The Threefold Truth
The Tiantai school took up the principle of The Threefold Truth, derived from Nāgārjuna:
- Phenomena are empty of self-nature,
- Phenomena exist provisionally from a worldly perspective,
- Phenomena are both empty of existence and exist provisionally at once.
The transient world of phenomena is thus seen as one with the unchanging, undifferentiated substratum of existence. This doctrine of interpenetration is reflected in the Tiantai teaching of three thousand realms in a single moment of thought.
The Threefold Truth has its basis in Nāgārjuna:
All things arise through causes and conditions.That I declare as emptiness.
It is also a provisional designation.
Famous quotes containing the word truth:
“Ah, the truth, what a thing it is! I sacrifice so much for it, with people: I forego, for truth’s sake, discretion, loyalty, diplomacy, tact, polite manners, elegance, grace, poise, balance, good taste, conformity, image-role, fashionableness, polish, confidences, promises, ambition, consistency, identity, clarity, comprehensibleness, good will, hypocrisy, and lots of other things—amass sacrifice, at truth’s altar. God! is truth worth it? I hope it is. It better be, in fact.”
—Marvin Cohen, U.S. author and humorist. Fables at Life’s Expense, “Where Does Truth Lie,” Latitudes Press (1975)