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Visuddhimagga
The ''Visuddhimagga'' (Pali; English: ''The Path of Purification''; ), is the 'great treatise' on Buddhism, 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 outside 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," Majjhima Nikaya, MN 24) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddhaghosa With Three Copies Of Visuddhimagga
Buddhaghosa was a 5th-century Sinhalese Theravada, Theravādin Buddhist commentator, translator, and Buddhist philosophy, philosopher. He worked in the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya, great monastery (''mahāvihāra'') at Anuradhapura, Anurādhapura, Sri Lanka and saw himself as being part of the Vibhajyavāda school and in the lineage of the Sinhalese ''mahāvihāra''. His best-known work is the ''Visuddhimagga'' ("Path of Purification"), a comprehensive summary of older Sinhala language, Sinhala commentaries on the Pāli Canon, scriptural canon of the Theravāda school. According to Sarah Shaw, in Theravāda Buddhism this systematic work is "the principal text on the subject of Dhyana in Buddhism, meditation." The interpretations provided by Buddhaghosa have generally constituted the orthodox understanding of Theravādin scriptures since at least the 12th century CE. Buddhaghosa is generally recognized by both Western scholars and Theravādin Buddhists as the most important phil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddhaghosa
Buddhaghosa was a 5th-century Sinhalese Theravādin Buddhist commentator, translator, and philosopher. He worked in the great monastery (''mahāvihāra'') at Anurādhapura, Sri Lanka and saw himself as being part of the Vibhajyavāda school and in the lineage of the Sinhalese ''mahāvihāra''. His best-known work is the ''Visuddhimagga'' ("Path of Purification"), a comprehensive summary of older Sinhala commentaries on the scriptural canon of the Theravāda school. According to Sarah Shaw, in Theravāda Buddhism this systematic work is "the principal text on the subject of meditation." The interpretations provided by Buddhaghosa have generally constituted the orthodox understanding of Theravādin scriptures since at least the 12th century CE. Buddhaghosa is generally recognized by both Western scholars and Theravādin Buddhists as the most important philosopher and commentator of the Theravāda school. Name The name ''Buddhaghosa'' means "Voice of the Buddha" (''Budd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dhyana In Buddhism
In the oldest texts of Buddhism, ''dhyāna'' () or ''jhāna'' () is a component of the training of the mind (''bhavana''), commonly translated as Buddhist meditation, meditation, to withdraw the mind from the automatic responses to sense-impressions and "burn up" the Kleshas (Buddhism), defilements, leading to a "state of perfect equanimity and awareness (''Upekṣā, upekkhā-Sati (Buddhism), sati-Purity in Buddhism, parisuddhi'')." ''Dhyāna'' may have been the core practice of pre-sectarian Buddhism, in combination with several related practices which together lead to perfected mindfulness and detachment. In the later commentarial tradition, which has survived in present-day Theravada, Theravāda, ''dhyāna'' is equated with "concentration", a state of one-pointed absorption in which there is a diminished awareness of the surroundings. In the contemporary Theravāda-based Vipassana movement, this absorbed state of mind is regarded as unnecessary and even non-beneficial for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theravāda Abhidhamma
The Theravada Abhidhamma tradition, also known as the Abhidhamma Method, refers to a scholastic systematization of the Theravāda school's understanding of the highest Buddhist teachings ( Abhidhamma). These teachings are traditionally believed to have been taught by the Buddha, though modern scholars date the texts of the ''Abhidhamma Piṭaka'' to the 3rd century BCE. Theravāda traditionally sees itself as the ''vibhajjavāda'' ("the teaching of analysis"), which reflects the analytical (''vibhajjati'') method used by the Buddha and early Buddhists to investigate the nature of the person and other phenomena. According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, a modern Theravāda scholar, the Abhidhamma is "simultaneously a philosophy, a psychology and an ethics, all integrated into the framework of a program for liberation."Bodhi (2000), p. 3. There are different textual layers of Abhidhamma literature. The earliest Abhidhamma works are found in the Pali Canon. Then there are exegetical works whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vimuttimagga
__NOTOC__ The ''Vimuttimagga'' ("Path of Freedom") is a Buddhist practice manual, traditionally attributed to the Arahant Upatissa (c. 1st or 2nd century). It was translated into Chinese in the sixth century as the ''Jietuo dao lun'' 解脫道論 by Sanghapala. The original text (possibly Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ... or Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit) is no longer extant, but the work has survived in Chinese. The book was probably written in India and then later brought to Sri Lanka. Some doctrines of the Vimuttimagga have been associated with those attributed to the Abhayagiri monastery by Dhammapāla, but this has been disputed in recent scholarship. Contents The Vimuttimagga recommends various meditation practices such as Anapanasati, Kasina meditation an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddhist Meditation
Buddhist meditation is the practice of meditation in Buddhism. The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are ''bhavana, bhāvanā'' ("mental development") and ''Dhyāna in Buddhism, jhāna/dhyāna'' (a state of meditative absorption resulting in a calm and luminous mind). Buddhists pursue meditation as part of the path toward Moksha, liberation from defilements (''Kleshas (Buddhism), kleshas'') and clinging and craving (''upādāna''), also called Bodhi, awakening, which results in the attainment of nirvana. The Indian Schools of Buddhism, Buddhist schools relied on numerous meditation techniques to attain meditative absorption, some of which remain influential in certain modern schools of Buddhism. Classic Buddhist meditations include ''anapanasati'' (mindfulness of breathing), ''Patikulamanasikara, asubha bhavana'' ("reflections on repulsiveness");Deleanu, Florin (1992)Mindfulness of Breathing in the Dhyāna Sūtras Transactions of the Internatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abhidharma
