viparyāsa

From Buddha-Nature

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Glossaryviparyāsa

Sanskrit Noun

viparyāsa

misperception, wrong perception
विपर्यास
ཕྱིན་ཅི་ལོག
顚倒

Basic Meaning

The misperception or incorrect view a person has of reality, which must be overcome by having correct understanding and right view. The four well known incorrect views are seeing impermanent phenomena as permanent, dissatisfactory nature of things as blissful, impure things as pure, and illusory things as absolute and real. However, in the context of buddha-nature theory or other systems, there are also other forms of misconceptions which contradict with objective reality.

Term Variations
Key Term viparyāsa
Topic Variation viparyāsa
Tibetan ཕྱིན་ཅི་ལོག  ( chyinchilok)
Wylie Tibetan Transliteration phyin ci log  ( chyinchilok)
Devanagari Sanskrit विपर्यास  ( viparyāsa)
Romanized Sanskrit viparyāsa  ( viparyāsa)
Chinese 顚倒
Chinese Pinyin diandao
Japanese Transliteration tendö
Korean Transliteration chöndo
Buddha-nature Site Standard English misperception, wrong perception
Jeffrey Hopkin's English Term mistaken, error
Ives Waldo's English Term perverse
Term Information
Source Language Sanskrit
Basic Meaning The misperception or incorrect view a person has of reality, which must be overcome by having correct understanding and right view. The four well known incorrect views are seeing impermanent phenomena as permanent, dissatisfactory nature of things as blissful, impure things as pure, and illusory things as absolute and real. However, in the context of buddha-nature theory or other systems, there are also other forms of misconceptions which contradict with objective reality.
Term Type Noun
Definitions
Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism In Sanskrit, lit. “inversion,” but referring to “perverted,” “corrupted,” or “inverted” views (the Chinese translation diandao literally means “upside down”) or simply “error.” There is a Standard list of four “inverted views” that cause sentient beings to remain subject to the cycle of rebirth (samsära). The four are (1) to view as pleasurable what is in fact painful or suffering (d u h k h a ), (2) to see as permanent what is in fact impermanent (anitya), (3) to see as pure what is in fact impure (aśubha), and (4) to see as having seif what is in fact devoid of seif (anätman). These four inversions are corrected through insight into the true nature of reality, which prompts the realization that the aggregates (skandha) are in fact suffering, impermanent, impure, and devoid of seif. In the tathägatagarbha literature, these four putatively correct views are in turn said also to be inversions from the standpoint of the tathägatagarbha, which is said to possess four perfect qualities (gunapäramitä): bliss, permanence, purity, and selfhood.