Absolute

Absolute (Tib. döndam; Wyl. don dam), or absolute truth (Tib. döndam denpa) — everything has an absolute and a relative aspect: the absolute or ultimate is the inherent nature of everything, how things really are; the conventional or relative is how things appear. In the teachings, these are known as ‘the two truths’, but they are not to be understood as two separate Template:Wiki, rather as two aspects of a single reality.

Subdivisions

Patrul Rinpoche writes:

In its essence, [the absolute) is without any divisions, but still it is possible to speak of ‘divisions’ according to whether or not this reality has been realized. Thus, there are divisions into

• the absolute which is the basic nature itself and
• the absolute which is the realization (or ‘making evident’) of this basic nature.

Then again, there is the division into

• the absolute that is clarified through study and Template:Wiki and
• the absolute that is experienced through meditation practice;

or

• the absolute that is conceptually inferred by ordinary beings versus
• the absolute that is experienced directly by noble beings.

There is also a division into

• the Template:Wiki absolute (namdrangpé döndam) and
• the absolute that is beyond conceptualization (namdrang mayinpé döndam).

The Absolute is the Template:Wiki of an unconditional Template:Wiki which Template:Wiki limited, Template:Wiki, everyday Template:Wiki. It is sometimes used as an alternate term for "God" or "the Divine" especially, but by no means exclusively, by those who feel that the term "God" lends itself too easily to Template:Wiki presumptions. The Template:Wiki of The Absolute may or may not (depending on one's specific doctrine) possess discrete will, Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki, or a personal nature. It is sometimes conceived of as the source through which all being Template:Wiki. It contrasts with finite things, considered individually, and known collectively as the relative. This is reflected in its Template:Wiki origin Template:Wiki which means "loosened from" or "unattached."

English word, absolute, came from Middle Template:Wiki "absolut," which was originated from Template:Wiki "Template:Wiki," a Template:Wiki participle of "absolvo," a verb, meaning "to set free, end, and complete," and "detached, pure.

The term absolute denotes whatever is free from any condition or restriction, and Template:Wiki from any other element or factor. As with other concepts such as infinite, Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki, and others, absolute can be articulated only by negating finite concepts. Something that is absolute, in itself, is not immediately or directly accessible by Template:Wiki perception, Template:Wiki, and Template:Wiki. Thus, the Template:Wiki of absoluteness is usually defined by negating what are immediately available to Template:Wiki knowledge. Perception and Template:Wiki, in a usual sense of the term, are a relational event which presupposes relative elements such as knowing Template:Wiki and Template:Wiki of knowledge. If the term absolute is understood in the strict sense, it rejects the Template:Wiki which is inherent to the Template:Wiki of Template:Wiki Template:Wiki, understanding, and Template:Wiki. Template:Wiki discussed both Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki, and Template:Wiki difficulties in articulating and accessing knowledge of that which is absolute which is by definition beyond any Template:Wiki and limitations. Template:Wiki elaborated, in his Template:Wiki, the limit of and conditions of Template:Wiki knowledge and the role limit concepts play in Template:Wiki understanding. He also developed Template:Wiki arguments for the positive role of limit concepts in moral discourses.

In Template:Wiki Template:Wiki and Template:Wiki, the absolute is understood in the strict sense by excluding any form of Template:Wiki, which in turn raises questions regarding the Template:Wiki of God. For God to have a Template:Wiki, He must exist in relation to other beings; however, if God is absolute, then it poses a Template:Wiki within God to be both absolute and Template:Wiki to other beings. Template:Wiki, for example, denied God's Template:Wiki and creatorship. He instead proposed the Template:Wiki of God in the creation and a Template:Wiki Template:Wiki between God and the Template:Wiki. As with Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki attempted to explain the creation of the world without the notion of creation. Template:Wiki developed a Template:Wiki Template:Wiki of the absolute and its relationship with the Template:Wiki Template:Wiki. (see Template:Wiki and Template:Wiki)

The question of God's Template:Wiki and ([[[absoluteness]])] raises questions regarding God's nature and His relationships with human beings. Most contemporary Template:Wiki do not accept the Template:Wiki explanations given by Template:Wiki or Template:Wiki. As in Template:Wiki Template:Wiki, the question of Template:Wiki/Template:Wiki is also intertwined with questions of Template:Wiki and Template:Wiki. Some contemporary theories such as Open Template:Wiki, for example, approaches these issues from the Template:Wiki of God's dynamic, personal, and relative relationship with human beings.

