The Path of Purification (The Visuddhimagga) is back in print at Pariyatti, republished thanks in part to gifts from several generous donors. This work has been called the "great treatise" of Theravada Buddhism, an encyclopedic manual of doctrine and meditation written in the fifth century by Bhadantacaryia Buddhaghosa, an India-born monk-scholar.

Buddhaghosa journeyed from India to Sri Lanka in the early part of the 5th century A.D. for the purpose of translating into Pali the extensive Sinhalese commentaries preserved there. Carrying letters of recommendation to give him residence and help in his translation work, the young monk went to the Mahapadana monastery in the Mahavihara complex at Anuradhapura. After studying for some time under Thera Sangapala, the chief monk, he requested free access to all the books. Before agreeing, the monks decided to test Buddhaghosa's understanding by asking him to write a comment upon two stanzas. Buddhaghosa responded by writing the 950-page Path of Purification, a compendium of the entire Tipitaka based on these two stanzas.

However, this massive work somehow went astray while enroute to the monks--so he wrote it all over again. When the bhikkhus read it, they were amazed. Well-satisfied to entrust all the books to him, they arranged for him to reside at a residential institute of writings and writers. Buddhaghosa completed his tasks and returned to India with his translations. His crystallization of the entire Pali Canon reinvigorated Theravada Buddhism in India and Sri Lanka.

The most esteemed commentary in all of Pali literature, The Path of Purification sets out detailed practical instructions for developing purification. It systematically organizes the various teachings of the Buddha found throughout the Pali Canon into the three training divisions of Sila (morality), Samadhi (concentration) and Panna (wisdom). Together these provide a clear, comprehensive path leading to the final goal, nibbana, the state of complete purification. In the course of his treatise Buddhaghosa gives instructions on subjects of meditation aimed at concentration, an elaborate account of the Buddhist Abhidhamma philosophy, and explicit descriptions of the stages of insight culminating in final liberation.

The Visuddhmagga was first translated into English by Pe Maung Tin and published by the Pali Text Society in three volumes in 1923, 1929 and 1931, under the title The Path of Purity. It had long been out of print when Bhikkhu Nanamoli, a British-born monk, undertook to translate it for his own instruction. When it was suggested to him that his translation be published, he agreed somewhat hesitantly, then devoted a year to typing and preparing the manuscript, which was published in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1956.

The Buddhist Publication Society (BPS), based in Kandy, Sri Lanka, issued this work beginning with the third edition in 1975. The fourth edition was published in 1979, and the fifth edition in 1991.

Pariyatti first published The Path of Purification in 1999 under an agreement with BPS to co-publish titles for sale in the Americas; two additional printings have been done since then in both hardcover and softcover editions.

This translation is considered an outstanding achievement of Pali scholarship of the twentieth century, making available in fluent English a difficult and intricate classical work. The year of its publication also marked the beginning of the second half of the Buddha-sasana (2500 B.E.), when the theory and practice of the Buddha's teachings began to flourish anew, particularly in the West--a flourishing which continues to this day. As Bhikkhu Nanamoli writes in his preface to the book, "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."

Keeping this book in print, whether in America or elsewhere, has been challenging. Many obstacles have arisen, from lost printing plates to mid-process padlocked printers, from redoing painstaking proofreading work, to the present, with volunteers retyping the entire book so that it will exist in digital form.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama wrote in a message for the Pariyatti edition, "Inner peace is the key. In that state of mind you can face difficulties with calm and reason. The teachings of love, kindness and tolerance, the conduct of non-violence, and especially the Buddhist theory that all things are relative can be a source of that inner peace. . . I offer my prayers that readers, wherever they are, may find in [The Path of Purification] advice and inspiration to develop that inner peace that will contribute to a happier and more peaceful world."

The imprint BPS-Pariyatti Editions makes this and other quality editions of classic and scholarly works more widely available in an affordable format.

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