TheVisuddhimagga (Pali; English:The Path of Purification;Vietnamese:Thanh tịnh đạo), is the 'great treatise' onBuddhist practice andTheravāda Abhidhamma written byBuddhaghosa approximately in the 5th century inSri Lanka. It is a manual condensing and systematizing the 5th century understanding and interpretation of the Buddhist path as maintained by the elders of theMahavihara Monastery inAnuradhapura, Sri Lanka.
It is considered the most important Theravada text outside theTipitaka canon of scriptures,[note 1] and is described as "the hub of a complete and coherent method of exegesis of the Tipitaka."[1]
The structure of theVisuddhimagga is based on theRatha-vinita Sutta ("Relay Chariots Discourse,"MN 24),[2] which describes the progression from the purity of discipline to the final destination ofnibbana in seven steps.[note 2] TheVisuddhimagga's material also strongly resembles the material found in an earlier treatise called theVimuttimagga (c. 1st or 2nd century).[3]
TheVisuddhimagga's doctrine reflects TheravadaAbhidhamma scholasticism, which includes several innovations and interpretations not found in the earliest discourses (suttas) of the Buddha.[4][5] Buddhaghosa'sVisuddhimagga includes non-canonical instructions on Theravadameditation, such as "ways of guarding the mental image (nimitta)," which point to later developments in Theravada meditation.[6]
TheVisuddhimagga concernskasina-meditation, a form of concentration-meditation in which the mind is focused on a (mental) object.[7] According toThanissaro Bhikkhu, "[t]he 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."[7] In its emphasis onkasina-meditation, theVisuddhimagga departs from the Pali Canon, in whichdhyana is the central meditative practice, indicating that what "jhana means in the commentaries is something quite different from what it means in the Canon."[7]
Buddhaghosa was careful in introducing any new ideas into theMahavihara tradition in a way that was too obvious. There seems to be no doubt that theVisuddhimagga and the commentaries are a testimony to the abilities of a great harmonizer who blended old and new ideas without arousing suspicion in the minds of those who were scrutinizing his work.[9]
TheVisuddhimagga 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 agood teacher.
The second section (part 2) describessamatha practice, object by object (seeKammatthana 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 fiveskandhas (aggregates),ayatanas, theFour Noble Truths, dependent origination (Pratitya-samutpada), and the practice ofvipassana 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.
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):[10]
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)
The "Purification by Knowledge and Vision" is the culmination of the practice, infour 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 tovipassana oversamatha in the contemporaryvipassana movement.
According to scholars, theVisuddhimagga 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 manifestsupernormal abilities.[11] 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 oneelement, such as earth, into another element, such as air.[12] The individual must masterkasina meditation before this is possible.[12]Dipa Ma, who trained via theVisuddhimagga, was said to demonstrate these abilities.[13]
TheVisuddhimagga is considered the most important Theravada text outside of theTipitaka canon of scriptures,[note 1] along with theMilindapañha.[14] According toNanamoli Bhikkhu, theVisuddhimagga 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."[1]
TheVisuddhimagga is one of the main texts on which contemporaryvipassana method (and the vipassana movement itself) is based, together with theSatipatthana Sutta. Yet, its emphasis onkasina-meditation and its claim of the possibility of "dry insight" has also been criticised and rejected by some contemporary Theravada scholars andvipassana-teachers.
According toThanissaro Bhikkhu, "the Visuddhimagga uses a very different paradigm for concentration from what you find in the Canon."[15]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 [traditional] scholarly understanding and a practical understanding based on meditative experience.[16] 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)."[17] Gunaratana also notes that Buddhaghosa's emphasis onkasina-meditation is not to be found in the suttas, wheredhyana is always combined with mindfulness.[18][note 3]
Bhikkhu Sujato has argued that certain views regardingBuddhist meditation expounded in the Visuddhimagga are a "distortion of the Suttas" since it denies the necessity ofjhana.[19] The Australian monk Shravasti Dhammika is also critical of contemporary practice based on this work.[20] 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:[20]
Even Buddhaghosa did not really believe that Theravada practice could lead to Nirvana. HisVisuddhimagga is supposed to be a detailed, step by step guide to enlightenment. And yet in the postscript [...] he says he hopes that the merit he has earned by writing theVishuddhimagga will allow him to be reborn in heaven, abide there until Metteyya (Maitreya) appears, hear his teaching and then attain enlightenment.[20][note 4]
However, according to the Burmese scholar Venerable Pandita, the postscript to the Visuddhimagga is not by Buddhaghosa.[23]
^abSee, for instance, Kheminda Thera, in Ehara et al. 1995 p. xliii: "TheVisuddhimagga is a household word in allTheravāda lands. No scholar of Buddhism whether ofTheravāda or ofMahāyāna is unacquainted with it."
^SeeThanissaro (1999) for a translation of the Ratha-vinita Sutta. See the variousVisuddhimagga printings listed below to see the manner in which this sutta is explicitly integrated into the work.
^See also Bronkhorst (1993),Two Traditions of Meditation in ancient India; Wynne (2007),The Origin of Buddhist Meditation; and Polak (2011),Reexaming Jhana
^Devotion to Metteya was common in South Asia from early in the Buddhist era, and is believed to have been particularly popular during Buddhaghosa's era.[21][22]
^Schmidt, Amy (2005).Dipa Ma. Windhorse Publications Ltd. p. Chapter 9 At Home in Strange Realms.
^Coomaraswamy, Ananda (1999).Hinduism and Buddhism. New Delhi, India: Manohar. p. 48.ISBN8173042276."Of the extra-canonical literature the most important of the early books are theMilindapañha and Visuddhimagga."
^Ven. Pandita (2018).The Authorship of the Vinaya and Abhidhamma Commentaries: A Response to von Hinüber. Journal of Buddhist ethics 25:269-332. University of Kelaniya.
^Stede, W. (October 1951). "The Visuddhimagga of Buddhaghosācariya by Henry Clarke Warren; Dharmananda Kosambi".The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (3/4):210–211.doi:10.1017/S0035869X00104873.JSTOR25222520.S2CID162298602.
^Stede, D. A. L. (1953). "Visuddhimagga of Buddhaghosācariya by Henry Clarke Warren; Dharmananda Kosambi".Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.15 (2): 415.doi:10.1017/s0041977x00111346.JSTOR608574.S2CID177287397.
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