Ascertaining the Two Truths

Ascertaining the Two Truths

by Chögyal Pakpa Lodrö Gyaltsen

Homage to Mañjuśrī the Youthful.[1]

I bow to the one who compassionately teaches
Sentient beings, having comprehended
The conventional and ultimate meaning
Of what appears and what is.

The expression “all phenomena”
Refers to these five aggregates.
Since they appear, disintegrate, and are occasional,
They are not nonexistent, permanent, or without cause.

Thus, since they arise in dependence
On conditions and causes,
They are dependently originated.
They are conventional, as they cannot withstand examination.

Since they appear as efficacious to
An unexamining mind, they are true.
When analyzed in terms of space and time,
They are not singular.

Nor are they multiple, since their components do not exist.
Therefore they are not nonexistent.
Since it would be contradictory, they are not both.
Nor, without proof, are they neither – hence when examined, they do not abide.

This itself is their very nature;
It is the ultimate meaning since it cannot be undermined.
It is the truth since it does not deceive.
Thus, having distinguished these two truths,
This teaching on non-duality
Is the essence of the Sage’s instruction.
All phenomena should be analyzed in this way.

At the urging of Lodrö Pal,[2]
Who longs deeply for profound meaning,
Lodrö Gyaltsen Pal composed this.[3]
May beings comprehend its meaning!

Written during the daytime on the fourteenth day of the final month of summer in the female Water Pig year,[4] at Khai Phing Hur.[5]

| Translated by Lopön Sonam Jamtsho, 2024.

Bibliography

Sa chen Kun dga’ snying po and others. Sa skya bka’ ’bum, Dehra Dun: Sakya College, 1992, Vol. 15: 425.

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