Visuddhimagga

The Visuddhimagga is a fifth-century Theravada Buddhist manual by Buddhaghosa that organizes doctrine and meditation practice around a path of purification.

Noble Eightfold Path: The Buddhist path of practice consisting of eight factors grouped as wisdom, ethical conduct, and concentration. The Visuddhimagga organizes its training around these three broad divisions.
Samatha: Buddhist meditation that develops calm and collectedness of mind. It describes the calming practice used to establish concentration.
Buddhaghosa: A fifth-century Theravada Buddhist commentator traditionally credited with major Pali commentaries. He composed the Visuddhimagga as a synthesis of Theravada doctrine and practice.
Buddhist meditation: A range of contemplative practices developed within Buddhist traditions to cultivate concentration, insight, or other mental qualities. The manual is a major source for systematic Theravada meditation instructions.
Visuddhimagga Mahatika: A Pali subcommentary that explains and elaborates the Visuddhimagga. It preserves a later interpretive layer rather than the original manual itself.
Threefold Training: A Buddhist scheme of practice comprising ethical conduct, concentration, and wisdom. These three trainings structure the manual’s account of purification.
Vipassana: Buddhist meditation that cultivates insight into the nature of experience. The manual presents insight as a central development in the path to purification.
Mahavihara: An influential Theravada monastic institution in ancient Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. Buddhaghosa’s work reflects the interpretive tradition associated with this monastery.
Mahasi Sayadaw: A twentieth-century Burmese meditation master who helped popularize insight meditation. His meditation method draws on interpretive frameworks associated with the Visuddhimagga.
Vimuttimagga: An early Buddhist meditation manual, preserved in Chinese translation, that presents a path to liberation. It offers a parallel path manual whose relationship to Buddhaghosa’s work remains debated.

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