The Abhidharma are a collection of Buddhist texts dating from the 3rd century BCE onwards, which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the canonical Buddhist scriptures and commentaries. It also refers to the scholastic method itself, as well as the field of knowledge that this method is said to study. Bhikkhu Bodhi calls it "an abstract and highly technical systemization of the uddhistdoctrine," which is "simultaneously a philosophy, a psychology and an ethics, all integrated into the framework of a program for liberation." According to Peter Harvey, the Abhidharma method seeks "to avoid the inexactitudes of colloquial conventional language, as is sometimes found in the Suttas, and state everything in psycho-philosophically exact language." In this sense, it is an attempt to best express the Buddhist view of " ultimate reality" (''paramārtha-satya''). There are different types of Abhidharma literature. The early canonical Abhidharma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samādhi
Statue of a meditating Rishikesh.html" ;"title="Shiva, Rishikesh">Shiva, Rishikesh ''Samādhi'' (Pali and ), in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, is a state of meditative consciousness. In many Indian religious traditions, the cultivation of Samādhi through various meditation methods is essential for the attainment of spiritual liberation (known variously as nirvana, moksha). In Buddhism, it is the last of the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path. In the Ashtanga Yoga tradition, it is the eighth and final limb identified in the '' Yoga Sutras'' of Patanjali. In Jain meditation, samadhi is considered one of the last stages of the practice just prior to liberation. In the oldest Buddhist sutras, on which several contemporary western Theravada teachers rely, it refers to the development of an investigative and luminous mind that is equanimous and mindful. In the yogic traditions and the Buddhist commentarial tradition, on which the Burmese Vipassana movemen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pali
Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Canon'' or ''Tripiṭaka, Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravada, Theravāda'' Buddhism. Pali was designated as a Classical languages of India, classical language by the Government of India on 3 October 2024. Origin and development Etymology The word 'Pali' is used as a name for the language of the Theravada canon. The word seems to have its origins in commentarial traditions, wherein the (in the sense of the line of original text quoted) was distinguished from the commentary or vernacular translation that followed it in the manuscript. K. R. Norman suggests that its emergence was based on a misunderstanding of the compound , with being interpreted as the name of a particular language. The name Pali does not appear in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skandha
' (Sanskrit) or (Pāḷi) means "heaps, aggregates, collections, groupings, clusters". In Buddhism, it refers to the five aggregates of clinging (), the five material and mental factors that take part in the perpetual process of craving, clinging and aversion due to Avijja. They are also explained as the five factors that constitute and explain a sentient being's person and personality, but this is a later interpretation in response to ''Sarvastivada, Sarvāstivādin'' essentialism. The 14th Dalai Lama subscribes to this interpretation. The five aggregates or heaps of clinging are: # form, sense objects (or material image, impression) () # sensations (or feelings of pleasure, pain, or indifference (both bodily and mental), created from the coming together of the senses, sense objects, and the consciousness) () # perceptions (or the nature of recognizing ''marks'' — making distinctions) () # mental activity, formations, or perpetuations () # consciousness (or the nature o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura (, ; , ) is a major city located in the north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central Province, Sri Lanka, North Central Province and the capital of Anuradhapura District. The city lies north of the current capital of Colombo in the North Central Province, on the banks of the historic Malwathu Oya. The city is now a World Heritage Site famous for its well-preserved ruins of the ancient Sinhala Kingdom, Sinhalese civilisation. While ''Mahāvaṃsa'' places the founding of the city in 437 BCE, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it a major human settlement on the island for almost three millennia and one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously occupied cities in Asia. It is the cradle of the Hydraulic Sinhalese civilisation, Theravada Buddhism, and the longest-serving List of capitals in Sri Lanka, ancient capital of Sri Lanka that has survived for 1500 years. Moreover, it was the first capi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarvastivadins
The ''Sarvāstivāda'' (; ;) was one of the early Buddhist schools established around the reign of Ashoka (third century BCE).Westerhoff, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy in the First Millennium CE, 2018, p. 60. It was particularly known as an Abhidharma tradition, with a unique set of seven canonical Abhidharma texts.Westerhoff, 2018, p. 61. The Sarvāstivādins were one of the most influential Buddhist monastic groups, flourishing throughout North India, especially Kashmir and Central Asia, until the 7th century CE. The orthodox Kashmiri branch of the school composed the large and encyclopedic ''Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣa Śāstra'' around the time of the reign of Kanishka (c. 127–150 CE). Because of this, orthodox Sarvāstivādins who upheld the doctrines in the ''Mahāvibhāṣa'' were called ''Vaibhāṣikas.'' There have been debates about the exact chronological emergence of Sarvastivadins from Sthavira nikāya. According to the Theravādin '' Dīpavaṃ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
