Samvriti-satya
Samvriti-satya (संवृत्ति-सत्य) means “conventional truth” or “relative truth.” In Madhyamaka Buddhism, it refers to the truth that operates at the level of everyday experience and conventional understanding — as opposed to paramartha-satya (ultimate truth).
Overview
Nagarjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakarika distinguishes two levels of truth: samvriti-satya (conventional/relative truth) and paramartha-satya (ultimate truth). Conventional truth is the truth of everyday language, concepts, and experience — the truth that tables are solid, fire is hot, and actions have consequences. Ultimate truth is the truth that all phenomena are empty (shunya) of inherent existence. The Mūlamadhyamakakarika (24.8) states: “The teaching of the Dharma by the Buddhas is based on two truths: the conventional truth and the ultimate truth.”
Philosophical Context
The two-truths doctrine is the foundation of Madhyamaka philosophy. Nagarjuna argues that conventional truth and ultimate truth are not separate realities but two aspects of a single reality. The Mūlamadhyamakakarika (24.8) states: “Without a foundation in the conventional truth, the significance of the ultimate cannot be taught. Without understanding the significance of the ultimate, liberation is not achieved.” This means that the path to liberation requires both conventional understanding (ethics, meditation, study) and ultimate understanding (the realization of emptiness).
Interpretations
The Prasangika Madhyamaka school (Buddhapalita, Chandrakirti) holds that conventional truth is a matter of common agreement — there is no conventional truth independent of the minds that construct it. The Svatantrika Madhyamaka school (Bhavaviveka) holds that conventional truth has some intrinsic validity — conventional entities exist from their own side, even if they lack ultimate reality. The Yogachara school equates samvriti-satya with the world as perceived by the alaya-vijnana (storehouse consciousness) and paramartha-satya with the transformation of this consciousness into wisdom.
Verification Notes
- Mūlamadhyamakakarika 24.8–10 on the two truths.
- Mūlamadhyamakakarika 24.8–10 on the two truths as the basis of Dharma teaching.
- Audited against Wikipedia and Buddhist philosophy references (September 2026).