THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
[Knower of Worlds]
36. He is the knower of worlds because he has known the world in all
ways. For the Blessed One has experienced, known and penetrated the
world in all ways as to its individual essence, its arising, its cessation,
and the means to its cessation, according as it is said: 'Friend, that there
is a world's end where one neither is born nor ages nor dies nor passes
away nor reappears, which is to be known or seen or reached by travel—
that I do not say. Yet I do not say that there is ending of suffering
without reaching the world's end. Rather, it is in this fathom-long car-
case with its perceptions and its consciousness that I make known the
world, the arising of the world, the cessation of the world, and the way
leading to the cessation of the world.
*Tis utterly impossible
To reach by travel the world's end;
But there is no escape from pain
Until the world's end has been reached.
'It is a sage, a knower of the worlds,
Who gets to the world's end, and it is he
Whose life divine is lived out to its term;
He is at peace who the world's end has known
And hopes for neither this world nor the next' (S.i,62).
37. Moreover, there are three worlds: the world of formations, the world
of beings, and the world of location. Herein, in the passage 'One world:
all beings subsist by nutriment' (Ps.i,122), [205] the world of formations
is to be understood. In the passage ' "The world is eternal" or "The
world is not eternal" ' (M.i,426) it is the world of beings. In the passage:
'As far as moon and sun do circulate
Shining12
and lighting up the [four] directions,
Over a thousand times as great a world
Your power holds unquestionable sway' (M. i,328>—
it is the world of location. The Blessed One has known that in all ways
too.
38. Likewise, because of the words: 'One world: all beings subsist by
nutriment. Two worlds: mentality and materiality. Three worlds: three
kinds of feeling. Four worlds: four kinds of nutriment. Five worlds: five
aggregates as objects of clinging. Six worlds: six internal bases. Seven
worlds: seven stations of consciousness. Eight worlds: eight worldly
states. Nine worlds: nine abodes of beings. Ten worlds: ten bases. Twelve
worlds: twelve bases. Eighteen worlds: eighteen elements' (Ps.i,122),
13
this world of formations was known to him in all ways.
39. But he knows all beings' habits, knows their inherent tendencies,
knows their temperaments, knows their bents, knows them as with little
dust on their eyes and with much dust on their eyes, with keen faculties
and with dull faculties, with good behaviour and with bad behaviour,
easy to teach and hard to teach, capable and incapable [of achievement]
(cf.Ps.i,121), therefore this world of beings was known to him in all ways.
40. And as the world of beings so also the world of location. For ac-
cordingly this [world measures as follows]:
One world-sphere
14
is twelve hundred thousand leagues and thirty-
four hundred and fifty leagues (1,203,450) in breadth and width. In
circumference, however:
[The measure of it] all around
Is six and thirty hundred thousand
And then ten thousand in addition,
Four hundred too less half a hundred (3,610, 350).
41. Herein:
Two times a hundred thousand leagues
And then four nahutas as well (240,000):
This earth, this 'Bearer of All Wealth',
Has that much thickness, as they tell.
And its support:
Four times a hundred thousand leagues
And then eight nahutas as well (480,000):
The water resting on the air
Has that much thickness, as they tell.
And the support of that: [206]
Nine times a hundred thousand goes
The air out in the firmament
And sixty thousand more besides (960,000)
So this much is the world's extent.
42. Such is its extent. And these features are to be found in it:
Sineru, tallest of all mountains plunges down into the sea
Full four and eighty thousand leagues, and towers up in like de-
gree.
Seven concentric mountain rings surround Sineru in suchwise
That each of them in depth and height is half its predecessor's
size:
Vast ranges called Yugandhara, Isadhara, Karavika, Sudassana,
Nemindhara, Vinataka, Assakanna.
Heavenly [breezes fan] their cliffs agleam with gems, and here
reside
The Four Kings of the Cardinal Points, and other gods and sprites
beside.
15
Himalaya's lofty mountain mass rises in height five hundred leagues
And in its width and in its breadth it covers quite three thousand
leagues,
And then it is bedecked besides with four and eighty thousand
peaks.
16
The Jambu Tree called Naga lends the name, by its magnificence,
To Jambudlpa's land; its trunk, thrice five leagues in circumference,
Soars fifty leagues, and bears all round branches of equal amplitude,
So that a hundred leagues define diameter and altitude.
43. The World-sphere Mountains' line of summits plunges down into
the sea
Just two and eighty thousand leagues, and towers up in like degree,
Enringing one world-element all round in its entirety.
