Buddhism: Week 1
Relative Truth and Absolute Truth
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Once you move to the level of participative knowing, you experience the union between us all, and you know that union is more real than the differences. This really is the heart of the matter. Until it becomes a realization—that we really are, objectively, metaphysically, ontologically more one than many—you are not yet at Mysticism 101. It has to be a cellular, inner experience. It’s something you know by prayer, love, and suffering. It is nothing I can prove to you logically. Paul’s explanation of this experience (which Buddhists say is the most Buddhist of all of Paul’s lines) is “I live no longer, not I, but Christ lives in me and I in him” (Galatians 2:20). That is the experience of the True Self, which is already in union with God! This Richard self, this little thing that appears to be visible here and takes itself too seriously, is a relative identity, but it’s not my absolute identity that will exist forever. [1]
Thich Nhat Hanh writes, “According to Buddhism, there are two kinds of truth, relative or worldly truth . . . and absolute truth.” [2] He uses wonderful imagery to help us grasp the difference between these truths and between our two selves, the small, false self and the true, eternal self:
When we look at the ocean, we see that each wave has a beginning and an end. A wave can be compared with other waves, and we can call it more or less beautiful, higher or lower, longer lasting or less long lasting. But if we look more deeply, we see that a wave is made of water. While living the life of a wave, it also lives the life of water. It would be sad if the wave did not know that it is water. It would think, “Someday, I will have to die. This period of time is my life span, and when I arrive at the shore, I will return to nonbeing.” These notions will cause the wave fear and anguish. We have to help it remove the notions of self, person, living being, and life span if we want the wave to be free and happy.
A wave can be recognized by signs—high or low, beginning or ending, beautiful or ugly. But in the world of the water, there are no signs. In the world of relative truth, the wave feels happy as she swells, and she feels sad when she falls. She may think, “I am high,” or “I am low,” and develop a superiority or inferiority complex. But when the wave touches her true nature—which is water—all her complexes will cease, and she will transcend birth and death.
We become arrogant when things go well, and we are afraid of falling, or being low or inadequate. But these are relative ideas, and when they end, a feeling of completeness and satisfaction arises. Liberation is the ability to go from the world of signs to the world of true nature. We need the relative world of the wave [emphasis mine], but we also need to touch the water, the ground of our being, to have real peace and joy [and this is what so many contemporary people lack]. We shouldn’t allow relative truth to imprison us and keep us from touching absolute truth. Looking deeply into relative truth, we penetrate the absolute. Relative and absolute truths inter-embrace. Both truths, relative and absolute, have a value. [3]
Thich Nhat Hanh invites us into contemplative, meditative practice wherein we can experience the reality of our union: “The deeper level of practice is to lead our daily life in a way that we touch the absolute and the relative truth. In the dimension of relative truth, the Buddha passed away many years ago. But in the realm of absolute truth, we can take his hand and join him for walking meditation every day. . . . You don’t have to [physically] die to enter nirvana or the kingdom of God. You only have to dwell deeply in the present moment, right now.” [4]
Gateway to Silence:
To understand everything is to forgive everything. —Buddha
References:
[1] Richard Rohr, Jesus and Buddha: Paths to Awakening (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2008), disc 1 (CD, DVD, MP3 download).
[2] Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching (Broadway Books: 1998), 121.
[3] Ibid., 124-125.
[4] Ibid., 128.