THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
One of them says * I have been made to sit [and wait] by a man, vener-
able sir', and the other
4
I have consented to [receive] alms tomorrow,
venerable sir'. So they are both losers. The other wanders for alms in the
morning and then he goes and savours the taste of the Dhamma. [67]
The moment any one of these three agrees to the extra gain consist-
ing of a meal given to the Order, etc., his ascetic practice is broken.
This is the breach in this instance.
29. The benefits are these. He actually practises in conformity with the
dependence because of the words 'The going forth by depending on the
mating of lumps of alms food' (Vin.i,58, 96); he is established in the
second of the noble ones' heritages; his existence is independent of
others; it is a requisite recommended by the Blessed One thus 'Valueless,
easy to get, blameless' (A.ii,26); idleness is eliminated; livelihood is
purified; the practice of the minor training rule [of the Patimokkha] is
fulfilled; he is not maintained by another; he helps others; pride is aban-
doned; craving for tastes is checked; the training precepts about eating as
a group, substituting one meal [invitation for another] (see Vin. Pacittiya
33 and Corny.), and good behaviour, are not contravened; his life con-
forms to [the principles of] fewness of wishes; he cultivates the right
way; he has compassion for later generations.
30. The monk content with alms for food
Has independent livelihood,
And greed in him no footing finds;
He is as free as the four winds.
He never need be indolent,
His livelihood is innocent,
So let a wise man not disdain
Alms-gathering for his domain.
Since it is said:
'If a bhikkhu can support himself on alms
And live without another's maintenance,
And pay no heed as well to gain and fame,
The very gods indeed might envy him' (Ud. 31).
This is the commentary on the undertaking, directions, grades, breach
and benefits, in the case of the alms-food-eater's practice.
31. iv. The house-to-house seeker's practice is undertaken with one of
the following statements 'I refuse a greedy alms round' or 'I undertake
the house-to-house seeker's practice'.
Now the house-to-house seeker should stop at the village gate and
make sure that there is no danger. If there is danger in any street or
village, it is allowable to leave it out and wander for alms elsewhere.
When there is a house door or a street or a village where he [regularly]
gets nothing at all, he can go [past it] not counting it as the village. But
wherever he gets anything at all it is not allowed [subsequently] to go
[past] there and leave it out. This bhikkhu should enter the village early
so that he will be able to leave out any inconvenient place and go else-
where. [68] But if people who are giving a gift [of a meal] in a monas-
tery or who are coming along the road take his bowl and give alms food,
it is allowable. And as this [bhikkhu] is going along the road, he should,
when it is the time, wander for alms in any village he comes to and not
pass it by. If he gets nothing there or only a little, he should wander for
alms in the next village in order. These are the directions for it.
32. This too has three grades. Herein, one who is strict does not take
alms brought from before or brought from behind or brought to the
refectory and given there. He hands over his bowl at a door, however,
for in this ascetic practice there is none equal to the Elder Maha Kas-
sapa, yet an instance in which even he handed over his bowl is men-
tioned (see Ud. 29). The medium one takes what is brought from before
and from behind and what is brought to the refectory, and he hands over
his bowl at a door. But he does not sit waiting for alms. Thus he con-
forms to the rule of the strict alms-food eater. The mild one sits waiting
[for alms to be brought] that day.
The ascetic practice of these three is broken as soon as the greedy
alms round starts [by going only to the houses where good alms food is
given]. This is the breach in this instance.
33. The benefits are these. He is always a stranger among families and
is like the moon (see S.ii,197); he abandons avarice about families; he is
compassionate impartially; he avoids the dangers in being supported by
a family; he does not delight in invitations; he does not hope for [meals]
to be brought; his life conforms to [the principles of] fewness of wishes,
and so on.
34. The monk who at each house his begging plies
Is moonlike, ever new to families,
Nor does he grudge to help all equally,
Free from the risks of house-dependency.
Who would the self-indulgent round forsake
And roam the world at will, the while to make
His downcast eyes range a yoke-length before,
Then let him wisely seek from door to door.
This is the commentary on the undertaking, directions, grades, breach,
and benefits, in the case of the house-to-house-seeker's practice. [69]
35. v. The one-sessioner's practice is undertaken with one of the
following statements: 'I refuse eating in several sessions' or 'I undertake
the one-sessioner's practice'.