Absolute values

In various religious traditions, the term absolute is also ascribed to various values and natures of God, or the Template:Wiki being, and to human beings. Absolute love is characterized as unconditional love, which constitutes unconditional forgiveness, unconditional giving without expectation of reward or benefits, and service for the sake of others. A few examples of absolute love in religious traditions include Template:Wiki love in Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki or compassion in Buddhism, etc.

Template:Wiki Template:Wiki was built upon the Template:Wiki Template:Wiki of the Good. Goodness of the Good (Template:Wiki goodness) is established by itself without recourse to any other condition. Kant's moral Template:Wiki also presupposes the unconditionality of the good.

In religious traditions, truth is also understood as an attribute of God or the Template:Wiki being. Absolute, unconditional Template:Wiki is often Template:Wiki from natural Template:Wiki and the former is said to be accessible by faith or revelation.

Faith in religion can also be qualified as unconditional. A Template:Wiki Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki characterized faith as an act beyond Template:Wiki Template:Wiki. Faith is required for one to enter into the religious realm precisely because faith involves some Template:Wiki incomprehensible elements and an existential commitment.

Similarities and differences in various traditions

Examples of religions and Template:Wiki which embrace the Template:Wiki of the Absolute in one form or another include Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki, some forms of Template:Wiki Template:Wiki, and existential or metaphysical forms of Template:Wiki. Terms which serve to identify The Absolute among such beliefs include Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki, Adibuddha, Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki, God, the Divine, and numerous other appellations. In Template:Wiki, the Template:Wiki of the Template:Wiki, and in Template:Wiki, the Template:Wiki of Nirvana is Template:Wiki in description to the attributes of the Absolute as used in the West.

The human vital essence - Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki, spark of Template:Wiki, is said to have originally derived in each case from the Absolute and to be indestructible after the nature of the Absolute, and to be capable of returning to its source. This returning is the goal of those Eastern religions that have such a Template:Wiki.

The general commonalities between the various versions of the Absolute are: infinity, indescribability, formlessness, Template:Wiki and Template:Wiki. An additional commonality is that one must Template:Wiki and/or transcend Template:Wiki Template:Wiki and its Template:Wiki, in some cases even to the point of extinguishing identity and Template:Wiki Template:Wiki, in order to understand or co-exist with the Absolute. Uniformly, human passions and vices are regarded as barriers to spiritual advancement, and such Template:Wiki as Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki and Template:Wiki or Template:Wiki are felt to help pave the way to Template:Wiki.
Thing in itself

Roughly, the Absolute may be Template:Wiki from the following concepts, although there is debate of the synonymity between them:

    Thing-in-itself, an actual object and its properties Template:Wiki of any observer.
    The Template:Wiki is a posited object or event that is known (if at all) without the use of the senses.

However, rather than distinguishing from the relative, the thing in itself is used to distinguish an actual object from Template:Wiki (the appearance of things-in-themselves to the senses).
The Absolute in philosophy

Template:Wiki concerned himself with the knowable portion of the Absolute with his Template:Wiki. Template:Wiki, a Template:Wiki Template:Wiki, saw all forms of existence as Template:Wiki from 'The One'. The One of Template:Wiki is a trans-sentient power or force. The Template:Wiki of the Absolute was re-introduced into Template:Wiki by Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki, and their followers; it is associated with various forms of Template:Wiki Template:Wiki. The Absolute, either under that name, or as the "Ground of Being", or some similar Template:Wiki, also figures in several of the attempted proofs of the Template:Wiki of God, particularly the Template:Wiki argument and the Template:Wiki argument. In Template:Wiki Template:Wiki the Absolute was regarded as Pure Act, unadulterated with remaining potential.

The Template:Wiki was adopted into Template:Wiki Template:Wiki Template:Wiki (though without Hegel's complex Template:Wiki and Template:Wiki apparatus), where it received an almost Template:Wiki exposition at the hands of Template:Wiki. Template:Wiki (followed by others including Template:Wiki) conceived the Absolute as a single all-encompassing Template:Wiki, rather along the lines of Template:Wiki and Template:Wiki. Likewise, Template:Wiki in the United States conceived the Absolute as a unitary Knower Whose experience constitutes what we know as the "Template:Wiki" Template:Wiki.

The Template:Wiki Template:Wiki equated the Template:Wiki Template:Wiki of the Absolute Template:Wiki with God.

However, the Template:Wiki need not be taken to imply a Template:Wiki unitary consciousness. American philosopher Template:Wiki, for example, conceived the Absolute as a single overarching intelligible system but declined to characterize it in terms of consciousness or experience.

