The Four Perversions

Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; BPS.lk; Ven. Nyanatiloka Mahathera, Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines (vipallāsa)

To see things as they are NOT is distorted delusion springing from ignorance. To see reality just AS IT IS is enlightenment springing from having rightly cultivated liberating-wisdom.

 

''There are four perversions or distortions (vipallāsa), which may be either of perception, consciousness, or of views. What are these four distortions? They are to regard:

1. what is actually impermanent as permanent,
   
2. what is actually unpleasant as pleasant (capable of yielding lasting happiness),
   
3. what is actually without a self as a self,
   
4. what is actually foul (ugly) as beautiful" (AN.IV.49).

• See Manual of Insight (Ledi Sayadaw, Wheel 31/32, p.5).

We don't have that in Iceland (Bjork)

According to the Path of Purification, the following perversions are eliminated by the first path-knowledge (stream entry, the first stage of enlightenment): the perversions of perception, consciousness, and views that the impermanent is permanent or that what is not a self is a self, and furthermore the perversion of views that the unpleasant is pleasant and that the foul is beautiful.

 

By the third path-knowledge (non-returning) are eliminated the perversions of perception and consciousness that the foul is beautiful.

 

By the fourth path-knowledge (full enlightenment) are eliminated the perversions of perception and consciousness that the unpleasant is pleasant (Vis.M. XXII, 68).