When the one-sessioner sits down in the sitting hall, instead of
sitting on an elder's seat, he should notice which seat is likely to fall to
him and sit down on that. If his teacher or preceptor arrives while the
meal is still unfinished, it is allowable for him to get up and do the
duties. But the Elder Tipitaka Cula-Abhaya said: 'He should either keep
his seat [and finish his meal] or [if he gets up he should leave the rest of]
his meal [in order not to break the ascetic practice]. And this is one
whose meal is still unfinished; therefore let him do the duties, but in that
case let him not eat the [rest of the] meal'. These are the directions.
36. This too has three grades. Herein, one who is strict may not take
anything more than the food that he has laid his hand on whether it is
little or much. And if people bring him ghee, etc., thinking 'The elder
has eaten nothing', while these are allowable for the purpose of medi-
cine, they are not so for the purpose of food. The medium one may take
more as long as the meal in the bowl is not exhausted; for he is called
'one who stops when the food is finished'. The mild one may eat as long
as he does not get up from his seat. He is either 'one who stops with the
water' because he eats until he takes [water for] washing the bowl, or
'one who stops with the session' because he eats until he gets up.
The ascetic practice of these three is broken at the moment when
food has been eaten at more than one session. This is the breach in this
instance.
37. The benefits are these. He has little affliction and little sickness; he
has lightness, strength, and a happy life; there is no contravening [rules]
about food that is not what is left over from a meal; craving for tastes is
eliminated; his life conforms to the [principles of] fewness of wishes,
and so on.
38. No illness due to eating shall he feel
Who gladly in one session takes his meal;
No longing to indulge his sense of taste
Tempts him to leave his work to go to waste.
His own true happiness a monk may find
In eating in one session, pure in mind.
Purity and effacement wait on this;
For it gives reason to abide in bliss.
This is the commentary on the undertaking, directions, grades, breach,
and benefits, in the case of the one-sessioner's practice. [70]
39. vi. The bowl-food-eatef s practice is undertaken with one of the
following statements: 'I refuse a second vessel' or 'I undertake the bowl-
food-eater's practice'.
When at the time of drinking rice gruel, the bowl-food eater gets
curry that is put in a dish, he can first either eat the curry or drink the
rice gruel. If he puts it in the rice gruel, the rice gruel becomes repulsive
when a curry made with cured fish, etc., is put into it. So it is allowable
[to do this] only in order to use it without making it repulsive. Conse-
quently this is said with reference to such curry as that. But what is un-
repulsive, such as honey, sugar,
13
etc., should be put into it. And in tak-
ing it he should take the right amount. It is allowable to take green
vegetables with the hand and eat them. But unless he does that they
should be put into the bowl. Because a second vessel has been refused it
is not allowable [to use] anything else, not even the leaf of a tree. These
are its directions,
40. This too has three grades. Herein, for one who is strict, except at the
time of eating sugarcane, it is not allowed [while eating] to throw rub-
bish away, and it is not allowed while eating to break up rice-lumps,
fish, meat and cakes. [The rubbish should be thrown away and the rice-
lumps, etc., broken up before starting to eat.] The medium one is al-
lowed to break them up with one hand while eating; and he is called a
'hand ascetic'. The mild one is called a 'bowl ascetic'; anything that can
be put into his bowl he is allowed, while eating, to break up, [that is, rice
lumps, etc.,] with his hand or [such things as palm sugar, ginger, etc.,]
with his teeth.
The moment any one of these three agrees to a second vessel his
ascetic practice is broken. This is the breach in this instance.
41. The benefits are these. Craving for variety of tastes is eliminated;
excessiveness of wishes is abandoned; he sees the purpose and the [right]
amount in nutriment; he is not bothered with carrying saucers, etc., about;
his life conforms to [the principles of] fewness of wishes and so on.
42. He baffles doubts that might arise
With extra dishes; downcast eyes
The true devotedness imply14
Of one uprooting gluttony.
Wearing content as if 'twere part
Of his own nature, glad at heart;
None but a bowl-food eater may
Consume his food in such a way.
This is the commentary on the undertaking, directions, grades, breach,
and benefits, in the case of the bowl-food-eater's practice. [71]
43. vii. The later-food-refuser's practice is undertaken with one of
the following statements: 'I refuse additional food' or 'I undertake the
later-food-refuser's practice'.