In eastern Template:Wiki the Absolute is known as Template:Wiki and to occult Template:Wiki is known as the Template:Wiki or Ever-Darkness. According to Template:Wiki both the Template:Wiki and the Template:Wiki contain indirect hints to an Ultimate Reality an unknowable principle. Taimni describes the Template:Wiki as unknowable by the human mind and unthinkable but the highest object of Template:Wiki and the most profound object of Template:Wiki enquiry. Taimni wrote that:

    Because the Ultimate Reality which is denoted by the word 'Absolute' or 'Template:Wiki' is the very core of our being as well as the cause and basis of the Template:Wiki of which we are part, we can no more get away from it than our Template:Wiki can get away from the Template:Wiki round which it resolves and from which it receives everything which keeps it alive and moving. Although the Absolute is sometimes referred to by such Template:Wiki as the Template:Wiki, Ever-Darkness etc. and is beyond Template:Wiki comprehension, still, from the Template:Wiki point of view it is the most profound Template:Wiki in the whole realm of Template:Wiki. The fact that it is called 'Unknowable' does not mean that it is beyond the range of Template:Wiki or Template:Wiki Template:Wiki and something on which thinking is impossible or undesirable. The very fact that it is the heart and the basis of the Template:Wiki should make it the most intriguing object of enquiry within the Template:Wiki of the Template:Wiki.

    — I.K. Taimni, 'Man, God and the Universe', Chapter 1

 An absolute term denotes a property that a thing either can or cannot have. Such terms include absolute itself, chief, complete, Template:Wiki, prime, unique, and Template:Wiki terms such as Template:Wiki and parallel. By strict Template:Wiki, absolute terms cannot be compared, as by more and most, or used with an intensive modifier, such as very or so. Something either is complete or it isn'tit cannot be more complete than something else. Consequently, sentences such as He wanted to make his record collection more complete, and You can improve the sketch by making the lines more Template:Wiki, are often criticized as illogical. · Such criticism confuses pure logic or a Template:Wiki Template:Wiki with the rough Template:Wiki that are frequently needed in ordinary Template:Wiki. Certainly in some contexts we should use words strictly Template:Wiki; otherwise teaching Template:Wiki would be impossible. But we often think in terms of a scale or Template:Wiki rather than in clearly marked either/or categories. Thus, we may think of a statement as either Template:Wiki true or false, but we also know that there are degrees of truthfulness and falsehood. Similarly, there may be degrees of completeness to a record collection, and some lines may be more Template:Wiki that is, they may more nearly approximate Template:Wiki perpendicularity than other lines. · Accordingly, the objection to modification of an absolute term like parallel by degree seems absurd when it is used Template:Wiki, as in The difficulties faced by the Republicans are quite parallel to those that confronted the Template:Wiki four years ago. This statement describes the structural correspondence between two Template:Wiki situations, and concerns about the possibility of intersection seem remote indeed. In this sense, parallelism is clearly a Template:Wiki of degree, so one should not hesitate to modify parallel accordingly.

1. complete; Template:Wiki
2. free from limitations, restrictions, or exceptions; unqualified an absolute choice
3. having unlimited authority; despotic an absolute ruler
4. undoubted; certain the absolute truth
5. not dependent on, conditioned by, or relative to anything else; Template:Wiki an absolute term in Template:Wiki the absolute value of a Template:Wiki in Template:Wiki
6. pure; unmixed absolute alcohol
7. (Template:Wiki / Template:Wiki) (of a Template:Wiki construction) syntactically Template:Wiki of the main clause, as for example the construction Joking apart in the sentence Joking apart, we'd better leave now
8. (Template:Wiki / Template:Wiki) Template:Wiki (of a transitive verb) used without a direct object, as the verb intimidate in the sentence His Template:Wiki are good, but his rough manner tends to intimidate
9. (Template:Wiki / Template:Wiki) Template:Wiki (of an Template:Wiki) used as a Template:Wiki, as for instance young and aged in the sentence The young care little for the aged
10. (Template:Wiki / General Template:Wiki) Template:Wiki
a. (postpositive) (of a pressure measurement) not relative to atmospheric pressure the pressure was 5 bar absolute Compare gauge [18]
b. denoting absolute or thermodynamic temperature
11. (Template:Wiki) Maths
a. (of a constant) never changing in value
b. (of an inequality) unconditional
c. (of a term) not containing a variable
12. (Law) Law (of a court order or decree) coming into effect immediately and not liable to be modified; final See decree absolute
13. (Law) Law (of a title to property, etc.) not subject to any encumbrance or condition
n
something that is absolute

