Visuddhimagga

The Visuddhimagga (Pali; English: The Path of Purification), 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 of outside of the Tipitaka canon of scriptures, 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," MN 24), which describes the progression from the purity of discipline to the final destination of nibbana in seven steps. The "Visuddhimagga"'s material also strongly resembles the material found in an earlier treatise called the Vimuttimagga (c. 1st or 2nd century).
Reflecting later developments.
The "Visuddhimagga"'s doctrine reflects Theravada Abhidhamma scholasticism, which includes several innovations and interpretations not found in the earliest discourses ("suttas") of the Buddha. Buddhaghosa's "Visuddhimagga" includes non-canonical instructions on Theravada meditation, such as "ways of guarding the mental image (nimitta)," which point to later developments in Theravada meditation.
"Kasina"-meditation.
The "Visuddhimagga" concerns "kasina"-meditation, a form of concentration-meditation in which the mind is focused on a (mental) object. According to Thanissaro 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." In its emphasis on "kasina"-meditation, the "Visuddhimagga" departs from the Pali Canon, in which "dhyana" is the central meditative practice, indicating that what "jhana means in the commentaries is something quite different from what it means in the Canon."
Non-Theravada influences.
Kalupahana notes that the "Visuddhimagga" contains "some metaphysical speculations, such as those of the Sarvastivadins, the Sautrantikas, and even the Yogacarins". Kalupahana comments:
Contents.
Summary.
The "Visuddhimagga" is composed of three sections, which discuss: 1) "Sīla" (ethics or discipline); 2) "Samādhi" (meditative concentration); 3) "Pañña" (understanding or wisdom).
Seven Stages of Purification.
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"):
The "Purification by Knowledge and Vision" is the culmination of the practice, in four 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 to vipassana over samatha in the contemporary vipassana movement.
Siddhis.
According to scholars, the "Visuddhimagga" 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 manifest supernormal abilities. 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 one element, such as earth, into another element, such as air. The individual must master "kasina" meditation before this is possible. Dipa Ma, who trained via the "Visuddhimagga", was said to demonstrate these abilities.
Influence.
Traditional Theravada.
The "Visuddhimagga" is considered the most important Theravada text outside of the Tipitaka canon of scriptures, along with the Milindapañha. According to Nanamoli Bhikkhu, the "Visuddhimagga" 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."
Contemporary Theravada.
The "Visuddhimagga" is one of the main texts on which contemporary "vipassana" method (and the vipassana movement itself) is based, together with the "Satipatthana Sutta". Yet, its emphasis on "kasina"-meditation and its claim of the possibility of "dry insight" has also been criticised and rejected by some contemporary Theravada scholars and "vipassana"-teachers.
According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "the Visuddhimagga uses a very different paradigm for concentration from what you find in the Canon." 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. 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)." Gunaratana also notes that Buddhaghosa's emphasis on "kasina"-meditation is not to be found in the suttas, where "dhyana" is always combined with mindfulness.
Bhikkhu Sujato has argued that certain views regarding Buddhist meditation expounded in the Visuddhimagga are a "distortion of the Suttas" since it denies the necessity of jhana. The Australian monk Shravasti Dhammika is also critical of contemporary practice based on this work. 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:
However, according to the Burmese scholar Venerable Pandita, the postscript to the Visuddhimagga is not by Buddhaghosa.