And the size of the Jambu (Rose-apple) Tree is the same as that of
the Citrapataliya Tree of the Asura demons, the Simbali Tree of the
Garula demons, the Kadamba Tree in [the western continent of] Apara-
goyana, the Kappa Tree [in the northern continent] of the Uttarakurus,
the Sirisa Tree in [the eastern continent of] Pubbavideha, and the
Paricchattaka Tree [in the heaven] of the Deities of the Thirty-three
(Tavatimsa).
17
Hence the Ancients said:
'The Patali, Simbali, and Jambu, the deities' Paricchattaka,
The Kadamba, the Kappa Tree and the Sirisa as the seventh'.
44. [207] Herein, the moon's disk is forty-nine leagues [across] and the
sun's disk is fifty leagues. The realm of Tavatirhsa (the Thirty-three
Gods) is ten thousand leagues. Likewise the realm of the Asura demons,
the great Avici (unremitting) Hell, and Jambudipa (India). AparagoyAna
is seven thousand leagues. Likewise Pubbavideha. Uttarakuru is eight
thousand leagues. And herein, each great continent is surrounded by five
hundred small islands. And the whole of that constitutes a single world-
sphere, a single world-element. Between [this and the adjacent world-
spheres] are the Lokantariya (world-interspace) hells.
18
So the world-
spheres are infinite in number, the world-elements are infinite, and the
Blessed One has experienced, known and penetrated them with the infi-
nite knowledge of the Enlightened Ones.
45. Therefore this world of location was known to him in all ways too.
So he is 'knower of worlds' because he has seen the world in all ways.
[Incomparable Leader of Men to be Tamed]
46. In the absence of anyone more distinguished for special qualities
than himself there is no one to compare with him, thus he is incompa-
rable. For in this way he surpasses the whole world in the special quality
of virtue, and also in the special qualities of concentration, understand-
ing, deliverance, and knowledge and vision of deliverance. In the special
quality of virtue he is without equal, he is the equal only of those [other
Enlightened Ones] without equal, he is without like, without double,
without counterpart; ... in the special quality of knowledge and vision of
deliverance he is ... without counterpart, according as it is said: * I do not
see in the world with its deities, its Maras and its Brahmas, in this
generation with its ascetics and brahmans, with its princes and men,
19
anyone more perfect in virtue than myself (S.i,139), with the rest in
detail, and likewise in the Aggappasada Sutta (A.ii,34; Iti. 87), and so
on, and in the stanzas beginning * I have no teacher and my like does not
exist in all the world' (M.i,171), all of which should be taken in detail.
47. He guides (sdreti) men to be tamed (purisa-damme), thus he is
leader of men to be tamed (purisadammasdrathf); he tames, he disci-
plines, is what is meant. Herein, animal males (purisd) and human males,
and non-human males that are not tamed but fit to be tamed (dametum
yutta) are 'men to be tamed' (purisadammd). For the animal males,
namely, the royal naga (serpent) Apalala, Culodara, Mahodara, Aggisikha,
Dhumasikha, the royal naga Aravala, the elephant Dhanapalaka, and so
on, were tamed by the Blessed One, freed from the poison [of defile-
ment] and established in the refuges and the precepts of virtue; and also
the human males, namely, Saccaka the Niganthas' (Jains') son, the brah-
man student Ambattha, [208] Pokkharasati, Sonadanda, Kutadanta, and
so on; and also the non-human males, namely, the spirits Alavaka,
Suciloma and Kharaloma, Sakka Ruler of Gods, etc.,
20
were tamed and
disciplined by various disciplinary means. And the following sutta should
be given in full here: * I discipline men to be tamed sometimes gently,
Kesi, and I discipline them sometimes roughly, and I discipline them
sometimes gently and roughly' (A.ii,112).
48. Then the Blessed One moreover further tames those already tamed,
doing so by announcing the first jhana, etc., respectively to those whose
virtue is purified, etc., and also the way to the higher path to stream-
enterers, and so on.
Or alternatively, the words incomparable leader of men to be tamed
can be taken together as one clause. For the Blessed One so guides men
to be tamed that in a single session they may go in the eight directions
[by the eight liberations] without hesitation. Thus he is called the incom-
parable leader of men to be tamed. And the following sutta passage
should be given in full here: 'Guided by the elephant-tamer, bhikkhus,
the elephant to be tamed goes in one direction ...' (M.iii, 222).
[Teacher of Gods and Men]
49. He teaches (anusdsati) by means of the here and now, of the life to
come, and of the ultimate goal, according as befits the case, thus he is
the Teacher (satthar). And furthermore this meaning should be under-
stood according to the Niddesa thus: ' "Teacher {satthar)": the Blessed
One is a caravan leader (satthar) since he brings home caravans (sattha).
