Visuddhimagga

The ''Visuddhimagga'' (Pali; English: ''The Path of Purification''), is the 'great treatise' on Buddhist practice and Theravāda Abhidhamma written by Buddhaghosa approximately in the 5th century in Sri Lanka. It is a manual condensing and systematizing the 5th century understanding and interpretation of the Buddhist path as maintained by the elders of the Mahavihara Monastery in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.

It is considered the most important Theravada text of outside of the Tipitaka canon of scriptures,See, for instance, Kheminda Thera, in Ehara et al. 1995 p. xliii: "The ''Visuddhimagga'' is a household word in all ''Theravāda'' lands. No scholar of Buddhism whether of ''Theravāda'' or of ''Mahāyāna'' is unacquainted with it." and is described as "the hub of a complete and coherent method of exegesis of the Tipitaka."

Background

Structure

The structure of the ''Visuddhimagga'' is based on the ''Ratha-vinita Sutta'' ("Relay Chariots Discourse," MN 24), which describes the progression from the purity of discipline to the final destination of nibbana in seven steps. The ''Visuddhimaggas material also strongly resembles the material found in an earlier treatise called the Vimuttimagga (c. 1st or 2nd century).

Reflecting later developments

The ''Visuddhimaggas doctrine reflects Theravada Abhidhamma scholasticism, which includes several innovations and interpretations not found in the earliest discourses (''suttas'') of the Buddha. Buddhaghosa's ''Visuddhimagga'' includes non-canonical instructions on Theravada meditation, such as "ways of guarding the mental image (nimitta)," which point to later developments in Theravada meditation.

''Kasina''-meditation

The ''Visuddhimagga'' concerns '' kasina''-meditation, a form of concentration-meditation in which the mind is focused on a (mental) object.Bhikkhu Thanissaro
''Concentration and Discernment''
/ref> According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu, " e text then tries to fit all other meditation methods into the mold of kasina practice, so that they too give rise to countersigns, but even by its own admission, breath meditation does not fit well into the mold." In its emphasis on ''kasina''-meditation, the ''Visuddhimagga'' departs from the Pali Canon, in which ''dhyana'' is the central meditative practice, indicating that what "jhana means in the commentaries is something quite different from what it means in the Canon."

Non-Theravada influences

Kalupahana notes that the ''Visuddhimagga'' contains "some metaphysical speculations, such as those of the Sarvastivadins, the Sautrantikas, and even the Yogacarins". Kalupahana comments:

Contents

Summary

The ''Visuddhimagga'' is composed of three sections, which discuss: 1) ''Sīla'' (ethics or discipline); 2) ''Samādhi'' (meditative concentration); 3) '' Pañña'' (understanding or wisdom).
* The first section (part 1) explains the rules of discipline, and the method for finding a correct temple to practice, or how to meet a good teacher.
* The second section (part 2) describes samatha practice, object by object (see Kammatthana for the list of the forty traditional objects). It mentions different stages of concentration.
* The third section (part 3-7) is a description of the five skandhas (aggregates), ayatanas, the Four Noble Truths, dependent origination (Pratitya-samutpada), and the practice of vipassana through the development of wisdom. It emphasizes different forms of knowledge emerging because of the practice. This part shows a great analytical effort specific to Buddhist philosophy.

Seven Stages of Purification

This comparison between practice and "seven relay chariots" points at the goal. Each purity is needed to attain the next. They are often referred to as the "Seven Stages of Purification" (''satta-visuddhi''):
# Purification of Conduct (''sīla-visuddhi'')
# Purification of Mind (''citta-visuddhi'')
# Purification of View (''ditthi-visuddhi'')
# Purification by Overcoming Doubt (''kankha-vitarana-visuddhi'')
# Purification by Knowledge and Vision of What Is Path and Not Path (''maggamagga-ñanadassana-visuddhi'')
# Purification by Knowledge and Vision of the Course of Practice (''patipada-ñanadassana-visuddhi'')
## Knowledge of contemplation of rise and fall (''udayabbayanupassana-nana'')
## Knowledge of contemplation of dissolution (''bhanganupassana-nana'')
## Knowledge of appearance as terror (''bhayatupatthana-nana'')
## Knowledge of contemplation of danger (''adinavanupassana-nana'')
## Knowledge of contemplation of dispassion (''nibbidanupassana-nana'')
## Knowledge of desire for deliverance (''muncitukamyata-nana'')
## Knowledge of contemplation of reflection (''patisankhanupassana-nana'')
## Knowledge of equanimity about formations (''sankharupekka-nana'')
## Conformity knowledge (''anuloma-nana'')
# Purification by Knowledge and Vision (''ñanadassana-visuddhi'')
## Change of lineage
## The first path and fruit
## The second path and fruit
## The third path and fruit
## The fourth path and fruit

The "Purification by Knowledge and Vision" is the culmination of the practice, in four stages leading to liberation and Nirvana. The emphasis in this system is on understanding the three marks of existence, dukkha, anatta, anicca. This emphasis is recognizable in the value that is given to vipassana over samatha in the contemporary vipassana movement.

