“Designation” is the provisional naming that refers to things that lack any intrinsic nature. In Buddhism, some schools argue that nothing in the universe exists. The reason why things appear to be different from each other is that as soon as they are designated by different names, what the names refer to are mistaken as the distinctive objects that exist in reality. But the truth is that things are all made by the combination of certain conditions and circumstances and gain their names through superimposition of conceptions. Since the names of things cannot correspond to anything real, the names are known as mere “designations.”

When explaining the three realms of existence, one just has mere designations. When the coarse cognition, like “a bottle,” has been done away with, one knows that there appears to be this entity because of the term. Those who have carefully observed and understood the case will do away with (false cognitions such as) the fear of a snake while there is but a rope. (Dignāga: Balled Hand Treatise)