CONCEPT OF TRUTH IN THE UPANISADS AND THE SUTTA-PITAKA

Abstract

This paper’s purpose is to clarify the starting point of the pursuit of the truth in the Upanisฺads and the Sutta-pitฺaka.

Generally in ancient India, the people’s main concern lies in a religious practice and a spiritual cultivation, not in a theoretical speculation. However, it does not necessarily mean that they have no interest in the philosophical quest for the truth. This “truth” (Skt. satya, PĀli sacca) is the Immortal. It is Brahma, which is also called “the truth of truth” (satyasya satyaṃ), in the Upanisฺads Or it is the Dhamma in the Sutta-pitฺaka. To understand this pursuit of the truth in ancient India, there is a clue. It is “knowledge” (SKT.JÑĀNA, PĀLI PAÑÑĀ).

In both the old Upanisฺads and early Buddhism, this knowledge, or this intuitive knowledge, is the starting point of the pursuit of the truth. Moreover, in both of them, this intuitive knowledge is regarded as “transcendental knowledge” or “universal knowledge.” In other words, this knowledge is that through which this whole ephemeral world is to be understood, or that through which the whole existence of this ephemeral world is established. This paper concludes that, in regard to this knowledge as the starting point of the pursuit of the truth, early Buddhism is an authentic follower of the old Upanisฺads