Three general meanings of svabhāva can be distinguished, even though, as we
shall see, they are intricately related to one another. First, there is the sense in which,ordinarily, a thing appears to us to exist from its own side, independent of any relations it may happen to have. These include relations with its causes, effects, and conditions, with subjects who perceive and conceptualize it, and with the name that is used to refer to it.
To take an example, the oak in the garden, we assume, is truly there, and its existence is given, independently of whether we, or anyone else, experience it. We assume that
whatever we choose to call it, it will always be that very same thing, that our naming of it does not affect its intrinsic identity. We also assume that it is completely independent from the wind rustling its leaves or the bird nest it supports. These are seen to be separate from the tree itself, and external to it; in other words, everything is perceived to have its own clear and distinct identity, and to be autonomous from everything else.