Path of Purification, The

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The Visuddhimagga is the "great treatise" of Theravada Buddhism, an encyclopedic manual of doctrine and meditation written in the fifth century A.D. by the great Buddhist commentator, Bhadantacaryia Buddhaghosa.

The most esteemed commentary in all of Pali literature, The Path of Purification, or Visuddhimagga, is a systematic examination and condensation of Buddhist doctrine and meditation technique. The various teachings of the Buddha, found throughout the Pali Canon, are organized in a clear, comprehensive manner. In the course of his treatise Buddhaghosa gives full and detailed instructions on the forty subjects of meditation aimed at concentration, an elaborate account of the Buddhist Abhidhamma philosophy, and explicit descriptions of the stages of insight culminating in final liberation.

The author, the India-born monk-scholar Bhadantacaryia Buddhaghosa, traveled to Sri Lanka to translate into Pāli the extensive Sinhalese commentaries preserved there. His crystallization of the entire Pāli Canon reinvigorated Theravadā Buddhism in India and Sri Lanka. It still shines as clearly today, in this brilliant 1956 translation by the British-born monk, Bhikkhu Nanamoli, that in itself is considered an outstanding achievement of Pāli scholarship of the twentieth century.

View excerpts from the book.

This book is from BPS Pariyatti Editions, which republishes classic and contemporary titles from the Buddhist Publication Society.

The Visuddhimagga is available in Pāli from the Pali Text Society and also in translation from PTS, entitled The Path of Purity.

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Visuddhimagga

Visuddhimagga (विसुद्धीमग्ग, विशुद्धीमार्ग) often replaces the Tipitaka as a guide to meditation. Why? Because it summarises the entire mass of Suttas so well that there is hardly any need to go elsewhere for guidance on meditation. 1. Pali Tipitaka is the oldest authentic literature of the Buddha's teaching. 2. A few centuries after the Buddha, partly due to Mahindra's success in Sri Lanka, the centre of Pali scholarship had firmly shifted to Sri Lanka. 3. In India and its north "the Sanskrit Buddhist literature was just launching out upon its long era of magnificence." (Sanskrit Buddhist literature is vastly more voluminous than the Pali one). 4. The Pali Tipitaka was committed to writing for the first time in the first century BCE in Sri Lanka. This was an initiative of Mahavihara, the Great Monastery. 5. By the fifth century CE, a malaise had set in the Great Monastery. But there was also an acknowledgement of need for renewed efforts. It needed a leader. Buddhaghosha from India turned out to be that erudite leader. In him the Great Monastery had a leader it deserved. 6. Visuddhimagga was written by Buddhaghosa at the same time that he was overseeing the work on commentarial literature. 7. Given its importance, Ñāṇamoli started studying it carefully and making notes. He did not set out to write a book. It came out of his notes. The result is the best English translation of Visuddhimagga. 8. PDF of this book is widely available on the internet. Even if you don't have time for the whole book, you must at least read the Introduction. It gives that critical historical context without which we become educated ignoramuses who take even stories from scriptures literally and forget the principles.

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Reviewed by: Dhananjay from Nashik on 6/7/2023

Great Addition to Library

Wow! I am so glad that I purchased this magnificant work. I do daily readings in the Tipitaka and have had many questions as a result. The Venerable Buddhaghosa provides such great detail to the many varied aspects of the Path that I hardly have a day where I do not have one of those "Ah ha," so that is what that means -- moment. Do not start with this book. Start with a set of the Sutta-Pitaka and then use this book to supplement your readings in the official canon. Enjoy .....

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Reviewed by: Lowell O. Ferrel from Northeastern Colorado, USA on 1/31/2019

Great

An important work of Buddhist literature in a high-quality hardcover.

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Reviewed by: Corey from Michigan on 8/9/2015