This article deals with various issues in Candrakīrti’s theory of two truths that have not been addressed in detail by scholars. As the second of two articles, it deals with Candrakīrti’s association of svabhāva with conventional truth. According to Candrakīrti, the establishment of conventional truth is closely related to possession of svabhāva. Because reality for ordinary deluded people is formed by their attachments to what they mistakenly believe to be svabhāva, the Buddha explains that svabhāva is not real, but should be understood as conventional truth (saṃvṛtisatya). In contrast with this, Candrakīrti also frequently states that svabhāva does not exist in either of the two truths. This article is an attempt to reconcile these two positions. As such, it analyzes Candrakīrti’s descriptions of the criteria for establishing conventional truth in the Madhyamakāvatāra-bhāṣya and Prasannapadā. It is found that because of svabhāva’s twofold relationship with conventional truth, the latter plays an important role in the establishment of a theory of truth, a theory of religious practice, and even of a theory of educational methods. As a result, the author finds that, rather than interpreting Candrakīrti’s theory of two truths from a perspective of discontinuity, if we regard it from a dynamic perspective in which it is complementary to the ultimate truth, we may gain a deeper understanding of the theory of two truths.
Key words:
Candrakīrti; satyadvaya; saṃvṛtisatya; svabhāva