Just as one who brings a caravan home gets caravans across a wilder-
ness, gets them across a robber-infested wilderness, gets them across a
wild-beast-infested wilderness, gets them across a foodless wilderness,
gets them across a waterless wilderness, gets them right across, gets
them quite across, gets them properly across, gets them to reach a land
of safety, so too the Blessed One is a caravan leader, one who brings
home the caravans, he gets them across a wilderness, gets them across
the wilderness of birth' (Nd. 1,446).
50. Of gods and men: devamanussdnarh = devdnan ca manussdnan ca
(resolution of compound). This is said in order to denote those who are
the best and also to denote those persons capable of progress. For the
Blessed One as a teacher bestowed his teaching upon animals as well.
For when animals can, through listening to the Blessed One's Dhamma,
acquire the benefit of a [suitable rebirth as] support [for progress], and
with the benefit of that same support they come, in their second or their
third rebirth, to partake of the path and its fruition.
51. Manduka the deity's son and others illustrate this. While the Blessed
one was teaching the Dhamma to the inhabitants of the city of Campa on
the banks of the Gaggara Lake, it seems, a frog (manduka) apprehended
a sign in the Blessed One's voice. [209] A cowherd who was standing
leaning on a stick put his stick on the frog's head and crushed it. He died
and was straight away reborn in a gilded divine palace twelve leagues
broad in the realm of the Thirty-three (Tdvatimsa). He found himself
there, as if waking up from sleep, amidst a host of celestial nymphs, and
he exclaimed, 'So I have actually been reborn here. What deed did I
do?'. When he sought for the reason, he found it was none other than his
apprehension of the sign in the Blessed One's voice. He went with his
divine palace at once to the Blessed One and paid homage at his feet.
Though the Blessed One knew about it, he asked him:
'Who now pays homage at my feet,
Shining with glory of success,
Illuminating all around
With beauty so outstanding?'
'In my last life I was a frog,
The waters of a pond my home;
A cowherd's crook ended my life
While listening to your Dhamma' (Vv. 49).
The Blessed One taught him the Dhamma. Eighty-four thousand crea-
tures gained penetration to the Dhamma. As soon as the deity's son
became established in the fruition of stream-entry he smiled and then
vanished.
[Enlightened]
52. He is enlightened (buddha) with the knowledge that belongs to the
fruit of liberation, since everything that can be known has been discov-
ered (buddha) by him.
Or alternatively, he discovered (bujjhi) the four truths by himself
and awakened (bodhesi) others to them, thus and for other such reasons
he is enlightened (buddha). And in order to explain this meaning the
whole passage in the Niddesa beginning thus: 'He is the discoverer
(bujjhitar) of the truths, thus he is enlightened (buddha). He is the awak-
ener (bodhetar) of the generation, thus he is enlightened (buddha)*
(Nd. 1,457), or the same passage from the Patisambhida (Ps.i,174), should
be quoted in detail.
[Blessed]
53. Blessed (bhagavant) is a term signifying the respect and veneration
accorded to him as the highest of all beings and distinguished by his
special qualities.
21
Hence the Ancients said:
* "Blessed" is the best of words,
"Blessed" is the finest word;
Deserving awe and veneration,
Blessed is the name therefore'.
54. Or alternatively, names are of four kinds: denoting a period of life,
describing a particular mark, signifying a particular acquirement, and
fortuitously arisen,
22
which last in the current usage of the world is
called 'capricious*. Herein, [210] names denoting a period of life are
those such as 'yearling calf (vaccha), 'steer to be trained' (damma),
'yoke ox' (balivaddha), and the like. Names describing a particular
mark are those such as 'staff-bearer' (dandin), 'umbrella-bearer' (chat-
tin), 'topknot-wearer' (sikhin), 'hand possessor' (form-elephant), and
the like. Names signifying a particular acquirement are those such as
'possessor of the threefold clear vision' (tevijja), 'possessor of the six
direct-knowledges' (chalahhinna), and the like. Such names as Siri-
vaddhaka ('Augmenter of Lustre'), Dhanavaddhaka ('Augmenter of
Wealth'), etc., are fortuitously arisen names; they have no reference to
the word-meanings.
