depend on the philosophical position of the specific schools. The Middle Way school, for instance, consider emptiness as the suchness of all things.
Has the sense of
Reality or the natural state of things are called suchness or thatness in order to indicate that reality is the nature as it is without any any fabrication or imputation.
In Sanskrit, lit., “thatness”; a term with two important denotations. First, it can mean “ultimate reality,” a synonym of paramärtha, the reality, free from all conceptual elaboration, that must be understood in order to be liberated from rebirth as well as the inexpressible reality that is the object of the Buddha’s omniscient consciousness. Second, more prosaically, the term may be translated as “principle” and refer to the central doctrine of a particular philosophical school, as in the title of the works Tattvasamgraha or Tattvasiddhi. When contrasted with tathatä , tattva is the essential identity of a particular dharma, while tathatä is the common essential reality in which all dharmas partake.
Thatness, reality, suchness, thusness, natural state, real nature, real, That, what actually is, the real thing, state of being just as it is. Syn tathata གནས་ལུགས་, སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་, དེ་ཉིད་, ཆོས་ཉིད་, ཡང་དག་པ་, དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ can be abbreviated by དེ་ཉིད་ reality; Skt. tattva or tatva, thatness itself.
