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Visuddhimagga

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Also known as The Path of Purification

The Visuddhimagga (Pali; English: The Path of Purification; ; Sinhala: විශුද්ධි මාර්ගය), 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.

Key facts

Pali text.type
Compendium text
Pali text.parent
Pāli literature
Pali text.abbrev
Vism
Pali text.comment_by
Visuddhimaggamahāṭīkā; Visuddhimagganidānakathā; Paramatthamañjūsā
Pali text.compendium_on
Sutta Piṭaka
Pali text.attribution
Buddhaghosa
Pali text.composition
5th century

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
treatise
Main subject
Theravāda
Show 2 more facts
language of work or name
Pali
title
𑀯𑀺𑀲𑀼𑀤𑁆𑀥𑀺𑀫𑀕𑁆𑀕
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~10 min read

Encyclopedic overview

22 sections
Contents
  • Background
  • Structure
  • Reflecting later developments
  • ''Kasina''-meditation
  • Non-Theravada influences
  • Contents
  • Summary
  • Seven Stages of Purification
  • Siddhis
  • Influence
  • Traditional Theravada
  • Contemporary Theravada
  • Editions
  • Printed Pali editions
  • South-East Asia
  • English translations
  • Other European translations
  • See also
  • Notes
  • References
  • Sources
  • External links

The Visuddhimagga (Pali; English: The Path of Purification; ; Sinhala: විශුද්ධි මාර්ගය), 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 outside the Tipitaka canon of scriptures, and is described as "the hub of a complete and coherent method of exegesis of the Tipitaka."

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Visuddhimagga” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.