55. This name, Blessed, is one signifying a particular acquirement; it is
not made by MahA-MayA, or by King Suddhodana, or by the eighty thou-
sand kinsmen, or by distinguished deities like Sakka, Santusita, and oth-
ers. And this is said by the General of the Law:
23
' "Blessed": this is not
a name made by a mother.... This [name] "Buddha", which signifies
final liberation, is a realistic description of Buddhas (Enlightened Ones),
the Blessed Ones, together with their obtainrnent of omniscient knowl-
edge at the root of an Enlightenment [Tree]' (Ps.i,174; Nd. 1,143).
56. Now in order to explain also the special qualities signified by this
name they cite the following stanza:
Bhagi bhaji bhagi vibhattava iti
Akasi bhaggan ti garu ti bhdgyava.
Bahuhi nayehi subhavitattano
Bhavantago so bhagava ti vuccati.
'The reverend one (garu) has blessings (bhagi), is a frequenter
(bhaji), a partaker (bhagi), a possessor of what has been ana-
lysed (vibhattava);
He has caused abolishing (bhagga), he is fortunate (bhdagyava).
He has fully developed himself (subhavitattano) in many ways;
He has gone to the end of becoming (bhavantago); thus he is
called "Blessed" (bhagava)'.
The meaning of these words should be understood according to the
method of explanation given in the Niddesa (Nd.1,142).
24
57. But there is this other way:
Bhagyava bhaggava yutto bhagehi ca vibhattava.
Bhattava vanta-gamano bhavesu: bhagava tato.
*He is fortunate (bhagyava), possessed of abolishment (bhaggava),
associated with blessings (yutto bhagehi), and a possessor of
what has been analysed (vibhattava).
'He has frequented (bhattava), and he has rejected going in the
kinds of becoming (VAnta-GAmano BHAvesu), thus he is
Blessed (BHAGAVA)'.
58. Herein, by using the characteristic of language beginning with 'vowel
augmentation of syllable, elision of syllable' (see Kasika vi, 3, 109), or
by using the characteristic of insertion beginning with [the example of]
pisodara, etc. (see Panini, Ganapatha 6, 3, 109), it may be known that he
[can also] be called 'blessed' (bhagava) when he can be called 'fortu-
nate' (bhagyava) owing to the fortunateness (bhagya) to have reached
the further shore [of the ocean of perfection] of giving, virtue, etc.,
which produce mundane and supramundane bliss. (See KhpA. 108.)
59. [Similarly], he [can also] be called 'blessed' (bhagavd) when he can
be called 'possessed of abolishment' (bhaggava) owing to the following
menaces having been abolished; for he has abolished (abhanji) all the
hundred thousand kinds of trouble, anxiety and defilement classed as
greed, as hate, as delusion, and as misdirected attention; as conscienceless-
ness and shamelessness, as anger and enmity, as contempt and domi-
neering, as envy and avarice, as deceit and fraud, as obduracy and pre-
sumption, as pride and haughtiness, as vanity and negligence, as craving
and ignorance; as the three roots of the unprofitable, kinds of miscon-
duct, defilement, stains, [211] fictitious perceptions, applied thoughts,
and diversifications; as the four perversenesses, cankers, ties, floods,
bonds, bad ways, cravings, and clingings; as the five wildernesses in the
heart, shackles in the heart, hindrances, and kinds of delight; as the six
roots of discord, and groups of craving; as the seven inherent tendencies;
as the eight wrongnesses; as the nine things rooted in craving; as the ten
courses of unprofitable action; as the sixty-two kinds of [false] view; as
the hundred and eight ways of behaviour of craving25
—or in brief, the
five Maras, that is to say, the Maras of defilement, of the aggregates, and
of kamma-formations, Mara as deity, and Mara as death.
And in this context it is said:
*He has abolished (bhagga) greed and hate,
Delusion too, he is canker-free;
Abolished every evil state,
"Blessed" his name may rightly be\
60. And by his fortunateness (bhagyavata) is indicated the excellence of
his material body which bears a hundred characteristics of merit; and by
his having abolished defects (bhaggadosata) is indicated the excellence
of his Dhamma body. Likewise, [by his fortunateness is indicated] the
esteem of worldly [people; and by his having abolished defects, the
esteem of] those who resemble him. [And by his fortunateness it is
indicated] that he is fit to be relied on26
by laymen; and [by his having
abolished defects that he is fit to be relied on by] those gone forth into
homelessness; and when both have relied on him, they acquire relief
from bodily and mental pain as well as help with both material and
Dhamma gifts, and they are rendered capable of finding both mundane
and supramundane bliss.
