Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum

I Was wondering if any one has read The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga by Bhadantacariya Buddhaghosa translated by Bhikkhu Nanamoli. Was it helpful to your practice? Was also curious if it contains footnotes by Nanamoli the way Bodhi's translations do? Thanks.

bodom_bad_boy wrote:I Was wondering if any one has read The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga by Bhadantacariya Buddhaghosa translated by Bhikkhu Nanamoli. Was it helpful to your practice? Was also curious if it contains footnotes by Nanamoli the way Bodhi's translations do? Thanks.

Greetings BBB

I have a copy of it, i found it slightly helpful on some things but for the most part it didnt really add to my practice. I do find it helpful though as a way to understand the Classical Theravada thought, if your thinking of buying it i would recommend it, cant hurt to give it a read and it may come in handy for future reference


Metta

Yes there are extensive and helpful footnotes, like the Nanamoli/Bodhi translation of the Majjhima Nikaya and the Bodhi translation of the Samyutta Nikaya. As well as being a Sila/Meditation manual there is extensive material on Dependent Origination and Abhidhamma and of course it summarises the Theravada Commenarial viewpoint.

I don't think it's that great a place to start, because it's so dense (and since it was written in the 1950s is is more obscure in parts than more recent translation efforts, such as Bhikkhu Bodhi's Sutta translations) but if you are doing any kind of study it's essential because you'll find cross-references to the VM in Sutta translations and so on. Also, it's useful to see that many of the instructions that one might consider "modern" can be found there. Read, for example, the section on Metta meditation and see a discussion about why it is useful to start Metta with oneself, whereas the Suttas don't seem to say that...

Metta
Mike

Here's some stuff I typed in about walking meditaion from the Visuddhimagga on E-Sangha a while ago:
http://www.lioncity.net/buddhism/index. ... &p=1004704" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chapter XX
Purification of knowledge and vision of what is the path and what is not the path.

This is in the Understanding section, which comes after Virtue and Concentration (which includes the 40 meditation subjects such as kasinas, foulness, body, breath, divine abidings).

It is in a subsection that starts:
XX,45. ... Anther comprehends formations by attributing the three characteristics to them through the medium of the material septad and the immaterial septad.
That is:
Taking up and putting down; Growth and decline in every stage; Nutriment; Temperature; Kamma; Consciousness; Natural materiality.

The walking part includes:
XX, 61. ... he again attributes the three characteristics to that same materiality by means of moving forward and moving backward, ...

XX, 62. Next he divides a single footstep into six parts as 'lifting up', 'shifting forward', 'shifting sideways', 'lowering down', 'placing down', and 'fixing down'.

XX, 63. Herein lifting up is raising ... shifting sideways is moving the foot to one side or the other in seeing a thorn, stump, snake and so on ...

XX, 64. Talks about which elements dominate in which stages:
Lifting, moving: air and fire;
Lowering, placing, fixing: earth and water.
... He attributes the three characteristics to materiality according to 'disappearance of what grows old in each stage' by means of these six parts into which he has thus divided it.

XX, 65. How? He considers thus: The elements and the kinds of derived materiality occurring in the lifting up all ceased there without reaching the shifting forward ... Thus formations keep breaking up, like crackling sesamum seeds put into a hot pan; wherever they arise, there they cease stage by stage, section by section, term by term, each without reaching the next part: therefore they are impermanent, painful, not-self.

XX, 66. Talks about how this insight becomes subtle, with a simile of the burning down of a lamp wick ... the flame in each inch, each half inch, in each thread, each strand, will cease without reaching the other strands: but the flame cannot appear without a strand.

This is essentially what the modern Burmese (Mahasi Sayadaw, U Pandita, etc) meditation teachers instruct regarding walking and the rise and fall of the abdomen (which they analyse in this same way - they don't consider it as "breath", since the VM has breath listed as a concentration rather than insight practise).

