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. |
