What are the "two truths" or "two realities?"
as we sometimes call them.
What are the two realities? What are the two truths?
This is a very, very big subject in Buddhism.
A big subject. One of the main subjects.
And a very, very important subject.
Why?
Because these two truths, or two realities,
are everything.
Everything is included within these two realities.
We call these two realities
"relative reality" and "absolute reality."
Or, "relative truth," and "absolute truth."
What is the meaning of "relative reality?"
It's how things appear to be. Just their appearance.
What is absolute reality?
The way things are.
The reality. The real reality.
And an example of that is…
I will give you the traditional example:
A rope. There's a rope.
A multicolored rope.
And someone who is afraid of snakes, very much.
And you live inside a house that is a little bit dark.
And maybe around 5 or 6 PM the sun is setting
but there's still light. Light and darkness are mixed together.
You are very afraid of snakes. And suddenly someone
opens the door and says, "Here's a snake!"
and throws this rope into your house.
Then when you look at this multicolored rope,
you really see that rope as a snake.
"It's moving!"
And maybe the snake's tongue is coming out,
or it's getting closer to you.
"Oh, no! No, no! Why?"
It's terrible, yeah?
And you have goosebumps.
Your ears go up, maybe, and your hair stands up.
You cannot breathe properly.
It's almost like you're facing a real snake.
All the same problems.
Then you remain like that, maybe sweat a little bit, you know.
Then one of your good friends comes and opens the door.
"Hey! Hello! What are you doing?"
And you say, "Shh! There's a snake."
You say like that. But your good friend says,
"No, no, no. This is just a rope!
"See? Here," you know.
Then you'll feel like, "Phew!"
It's just a rope.
So the rope is a metaphor for absolute reality.
The rope appearing to you as a snake is an example of relative reality.
So, right now we are in the relative reality.
What we see, what we hear, what we smell, what we think,
what we do. Everything's in the relative reality.
And what is relative reality?
The object of concepts.
Yes. No. Right. Wrong.
Good. Bad. Me. You.
Subject and object. Concepts.
And that is the cause of suffering, problems, samsara.
For what we call "the four rivers of suffering":
being born, getting old, getting sick, and dying.
That's suffering. That's what we call
"natural suffering."
And then there's self-created suffering, you know.
Death and fear of death.
Which one is more painful?
The fear of death is more painful than death.
Fearful, you know.
The fear of death is a self-created problem,
whereas death is a natural problem or suffering.
That's what we call "samsara."
Samsara means "the circle of suffering," or "the loop."
But this is all relative reality.
Samsara is relative reality. Suffering is relative reality.
Karma is relative reality.
The absolute reality is beyond concepts.
Beyond subject and object. Beyond suffering.
Beyond karma. It's freedom!
Absolute freedom!
You know?
There's no suffering. It has unchangeable happiness.
This happiness is not like "Hee hee!" You know?
It's a happiness without grasping, without concept.
There's clarity. There's wisdom. There's compassion.
There's enlightened activity if you recognize your true nature,
which is what we call, "buddha nature."
And that is the absolute reality: your buddha nature.
Then you have freedom!
So,
your good friend introduced you to the rope,
and, "Phew!" You're free, yeah?
But, before that, you suffered and felt pain.
Suffering is just an illusion! It's not real!
And when you're introduced to see the rope as a rope,
you're relieved.
That's Nirvana. Or that is the…
recognition of absolute reality, absolute truth.
But it's not easy, of course.
Even though your friend introduced this as a rope,
if you're really afraid of snakes, still you might feel like,
"I know it's a rope, but still I cannot touch the rope.
"I don't want to touch it."
That's becuase of habits, you know.
So,
maybe we know the relative reality,
I mean the essence of relative reality, which is absolute reality.
It's not like that. You may have misunderstood,
"Absolute reality is here. And relative reality is here."
It's not like that.
These two are one, actually. They have one essence.
Actually, relative reality is absolute reality,
if you recognize it.
The rope appears as a snake, but it's actually a rope, yeah?
It depends on one's recognition.
Although you are free
from concepts, sufferings, problems, everything,
Still you have problems now.
There's a lot of…
Because we have many, many, many boxes.
Many, many, many divisions. Many, many, many sectors.
That's why everything has a contradiction.
"Big and small" is a contradiction.
We have many boxes, and we are…
crashing into our boxes.
And we've had this habit for so long.
From the beginningless time of samsara until now,
we have believed it to be real. We have perceived it as real.
Right now we're just beginning to learn about absolute reality,
so you cannot be free.
That's why you have to build up this habit again and again and again,
through the "three kinds of knowledge."
First, study absolute reality.
Then contemplate absolute reality.
Then meditate on absolute reality.
Then you will achieve direct realization.