Metta
Mike

Hello bbb, all,

Here are some Talks on The Visuddhimagga by Sayadaw U Silananda
Downloaded from http://thepathofpurification.blogspot.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4585479 ... rification" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

metta
Chris

Greetings,

bodom_bad_boy wrote:I Was wondering if any one has read The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga by Bhadantacariya Buddhaghosa translated by Bhikkhu Nanamoli.

Yes.

bodom_bad_boy wrote: Was it helpful to your practice?

Indirectly, yes. More in terms of as a framework for the commentarial Theravada tradition than for any direct guidance or results.

bodom_bad_boy wrote:Was also curious if it contains footnotes by Nanamoli the way Bodhi's translations do? Thanks.

Lots of footnotes. Sometimes the whole page is a footnote!... something I'd never seen prior to reading this text.

Metta,
Retro.

Yes, I have read large chunks of the Vissudhimagga and it has been invaluable for me. Not just for my personal practice but also in understanding the Dhamma. I recommend to everyone who is a sincere practitioner to invest in a copy of the Vissudhimagga. It is an invaluable guide and reference.
Kind regards

Ben

Hello all,

The first 90 pages of the 994 page book is available to read here:
http://www.abhidhamma.org/visuddhimagga-1.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

metta
Chris

Well i shelled out 65 bucks 3 days ago and bought this book. I returned it today for a refund. I felt like my head was going to explode trying to comprehend any of the passages. At the very beginning of the book it states that this book is for "meditation masters and to be used as a reference". I really have no interest or use for reading most of the subjects in this book such as developing kasina among others. As a lay practitioner i have no use for these practices. I struggle enough just to keep the precepts and meditate daily. There were a few passages that i found helpful but overall i can say that i cannot see my self ever sitting down and reading the whole thing through. Maybe one day my opinion will change but for now im busy trying to work my way through the Samyutta Nikaya and that should keep me busy for awhile!

Hi Bodom...

I understand what you mean. I've only read small sections of the Visuddhimagga. I certainly get the impression that it is a valuable resource but I don't think I need to study it at this stage. This is not to say that some people won't benefit from reading it. But I think it depends on one's circumstances.

Different degrees of pariyatti for different degrees of patipatti I guess--a question balance. A bird with lopsided wings wouldn't fly very well I suppose!

zavk wrote:Hi Bodom...

I understand what you mean. I've only read small sections of the Visuddhimagga. I certainly get the impression that it is a valuable resource but I don't think I need to study it at this stage. This is not to say that some people won't benefit from reading it. But I think it depends on one's circumstances.

Different degrees of pariyatti for different degrees of patipatti I guess--a question balance. A bird with lopsided wings wouldn't fly very well I suppose!

Agreed. Im sure there are numerous people who have and who will benefit from the study of this text and i hope my comments do not dissuade any one from reading it. Its just not for me at this stage of my practice.

bodom_bad_boy wrote:Well i shelled out 65 bucks 3 days ago and bought this book. I returned it today for a refund. I felt like my head was going to explode trying to comprehend any of the passages. <snip> There were a few passages that i found helpful but overall i can say that i cannot see my self ever sitting down and reading the whole thing through.

Sorry to hear that you returned the _Visuddhimagga_ . Perhaps sometime down the road you will have another go at it.

It took me several months to finally buckle down and dig into it. I am reading it "cover-to-cover" and finding this to be a good experience for me. First, I like the discipline of forcing myself to plow through a turgid text. Second, I am finding some unexpectedly great passages, real "hidden gems". (Came across one today regarding the dasa parami.) And third, I am learning more about many concepts in the classical Theravada approach.

What I don't like is the Abhidamma approach that it frequently takes, as well as the section on sila (which I found quite disappointing).

Overall though, a great read and worth the real effort that it takes to get through it!

With metta,
Sherubtse

I thought I had a Unicode version of this on my web site, but I seem to have lost it.

Does anyone have a Unicode version? Searching for Pali words like "Brahmavihāra" fails in the version downloaded from Access to Insight.

Was I dreaming perhaps?

Dear bhante,

there is a beautiful pdf at the Buddhist Publication Society site:
http://bps.lk/library_books.php

Beautiful it may be, but it's not Unicode, so it's impractical to search it for Pali words.