The Development of Neyyattha and Nītattha

Abstract

This article examines the meaning and development of the concept of neyyattha–nītattha in Theravāda Buddhism, a hermeneutical principle used to distinguish between the Buddha’s discourses that require interpretation (neyyattha) and those that are directly intelligible (nītattha), in order to prevent misrepresentation of the Dhamma. The commentarial tradition explains that expressions employing conventional designations (sammuti), such as “person” or “being,” are neyyattha statements because their literal meaning cannot be taken at face value and must be interpreted in accordance with the principle of paramattha-sacca (ultimate truth). In contrast, teachings such as “All conditioned phenomena are impermanent” are nītattha, since they directly convey the nature of reality. This distinction reflects a linguistic understanding that the Buddha employed worldly language without reifying it as ultimate truth, recognizing that language is a relative and context-dependent construct.

Subsequently, the concept of neyyattha–nītattha evolved into the framework of sammuti-sacca and paramattha-sacca, forming the basis of the two-truth theory later articulated by Nāgārjuna and developed within the Theravāda commentarial tradition to explain the relationship between linguistic expression and truth in the Buddha’s discourses. Buddhaghosa and Dhammapāla further advanced this interpretative approach through the notion of upacāra (“figurative usage”), a linguistic hermeneutic method encompassing categories such as phalūpacāra, karaṇūpacāra, ṭhānūpacāra, and abhedūpacāra. This development gave rise to an increasingly sophisticated system of textual analysis, demonstrating the systematic evolution of Buddhist hermeneutics from the time of the Buddha to the commentarial era.