Now when that later-food refuser has shown that he is satisfied, he
should not again have the food made allowable [by having it put into his
hands according to the rule for bhikkhus] and eat it. These are the direc-
tions for it.
44. This too has three grades. Herein, there is no showing that he has
had enough with respect to the first lump, but there is when he refuses
more while that is being swallowed. So when one who is strict has thus
shown that he has had enough [with respect to the second lump], he does
not eat the second lump after swallowing the first. The medium one eats
also that food with respect to which he has shown that he has had enough.
But the mild one goes on eating until he gets up from his seat.
The moment any one of these three has eaten what has been made
allowable [again] after he has shown that he has had enough, his ascetic
practice is broken. This is the breach in this instance.
45. The benefits are these. One is far from committing an offence con-
cerned with extra food; there is no overloading of the stomach; there is
no keeping food back; there is no renewed search [for food]; he lives in
conformity with [the principles of ] fewness of wishes, and so on.
46. When a wise man refuses later food
He needs no extra search in weary mood,
Nor stores up food till later in the day,
Nor overloads his stomach in this way.
So, would the adept from such faults abstain,
Let him assume this practice for his gain,
Praised by the Blessed One, which will augment
The special qualities such as content.
This is the commentary on the undertaking, directions, grades, breach,
and benefits, in the case of the later-food-refuser's practice.
47. viii. The forest-dweller*s practice is undertaken with one of the
following statements: 'I refuse an abode in a village' or
4
I undertake the
forest-dweller's practice'.
48. Now that forest dweller must leave an abode in a village in order to
meet the dawn in the forest. Herein, a village abode is the village itself
with its precincts. A 'village' may consist of one cottage or several
cottages, it may be enclosed by a wall or not, have human inhabitants or
not, and it can also be a caravan that is inhabited for more than four
months. [72] The 'village precincts' cover the range of a stone thrown by
a man of medium stature standing between the gate-posts of a walled
village, if there are two gate-posts, as at Anuradhapura (cf. Vin.iii,46).
The Vinaya experts say that this [stone's throw] is characterized as up to
the place where a thrown stone falls, as, for instance, when young men
exercise their arms and throw stones in order to show off their strength.
But the Suttanta experts say that it is up to where one thrown to scare
crows normally falls. In the case of an unwalled village, the house pre-
cinct is where the water falls when a woman standing in the door of the
outermost house of all throws water from a basin. Within a stone's throw
of the kind already described from that point is the village. Within a
second stone's throw is the village precinct.
49. 'Forest', according to the Vinaya method firstly, is described thus:
'Except the village and its precincts, all is forest* (Vin.iii,46). According
to the Abhidhamma method it is described thus: 'Having gone out be-
yond the boundary post, all that is forest' (Vbh. 251; Ps.i,176). But ac-
cording to the Suttanta method its characteristic is this: 'A forest abode
is five hundred bow-lengths distant' (Vin.iv,183). That should be de-
fined by measuring it with a strung instructor's bow from the gate-post
of a walled village, or from the range of the first stone's throw from an
unwalled one, up to the monastery wall.
50. But if the monastery is not walled, it is said in the Vinaya commen-
taries, it should be measured by making the first dwelling of all the limit,
or else the refectory or regular meeting place or Bodhi Tree or shrine,
even if that is far from a dwelling [belonging to the monastery]. But in
the Majjhima commentary it is said that, omitting the precincts of the
monastery and the village, the distance to be measured is that between
where the two stones fall. This is the measure here.
51. Even if the village is close by and the sounds of men are audible to
people in the monastery, still if it is not possible to go straight to it
because of rocks, rivers, etc., in between, the five hundred bow-lengths
can be reckoned by that road even if one has to go by boat. But anyone
who blocks the path to the village here and there for the purpose of
[lengthening it so as to be able to say that he is] taking up the practice is
cheating the ascetic practice.
52. If a forest-dwelling bhikkhu's preceptor or teacher is ill and does
not get what he needs in the forest, [73] he should take him to a village
abode and attend him there. But he should leave in time to meet the
dawn in a place proper for the practice. If the affliction increases to-
wards the time of dawn, he must attend him and not bother about the
purity of his ascetic practice. These are the directions,
53. This too has three grades. Herein, one who is strict must always
meet the dawn in the forest. The medium one is allowed to live in a
village for the four months of the Rains. And the mild one, for the winter
months too.
