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.107Tibetan habitually uses two expressions to refer to the relative truth: kun rdzob and tha snyad. Although they are often employed interchangeably as synonyms, these terms have slightly different connotations. Kun rdzob kyi bden pa literally means the ‟all-concealing truth.” It refers to phenomena as they are encountered in everyday life, and to the fact that their appearance (as independently existing entities) conceals their true nature (i.e., their emptiness of such independent and intrinsic being). In so far as the things and situations encountered in life are accepted as genuine in the common consensus (as contrasted with magical illusions, mirages, etc.), they are ‟true,” but only relatively so, since the way they appear does not correspond with their actual status. We have therefore systematically translated kun rdzob kyi bden pa as ‟relative truth.” Tha snyad, on the other hand, means ‟name,” ‟conventional expression.” Tha snyad kyi bden pa (which we have translated as ‟conventional truth”) refers to phenomena insofar as they can be conceived by the ordinary mind and spoken of within the limits of conventional discourse.
Page(s) 137
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
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། །kun rdzob dang ni don dam ste/_/
'di ni bden pa gnyis su 'dod/_/ don dam blo yi spyod yul min/_/
blo ni kun rdzob yin par brjod/_/
