OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
ciram titthatu saddhammo
sabbe satta bhavantu sukhitatta
Published in 1991
Buddhist Publication Society
P.O. Box 61
54, Sangharaja Mawatha
Kandy, Sri Lanka
First Edition, 1956, Second Edition 1964
Published by A. Semage, Colombo.
Third Edition 1975, Fourth Edition 1979
Fifth Edition 1991
Published by Buddhist Publication Society.
© 1975, 1991 Buddhist Publication Society
All rights reserved by the publishers.
Reprinted 1999
ISBN 955-24-0023-6
To my Upajjhaya,
the late venerable Paelaene Siri Vajiranana
Mahanayakathera of Vajirarama,
Colombo, Ceylon.
List of Abbreviations Used
All editions Pali Text Society unless otherwise stated
A. Anguttara NikAya
AA. Anguttara NikAya Atthakatha (Commentary) = Manorathapurani
Cp. Cariyapitaka
Dh. Dhammapada
DhA. Dhammapada Atthakatha (Commentary)
Dhs. Dhammasangani
DhsA. Dhammasangani Atthakatha (Commentary) = Atthasalini
DhsAA. Dhammasangani Tika (Sub-commentary) = Mula Tika (pt. I)
Dhk. Dhatukatha
D. Digha Nikaya
DA. Digha NikAya Atthakatha (Commentary) = Sumangalavilasini
Iti. Itivuttaka
Ja. Jataka (Fausboll's ed.)
Kv. Kathavatthu
Mv. Mahavamsa
M. Majjhima Nikaya
MA. Majjhima Nikaya Atthakatha (Commentary) = Papancasudani
Miln. Milinda-panha
Netti. Netti-pakarana
Ndl . Maha Niddesa
Nd2. Cula Niddesa (Siamese ed.)
Ps. Patisambhidamagga
PsA. Patisambhidamagga Atthakatha (Commentary) = Saddhammappakasini (Sinhalese
Hewavitarne ed.).
Ptnl. Patthana, Tika Patthana
Ptn2. Patthana, Duka Patthana (Siamese and Burmese eds.)
Pm. Paramattha-manjusa, Visuddhimagga Atthakatha (Commentary) = Maha Tika (Vis.
Chs. I to XVII Sinhalese Vidyodaya'ed.; Chs. XVIII to XXIII Burmese ed.)
Pe. Petakopadesa
Pv. Petavatthu
S. Samyutta Nikaya
SA. Samyutta Nikaya Atthakatha (Commentary) = Saratthappakasini
Sn. Sutta-nipata
SnA. Sutta-nipata Atthakatha (Commentary) = Paramatthajotika
Thag. Thera-gatha
Ud. Udana
Vbh. VibhaNga
VbhA. Vibhanga AtthakathA (Commentary) = Sammohavinodani
VbhAA. VibhaNga Tika (Sub-commentary) = Mula-Tika (pt. 2)
Vv. VimAna-vatthu
Vin. i. Vinaya Pitaka (3) — Mahavagga
Vin. ii. Vinaya Pitaka (4) — Culayagga
Vin. iii. Vinaya PUaka (1) — SuttavibhaNga 1
Vin. iv. Vinaya Piteka (2) — SuttavibhaNga 2
Vin. v. Vinaya Pi^ a (5) — Parivara
Vis. Visuddhimagga (P.T.S. ed. and Harvard Oriental Series ed.)
PUBLISHER'S FOREWORD
Bhikkhu Nanamoli's translation of the Visuddhimagga not only makes avail-
able in fluent English this difficult and intricate classical work of Theravada
Buddhism, the high point of the commentarial era, but itself ranks as an out-
standing cultural achievement perhaps unmatched by Pali Buddhist scholarship
in the present century. This achievement is even more remarkable in that the
translator had completed the first draft within his first four years as a bhikkhu,
which is also the amount of time he had been a student of Pali.
The Buddhist Publication Society first issued this work beginning with the
Third Edition in 1975, with the kind consent of the original publisher, Mr.
Ananda Semage of Colombo. This was followed in 1979 with a Fourth Edition
produced by photo-lithographic process from the preceding edition.
