In Buddhist context, paramartha refers to the absolute, as opposed to merely conventional, truth or reality. Knowledge is considered as split into three levels: The first being the illusory (called samvriti, parikalpita or pratibhasika according to different schools of thought), considered false compared to the empirical (samvriti, paratantra or vyavaharika), in turn trumped by the transcendental (paramartha or paramarthika). Compare: samvriti

Etymology:

• Sanskrit: paramārtha