Dear friends,

Intro:

The Buddha taught conventional truth, sammutti sacca, and ultimate
truth, paramattha sacca.
The Commentary to M.N.5, No Blemishes, states about these two ways of
teaching:
<Buddhassa Bhagavato duvidhaa desanaa: sammuttidesanaa,
paramatthadesanaa caa ti.

There is a twofold teaching of the Buddha, the Blessed One: the teaching
in the conventional way and the teaching by way of ultimate realities.

Tattha puggalo, satto, itthii, puriso, khattiyo, braama.no, devo,
Maaro ti
evaruupa sammutidesanaa.

There is a human, a being, a woman, a man, a man of the warrior caste, a
brahman, a god, and Mara. Such is the teaching in the conventional way.

Anicca.m, dukkha.m, anattaa, khandhaa, dhaatuu, aayatanaani,
satipa.t.thaanaa ti evaruupaa paramattha desanaa.

Impermanence, dukkha, anattaa, the aggregates, elements, sensefields,
satipa.t.thaana. Such is the teaching by way of ultimate realities.

Tattha Bhagavaa, ye sammutivasena desana.m sutvaa attha.m
pa.tivijjhitvaa
moha.m pahaaya visesam adhigantu.m samatthaa, tesa.m sammuti desana.m
deseti.

Here the Blessed One taught to those in the conventional way who by
means
of it, after having heard the teaching , penetrated the meaning and
abandoned ignorance, and were skilled to attain distinction.

Ye pana paramatthavasena desana.m sutvaa attha.m pa.tivijjhitvaa moha.m
pahaaya visesam adhigantu.m samatthaa, tesa.m paramatthadesana.m deseti.

But who by means of ultimate realities after having heard the teaching ,
penetrated the meaning and abandoned ignorance, and were skilled to
attain
distinction, to those he taught by way of ultimate realities. >
--------------
In the Suttanta we find the teaching in conventional way, but also
the teaching by way of ultimate realities. When the Buddha spoke in
the suttas about situations and people, he pointed to the truth of
impermanence, dukkha and anattaa. He knew the dispositions of
different beings and which kind of teaching was most suitable for them.

The teaching of the Abhidhamma is mainly by way of ultimate
realities, paramattha dhammas. In order to have understanding of the
Abhidhamma it is essential to know the difference between ultimate
realities, paramattha dhammas and concepts, pa~n~natti, such as a
person or a tree.

--------

Nina.






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]