Doubly Inverted

The term “doubly inverted” can be used as a metaphor for the depth of delusion that sustains samsaric existence. In Buddhist psychology, even ordinary perception is already inverted (*vipallāsa*) — mistaking impermanence for permanence, suffering for happiness, non-self for self, and the impure for the pure. But when this inversion is further layered by conceptual proliferation and identification, delusion compounds itself.

First, we misperceive reality at the level of raw perception: we take fleeting phenomena as stable, desirable, and controllable. Then, through thought and attachment, we elaborate these perceptions into complex narratives — creating identities, roles, and imagined futures based on illusions. This is the second inversion: not only are we deluded, but we become deluded about our delusion itself, defending and reinforcing our misconceptions.

The “doubly inverted” state traps beings in a self-perpetuating web of craving and aversion. Even spiritual practice can fall into this pattern when subtle forms of self-identification and spiritual pride arise.

The path of insight involves systematically undoing both layers. Through mindfulness, we first recognize the impermanence and constructed nature of perceptions. Then, through deeper wisdom, we dismantle the narrative structures and identifications built upon them. What remains is simple, direct knowing — free from conceptual overlays and self-referencing tendencies.

Freedom lies not in adding new views, but in relinquishing the layers of inversion that obscure the luminous simplicity of experience itself.

“Delusion about delusion — this is the most subtle chain. But when the mind sees clearly, even this last knot unties itself.”
— Tibetan Dzogchen teaching