The Three Natures And Relationships: When Philosophy Becomes An Ally To Our Daily Situation

The Buddhist Yogācāra viewpoint on reality defines three basic modes by which we perceive our world. These are referred to as the three natures of perception. They are:

Parikalpita (literally, “fully conceptualized”): “imaginary nature”, wherein things are incorrectly comprehended based on conceptual construction, through attachment and erroneous discrimination.

Paratantra (literally, “other dependent”): “dependent nature”, by which the correct understanding of the dependently originated nature of things is understood.

Pariniṣpanna (literally, “fully accomplished”): “absolute nature”, through which one comprehends things as they are in themselves, uninfluenced by any conceptualization at all.

Also, regarding perception, the Yogācārins emphasized that our everyday understanding of the existence of external objects is problematic, since in appears under the habitual bias of the “imaginary” nature.

It offers us a practical platform to understand how to work with relationships that at time might become difficult.