How do the Two Truths explain ordinary reality and ultimate reality?

In Mahayana Buddhism, the doctrine of the Two Truths—formulated by the philosopher Nagarjuna—provides a framework for understanding the relationship between ordinary experience and the nature of reality.12

The Two Truths

• Conventional Truth (saṃvṛti-satya): This refers to the empirical reality accepted in everyday life. It is based on common understanding, verbal designation, and practical communication. While useful for navigating the world, this level of reality is ultimately considered "empty" (shunyata) because things do not possess independent, substantial existence; they exist only in relation to surrounding conditions.123
• Ultimate Truth (paramārtha-satya): This is the true nature of the phenomenal world, which lies beyond verbal expression, thought, and duality. It is the realization that all things are empty of "own being" (svabhava).123

Resolving the Conflict

The Two Truths resolve the apparent conflict between how the world seems and how it truly is by clarifying that ordinary reality is merely a matter of convention or tacit agreement. Understanding the ultimate truth involves recognizing that ordinary reality lacks the substantial existence we typically attribute to it. By using the conventional world as a "ladder," practitioners can move toward an intuitive grasp of the absolute, ultimately leading to liberation from the cycle of samsara.32