61. He is also called 'blessed' (bhagava) since he is 'associated with
blessings' (bhagehi yuttatta) such as those of the following kind, in the
sense that he 'has those blessings' (bhagd assa santi). Now in the world
the word 'blessing' is used for six things, namely, lordship, Dhamma,
fame, glory, wish, and endeavour. He has supreme lordship over his own
mind, either of the kind reckoned as mundane and consisting in 'min-
uteness, lightness', etc.,
27
or that complete in all aspects, and likewise
the supramundane Dhamma. And he has the exceedingly pure fame,
spread through the three worlds, acquired through the special quality of
veracity. And he has glory of all limbs, perfect in every aspect, which is
capable of comforting the eyes of people eager to see his material body.
And he has his wish, in other words, the production of what is wanted,
since whatever is wanted and needed by him as beneficial to himself or
others is then and there produced for him. And he has the endeavour, in
other words, the right effort, which is the reason why the whole world
venerates him.
62. [He can also] be called 'blessed' (bhagava) when he can be called
'a possessor of what has been analysed* (vibhattava) owing to his hav-
ing analysed [and clarified] all states into the [three] classes beginning
with the profitable; or profitable, etc., states into such classes as aggre-
gates, bases, elements, truths, faculties, dependent origination, etc.; [212]
or the noble truth of suffering into the senses of oppressing, being formed,
burning, and changing; and that of origin into the senses of accumulat-
ing, source, bond, and impediment; and that of cessation into the senses
of escape, seclusion, being unformed, and deathless; and that of the path
into the senses of outlet, cause, seeing, and predominance. Having ana-
lysed, having revealed, having shown them, is what is meant.
63. He [can also] be called 'blessed' (bhagava) when he can be called
one who 'has frequented' (bhattava) owing to his having frequented
(bhaji), cultivated, repeatedly practised, such mundane and supramun-
dane higher-than-human states as the heavenly, the divine, and the noble
abidings,
28
as bodily, mental, and existential seclusion, as the void, the
desireless, and the signless liberations, and others as well.
64. He [can also] be called 'blessed' (bhagava) when he can be called
one who 'has rejected going in the kinds of becoming' (vantagamano
bhavesu) because in the three kinds of becoming (bhava), the going
(gamana), in other words, craving, has been rejected (vanta) by him.
And the syllables bha from the word bhava, and ga from the word
gamana, and va from the word vanta with the letter a lengthened, make
the word bhagava, just as is done in the world with the word rnekhald,
since 'MEhanassa KHAssa mdLA' can be said.
29
65. As long as [the meditator] recollects the special qualities of the
Buddha in this way, 'For this and this reason the Blessed One is accom-
plished, ... for this and this reason he is blessed', then: 'On that occasion
his mind is not obsessed by greed, or obsessed by hate, or obsessed by
delusion; his mind has rectitude on that occasion, being inspired by the
Perfect One' (A.iii.285).
30
66. So when he has thus suppressed the hindrances by preventing obses-
sion by greed, etc., and his mind faces the meditation subject with recti-
tude, then his applied thought and sustained thought occur with a ten-
dency towards the Enlightened One's special qualities. As he continues
to exercise applied thought and sustained thought upon the Enlightened
One's special qualities, happiness arises in him. With his mind happy,
with happiness as proximate cause, his bodily and mental disturbances
are tranquillized by tranquillity. When the disturbances have been tran-
quillized, bodily and mental bliss arise in him. When he is blissful, his
mind, with the Enlightened One's special qualities for its object, be-
comes concentrated, and so the jhana factors eventually arise in a single
moment. But owing to the profundity of the Enlightened One's special
qualities, or else owing to his being occupied in recollecting special
qualities of many sorts, the jhana is only access and does not reach
absorption. And that access jhana itself is known as 'recollection of the
Buddha' too, because it arises with the recollection of the Enlightened
One's special qualities as the means.
67. When a bhikkhu is devoted to this recollection of the Buddha, he is
respectful and deferential towards the Master. He attains fullness of faith,
mindfulness, understanding and merit. He has much happiness and glad-
ness. He conquers fear and dread. [213] He is able to endure pain. He
comes to feel as if he were living in the Master's presence. And his
body, when the recollection of the Buddha's special qualities dwells in
it, becomes as worthy of veneration as a shrine room. His mind tends
towards the plane of the Buddhas. When he encounters an opportunity
for transgression, he has awareness of conscience and shame as vivid as
though he were face to face with the Master. And if he penetrates no
higher, he is at least headed for a happy destiny.
Now when a man is truly wise,
His constant task will surely be
This recollection of the Buddha
Blessed with such mighty potency.
This, firstly, is the section dealing with the recollection of the En-
lightened One in the detailed explanation.
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