Siddhis

According to scholars, the ''Visuddhimagga'' is one of the extremely rare texts within the enormous literatures of various forms of Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism to give explicit details about how spiritual masters were thought to actually manifest supernormal abilities. Abilities such as flying through the air, walking through solid obstructions, diving into the ground, walking on water and so forth are performed by changing one element, such as earth, into another element, such as air. The individual must master '' kasina'' meditation before this is possible. Dipa Ma, who trained via the ''Visuddhimagga'', was said to demonstrate these abilities.

Influence

Traditional Theravada

The ''Visuddhimagga'' is considered the most important Theravada text outside of the Tipitaka canon of scriptures, along with the Milindapañha.

"Of the extra-canonical literature the most important of the early books are the Milindapañha and Visuddhimagga." According to Nanamoli Bhikkhu, the ''Visuddhimagga'' is "the hub of a complete and coherent method of exegesis of the Tipitaka, using the ‘ Abhidhamma method' as it is called. And it sets out detailed practical instructions for developing purification of mind."

Contemporary Theravada

The ''Visuddhimagga'' is one of the main texts on which contemporary ''vipassana'' method is based, together with the ''Satipatthana Sutta''. Yet, its emphasis on ''kasina''-meditation and its claim of the possibility of "dry insight" has also been criticised and rejected by some contemporary Theravada scholars and ''vipassana''-teachers.

According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "the Visuddhimagga uses a very different paradigm for concentration from what you find in the Canon." Bhante Henepola Gunaratana also notes that what "the suttas say is not the same as what the Visuddhimagga says ..they are actually different," leading to a divergence between a raditionalscholarly understanding and a practical understanding based on meditative experience. Gunaratana further notes that Buddhaghosa invented several key meditation terms which are not to be found in the suttas, such as "''parikamma samadhi'' (preparatory concentration), ''upacara samadhi'' (access concentration), ''appanasamadhi'' (absorption concentration)." Gunaratana also notes that Buddhaghosa's emphasis on ''kasina''-meditation is not to be found in the suttas, where ''dhyana'' is always combined with mindfulness.

Bhikkhu Sujato has argued that certain views regarding Buddhist meditation expounded in the Visuddhimagga are a "distortion of the Suttas" since it denies the necessity of jhana. The Australian monk Shravasti Dhammika is also critical of contemporary practice based on this work. He concludes that Buddhaghosa did not believe that following the practice set forth in the Visuddhimagga will really lead him to Nirvana, basing himself on the postscript to the Visuddhimagga:

However, according to the Burmese scholar Venerable Pandita, the postscript to the Visuddhimagga is not by Buddhaghosa.

See also

* Buddhaghosa
* Vimuttimagga
* Patisambhidamagga
* Śīla
* Samatha
* Vipassanā

Editions

Printed Pali editions

* Caroline A. F. Rhys Davids, ''Visuddhimagga'' Pali Text Society, London, 1920 & 1921. (Latin script)
* Warren, H. C. & Kosambi, D. D. ''Visuddhimagga of Buddhaghosâcariya'', Harvard Oriental Series, Vol. 41, 1950.(Latin script)
* Hewavitarne Bequest edition, Colombo, Sri Lanka (Sinhala script)

South-East Asia

;Sinhala
* ''Sinhala Visuddhimargaya'', Pandita Matara Sri Dharmavamsa Sthavira, Matara, Sri Lanka, 1953 (Sinhala)
;Burmese
* Hanthawaddy Press edition, Rangoon, Myanmar (Burmese script)
;Thai
* Royal Siamese edition, Bangkok, Thailand (Thai script)
* ''คัมภีร์วิสุทธิมรรค (Khamphi Wisutthimak)'', Somdej Phra Buddhacarya (Ard Asabhamahathera), sixth edition. Bangkok: Mahachulalongkornrajvidyalaya University, B.E. 2548 (2005).

English translations

* The Path of Purity, Pe Maung (trans.), Pali Text Society, London, 3 vols., 1922–3
Part 1: Of VirtuePart 2: Of Concentration

Part 3: Of Understanding
* Bhikkhu Nyanamoli (trans.),
The Path of Purification, Visuddhimagga
', Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy 2011, .
* ''Buddhist Meditation'', Edward Conze (trans.), NB: Partial translation, 2002,

Other European translations

* ''Der Weg zur Reinheit'', Nyanatiloka & Verlag Christiani (trans.), Konstanz, 1952 (German)
* ''Le chemin de la pureté'', Christian Maës, Fayard 2002 (Français),

Notes

References

Sources

*

*

*

*
*
*
* .

* Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1999)
''Ratha-vinita Sutta: Relay Chariots''
( MN 24).

External links

Mahasi Sayadaw, '' The Progress of Insight (Visuddhiñana-katha)

Ve. Matara Sri Nanarama, ''The Seven Stages of Purification & The Insight Knowledges''

The entire ''Visuddhimagga'': The Path of Purification by Bhadantacariya Buddhaghosa tr. by Ñānamoli Thera

The Path of Purification (''Visuddhimagga'') by Bhadantacariya Buddhaghosa
*
Guide through the Visuddhimagga
' by U Dhammaratana
*
Vimuttimagga and Visuddhimagga
' by P. V. Bapat
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