don dam bden pa

[translation-san] paramārtha-satya

[translation-eng] {Hopkins} ultimate truth

[definition-bod] mtshan nyid mdo sde pa'i lugs la/ don dam par don byed nus pa'i chos/

[definition-eng] Definition: (in the Sūtra School) a phenomenon that is ultimately able to perform a function [thus phenomena such as pots, etc. are ultimate truths in this system]

synonym

• [bod] dngos po/ mi rtag pa/ byas pa/ 'dus byas/ rgyu/ 'bras bu/ rang mtshan/ mngon gyur/ mngon sum gyi snang yul/

[comments] ultimate truths are understood in different ways by the various Buddhist systems; see definition headingComment: The Sanskrit for ""ultimate truth,"" paramārthasatya, is etymologized three ways within identifying parama as ""highest"" or ""ultimate,"" artha as ""object,"" and satya as ""truth."" In the first way, parama (highest, ultimate) refers to a consciousness of meditative equipoise directly realizing emptiness; artha (object) refers to the object of that consciousness, emptiness; and satya (truth) also refers to emptiness in that in direct perception emptiness appears the way it exists; that is, there is no discrepancy between the mode of appearance and the mode of being. In this interpretation, a paramārthasatya is a ""truth-that-is-an-object-of-the-highest-consciousness."" In the second way, both parama (highest, ultimate) and artha (object) refer to a consciousness of meditative equipoise directly realizing emptiness in that, in the broadest meaning of ""object,"" both objects and subjects are objects, and a consciousness of meditative equipoise directly realizing emptiness is the highest consciousness and thus highest object; satya (truth), as before, refers to emptiness. In this second interpretation, a paramārthasatya is an emptiness that exists the way it appears to a highest consciousness, a ""truth-of-a-highest-object."" In the third etymology, all three parts refer to emptiness in that an emptiness is the highest (the ultimate) and is also an object and a truth, a ""truth-that-is-the-highest-object."" Chandrakīrti, the chief Consequentialist, favors the third etymology in his Clear Words

Jeffrey Hopkins' Tibetan-Sanskrit-English Dictionary