For this Fifth Edition the text has been entirely recomposed, this time with
the aid of the astonishing electronic typesetting equipment that has proliferated
during the past few years. The text itself has not been altered except in a very
few places where the original translator had evidently made an oversight. How-
ever, numerous minor stylistic changes have been introduced, particularly in the
lower casing of many technical terms that Ven. Nanamoli had set in initial
capitals and, occasionally, in the paragraphing.
The publishers wish to extend thanks to Mr. M.W. Karunaratne and his
team at Wheel Graphics for undertaking with fervent devotion to typeset this
book and to arrange for its printing.
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
Originally I made this translation for my own instruction because the only
published version was then no longer obtainable. So it was not done with any
intention at all of publication; but rather it grew together out of notes made on
some of the book's passages. By the end of 1953 it had been completed, more
or less, and put aside. Early in the following year a suggestion to publish it was
put to me, and I eventually agreed, though not without a good deal of hesitation.
Reasons for agreeing, however, seemed not entirely lacking. The only previous
English version of this remarkable work had long been out of print. Justification
too could in some degree be founded on the rather different angle from which
this version is made.
Over a year was then spent in typing out the manuscript during which time,
and since, a good deal of revision has taken place, the intention of the revision
being always to propitiate the demon of inaccuracy and at the same time to
make the translation perspicuous and the translator inconspicuous. Had publica-
tion been delayed, it might well have been more polished. Nevertheless the
work of polishing is probably endless. Somewhere a halt must be made.
A guiding principle—the foremost, in fact—has throughout been avoidance
of misrepresentation or distortion; for the ideal translation (which has yet to be
made) should, like a looking-glass, not discolour or blur or warp the original
which it reflects. Literalness, however, on the one hand and considerations
of clarity and style on the other make irreconcilable claims on a translator,
who has to choose and to compromise. Vindication of his choice is sometimes
difficult.
I have dealt at the end of the Introduction with some particular problems.
Not, however, with all of them or completely; for the space allotted to an intro-
duction is limited.
Much that is circumstantial has now changed since the Buddha discovered
and made known his liberating doctrine 2,500 years ago, and likewise since this
work was composed some nine centuries later. On the other hand, the Truth he
discovered has remained untouched by all that circumstantial change. Old cos-
mologies give place to new; but the questions of consciousness, of pain and
death, of responsibility for acts, and of what should be looked to in the scale
of values as the highest of all, remain. Reasons for the perennial freshness of
the Buddha's teaching—of his handling of these questions—are several, but
not least among them is its independence of any particular cosmology. Estab-
lished as it is for its foundation on the self-evident insecurity of the human
situation (the truth of suffering), the structure of the Four Noble Truths provides
an unfailing standard of value, unique in its simplicity, its completeness and its
ethical purity, by means of which any situation can be assessed and a profitable
choice made.
Now I should like to make acknowledgements, as follows, to all those
without whose help this translation would never have been begun, persisted
with or completed.
To the venerable Nyanatiloka Mahathera (from whom I first learned Pali)
for his most kind consent to check the draft manuscript. However, although he
had actually read through the first two chapters, a long spell of illness unfortu-
nately prevented him from continuing with this himself.
To the venerable Soma Thera for his unfailing assistance both in helping
me to gain familiarity with the often difficult Pali idiom of the Commentaries
and to get something of the feel—as it were, 'from inside'—of Pali literature
against its Indian background. Failing that, no translation would ever have
been made: I cannot tell how far I have been able to express any of it in the
rendering.
To the venerable Nyanaponika Thera, German pupil of the venerable
Nyanatiloka Mahathera, for very kindly undertaking to check the whole
manuscript in detail with the venerable Nyanatiloka Mahathera's German
translation (I knowing no German).
To all those with whom I have had discussions on the Dhamma, which
have been many and have contributed to the clearing up of not a few unclear
points.
Lastly, and what is mentioned last bears its own special emphasis, it has
been an act of singular merit on the part of Mr. A. Semage, of Colombo, to
undertake to publish this translation.
The Printers must also be thanked for the excellence of their work.
Island Hermitage
Dodanduwa, Ceylon
Nanamoli Bhikkhu
Vesakha-mAse, 2499: May, 1956
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