1. being fully or perfectly as indicated; Template:Wiki; Template:Wiki.
2. free from restriction, limitation, or exception: absolute power; absolute freedom.
3. outright; unqualified: an absolute lie; an absolute Template:Wiki.
4. unrestrained in the exercise of governmental power; not limited by laws or a constitution: an absolute Template:Wiki.
5. viewed Template:Wiki; not comparative or relative; ultimate: absolute knowledge.
6. positive; certain; definite: absolute in opinion; absolute proof.
7. not mixed or adulterated; pure.
8.
a. relatively Template:Wiki syntactically in relation to other elements in a sentence, as the construction It being Sunday in It being Sunday, I wasn't at work.
b. (of a usu. transitive verb) used without an object, as give in Please give generously.
c. (of an Template:Wiki or Template:Wiki Template:Wiki) used alone, with the Template:Wiki that is modified understood but not expressed, as hungry in to feed the hungry or mine in Take mine.
9. Template:Wiki.
a. Template:Wiki of arbitrary standards or of particular properties of Template:Wiki or systems: Template:Wiki humidity.
b. pertaining to a system of units, as the centimeter-gram-second system, based on some primary units, esp. units of length, Template:Wiki, and time.
c. pertaining to a measurement based on an absolute zero or unit, as in the absolute temperature scale.
10. Math. (of an inequality) indicating that the expression is true for all values of the variable, as x2 + 1 > 0 for all real numbers x.
n.
11. something that is not dependent upon external conditions for existence or for its specific nature, size, etc. (opposed to relative).
12. the absolute,
a. something that is free from any restriction or condition.
b. something that is Template:Wiki of some or all relations.
c. something that is Template:Wiki or complete.
[1350–1400; Template:Wiki < Latin Template:Wiki complete, finished, unqualified, past participle of absolvere to release; see absolve]

Criticism

From a Buddhist perspective, there is no text in which the Buddha explicitly argues that the Template:Wiki lacks an Template:Wiki; he instead critiques positions regarding an ultimate nature of Template:Wiki — such as those found in the Template:Wiki — in the manner of later Template:Wiki. The Template:Wiki of the early texts does speak of experiencing "Template:Wiki Template:Wiki" beyond the six sense media. Passages in which the Buddha criticizes those who talk about things not amenable to Template:Wiki are quite common in the early texts.

Nagarjuna, one of the most prominent Template:Wiki of Mahayana Buddhism, was considered by early Template:Wiki as propounding an absolutist doctrine with his development of the Buddhist concept of shunyata. This is criticized by many modern Template:Wiki as incorrect and not grounded on textual evidence. The consesnsus is that Nagarjuna defended the classical Buddhist emphasis on phenomena. For him shunyata is explicitly used as a middle way between Template:Wiki and Template:Wiki, and that is where its Template:Wiki power lies. It does not refer specifically to an Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki, or absolute nature of Template:Wiki. Holding up emptiness as an absolute or ultimate truth without reference to that which is empty is the last thing either the Buddha or Nagarjuna would advocate. Nagarjuna criticized those who conceptualized shunyata: "The Victorious Ones have announced that emptiness is the relinquishing of all views. Those who are possessed of the view of emptiness are said to be incorrigible." By contrast, many schools of Mahayana Buddhism, particularly those in alignment with the Tathagatagarbha scriptures, affirmed some notions regarding a positive absolute, identifying it with the true or original substance or Template:Wiki of the Buddha.
Quotations

Kant questioned whether the absolute can be thought.

    People have always spoken of the absolutely necessary [absolutnotwendigen] being, and have taken pains, not so much to understand whether and how a thing of this kind can even be Template:Wiki, but rather to prove its Template:Wiki.... if by means of the word unconditioned I dismiss all the conditions that the understanding always requires in order to regard something as necessary, this does not come close to enabling me to understand whether I then still think something through a concept of an unconditionally necessary being, or perhaps think nothing at all through it.

    — Critique of Pure Reason, A593

Template:Wiki criticized Template:Wiki's claims about the non-relative Absolute.

    Template:Wiki are but symbols for the relations of things to one another and to us; nowhere do they touch upon absolute truth. ... Thus it is, today, after Template:Wiki, an audacious ignorance if here and there, especially among badly informed theologians who like to play Template:Wiki, the task of Template:Wiki is represented as being quite certainly "comprehending the Absolute with the consciousness," somewhat completely in the form "the Absolute is already present, how could it be sought somewhere else?" as Hegel has expressed it.

    — Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks, § 11.