why must conventional truths be negated?
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They don't have to be. In fact, I don't see how you can possibly live a human life without making use of conventional truths. That's why "ultimate truth" (whatever the hell that's supposed to be) is not really useful.
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ultimate truth is a synonym of gnosis/wisdom/emptiness. it is very useful. wisdom cuts through the seemingly solidity of conventional phenomena. this isn't some mystical nonsense. it's readily applicable to suffering.
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I agree! It's useful precisely insofar as it helps one cut through conventional phenomena, or loosens attachment to them. What I'm criticizing is the temptation to form attachment to the ultimate truth; that usually involves turning it into something metaphysical or conventional.
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Dzogchen discourages attachment to emptiness, no?
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Agreed. To reify wisdom/emptiness into a "thing" is a grave error. And indeed, dzogchen emphasizes the inseparability of the two truths. There is no partiality towards emptiness, nor for form, nor for nirvana, nor against samsara.
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The emptiness of the conventional is the ultimate. On a conventional level, things appear. On an ultimate level, appearances are empty. The two truths are inseparable, so how could one negate the other?
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Let me rephrase: the "ultimate truth", or emptiness, is itself empty. The point I was trying to make is that emptiness is not a transcendent and magical reality that one gains access to.
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Emptiness is, as you said, what appearances "ultimately" are. We only use the term ultimate because we're stuck with it. It's not another existent entity "underneath" or "beyond" convention which is somehow an exception to the rule.
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Where did Nagarjuna say this? I am unfamiliar with this aspect of his teachings.
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This is in the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. I'll try to find a direct quote when I'm home.
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Ok thank you
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