Visuddhimagga (Buddhaghosa)

The Visuddhimagga (Path of Purification) is the most important Pali work in the Theravada after the Pali canon, and it has, in certain contexts, superseded canonical sources as a practical handbook and systematization of doctrine and practice. The text became the structure and foundation of Theravada orthodoxy, and it remains influential in this capacity, especially as a manual of meditation, to this day. Its author, Bhadantācariya Buddhaghosa (5th century ce), is also credited with transmitting into Pali many of the commentaries (aṭṭhakathā) on the three baskets of the Pali scriptural canon (tipiṭaka), though his authorship of all of the commentaries ascribed to him has been disputed by modern scholars. The Visuddhimagga, itself described as a commentary, is one part of this larger body of scriptural exegesis and is best understood within this larger exegetical context. The scholarship on the Visuddhimagga and Buddhaghosa’s commentaries is not as developed as we might expect for such significant texts, and most of the commentaries attributed to him have not been translated into European languages.