Skip to Main Content

The Two Truths in Indian Buddhism

Reality, Knowledge, and Freedom

Published by Wisdom Publications
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
LIST PRICE $34.95

About The Book

An insightful and illuminating survey of key insights into one of the most foundational and profound topics in Buddhist thought.

In this clear and exemplary approach to one of the core philosophical subjects of the Buddhist tradition, Sonam Thakchoe guides readers through the range of Indian Buddhist philosophical schools and how each approaches the two truths: ultimate truth and conventional truth. In this presentation of philosophical systems, the detailed argumentations and analyses of each school’s approach to the two truths are presented to weave together the unique contributions each school brings to supporting and strengthening a Buddhist practitioner’s understanding of reality. The insights of the great scholars of Indian Buddhist history—such as Vasubandhu, Bhavaviveka, Kamalashila, Dharmakirti, Nagarjuna, and Chandrakirti—are illuminated in this volume, with profound implications for the practice and views of modern practitioners and scholars.

The Vaibhashika, Sautrantika, Yogachara, and Madhyamaka schools provide a framework for a continuum of philosophical debate that is far more interrelated, and internally complex, than one may presume. Yet we see how the schools build upon the findings of one another, leading from a belief in the realism of external phenomena to the relinquishment of any commitment to realism of either external or internal realities. This fascinating movement through philosophical approaches leads us to see how the conventional and ultimate—dependent arising and emptiness—are twin aspects of a single reality.

About The Author

Sonam Thakchoe (PhD, University of Tasmania) is a senior philosophy lecturer at University of Tasmania, where he teaches Asian philosophy, coordinates the Asian Philosophy Program, and directs the Tasmanian Buddhist Studies in India Exchange Program. His research focuses on Indo-Tibetan Madhyamaka philosophy, with a particular emphasis on ontology, epistemology, ethics, and Buddhist philosophy of mind. His publications include two dozen of referred articles and six scholarly books: Knowing Illusion: Bringing a Tibetan Debate into Contemporary Discourse, Vol. I: A Philosophical History of the Debate (Oxford University Press, 2021; coauthored with the Yakherds); Knowing Illusion: Bringing a Tibetan Debate into Contemporary Discourse, Vol. II: Translations (Oxford University Press, 2021; coauthored with the Yakherds); Dignaga’s Investigation of the Percept (Oxford University Press, 2016; coauthored with the Yakherds); Moonpaths: Ethics and Emptiness (Oxford University Press, 2015; coauthored with the Cowherds); Moonshadows: Conventional Truth in Buddhist Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2011; coauthored with the Cowherds); and his monograph, The Two Truths Debate: Tsongkhapa and Gorampa on the Middle Way (Wisdom Publications, 2007).

Product Details

  • Publisher: Wisdom Publications (April 18, 2023)
  • Length: 328 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781614297468

Browse Related Books

Raves and Reviews

“I am grateful to Professor Thakchoe for this systematic and very clear exposition of the range of philosophical notions about the conventional and the ultimate in the Indian Buddhist tradition."

– Guy Newland, Central Michigan University

“Sonam Thakchoe has given us a wonderful gift. This study of Indian Buddhist accounts of the two truths is comprehensive and erudite, grounded in meticulous scholarship and careful attention to a vast array of important Indian Buddhist texts, with the relevant passages translated with great precision in lucid English.”

– Jay L. Garfield, Smith College, Harvard Divinity School, and the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies

“Sonam Thakchoe's presentation of the two truths provides readers with a conceptual map for tracing their way through the complex network of discussions of the nature of the two truths, arguably the most fascinating and most perplexing topic in Buddhist philosophy."

– Jan Westerhoff, University of Oxford

Resources and Downloads

High Resolution Images

More books from this author: Sonam Thakchoe