If in the period defined any one of these three goes from the forest
and hears the Dhamma in a village abode, his ascetic practice is not
broken if he meets the dawn there, nor is it broken if he meets it as he is
on his way back after hearing [the Dhamma]. But if, when the preacher
has got up, he thinks
4
We shall go after lying down awhile' and he meets
the dawn while asleep or if of his own choice he meets the dawn while in
a village abode, then his ascetic practice is broken. This is the breach in
this instance.
54. The benefits are these. A forest-dwelling bhikkhu who has given
attention to the perception of forest (see M. Sutta 121) can obtain hith-
erto unobtained concentration, or preserve that already obtained. And the
Master is pleased with him, according as it is said: 'So, Nagita, I am
pleased with that bhikkhu's dwelling in the forest' (A.iii,343). And when
he lives in a remote abode his mind is not distracted by unsuitable
visible objects, and so on. He is free from anxiety; he abandons attach-
ment to life; he enjoys the taste of the bliss of seclusion, and the state of
the refuse-rag wearer, etc., becomes him.
55. He lives secluded and apart,
Remote abodes delight his heart;
The Saviour of the world, besides,
He gladdens that in groves abides.
The hermit that in woods can dwell
Alone, may gain the bliss as well
Whose savour is beyond the price
Of royal bliss in paradise.
Wearing the robe of rags he may
Go forth into the forest fray;
Such is his mail, for weapons too
The other practices will do.
One so equipped can be assured
Of routing Mara and his horde.
So let the forest glades delight
A wise man for his dwelling's site.
This is the commentary on the undertaking, directions, grades, breach,
and benefits, in the case of the forest-dweller's practice. [74]
56. ix. The tree-root-dweller's practice is undertaken with one of the
following statements
4
I refuse a roof or * I undertake the tree-root-
dweller's practice'.
The tree-root dweller should avoid such trees as a tree near a fron-
tier, a shrine tree, a gum tree, a fruit tree, a bats' tree, a hollow tree, or a
tree standing in the middle of a monastery. He can choose a tree stand-
ing on the outskirts of a monastery. These are the directions.
57. This has three grades too. Herein, one who is strict is not allowed to
have a tree that he has chosen tidied up. He can move the fallen leaves
with his foot while dwelling there. The medium one is allowed to get it
tidied up by those who happen to come along. The mild one can take up
residence there after summoning monastery attendants and novices and
getting them to clear it up, level it, strew sand and make a fence round
with a gate fixed in it. On a special day a tree-root dweller should sit in
some concealed place elsewhere rather than there.
The moment any one of these three makes his abode under a roof,
his ascetic practice is broken. The reciters of the Ahguttara say that it is
broken as soon as he knowingly meets the dawn under a roof. This is the
breach in this instance.
58. The benefits are these. He practises in conformity with the depen-
dence, because of the words 'The going forth by depending on the root
of a tree as an abode' (Vin.i,58, 96); it is a requisite recommended by the
Blessed One thus 'Valueless, easy to get, and blameless' (A.ii,26); per-
ception of impermanence is aroused through seeing the continual altera-
tion of young leaves; avarice about abodes and love of [building] work
are absent; he dwells in the company of deities; he lives in conformity
with [the principles of] fewness of wishes, and so on.
59. The Blessed One praised roots of trees
As one of the dependencies (Vin.i,58);
Can he that loves secludedness
Find such another dwelling place?
Secluded at the roots of trees
And guarded well by deities
He lives in true devotedness
Nor covets any dwelling place. [75]
And when the tender leaves are seen
Bright red at first, then turning green,
And then to yellow as they fall,
He sheds belief once and for all
In permanence. Tree roots have been
Bequeathed by him; secluded scene
No wise man will disdain at all
For contemplating [rise and fall].
This is the commentary on the undertaking, directions, grades, breach,
and benefits, in the case of the tree-root-dweller's practice.
60. x. The open-air-dweller's practice is undertaken with one of the
following statements: 'I refuse a roof and a tree root' or 'I undertake the
open-air-dweller's practice'.
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